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 Apple's newly announced partnership with Google to use Gemini models for Siri and Apple Intelligence could be worth as much as $5 billion, according to one analyst's estimate.
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 Elon Musk isn't the only party at fault for Grok's nonconsensual intimate deepfakes of real people, including children. What about Apple and Google? The two (frequently virtue-signaling) companies have inexplicably allowed Grok and X to remain in their app stores — even as Musk's chatbot reportedly continues to produce the material. On Wednesday, a coalition of women's and progressive advocacy groups called on Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai to uphold their own rules and remove the apps.
The open letters to Apple and Google were signed by 28 groups. Among them are the women's advocacy group Ultraviolet, the parents' group ParentsTogether Action and the National Organization for Women.
The letter accuses Apple and Google of "not just enabling NCII and CSAM, but profiting off of it. As a coalition of organizations committed to the online safety and well-being of all — particularly women and children — as well as the ethical application of artificial intelligence (AI), we demand that Apple leadership urgently remove Grok and X from the App Store to prevent further abuse and criminal activity."
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Apple and Google have confirmed that Gemini's models power the new version of Siri and other generative AI features. CNBC broke the news, but Apple and Google soon followed up with a lengthy joint statement. Here's part of it: "Apple determined that Google's Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models… Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple's industry-leading privacy standards."
In June, it was reported that Apple was considering partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic for Siri (the voice assistant can currently tap ChatGPT for certain queries as part of Apple Intelligence). Two months later, Google emerged as a contender. Another report suggested Apple might build the new Siri using a custom version of Gemini — and that it would pay Google around $1 billion a year for the privilege. However, no official deal numbers were shared.
It's also notable that current iPhones have direct access to OpenAI's ChatGPT. But how long for?
— Mat Smith
The other big stories this morning
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NEW RESOURCES Asia Business Daily: 680,000 National Heritage Digital Records Now Open… AI Answers Archaeology Questions. "The Cultural Heritage Administration announced on December 30 that it has completely revamped the ‘National Heritage […]
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With the rollout of Adobe Firefly last year, IBM made generative AI (genAI) image creation available to thousands of designers.
It didn't take long for the tool to make an impression, said Billy Seabrook, global chief design officer for IBM's consulting arm.
Firefly was used, for example, to create 200 visual assets for IBM's "Let's Create" marketing campaign last year that involved rendering an image of a question mark in a variety of textures and colors. Firefly generated many variations — from a question mark made of flower petal to one made of chain link — that designers could choose to then edit and refine into a final product.
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