Amazon’s AI chatbot Rufus drove sales on Black Friday
On Black Friday, Amazon sessions that resulted in a sale were up 100% in the U.S. when the AI chatbot Rufus was used. They only increased by 20% when Rufus wasn’t used.
AI
Runway says its new text-to-video AI generator has ‘unprecedented’ accuracy
Runway claims its latest text-to-video model generates even more accurate visuals than its last. In a blog post on Monday, Runway says its Gen-4.5 model can produce “cinematic and highly realistic outputs,” potentially making it even more difficult to distinguish between what’s real and what’s AI. “Gen-4.5 achieves unprecedented physical accuracy and visual precision,” Runway’s […]
AI, Business, Decoder, IBM, Podcasts, Tech, Tech News
Why IBM CEO Arvind Krishna is still hiring humans in the AI era
Today, I’m talking with Arvind Krishna, the CEO of IBM. IBM is a fascinating company. It’s still a household name and among the oldest tech firms in the US. Without IBM, we simply wouldn’t have the modern era of computing — it was instrumental to the development of a whole stack of foundational technologies in […]
Black Forest Labs raises $300M at $3.25B valuation
The round was co-led by Salesforce Ventures and Anjney Midha (AMP), and saw participation from a16z, NVIDIA, Northzone, Creandum, Earlybird VC, BroadLight Capital, General Catalyst, Temasek, Bain Capital Ventures, Air Street Capital, Visionaries Club, Canva and Figma Ventures.
The race to AGI-pill the pope
Pope Leo XIV probably isn’t the first person you picture when conversation turns to Artificial General Intelligence doomsday scenarios. But last month, AGI researcher John-Clark Levin found himself inside the Vatican on a mission to put those concerns in front of the pope. Levin hasn’t been acting alone. In the past year, he has been […]
Welcome to fandom’s AI clout economy
Madison Lawrence Tabbey was scrolling through X in late October when a post from a Wicked update account caught her attention. Ariana Grande, who stars in the movies as Glinda, had just liked a meme on Instagram about never wanting to see another AI-generated image again. Grande had also purportedly blocked a fan account that […]
Data centers in Oregon might be helping to drive an increase in cancer and miscarriages
Morrow County, Oregon is home to mega farms and food processing plants. But it’s also home to several Amazon data centers. And now, some experts believe, that combination is leading to an alarmingly high concentration of nitrates in the drinking water that is driving up cancer and miscarriage rates in the area. Rolling Stone’s exposé […]
‘Avatar’ director James Cameron says generative AI is ‘horrifying’
James Cameron’s movies are often at the cutting edge of visual effects technology, but that doesn’t make him a fan of generative AI.
New report examines how David Sacks might profit from Trump administration role
David Sacks’ role as President Donald Trump’s artificial intelligence and crypto czar could work out very well for his investments, according to a new report. However, Sacks fired back, calling the story a “nothing burger.”
