Adobe Makes Big Moves for Marketers and Developers

Emerging Tech Roundup — March 29

The Quantious team’s top picks for timely trending news in the tech world.

This week in tech: Adobe brings brand-safe AI to marketers and opens up 20 new APIs for creatives, Canva makes a big acquisition, Apple announces annual Developer Conference dates, Activeloop Nets $11M investment for enterprise AI, Databricks launches DBRX LLM to take on big tech, and Google’s circle to search feature will soon handle language translation.

Adobe’s GenStudio Brings Brand-Safe Generative AI to Marketers

(Tech Crunch, March 26)

Adobe has announced AI-powered GenStudio, to help brands create content and measure its performance. GenStudio was initially tailored for social, paid media, and lifecycle marketing needs, and will soon expand to include support for website creation. With a focus on providing an end-to-end solution, Adobe aims to empower marketers in tailoring content across various channels and audience segments, ultimately leveraging generative AI to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the content supply chain.

Adobe’s Firefly Services Makes Over 20 New Generative and Creative APIs Available to Developers

(Tech Crunch, March 26)

Adobe has unveiled Firefly Services, a suite of over 20 new generative and creative APIs, tools, and services. The service enables enterprise developers to accelerate content creation in custom workflows or develop innovative solutions. Designed to address rising consumer expectations for AI-driven personalization, Firefly Services offers APIs for tasks like background removal, image cropping, and text editing, while ensuring brand safety remains a top priority for enterprises looking to leverage generative AI.

Canva Acquires Affinity to Fill the Adobe-Sized Holes in Its Design Suite

(The Verge, March 26)

The popular web-based design platform Canva has acquired the Affinity creative software suite, establishing itself as a strong competitor to Adobe in the digital design industry. The acquisition grants Canva ownership over Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher, which offer similar features to Adobe’s Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. The move signifies Canva’s effort to appeal to a broader audience, including professional designers, while Affinity’s one-time-purchase model has garnered a dedicated following seeking alternatives to Adobe’s subscription-based ecosystem.

Apple Announces its Annual Developers Conference is Set for June 10

(WRAL News, March 26)

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference is set to begin on June 10, showcasing the latest advancements in AI technology. This year’s focus is expected to shift towards Apple’s recent AI initiatives, including the potential integration of Google’s Gemini AI engine into upcoming iPhones and iOS 18 features. As tech giants invest heavily in AI development, Apple aims to make strides with its multimodal models, MM1, offering advanced reasoning and in-context learning capabilities, positioning itself at the forefront of the evolving AI landscape.

Activeloop Nets $11M to Give Enterprises a Better Way to Leverage Multimodal Data for AI

(Venture Beat, March 26)

California-based startup Activeloop has secured $11 million in series A funding from investors including Streamlined Ventures, Y Combinator, and Samsung Next. Known for its “Deep Lake” technology, Activeloop streamlines AI projects by leveraging unstructured multimodal data, claiming to cut costs by up to 75% and boost engineering productivity five-fold. As enterprises seek efficient ways to manage petabyte-scale unstructured data for AI applications, Activeloop’s solution offers timely simplification and cost reduction.

Databricks Launches DBRX, Challenging Big Tech in The Open Source AI Race

(Venture Beat, March 27)

Rapidly growing enterprise software company Databricks has introduced DBRX, an innovative open-source AI model that is outperforming leading alternatives like Llama 2–70B and Mixtral in key benchmarks. Though not as robust as OpenAI’s GPT-4, DBRX significantly enhances capabilities compared to GPT-3.5 at a lower cost, thanks to its unique “mixture-of-experts” architecture, dynamically selecting expert sub-models for each token — enabling faster and more cost-effective operation. Leadership emphasizes DBRX’s potential to advance open-source AI, offering customized models tailored to individual clients’ proprietary data.

Google’s Circle to Search Feature Will Soon Handle Language Translation

(Engadget, March 27)

Google is expanding its Circle to Search tool to include language translation, allowing Android users to translate text without drawing a circle by long pressing the home button or navigation bar. The update aims to streamline translation processes — eliminating the need to switch between apps — and will initially roll out to select Android devices like Pixel 7, Pixel 8, and Samsung Galaxy S24 series. Additionally, Google Maps is receiving an AI-powered refresh, offering summaries of places, analyzing food photos, and introducing updated lists features for easier trip planning.