The Latest and Greatest from OpenAI, Microsoft, and Apple
Emerging Tech Roundup — November 10
The Quantious team’s top picks for timely trending news in the tech world.
This week in tech: DoorDash Adds New Safety Tools for its Delivery People, Elon Musk’s New AI Company Launches Grok the Chatbot, Virtual Try-on Tech Company Bags $15M Series A on a $100M Valuation, OpenAI Announces Customizable ‘GPTs’ for Businesses and Consumers, Microsoft Partners with Inworld AI to Design AI Game-Writing Tools for Xbox, Final Cut Pro Uses Apple’s New M3 Chips to Improve Face and Object Tracking, and Commercial Plant Opens to Combat Climate Change.
DoorDash Adds New Safety Tools for its Delivery People, Including ‘Driving Insights’
(Tech Crunch, November 3)
DoorDash is enhancing the safety of its delivery drivers with three new in-app tools. These tools include personalized driving insights, expanding Apple CarPlay integration, and adding speed limit notifications to in-app navigation. The company’s goal is to promote safe driving practices and improve overall safety for its delivery personnel through these new features.
The Morning After: Elon Musk’s New AI Company, xAI, Launches Grok the Chatbot
(Engadget, November 6)
Elon Musk’s AI company xAI is soon planning to release its chatbot, Grok, to subscribers for $16 per month. A potential new competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Grok’s standout feature is real-time access to information published on X. While this feature could potentially give it an advantage over other models, the approach also raises concerns about the potential for biases and misinformation within X.
Luxury Clothing Distributors Get into Virtual Try-on Tech; Bag $15M Series A on a $100M Valuation
(Tech Crunch, November 6)
AI-driven virtual try-on and styling solution Zelig empowers online shoppers to visualize clothing, footwear, and accessories on their unique body shapes. Harnessing the capabilities of AI, machine learning, and computer vision, Zelig enables users to curate and save outfit combinations, share them with others, and make well-informed buying choices. After three years of private funding, the company recently raised $15 million in Series A funding, reaching a valuation of $100 million with significant investments from Hilco Global and Bezikian Zareh.
OpenAI Announces Customizable ‘GPTs’ for Businesses and Consumers
(Venture Beat, November 6)
OpenAI has introduced customizable AI agents called “GPTs,” enabling users to create tailored versions of ChatGPT without the need for coding. The tool, which will be available exclusively to ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise subscribers, is part of OpenAI’s strategy to expand its presence in the enterprise AI market and monetize its technology. GPTs will also offer more customized interactions, making them suitable for various business applications such as department-specific uses, marketing, research, and employee onboarding.
Microsoft is Making AI Game-Writing Tools for Xbox with Inworld AI
(Digital Trends, November 6)
Microsoft is partnering with Inworld AI to develop game dialogue and narrative tools for its Xbox studios. The collaboration aims to create an AI design copilot that helps game designers generate detailed scripts, quests, and more. While the adoption of AI technology in creative spaces raises concerns, Xbox’s leadership believes that this partnership will assist developers in realizing their visions and enhancing gameplay without replacing human creativity.
Final Cut Pro Uses Apple’s New M3 Chips to Improve Face and Object Tracking
(Engadget, November 7)
Apple’s Final Cut Pro is set to receive an update that takes advantage of the new M3 chips, offering enhanced face and object tracking through a new machine learning model. On the user experience front, the new Final Cut Pro introduces automatic timeline scrolling, simplification of overlapping connected clips, and more options for combining connected clips with existing storylines. The updates for both the Mac and iPad versions of Final Cut Pro are expected to be available later this month.
In a U.S. First, a Commercial Plant Starts Pulling Carbon From the Air
(Yahoo News, November 9)
Heirloom Carbon Technologies has just opened the first U.S. commercial plant for direct air capture. The startup aims to combat climate change by vacuuming greenhouse gasses and permanently sealing the captured carbon dioxide in concrete. Heirloom plans to expand its operations with companies like Microsoft already committing to removing 315,000 tons of carbon dioxide through the purchase of carbon removal credits, reflecting the growing interest of businesses investing in carbon technologies.
