Artificial Intelligence

Thanks to what will seem like a somewhat unlikely pairing to many, it is now possible to access Spotify in ChatGPT. With the two services having partnered, you can now use tracks and podcasts to achieve things with the AI chat bot.

There are various possibilities here – from asking ChatGPT to create new playlists based on the tracks you like to receive recommendations about podcasts you may enjoy. While the ability to use Spotify in conjunction with ChatGPT is free, there are more options available to Spotify Premium subscribers.

Advertising is how Meta makes money, hence Facebook users being bombarded with ads and “recommended content”. Starting today you may receive a notification that things are about to change. Unsurprisingly, they are not changing for the better.

Meta says that it is going to “start personalizing content and ad recommendations on our platforms based on people’s interactions with our generative AI features”. What does this mean? Targeted ads, essentially.

Opera has announced plans to add expanded AI capabilities to its free browsers. The news comes just days after we wrote about Opera Neon, the company’s premium AI browser for power users.

Opera has been developing browsers for more than three decades and says it now serves hundreds of millions of active users every month. In recent years it has added a number of AI features to its products, starting in 2023 when it added its assistant Aria to Opera One, Opera GX, Opera Air (its "mindfulness" browser), Opera for Android and iOS, and Opera Mini.

Having announced plans earlier this year to become an “AI native” company, Grindr has caused ire by introducing new gAI (its own artificial intelligence tech, pronounced “gay-I”) on an opt out basis.

Grindr users have been expressing anger in recent days as they encounter an in-app pop-up informing them that AI is now being used for a personalized experience. While it is possible to opt out of this – as many people want to do so – the company has been heavily criticized for not making this optional more accessible, and for opting everyone into using AI by default int the first place.

Google’s love affair with AI shows no signs of burning out, and the company has just announced even deeper integration of Gemini into Chrome.

Billed as a reimagining of the web browser with artificial intelligence, Google says this is about more than just bringing more AI smarts to the humble web browser. The company says that the addition of Gemini-powered features will not only help to make users more productive, but will also keep them safer. Bold claims.

There is much to get frustrated about in relation to AI, not least of which is that there are so many AI tools to choose from. But there is also the fact that each AI app and service has its own limitations, and it can be difficult – or impossible – to know what these limits are until you hit them.

It has been this way with Google Gemini. Google has, until now, been a little fuzzy when it comes to telling users about limits. Being told that the company “may have to cap how much you can use some features” is not very helpful, certainly not very specific. But now Google has published much more detailed information to help users know where they stand.

The inescapability of AI continues, and Meta is at the forefront. WhatsApp has already liberally coated itself in features driven by artificial intelligence, and now there are more.

This time around, things are fairly innocuous. The chat platform has now added the option of using AI backgrounds within video chats.

WhatsApp is getting another injection of artificial intelligence in the form of Writing Help. As you would guess from the name, this is a tool designed to help you come up with the perfect message for different scenarios.

With Writing Help being billed as something that could be of assistance in all manner of communication, there will be understandable concerns about privacy. WhatsApp is one step ahead of worried users here, pointing out that Writing Help is built on top of Private Processing technology.

Elon Musk ‘s xAI startup is suing both OpenAI and Apple for alleged anticompetitive behavior relating to artificial intelligence.

Musk is focusing on these two firms because of the partnership and collaborative arrangements that exist between them. OpenAI has an agreement with Apple to integrate its ChatGPT tool into iOS and macOS. This is something that troubles xAI.

Many people turn to AI to improve their writing, their photos, or their videos. YouTube has been doing the same, quietly enhancing the look of users’ uploaded videos through the use of artificial intelligence.

So, what is the problem? Many creators are upset not so much that their videos have been “enhanced” (although there is debate over whether what YouTube has done can actually be seen as an improvement) but that it was done without consent.

The head and co-founder of OpenAI, Sam Altman, entered into discussions aimed at striking a deal to bring ChatGPT Plus to everyone in the UK at no cost to end users.

In a meeting between the UK’s technology secretary Peter Kyle and Altman, there was talk of granting UK residents access to a more advanced tier of ChatGPT as standard. The deal – while not definitely dead in the water – appears to have stalled, but the idea is an extremely interesting one.

Many of the concerns about artificial intelligence can be overcome through transparency. And it is in the name of transparency that Elon Musk has announced the open sourcing of its Grok 2.5 model.

More than this, the AI firm will also make the Grok 3 model open source is around six months.

There is nothing that technology companies will not try to enhance with AI. Google is no stranger to this with Gemini, and the company has announced an AI-powered fitness coach for the Fitbit platform.

But this is more than just a fitness coach. Google describes it as a “a fitness trainer, a sleep coach and a health and wellness advisor” all rolled into one. The aim is to be the AI coach that is suitable for everyone, so what can it do?

Microsoft could be accused of many things in relation to Copilot on Windows, but standing still is not one of them.

Both in terms of functionality and design, the company seems to be constantly at work and this is something that is evident in the latest Insider build of Windows 11. Microsoft is rolling out new features such as Semantic Search, and also a completely redesign home page for Copilot on Windows.

We have already seen Microsoft bringing Copilot to Excel. The company only recently added the AI assistant to its spreadsheet as a way to explain formulae to help users better understand them.

Now Microsoft is bringing Copilot to Excel in more ways – arguably more useful ways. Currently available to Insiders, the latest addition sees Microsoft giving users the option to “bring AI to your formulas with the COPILOT function in Excel”.