Latest news with #SamAltman-led
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Business
- Japan Today
OpenAI wins $200 mil contract with U.S. military
Sam Altman-led OpenAI winning its first contract from the US Department of Defense comes as big tech firms increasingly court the US military By Glenn CHAPMAN The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded OpenAI a $200 million contract to put generative artificial intelligence (AI) to work for the military. San Francisco-based OpenAI will "develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains," according to the department's posting of awarded contracts. The program with the defense department is the first partnership under the startup's initiative to put AI to work in governments, according to OpenAI. OpenAI plans to show how cutting-edge AI can vastly improve administrative operations such as how service members get health care and also cyber defenses, the startup said in a post. All use of AI for the military will be consistent with OpenAI usage guidelines, according to the startup. Big tech companies are increasingly pitching their tools to the U.S. military, among them Meta, OpenAI and, more predictably, Palantir, the AI defense company founded by Peter Thiel, the conservative tech billionaire who has played a major role in Silicon Valley's rightward shift. OpenAI and defense tech startup Anduril Industries late last year announced a partnership to develop and deploy AI solutions "for security missions." The alliance brings together OpenAI models and Anduril's military tech platform to ramp up defenses against aerial drones and other "unmanned aircraft systems", according to the companies. "OpenAI builds AI to benefit as many people as possible, and supports U.S.-led efforts to ensure the technology upholds democratic values," OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said at the time. © 2025 AFP
International Business Times
3 days ago
- International Business Times
Today's AI Updates: OpenAI Brings Image Creation to WhatsApp As Microsoft Rolls Out Smart AI Agent for Windows PCs
As the race to lead the artificial intelligence boom intensifies, top technology firms are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to outpace competitors by offering innovative features and services. In the latest wave of AI developments, OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft have introduced distinctive new features for their users. Starting with OpenAI, the Sam Altman-led firm has officially launched its image-generation tool on WhatsApp today, allowing users to create pictures within the messaging app using text-based instructions Using OpenAI's DALL·E model, the feature allows users to message 'Hi' to the official number +1-800-242-8478, register using their official mobile number, and generate AI images in real-time by following simple steps and prompts. This eliminates the need to manually switch to ChatGPT and creates a more seamless experience within WhatsApp. Another tech leader, Meta, is also offering a similar feature. Meta's own AI assistant, powered by Llama 4, is providing image generation and conversational skills within WhatsApp. Meta's AI can be used to suggest writing prompts, edit images and videos, and compose responses to user queries. Meanwhile, Microsoft is adding a new AI settings agent to Windows 11 as part of its Copilot platform, starting with Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon X processors. The tool is a departure from traditional methods for interacting with desktop settings (obtained through laborious multi-level menus), in that users communicate with it using succinct, natural commands. The AI agent allows users to complete actions like adjusting brightness, altering contrast, or connecting to Wi-Fi by typing or speaking conversational commands, such as "turn on dark mode" or "make text easier to read." In contrast with old digital assistants, the new AI agent has the ability to not just interpret user commands but also execute real-time actions (with user confirmation), regardless of how they are expressed. Microsoft stated that these interactions are performed locally on the device for better privacy and also faster response of the bot. The agent's screen awareness enables it to know what the user is working on and offer contextual help. If someone is editing a photo, for example, it could suggest improvements. When viewing a PDF, it can summarize the content of that document. Microsoft says this approach is aimed at doing away with artificial frictions and making Windows feel like a more responsive, intelligent environment. While only available on Copilot+ PCs for now, Microsoft intends to bring it to all Intel and AMD systems later this year when it releases the Windows 11 24H2 update. The company also mentioned early on that it would eventually allow third-party developers to build their own AI agents using its Model Context Protocol, which could make it possible to coordinate across apps and integrate more artificial intelligence throughout Windows.
Indian Express
13-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Mattel partners with OpenAI to bring AI to Barbie, Hot Wheels and more
AI powerhouse OpenAI has announced a strategic partnership with Barbie-maker Mattel Inc. Under this partnership, the Sam Altman-led company will create AI-powered toys and experiences. This will essentially bring OpenAI's tech to Mattel brands such as Hot Wheels, American Girl, Barbie, and more. 'We're pleased to work with Mattel as it moves to introduce thoughtful AI-powered experiences and products into its iconic brands, while also providing its employees the benefits of ChatGPT. With OpenAI, Mattel has access to an advanced set of AI capabilities alongside new tools to enable productivity, creativity, and company-wide transformation at scale,' said Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer at OpenAI. Under the agreement Mattel will use OpenAI's expertise to design, develop, and launch 'groundbreaking experiences for fans worldwide.' Mattel has said that with the help of OpenAI's technology, it will bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences with an emphasis on innovation, privacy, and safety. 'Each of our products and experiences is designed to inspire fans, entertain audiences, and enrich lives through play. AI has the power to expand on that mission and broaden the reach of our brands in new and exciting ways. Our work with OpenAI will enable us to leverage new technologies to solidify our leadership in innovation and reimagine new forms of play,' said Josh Silverman, chief franchise officer at Mattel. 'Mattel will incorporate OpenAI's advanced AI tools like ChatGPT Enterprise into its business operations to enhance product development and creative ideation, drive innovation, and deepen engagement with its audience. With OpenAI, Mattel will have advanced AI capabilities that can power the development and operations of consumer products and experiences,' the company said in an official statement. Under this collaboration, consumers can expect the first AI-powered product later this year. The partnership will cover physical toys and digital experiences across Mattel's portfolio which features hundreds of iconic brands and game titles. Besides, Mattel employees will also gain access to ChatGPT Enterprise to augment creative ideation and streamline business operations across the company. It needs to be noted that both companies emphasised safety and age-appropriate design, with Mattel having full control over its IP and final products. This is a significant development as it means now toys are about to get more personalised and intelligent with AI. However, children interacting with AI is likely to cause a stir and it may even raise concerns about development, privacy and the larger question – if at all AI belongs in the playroom. However, for much of the debate to unfold, it is ideal to wait for the AI-powered toys to hit the market.
Indian Express
10-06-2025
- Indian Express
ChatGPT users face widespread outage across the world, including India
ChatGPT, OpenAI's popular AI-powered chatbot, is reportedly down for thousands of users across the world. While it is still unclear how many people are affected by the recent outage, according to DownDetector, users reported that the outage started somewhere around 12 PM. In the last few hours, more than 800 people from India have complained that they are unable to use the AI chatbot. Following user reports, OpenAI has also updated its status to reflect that the AI chatbot they are 'currently experiencing issues'. The Sam Altman-led AI startup said that 'some users are experiencing elevated error rates and latency across APIs, ChatGPT, and Sora.' At the time of writing, paid ChatGPT subscribers who tried using its text-to-video generation model, Sor, are also facing problems for the last 37 minutes. Developing story…
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Yahoo
Apple Researchers Just Released a Damning Paper That Pours Water on the Entire AI Industry
Researchers at Apple have released an eyebrow-raising paper that throws cold water on the "reasoning" capabilities of the latest, most powerful large language models. In the paper, a team of machine learning experts makes the case that the AI industry is grossly overstating the ability of its top AI models, including OpenAI's o3, Anthropic's Claude 3.7, and Google's Gemini. In particular, the researchers assail the claims of companies like OpenAI that their most advanced models can now "reason" — a supposed capability that the Sam Altman-led company has increasingly leaned on over the past year for marketing purposes — which the Apple team characterizes as merely an "illusion of thinking." It's a particularly noteworthy finding, considering Apple has been accused of falling far behind the competition in the AI space. The company has chosen a far more careful path to integrating the tech in its consumer-facing products — with some seriously mixed results so far. In theory, reasoning models break down user prompts into pieces and use sequential "chain of thought" steps to arrive at their answers. But now, Apple's own top minds are questioning whether frontier AI models simply aren't as good at "thinking" as they're being made out to be. "While these models demonstrate improved performance on reasoning benchmarks, their fundamental capabilities, scaling properties, and limitations remain insufficiently understood," the team wrote in its paper. The authors — who include Samy Bengio, the director of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Research at the software and hardware giant — argue that the existing approach to benchmarking "often suffers from data contamination and does not provide insights into the reasoning traces' structure and quality." By using "controllable puzzle environments," the team estimated the AI models' ability to "think" — and made a seemingly damning discovery. "Through extensive experimentation across diverse puzzles, we show that frontier [large reasoning models] face a complete accuracy collapse beyond certain complexities," they wrote. Thanks to a "counter-intuitive scaling limit," the AIs' reasoning abilities "declines despite having an adequate token budget." Put simply, even with sufficient training, the models are struggling with problem beyond a certain threshold of complexity — the result of "an 'overthinking' phenomenon," in the paper's phrasing. The finding is reminiscent of a broader trend. Benchmarks have shown that the latest generation of reasoning models is more prone to hallucinating, not less, indicating the tech may now be heading in the wrong direction in a key way. Exactly how reasoning models choose which path to take remains surprisingly murky, the Apple researchers found. "We found that LRMs have limitations in exact computation," the team concluded in its paper. "They fail to use explicit algorithms and reason inconsistently across puzzles." The researchers claim their findings raise "crucial questions" about the current crop of AI models' "true reasoning capabilities," undercutting a much-hyped new avenue in the burgeoning industry. That's despite tens of billions of dollars being poured into the tech's development, with the likes of OpenAI, Google, and Meta, constructing enormous data centers to run increasingly power-hungry AI models. Could the Apple researchers' finding be yet another canary in the coalmine, suggesting the tech has "hit a wall"? Or is the company trying to hedge its bets, calling out its outperforming competition as it lags behind, as some have suggested? It's certainly a surprising conclusion, considering Apple's precarious positioning in the AI industry: at the same time that its researchers are trashing the tech's current trajectory, it's promised a suite of Apple Intelligence tools for its devices like the iPhone and MacBook. "These insights challenge prevailing assumptions about LRM capabilities and suggest that current approaches may be encountering fundamental barriers to generalizable reasoning," the paper reads. More on AI models: Car Dealerships Are Replacing Phone Staff With AI Voice Agents
