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Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Flying taxi pilots could use AI for fast answers during emergencies, Archer CEO says
Archer Aviation is considering creating an AI flight manual for its air taxis, its CEO told Business Insider. "We look at using AI and LLMs [large language models] to help simplify things," Adam Goldstein said in an interview at the Paris Air Show this week. "So, we can look at anything from a flight manual — which may be quite complex, that you can query and ask questions — to internal tools to help us move faster. "You can imagine if you're in some type of scenario and there's a big flight manual, and you need to understand what to do very quickly, you don't want to be thumbing through some multi-hundred-page book," he added. "You want to ask a quick question, get your answer, and fix your problem." Pilots have manuals called quick-reference handbooks that outline procedures for emergencies or other situations where the aircraft signals a warning message. The handbooks are typically on a digital device that are easier to search. AI could make searching faster, but large-language models such as ChatGPT have faced criticism for sometimes generating incorrect information, known as hallucinations. Silicon Valley-based Archer has partnered with Palantir for work with AI, saying they would develop software to improve a range of systems, including air traffic control, movement control, and route planning. "There's big complicated systems that need near 100% reliability, if not 100% reliability, and that's why we partnered with Palantir," Goldstein told BI. He said he used ChatGPT daily: "I think it's a great way to do research and to view the world, and I only expect that to continue." Archer is one of the premier players in advanced air mobility, which is regarded as the next generation of aircraft. Its aircraft, Midnight, is electric and can take off and land vertically — called an eVTOL for short, or a "flying taxi." The goal is to transform commutes in cities. For example, Archer says it would take 9 minutes to travel between Newark Liberty International Airport and downtown Manhattan, instead of the roughly hourlong journeys by car or public transit. United Airlines has placed an order worth up to $1.5 billion, and Archer last month announced it was chosen as the official air taxi partner of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Also in Paris on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced an alliance to streamline the certification of eVTOLs, including the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Archer plans to deploy its first Midnight aircraft in the United Arab Emirates later this year.
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Microsoft working on next-gen Xbox video game console
The Xbox Series X. Semiconductors powering the new hardware will be made in collaboration with AMD, said Bond. — Unsplash SAN FRANCISCO: Xbox president Sarah Bond on June 18 confirmed that her team is working on a new Xbox video game console. "We're investing in our next generation of hardware line-up across console, handheld, PC, cloud and accessories," Bond said in a video posted on X. Semiconductors powering the new hardware will be made in collaboration with Silicon Valley-based Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). "We've established a strategic, multi-year partnership with AMD to co-engineer silicon across a portfolio of devices, including our next generation Xbox consoles." Microsoft earlier this month unveiled its first Xbox-branded handheld gaming devices, touting them as a way to play its vast library of titles anywhere. Two "ROG Xbox Ally" models made in a partnership with Taiwan-based ASUS will be available by the year-end holiday season, Bond said during an online event showcasing games heading for the platform. Microsoft promised to disclose pricing and release date details for Xbox Ally in the coming months. Both Xbox handhelds appeared similar to Microsoft console controllers in terms of buttons, toggles and grips but looked elongated to provide room for center screens. "At Xbox, our vision is for you to play the games you want with the people you want, anywhere you want," Bond said in the video. – AFP
The Sun
2 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Microsoft working on next-gen Xbox video game console
SAN FRANCISCO: Xbox president Sarah Bond on Tuesday confirmed that her team is working on a new Xbox video game console. 'We're investing in our next generation of hardware line-up across console, handheld, PC, cloud and accessories,' Bond said in a video posted on X. Semiconductors powering the new hardware will be made in collaboration with Silicon Valley-based Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). 'We've established a strategic, multi-year partnership with AMD to co-engineer silicon across a portfolio of devices, including our next generation Xbox consoles.' Microsoft earlier this month unveiled its first Xbox-branded handheld gaming devices, touting them as a way to play its vast library of titles anywhere. Two 'ROG Xbox Ally' models made in a partnership with Taiwan-based ASUS will be available by the year-end holiday season, Bond said during an online event showcasing games heading for the platform. Microsoft promised to disclose pricing and release date details for Xbox Ally in the coming months. Both Xbox handhelds appeared similar to Microsoft console controllers in terms of buttons, toggles and grips but looked elongated to provide room for center screens. 'At Xbox, our vision is for you to play the games you want with the people you want, anywhere you want,' Bond said in the video.
Axios
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Axios
Waymo grows Bay Area and LA service zones
Waymo, the Silicon Valley-based robotaxi service, is widening its Bay Area footprint as part of a broader California push, the company announced Tuesday. Why it matters: Waymo's latest expansion in California underscores growing confidence in self-driving cars as it ramps up its rollout in more cities across the U.S. State of play: Starting Tuesday, riders in the South Bay cities of Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae and Burlingame can hail driverless rides via the Waymo One app. The company is also expanding its service area for riders in Palo Alto and Menlo Park. The announcement comes a few days after the company halted service in parts of San Francisco amid anti-Trump protests. Between the lines: Waymo will also launch service Wednesday in more of Los Angeles — including Playa del Rey, Ladera Heights, Echo Park, Silver Lake and all of Sunset Boulevard — bringing its LA coverage area to more than 120 square miles. The big picture: The 80-square-mile expansion in both LA and the Bay Area boosts its total California footprint to 250 square miles. By the numbers: The Alphabet-owned company is now averaging 250,000 weekly trips across its four markets in San Francisco, LA, Phoenix and Austin — a fivefold jump from just a year ago, according to spokesperson Chris Bonelli. The intrigue: Waymo will also soon become available in Miami, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta and is testing runs in cities including Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Nashville and Boston.
CNBC
10-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
42. Glean
Founders: Arvind Jain (CEO), T.R. Vishwanath, Tony Gentilcore, Piyush PrahladkaLaunched: 2019Headquarters: Palo Alto, CaliforniaFunding: $615.3 million (PitchBook)Valuation: $4.6 billion (PitchBook)Key Technologies: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, deep neural networks/deep learning, explainable AI, generative AI, machine learningIndustry: Enterprise technologyPrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 1 (No. 43 in 2024) Glean is a Silicon Valley-based company focused on analyzing enterprise data to create answers and automate work. Built with the ambitious goal of enabling employees to "find exactly what they need" across all workplace tools, Glean has quickly become a central player in the AI-enhanced knowledge and productivity management space. The company's core product is an AI-powered enterprise search platform that integrates with a wide array of workplace apps — Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Salesforce, fellow Disruptors Canva and Notion, and dozens more. Its founding team includes veterans from Google, Meta, and Dropbox. Rather than simply indexing documents, Glean uses natural language understanding and machine learning to create a personalized knowledge graph for each user. This allows for context-aware, intent-driven search results that reflect not only the content of documents but also organizational structure, user behavior, and collaborative relationships. While initially focused on tech industry customers, Glean has expanded to finance, retail and manufacturing. Glean recently released an agentic, AI-powered index of enterprise knowledge that can grab data from every worker's interactions no matter where they are located. With over 100 million Glean AI agent actions a year, it is helping the technology develop at a faster pace. "With every agent in your enterprise now centralized, grounded in enterprise context, fully secured, and built to scale, Glean makes moving agents from experimentation to production an out-of-the-box reality," Glean CEO Arvind Jain said in a blog post. In 2024, the company released Glean Apps and Glean APIs to aid its clients in building custom generative AI apps and agents. It also released updated prompting capabilities, which included advanced retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and multi-step prompts. This allowed for more precise and context-aware answers. Glean also expanded AI model support in partnership with fellow Disruptor Anthropic's Claude. Despite its strong momentum, Glean faces several challenges. The enterprise AI space has become increasingly crowded, with competition from Microsoft 365 Copilot, Amazon Q Business and ChatGPT Enterprise. Another wave of startups, and fellow Disruptors including Perplexity and Writer, also threaten its position. Still, many investors are betting on Glean as a key player in the future of enterprise technology. The company raised $250 million in a round led by Altimeter and DST Global in September 2024 at a valuation of $4.6 billion. Craft Ventures, Sapphire Ventures and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 became new investors in the company at the time. It also added Citibank as an investor earlier last year, which has conducted a pilot with its technology.
