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Meta’s ChatGPT rival goes public
Facebook-parent Meta announced the release of its next generation AI model Llama 2 this week, with Microsoft as its “preferred partner.” While Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Google did not provide extensive details about the training data sets for their ChatGPT and Bard chatbots respectively, Meta pushed for an open-source approach and said its model would allow users to help combat issues.
Llama 2 will be released for free to both commercial users and researchers. However, the Big Tech giant did not detail exactly what kind of data it used to train Llama 2. LLaMA stands for Large Language Model Meta AI and the first version of the model was released in February.
Anthropic CEO to testify before Senate
Dario Amodei, CEO of the Google-backed AI startup Anthropic, will testify before a U.S. Senate hearing on July 25 regarding the regulation of AI technology. The hearing is titled “Oversight of AI: Principles for Regulation” and will also see the participation of professors Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russell. The hearing will likely look into how the boom in generative AI this year affects the future of workers, consumers, and society at large. Anthropic has developed and trained an AI bot named Claude.
The Anthropic CEO previously met President Joe Biden in May, where he and the leaders of other AI tech firms were warned that their products and services needed to have safeguards before being released to the public.
Global smartphone market dips
The sell-through of the global smartphone market dropped by 8% year-on-year and fell by 5% quarter-on-quarter, according to data by research firm Counterpoint. With a 22% share, South Korean electronics giant Samsung dominated the market, with Apple and Xiaomi occupying the second and third spots, respectively. However, the premium segment enjoyed a lift as more customers looked to invest in a high-quality gadget, the report said.
Apple grew 50% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2023. The iPhone maker has invested in setting up retail locations in India and reaching out to new customers even as the company explores the possibility of manufacturing its phones in the country.
