Weekly Tech Recap: This week’s biggest tech stories include ChatGPT receiving the GPT-4 Turbo update and Meta testing out its AI chatbot
The world of technology has witnessed a tornado of activity, such as OpenAI updating ChatGPT, Meta testing its AI chatbot on Instagram and WhatsApp, and Google Gemini AI confirmed to be arriving on Oppo and OnePlus devices. Without further ado, let’s examine the technological advancements that made news this week.
1) Instagram and WhatsApp will soon get a meta AI chatbot: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is testing its generative AI chatbot, dubbed “Meta AI,” on Instagram. The chatbot will soon be available on WhatsApp and Instagram. Meta AI will be able to create poetry, create graphics, and respond to other queries with just a single text command, just like other chatbots available on the market. Remarkably, Meta has begun testing its AI chatbot for specific consumers in India and other nations as of late.
“Our generative AI-powered experiences are under development in various phases, and we’re testing a range of them publicly in a limited capacity,” Meta stated in a statement to Engadget, confirming the development.
2) Oppo and OnePlus smartphones to receive Gemini AI: On Friday, the Chinese smartphone manufacturers Oppo and OnePlus revealed that Google’s Gemini AI models will soon be included in their products. Notably, the two firms clarified later that the devices from Oppo and OnePlus will receive “Gemini models” after first claiming that their smartphones will have Gemini Ultra 1.0 integration.
Oppo and OnePlus announced together that they are collaborating with Google to incorporate cloud AI into their next products. This implies that consumers will be able to use AI for tasks such as creating audio, creating social media material, and summarizing news items. The corporations stated they are collaborating with other partners to deliver “groundbreaking AI experiences” to their users, without providing any additional details.
3) Apple is finally simplifying iPhone repairs: By enabling users and independent service providers to employ repurposed Apple components in repairs, Apple is at last simplifying iPhone repairs. The new procedure, according to the tech giant with headquarters in Cupertino, would provide customers with more options and extend the life of products while also assisting in preserving user privacy, security, and safety.
Notably, ‘parts pairing’—a procedure that compares the device’s serial number to a new part sold by Apple—prevented Apple customers from using used parts to fix their iPhones. In other words, if an iPhone user swapped out their display or camera for a used component, they would get a message from Apple stating that the new hardware might break Face ID and Touch ID and that Apple was unable to validate the newly installed component.
4) Google is making Pixel’s AI image editing features available to all users: starting on May 15, Google is adding several AI-powered features to its Photos app. Additionally, Google is making available to all compatible devices its AI-powered Magic Editor. When the Pixel 8 series was introduced last year, the potent tool was one of its main selling features. However, it appears Google wants users to become used to its tool amid the flood of AI-powered image editors available on the market.
Google does note, though, that free users will only be able to make 10 updates per month, and that to make more edits, a Google One membership with at least 2TB of storage would be needed. But Pixel users will still be able to create an infinite number of image edits.
5) Bill Gates and Sam Altman talk about AI: On his podcast, Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, about artificial intelligence broadly and comprehensively. Gates expressed his doubts about artificial intelligence replacing him at work during the conversation. “Hey, I’m good at working on malaria, and malaria eradication, and getting smart people and applying resources to that,” he remarked. “That gives me a lot of excitement.” The moment the machine tells me, “Bill, go play pickleball; I’ve eradicated malaria.” If you simply consider it slowly, then this is a philosophically perplexing situation.”
6) ChatGPT acquires GPT-4 Turbo update: A new version of ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is described as a direct, less verbose, and more conversational language generative AI chatbot. It should be noted that the new version of ChatGPT is limited to paying users, such as those who have subscriptions to ChatGPT Plus, Team, Enterprise, or API.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), OpenAI announced the most recent update, saying, “Our new GPT-4 Turbo is now available to paid ChatGPT users.” Our proficiency in writing, arithmetic, logic, and coding has increased.
