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Abu Dhabi-backed firm in talks to invest in OpenAI chip venture Abu Dhabi's state-backed investment firm MGX is in early stage discussions to invest in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI's chip venture, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing two sources. MGX, a technology investment company with Abu Dhabi's Mubadala and artificial intelligence firm G42 as founding partners, was only launched earlier this week. MGX and OpenAI did not immediately reply to Reuters' request for comment. The report follows an earlier FT story that said Singapore's Temasek Holdings was in talks to invest in OpenAI. The UAE’s AI minister Omar Sultan Al Olama told the FT that he also sees xAI owner Elon Musk doing something AI-related in the country. "I don’t think it's far out for him (Musk) to do something here,” Olama told the FT. AI startups attracted one out of every three dollars invested last year in the United States, and OpenAI's ChatGPT grabbed the spotlight as startups r...

Adobe forecasts downbeat second-quarter revenue Adobe forecast second-quarter revenue below analysts' estimates on Thursday following stiff competition and weak demand for its artificial intelligence-integrated photography, illustration and video software amid a tough economy. The company's shares fell more than 10% after the bell. Companies and individuals have shifted focus to cutting costs amid high interest rates and a tough economy, pressuring growth at the Photoshop software maker that has been investing in AI tools to attract more users. Adobe has incorporated AI features into its offerings such as document reader Acrobat, Photoshop and Premiere Pro. The company said last month it has introduced a new AI assistant for Reader and Acrobat. The company also faces competition from startups such as Stability AI and Midjourney, which offer AI services similar to Adobe such as generating images using text prompts. Adobe forecast second-quarter revenue between $5.25 billion an...

Oracle adds generative AI features to finance, supply chain software Oracle (ORCL.N) on Thursday said it is adding generative artificial intelligence features across its corporate software lineup, intensifying competition with Microsoft and other technology firms to sell the technology to businesses customers. Oracle's cloud-based software offerings are central to many businesses in running their finances, supply chains and human resources departments, and the Austin, Texas-based company said that the new features are designed to save time for those people by generating reports, summarising complicated data or drafting job descriptions, among other tasks. For Oracle, a late comer to the cloud computing market, the features are a core part of its efforts to catch up to corporate software rivals such as Microsoft (MSFT.O), which is also trying to woo business with its "Copilot" AI features. Oracle has spent billions of dollars on Nvidia chips and partnered with Cohere, an...

Bluesky to let users pick their moderation filters Bluesky will soon let its users customise their own moderation filters for their feed using an open-source moderation tool called Ozone. This will aid users and developers in seeing how they can manage and moderate their content with additional services. Though the company already has a dedicated content moderation team with set rules in place that apply to all users, Ozone will help users expand what’s moderated to their liking, allowing them to subscribe to additional moderation services that label, annotate, or hide certain types of posts. Bluesky explained the tool with an example where the moderation tool could be used to prevent images of certain objects, like spiders, from appearing on user feeds. If any image does still slide through to the feed, it can be reported for review. “You can build all sorts of different moderation services and customize your experience to create the kind of community you want,” Bluesky CEO Jay Grab...

Google restricts AI chatbot Gemini from answering queries on global elections Google is restricting AI chatbot Gemini from answering questions about the global elections set to happen this year, the Alphabet-owned firm said on Tuesday, as it looks to avoid potential missteps in the deployment of the technology. The update comes at a time when advancements in generative AI, including image and video generation, have fanned concerns of misinformation and fake news among the public, prompting governments to regulate the technology. When asked about elections such as the upcoming US presidential match-up between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Gemini responds with "I'm still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google Search". Google had announced restrictions within the US in December, saying they would come into effect ahead of the election. "In preparation for the many elections happening around the world in 2024 and out of an abundance of cau...

Samsung's new midrange Galaxy A55 has improved security, features In the latest addition to the midrange Samsung series, the company has launched the Galaxy A55 and A35 in its A-series lineup, the brand's bestselling phones. The two Samsungs boast the Knox Vault, which is a security feature available for the first time on its A-series devices. Samsung's Knox Vault is designed to protect sensitive data, like lockscreen credentials and encryption keys, from software and hardware attacks. The security feature isolates sensitive data from the device's main processors and memory to ensure its protection. In a report by Android Police, the A55 has a metal frame, upgraded from the plastic one used in the previous phone series, the Galaxy A54. Due to be available from March 20, the Galaxy A55 wil start at $524 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage $579 for 256GB of storage. The A35 will start at $415 for 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, while the 8GB/128GB model costs $435, an...

EU Commission's use of Microsoft software breached privacy rules, watchdog says The European Commission's use of Microsoft software breached EU privacy rules and the bloc's executive also failed to implement adequate safeguards for personal data transferred to non-EU countries, the EU privacy watchdog said on Monday. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) ordered the Commission to take measures to comply with privacy rules and to halt data transfer to the US company and subsidiaries located in third countries which do not have privacy deals with the EU, setting a deadline of Dec. 9 for both orders. The EDPS's decision followed a three-year probe triggered by worries about the transfer of personal data to the United States following revelations in 2013 by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass US surveillance. "The Commission has failed to provide appropriate safeguards to ensure that personal data transferred outside the EU/EEA are affor...