Tech Brew Ride Home - Fri. 07/26 – SearchGPT

Starting point is 00:00:00 On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the Tech meme right home for Friday, July 26, 2024. I'm Brian McCullough today. OpenAI takes on Google search directly. Another Hollywood strike with the same underlying causes. We know absolutely everything about the new Pixel 9 series already. Is WhatsApp finally catching on in the U.S.? And of course, the weekend long-read suggestions? Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Interesting strategic move here for obvious reasons. OpenAI has unveiled Search GPT, a search tool powered by GPT. that can organize links and summarize its findings, available as a prototype to 10,000 users at launch.

Starting point is 00:01:18 Quoting the Verge. The search engine starts with a large text box and asks the user, what are you looking for? But rather than returning a plain list of links, search GPT tries to organize and make sense of them. In one example from OpenAI, the search engine summarizes its findings on music festivals and then presents short descriptions of the events

Starting point is 00:01:34 followed by an attribution link. In another example, it explains when to plant tomatoes before breaking down different varieties of the plant. After the results appear, you can ask follow-up questions or click the sidebar to open other relevant links. There's also a feature called Visual Answers, but OpenAI didn't get back to The Verge before publication on how exactly that works.

Starting point is 00:01:55 Search GPT is just a prototype for now. The service is powered by the GPT4 family of models and will only be accessible to 10,000 test users at launch, OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Woods tells the verge. Wood says that OpenAI is working with third-party partners and using direct content feeds to build its search results. The goal is to eventually integrate the search features directly into chat GPT. It's the start of what could become a meaningful threat to Google, which has rushed to

Starting point is 00:02:22 bake in AI features across its search engine, fearing that users will flock to competing products that offer the tools first. It also puts OpenAI in more direct competition with the startup perplexity, which builds itself as an AI answer engine. Perplexity has recently come under criticism for an AI summaries feature that publishers claim was directly ripping off their work. Open AI seems to have taken note of the blowback and says it's taking a markedly different approach. In a blog post, the company emphasized that SearchGPT was developed in collaboration with various news partners, which include organizations like the owners of the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press and Vox Media, the parent company of the verge. News partners gave

Starting point is 00:02:58 valuable feedback and we continue to seek their input, Wood says. Publishers will have a way to manage how they appear in OpenAI search features, the company writes. They can opt out of having their content used to train OpenAI's models and still be surfaced in search, end quote. More on those media partnerships from one of them, the Wall Street Journal, quote, In recent months, Open AI representatives have shown mockups of the feature to publishers who have grown increasingly uneasy about the way AI could reshape their newsrooms and newsgathering amid recent declines in online traffic for many publishers. Publishers are broadly concerned that AI-powered search tools from OpenAI or Alphabet's

Starting point is 00:03:34 Google will serve up complete answers based on news content, eliminating the need to click on an article link and starving publishers of online traffic and advertising revenue. It isn't clear how much traffic a product such as SearchGPT could send publishers way. We expect to learn more about user behavior in the test, and OpenAI spokeswoman said. Many of the discussions OpenAI had with publishers about the search tool were focused on how their news content will be used in answers to queries. Thursday, OpenAI said publishers can manage how their content appears in Search GPT. In a statement included as part of OpenAI's press release, Thursday News Corp's CEO Robert Thompson said CEO Sam Altman and other OpenAI leaders understood that any AI-powered search must rely on, quote, the highest quality, most reliable information furnished by trusted sources, end quote.

Starting point is 00:04:18 For now, search GPT will be tested as a separate product, but eventually OpenAI plans to integrate it within its main chat GPT service. News publishers and creators will be among those first few testers, and OpenAI will offer a wait list where U.S. users can sign up to try the tool, end quote. SAG AFTER announced a new strike starting Friday today against major video game companies including EA after talks for a new contract broke down over, you'll never guess, AI protections, quoting the Associated Press. The strike, the second for video game voice actors and motion capture performers under the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, will begin at 12.01 a.m. Friday. The move comes after nearly two years of negotiations with gaming, giants including divisions of Activision, Warner Brothers, and Walt Disney over a new interactive media agreement. SAG AFRA negotiators say gains have been made over wages and job safety in the

Starting point is 00:05:18 video game contract, but that the two sides remain split over the regulation of generative AI. A spokesperson for the video game producers, Audrey Kuling, said the studios offered AI protections, but SAG After's negotiating committee said that the studio's definition of who constitutes a performer is key to understanding the issue of who would be protected. Without guardrails, some companies could train AI to replicate an actor's voice or create a digital replica of their likeness without consent or fair compensation, the union said. We strike as a matter of last resort. We have given this process absolutely as much time as we responsibly can. Rodriguez told reporters, we have exhausted the other possibilities, and that is why

Starting point is 00:05:56 we're doing it now, end quote. There is a pixel event coming up, but it's basically completely been spoiled now. what with that previous photo leak and now a full spec dump. Quoting 9-1-Mobiles. Google Pixel 9 series comes in new colors like dark gray, light gray, off-white, rumored to be called porcelain white and pink. The sides are polished or glossy while the back panel is soft matte. The new camera island gives these phones a distinct look.

Starting point is 00:06:29 This island appears to have an obvious protrusion from the back panel. The pro models could have three lenses and the regular pixel could have two lenses, more on the sensors later. The camera island is shaped like a rectangle with rounded corners on the Pixel 9 Pro fold. On the non-foldable Pixel 9, it is oblong shaped. The front side has a punchhole cut out for the selfie snapper. The surrounding bezels also look negligible. Screen size.

Starting point is 00:06:53 The Pixel 9 has a 6.3-inch Actua display. The Pixel 9 Pro has a 6.3 inch, and the XL model has a 6.8 inch superactua display. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a 6.3-inch Actua front cover screen and an 8.5. 8-inch Super Actua Flex display inner screen. Rear cameras. The Pixel 9 has a 50-Magipixel wide camera and a 48-migixel ultra-wide snapper. The Pixel 9 Pro and XL variant has a 50-Magixel main camera, a 48-Magpixel telephoto sensor. The Pixel 9 Profold has a 48 megapixel main camera, a 10.5 megapixel ultra-wide snapper, and a 10.8 megapixel telephoto sensor.

Starting point is 00:07:33 Processors. All 4 Pixel9 series phones will be powered by TensorFlowG4 chipsets. The Pixel 9 ships with up to 12 gigabytes of RAM, while the Pixel 9 Pro Pro XL and Pro Fold have up to 16 gigabytes of RAM. Google promises seven years of security updates and pixel drops, software updates with new pixel exclusive features. You will get emergency SOS with the new pixels that shoot crisis alerts about nearby fires or floods. It also claims to thwart malware and fishing scams. The new pixel phones will have pixel screenshots, which helps you, quote, save info that you want to remember later like events, places, and more. You can open pixel screenshots later to find what you're forgetting or missing. In a way, it's like a watered-down Microsoft recall feature. Google's Gemini Advanced AI model will be bundled for free for one year, end quote.

Starting point is 00:08:25 California's Supreme Court has upheld Prop 22, allowing Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other companies to keep classifying California drivers as independent contractors. Quoting Bloomberg, the unanimous ruling upholding California's Proposition 22, which received majority voter support in 2020 was released Thursday. The favorable ruling for the gig economy companies removes what investors regarded as a major regulatory overhang. Had the judge ruled to invalidate Prop 22 that companies would have faced the threat of millions of dollars in additional costs to pay drivers if they were to be reclassified as employees, upending their business models and potentially raising user costs in one of their biggest U.S. markets. Shares of Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart all spiked on the news with lift jumping most by 7.4%. Justice Goodwin H. Liu wrote Thursday that California's Constitution

Starting point is 00:09:15 doesn't bar voters from passing legislative initiatives on matters impacting workers' compensation, the issue that this case specifically centered on. It would unduly restrict the initiative power to give the legislature what would essentially be a first-mover advantage, precluding the electorate from undoing any action the legislature takes pursuant to, quote, the workers' compensation system, Lou wrote, end quote. Mattis says WhatsApp now has more than 100 million monthly active users in the United States, and that more than 50% of WhatsApp users in this country are using it on an iPhone. WhatsApp has more than 2 billion monthly active users globally, but this is the point. It's never really been that big here in the U.S., and I'll anecdotally admit that I'm starting to see that change.

Starting point is 00:10:04 I've had WhatsApp for years just to communicate with overseas contacts on their platform of choice, but I've seen more and more U.S.-based people pinging me on WhatsApp when they wouldn't have done so before. Quoting TechCrunch. WhatsApp is a popular app worldwide with more than 2 billion active users monthly. The company has historically focused on countries like India, which is WhatsApp's largest user base with more than 500 million monthly active users and Brazil and Indonesia. WhatsApp has recently ramped up its marketing push in the U.S. in the past few years. WhatsApp has placed ad campaigns, placements in Times Square, and TV spots,

Starting point is 00:10:39 emphasizing privacy and end-to-end encryption protection. Most recently it started a national campaign about WhatsApp by bringing back some of the cast of the TV show Modern Family. Just like Google, meta has emphasized in its marketing the differences between green bubble and blue bubble devices caused by Apple's eye message. But now that Apple has adopted rich communication services, Android users can send and receive high-quality media files and have options to look at typing indicators and read receipts. The messages will still be green, though, according to screenshots of Apple's website. However, Meta is still pushing its cross-platform app by highlighting some other features such as polls, high-quality video calling, and reactions. The company is capping off the announcement

Starting point is 00:11:17 with another marketing campaign by placing a 200-foot bubble between the Apple and Samsung stores in the Americana Mall in Los Angeles, end quote. Time for the weekend long-reach suggestions. First up, something else I can report on anecdotally after our recent travels. Bloomberg takes a look at a dip in rental profit and a shift to longer stays, which is leading some U.S. hosts and property managers to circumvent Airbnb, including by asking guests to book directly. Quote, it's getting harder to be an Airbnb host in the U.S. at least. Through May of this year, year-over-year earnings for U.S. host has declined in 22 of the past 28 months, according to analytics firm AirDNA.

Starting point is 00:12:05 The declines have been moderating in recent months, and U.S. host earnings have risen in three of the first five months of this year. Many markets have been saturated with short-term rentals and demand for large vacation homes is weakening because travelers are again considering competitively priced hotels and overseas trips. Several key cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix and San Diego have restricted short-term rentals locking hosts out of the market. Some hosts also complain that Airbnb has made it harder to make money with its refund policies and the algorithms it uses to decide which properties show up at the top of its search results. High interest rates, meanwhile, have made the notion of simply selling properties and moving on, less of an option for many property owners.

Starting point is 00:12:45 The headwinds are inspiring hosts such as Vasquez and the people who attended his conference to try to cut out Airbnb altogether. In part, this is what always happens when people rely on internet platforms to make a living. It's akin to Uber drivers asking passengers to call them directly the next time they need a ride, or YouTube influencers and TikTok celebrities cutting side deals with brands to secure advertising income. they won't have to split with the platforms. Who likes a middleman? On Airbnb, there's a specific opportunity in the shift to mid-term rentals, stays of longer than 30 days but shorter than the year-long leases people sign for their primary apartments. Attracting a steady stream of people to rent an apartment once or twice a week essentially requires a service like Airbnb. If you're only looking for a few

Starting point is 00:13:26 renters a year, it becomes more reasonable to find them yourself. In practice, though, the strategy is often a way to supplement Airbnb income rather than replace it entirely. Vivian Yip, an Austin-based host who came to Vasquez's conference, began this shift more than three years ago. The initial inspiration came at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when the Airbnb canceled host's bookings on their behalf without full compensation. I realized how exposed my business was, Yip says, so that became an aha moment for me that I needed to do a better job of diversifying my business and revenue, end quote. Then from new scientists, physicists may now have a way to make Element 120, the heaviest, ever. Quote, Thonensen says that creating unbinillium would have deep implications for our understanding of the strong force, which determines when heavy elements are stable or not.

Starting point is 00:14:16 Studying unbellinium could help us understand how exotic elements may have formed in the early universe. The heaviest human-made elements so far, Element 118, also known as Oganeson, has two more protons than Livermoryum, and was first synthesized in 2002. In the intervening years, researchers have struggled to make atoms any heavier because that requires smashing together already very heavy elements, which tend to be unstable themselves. This is really, really difficult business, Thunsen says, but the new experiment makes the LBNL researchers optimistic. They plan to start the experiment aimed at creating Element 120 in 2025 once they have replaced the plutonium target with the heavier element Californium, end quote. Finally, from the LA Times, the headline says it all.

Starting point is 00:15:01 he says he invented Flamen Hot Cheetos. He didn't, said Frito Lay. Now he's suing, quote. In the 2021 article, however, Frito Lay said in a statement, none of our records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the flamen hot test market. The company added, that doesn't mean we don't celebrate Richard, but the facts do not support the urban legend, end quote. The lawsuit lays out Montanias's version of the story in which he took a batch of unflavored Cheetos back to his home kitchen to experiment with different seasonings. According to the lawsuit, he took inspiration from Elote, a traditional Mexican street food. Quote, armed with nothing but a $3 tie, prototype, and entrepreneurial spirit,

Starting point is 00:15:40 he requested and received a meeting with none other than Frito Le, PepsiCo, CEO himself, Roger Enrico, the lawsuit says, quote, they loved it. Montagnas met resistance working with the research and development team while creating a spicy seasoning for mass production, according to the lawsuit, quote, dissatisfied that Mr. Montanias, a poor, uneducated Mexican plant worker and janitor had successfully developed a new product. Frito Lay's R&D personnel completely shut out Mr. Montagnas from the development process. The lawsuit says, separately a similar but unrelated Flamen Hot Cheetos test products went out

Starting point is 00:16:14 around 1990 in Detroit, Chicago and other markets in the central United States, managed by a separate division within Frito Lay. The lawsuit says Montanias was unaware of those test products according to the complaint, end quote. No weekend bonus episodes for you this week. Enjoy your checks notes. Brat summer, I guess. Talk to you on Monday.

Tech Brew Ride Home - Fri. 07/26 – SearchGPT

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.