Tech Brew Ride Home - Mon. 10/07 – Apple Intelligence Gets A Date

Episode Date: October 7, 2024

We finally have a date for Apple Intelligence. Meta has a new text to video AI model. Google could soon drop under 50% in the search ads market. More hope for level three automated driving. And how AI bots could revolutionize online dating. Sponsors: Miro.com Links: Apple Slowly Moves Away From Its Annual Product Release Strategy (Bloomberg) Meta Unveils AI Video Generator, Taking On OpenAI and Google (Bloomberg) Google’s Grip on Search Slips as TikTok and AI Startup Mount Challenge (WSJ) GM is working on an eyes-off, hands-off driving system (TechCrunch) Uber and Lyft drivers use Teslas as makeshift robotaxis, raising safety concerns (Reuters) Grindr Aims to Build the Dating World’s First AI ‘Wingman’ (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 from Monday, October 7th, 2024. I'm Brian McCullough today. We finally have a date for Apple Intelligence.

Meta has a new text-to-video AI model. Google could soon drop under 50% in the search ads market. More hope for Level 3 automated driving for me and how AI bots could revolutionize online dating. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. All right, I've got a date for you, or Mark German does. Mark says Apple is aiming to debut iOS 18.1 and Apple Intellectual. on October 28th, they're also probably going to unveil a new iPad mini and some new Macs later

this month, as rumored. Some of those, though, could ship as soon as November 1st. But look, if Mark is right, this is the Apple product roadmap for the next year or so, quoting Bloomberg. I expect Apple to announce the following products around the end of October. The company is currently aiming to then release at least some of them on Friday, November 1st. A low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M-4 chip, a high-end 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M-4-chips, revamped Mac Mini in M-4 and M-4-P-P-Pro-chip configurations, a refreshed IMac with an M-4-chip, refreshed iPad Mini, but I expect Apple to kick off 2025 with several other new devices in the first half of that year. 13 and 15-inch MacBook Air models with M4 chips, refreshed 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models, a revamped iPhone SE, new magic keyboards for the updated iPad Airline, and an upgraded Air Tag Item Finder accessory.

That's a lot of stuff. New versions of the Mac Studio and Mac Pro with M4 chips are also in development, but they take longer to arrive. I expect the Mac Studio launch to be closer to the middle of the year with the Mac Pro going on sales sometime in the second half of 2025. And of course, we should expect the iPhone 17 line and the new Apple watches in late 2025, along with M5 Max. The company has been clear that Apple Intelligence will be arriving in October as part of the iOS 18.1 operating system, but now I can provide a little more detail on when in the month it's supposed to arrive, Monday, October 28th.

That means new iPhone buyers will have to wait a few more weeks to get the most hyped component of their devices. I'm told that Apple is taking its time with the rollout to ensure that major bugs are eliminated, and it can support all the new traffic on its AI cloud servers, end quote. Yes, there are rumors that you will have to sign up for a wait list to be able to use Apple intelligence, at least at first, as part of that, I guess, getting the rollout rate. We shall see. Late on Friday, meta-announced MovieGen, a suite of AI models for generating realistic video and audio clips. Movie-Gen video has 30 billion parameters, and MovieGen audio has 13 billion. Quoting Bloomberg. Meta's product, MovieGen, can create a new video up to 16 seconds long based on a text prompt.

It can also use such prompts to generate audio, for, or edit an existing video, or even use a photo to create a customized video featuring a real person. MovieGen is only available for some internal employees and a handful of outside partners, including some filmmakers, though the social media company plans to build the product into its existing apps sometime next year. Executives are still discussing how best to implement this integration, but the aim is for MovieGen to encourage more people to create or edit video posts, said Connor Hayes, a Meta Vice President focused on generative AI products. It will be, quote, fun to use, helpful for creators, good for overall engagement in the apps, but we don't have a concrete product plan of what it will look like at this point, he said. Meta is waiting to roll out MovieGen for several reasons,

including the technology's efficiency. It currently takes tens of minutes to generate a video based on a text prompt too long for general consumers who are likely to use this on their phone, Hayes said. But Meta is also, quote, sorting out a bunch of really important problems around safety and responsibility, Hayes said, including how to handle personalized videos so that a user can't create an inappropriate or unflattering video featuring another person without their consent. That's going to be probably the most important problem to solve before we would make the personalization capability available to folks broadly, end quote. Meta AI, the company's chatbot, has almost 500 million monthly users.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month, and is also available as a voice assistant and a pair of Rayband-branded smart glasses meta-developed. More advanced augmented reality glasses called Orion are in the prototype stage and include several features powered by AI technology, end quote. E-marketer expects Google's share of the U.S. search ad market to drop below 50% next year for the first time in more than 10 years as Amazon, Apple, and others make gains in this market. Quoting the journal. For years, the tech. giant has seemed invincible in this corner of the ad market, which is the foundation of its business. Now rivals are beginning to eat into its lead, and new offerings fueled by the rise of artificial intelligence and social video, threatened to reshape the landscape. Tick-Tock,

the wildly popular short-form video platform, has recently started allowing brands to target ads based on users' search queries, a direct challenge to Google's core business. Perplexity, an AI search startup backed by Jeff Bezos plans to introduce ads later this month under its AI-generated answers. Until now, it has made revenue mostly from a $20 a month subscription offering that grants access to more powerful AI technology. The new initiatives add to the pressure on Google from the rise of Amazon, which has taken a chunk of search ad spending.

Many consumers begin product searches on Amazon as opposed to Google. Google's share of the U.S. search ad market is expected to drop below 50% next year for the first time in over a decade, according to the research firm e-marketer. Amazon is expected to have 22.3% of the market this year, with 17.6% growth, compared with Google's 50.5% share and its 7.6% growth. This space has been ripe for a shake-up for a long period of time, said Brandon Alberts, head of search and commerce at the ad buying firm, Dentu. Google remains in an enviable position, though, far ahead of the pack in the search market, with plenty of resources to countermoves by its rivals. Still, advertisers are eager for more competition. For the first time

in probably 15 years, we will have a viable alternative to Google, said Ni Ahin, a veteran digital advertising executive. Targeting search budgets is a logical step for TikTok up to now. The company has offered brands the option of displaying ads near search results, but advertisers couldn't target their ads based on the keywords in user searches. Advertisers remain drawn to TikTok because the platform's strong appeal to younger adults' interest that hasn't diminished, despite the U.S. government's efforts to force the app to sever ties with its Chinese owner or face a potential ban. While TikTok's U.S. ad revenue is expected to jump 38.1% this year, it only has 3.4% share of the U.S. digital ad market, according to e-marketer. In a pitch to advertisers

viewed by the journal, TikTok said, search behaviors have evolved and added that the platform had global daily search volume of over 3 billion searches, with 23% of users searching for something within 30 seconds of opening the app, end quote. Long time listeners will feel like I'm a broken record on this, but an executive says that GM is working on a level three eyes-off, hands-off driving system, though they did not provide a timeline for when it might become publicly available. Again, this is all I need, the ability to watch a movie or read a book while on the highway. Quoting TechCrunch, these hands-off, eyes-off systems, also known in the industry as Level 3 or L3, are not self-driving cars like the ones Waymo

operates, which are considered Level 4. Instead, they typically operate only on highways and at reduced speeds, and unlike a robotaxie, the driver is still required to take control if needed. Despite these constraints, a hands-off, eyes-off system would push GM beyond nearly every other automaker that offers an advanced driver-assistance system. The majority of automakers today offer what is known as Level 2, a system that automates some of the driving, but still requires the driver to pay attention. Tesla's autopilot, and even its full self-driving software system, is still considered a Level 2 system, along with GM's Super Cruise and Ford's Blue cruise systems. Today, only Mercedes-Benz offers a limited hands-off eyes-off system called

Drive Pilot in the United States. Super Cruise, I think, is an industry-leading L2 solution for hands-off eyes-on, Dave Richardson, Senior Vice President of Software and Services Engineering at GM told TechCrunch in a wide-ranging interview, we're looking aggressively to make that an L3 solution where you don't even have to look at the road anymore. Supercruz uses a combination of LiDAR map data, high-precision GPS, cameras and radar sensors, as well as a driver-att tension system, which monitors the person behind the wheel to ensure they're watching the road. When the system is activated, it will accelerate or break to maintain a selected following distance from a vehicle ahead, steer to keep its lane position, and make automatic lane changes to

pass slower traffic. While Supercruz was the industry's first true hands-free ADAS on the market when it launched in 2017, GM wasn't viewed as a dominant player because it severely limited access to the system. For three years, the system was only available on one model, the Cadillac CT6, and was restricted to certain divided highways. Today, Supercrues is widely available across GM brands like Chevrolet and GMC. But by the end of 2025, GM has said Supercrues will be available on about 750,000 miles of roads in the United States and Canada, including rural and minor highways that often connect smaller cities and townships. Richardson didn't provide a timeline for when such a system might become publicly available, and he played coy as to exactly how far the company

has progressed in this mission. When we have, have L3, I do think that's meaningful. I think that's a game changer, Richardson said. The crux, of course, is knowing when such a system is fully developed. Launching anything earlier could turn off consumers, Richardson noted. If you don't quite trust it and it kicks you out, then it's sort of like the analogy I give sometimes is, you're driving with your 15-year-old, that's just learning how to drive. You don't really trust them, and it almost becomes a little bit more stressful, end quote. But why wait, though? According to Reuters, some U.S. ride-hailing drivers are already using Tesla's with FSD as makeshift robotaxies, saying FSD lets them work longer hours

by reducing stress amid various other safety concerns. Tesla CEO Elon Musk aims to show off plans for a robot taxi or self-driving car used for ride-hailing services on October 10th, and he has long contemplated a Tesla-run taxi network of autonomous vehicles owned by individuals. Do-It Yourself versions, however, are already proliferating, according to 11 ride-hale drivers who use Tesla's full self-driving software. Many say the software, which costs $99 per month, has limitations, but that they use it because it can help reduce drivers' stress

and therefore allow them to work longer hours and earn more money. Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft responded to questions about FSD by saying drivers are responsible for safety. Uber in particular cited its community guidelines. Drivers are expected to maintain an environment that makes riders feel safe, even if driving practices don't violate the law, end quote. Uber also cited instructions by Tesla which alert drivers who use FSD to have their hands on the wheel and be ready to take over at any moment. Lyft said drivers agree that they will not engage in

reckless behavior. The drivers who spoke to Reuters also described critical shortcomings with the technology, including sudden, unexplained acceleration and braking. Some have quit using it in complex situations such as airport pickups, navigating parking lots, and construction zones. I do use it, but I'm not completely comfortable with it, said Sergio Avedean, a ride-hailing driver in Los Angeles and a senior contributor on the ride-share guy YouTube channel and online community of ride-hailing drivers with nearly 200,000 subscribers. Avedayan avoids using FSD while carrying passengers, based on his conversations with fellow drivers on the channel.

However, he estimates that 30 to 40 percent of Tesla ride-hale drivers across the U.S. use FSD regularly. Tesla, Uber, and Lyft do not have ways to tell that a driver is both working for a ride-haling company and using FSD industry experts said. while almost all major automakers have a version of partial automation technology, most are limited in their capabilities and restricted for use on highways. On the other hand, Tesla says FSD helps the vehicle drive itself almost anywhere with active driver supervision but minimal intervention, end quote.

Finally, today, if AI is invading social media, it seems inevitable that it will one day have a role in online dating as well. Grindr is testing an AI wingman that would let users track conversations with their favorite users, recommend long-term relationship candidates, and more. Quoting the journal. Bumble and Match Group-owned Tinder and Hinge, which are designed for facilitating long-term connections between men and women, have released AI-based features like automated photo selection for profiles and filtering of fake accounts, but they haven't officially committed to AI agents that do things like setting up a date without human intervention. When it's fully up

and running by 2027 at the latest, Grinder said, the wingman feature will be available as an assistant for its nearly 14 million app users, helping them keep track of conversations with favorite users, recommend long-term relationship candidates, and suggest dating spots. Down the line, it will take on more agentic AI functions like making restaurant reservations or even dating another AI agent. Chief Executive George Erison said in an interview, for instance, a wingman could have a conversation with another wingman after their humans have matched so that by the time the humans actually go on a date, they have a, quote, robust view of each other, Erison said.

Bot-to-bot conversation not only saves the humans' time, it might also spot dating deal-breakers early on, he said. The wingman, which users would interact with like a chatbot, is currently being tested by a small group of users. But the group is slated to expand to roughly 1,000 by the end of the year and 10,000. Next year, Erison said. I always knew that AI was going to be a really big deal, and as we saw where generative AI was going, I realized a lot of this extension stuff can actually be done by AI, Erison said. One of Grindr's biggest limitations in building an AI agent was preserving user privacy,

Erison said. Important for any company, it's critical for Grindr users who aren't public about their sexuality or who live in countries where it's illegal or taboo to be gay. Another reason for caution, precise movements of millions of users of Grindr have been collected from a digital advertising network and made available for sale since at least 2017, though in 2020, Grindr cut off the flow of location data to any ad networks, end quote. Nothing more for you today. Talk to you tomorrow.