WWDC24, Google x Magic Leap, and a Federal Investigation of Microsoft

Worldwide Developers Conference 2024

How’d Ya Like Them Apples?

As always, the WWDC keynote came with some groundbreaking new announcements from Apple. Perhaps the biggest news from the conference is Apple’s decision to partner with OpenAI and integrate ChatGPT into writing systems and Siri. Elon Musk’s response to the partnership raised some eyebrows on X, as he calls for a ban on Apple devices at his companies in light of the new alliance.

Elon’s Response

Beyond collaboration with OpenAI, Apple also made announcements about their own AI tool, Apple Intelligence. New AI integrations include:

Control Actions in Apps

• Siri's Integration with Apps: Siri can perform actions within various apps on behalf of the user. This means users can ask Siri to carry out specific tasks in compatible apps without manually navigating through the app themselves.

• Contextual Understanding: Siri can access and retrieve information from the user’s emails when needed. For example, if a user asks Siri, “When is my sister’s baby shower?” Siri can search through the user's emails for the relevant event information and provide an answer.

• Automated Data Extraction: This feature allows Siri to parse and understand the content of emails to extract useful information, saving users the time and effort of searching manually.

• Image Recognition: Siri can search through the photos on the device to find specific images based on user requests. For example, if a user asks, “Show me the picture of my driver’s license,” Siri can locate and display that image. Siri can also extract relevant information from the images it locates; for example, it can read and use details from a driver's license to fill out forms or verify identity.

Multi-Modal Interaction

• Double-Tap Interaction: Users can double-tap on the bottom of the screen to activate Siri and type their questions or requests. This provides an alternative to voice commands, which can be useful in noisy environments or situations where speaking out loud is inconvenient.

• Seamless Switching: Users can start by typing a request and continue the interaction using voice commands or vice versa. Siri will maintain the context and continue to respond appropriately.

On-Screen Awareness

• Understanding Screen Context: Siri can understand what is displayed on the screen and take actions based on that content. For example, if a user is viewing a message with a new address, Siri can recognize the address and offer to update the contact information automatically.

Upgrades to Siri will work in tandem with Apple Intelligence features, including better natural language processing capabilities that allow Siri to understand users even with interrupted speech. Additionally, upgrades enhance Siri’s ability to understand and follow multi-step conversations, meaning it can remember the context of previous interactions and use that information to provide more relevant and accurate responses in subsequent queries.

For other, non-AI related announcements from the WWDC24, click here.

Google and Magic Leap Partnership

The Collab We Haven’t Really Been Waiting For, But Still Cool

Google and Magic Leap recently announced a partnership aimed at “(accelerating) the transformative power of AR by combining our extensive optics capabilities with Google’s technologies to continue to advance immersive experiences to the developer ecosystem and for customers” according to the chief technology officer at Magic Leap.

Magic Leap is renowned for their lightweight products and optics expertise, offering potentially game-changing acumen to Google’s vision for XR. Google’s previous expedition into wearable smart glasses, Google Glass, was a definitive fail, with the glasses being pulled off the market not once, but twice in the last 10 years.

Both companies have mentioned incorporating AI into their combined AR strategy and product plans, which comes as no surprise after the 2024 Google Keynote.

It’s possible that this collaboration results in a redemptive arc for Google in the AR game, but after the recent Apple Vision Pro flop we’re just not sure the market is prepared to forgive yet another “luxury” hardware gimmick. Perhaps these tech giants should take a step back from their space race (spatial computing that is) and develop a product that is genuinely useful to consumers before asking them to shell out a couple grand.

That being said, we are the first to acknowledge the massive potential AR holds, especially without the obstruction of a smartphone, and we’re eagerly anticipating the arrival of lightweight hardware with powerful processing capabilities. Godspeed, Google.

Let us know your thoughts on the future of smart glasses in the Reality Bytes Linked in Group!

Federal Investigation of AI Giants

Microsoft Under Investigation - Fed Scrambles to Regulate Tech Monopolies

Back in March, Microsoft announced a partnership of sorts with Inflection, an AI studio and creators of Pi, the first “emotionally intelligent AI”. The deal included hiring Inflection’s co-founders to head up a new Microsoft AI branch, the hosting of Pi on Microsoft Azure, and $650 million. Now, the FTC is investigating whether or not Microsoft’s deal with Inflection constitutes an acquisition that was not disclosed to the government.

The Microsoft/Inflection investigation is part of a larger agreement in the works between the DOJ and FTC, regarding oversight of AI giants like OpenAI, NVIDIA, Google, and Microsoft. Most recent news indicates that the FTC will investigate Microsoft and NVIDIA, and the DOJ will take on OpenAI while continuing to oversee Google.

Their primary focus is ensuring that these heavyweight corporations are not using the massive AI boom and their arguably monopolistic economic position to subvert competition through abuse or illegal activity.

Beyond concern for anti-competitive practices, the United States is concerningly behind when it comes to AI regulation in general, and the undeniable security risks posed by the tech have gone largely unchecked – an issue frequently discussed by FTC Chair, Lina Kahn.

It is possible that in the coming months we will see new regulatory protocols introduced to protect consumers from fraud or data theft, but knowing how the DOJ has “monitored” Google, we won’t hold our breath.

For now, business owners would be wise to approach AI tools with caution, protecting sensitive information and remaining wary of security risks while still taking advantage of its powerful streamlining capabilities.