Here are the top trending news from the world of technology. News that every tech enthusiast should keep a tab on.
1)
Meta officially launches its AI chatbot powered by Llama 3
As was expected, Meta has finally launched its AI chatbot, known as Meta AI, across all its social media platforms including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. Just like any other popular chatbot, Meta AI can fulfill several simple tasks for you, like answering your questions on many topics, you with tasks like solving math problems or writing emails and generating images based on your prompts. With this launch, Meta is directly challenging OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, which are two of the most popular chatbots. It’s currently available in English across a dozen countries, including the US, Canada, and Australia. Meta AI is powered by Meta’s latest LLM model Llama 3, which is smaller model compared to its predecessors Llama 1 and Llama 2.
2)
Meta again slashes the price of Quest 2, it now cost only $199
In an interesting development, Meta has once again slashed the price of its Meta Quest 2 VR headset. The base 128GB model of the Quest 2 will now cost $199, down from $249. Before this last price cut, the headset costed $299. Even at this low price, Quest 2 still boasts a vast library of VR apps and access to cloud gaming services, making it a solid VR experience at a competitive price. The lower price also makes is attractive for people who are trying VR headset for the first time. This is the second permanent price drop in just four months. The move suggests that Meta might be trying to clear out remaining Quest 2 inventory, following the release of the more powerful Meta Quest 3.
3)
OpenAI’s GPT 4 almost outperformed doctors in eye assessment test
In an exciting news, a research paper published by the University of Cambridge has revealed that GPT-4, a large language model developed by OpenAI, performed remarkably well in eye assessment test. While it did not exactly exceed the doctors, GPT-4’s performance rivaled that of expert ophthalmologists in a mock exam. It significantly outscored unspecialized junior doctors and even performed slightly better than trainee ophthalmologists on average. University of Cambridge had tested GPT-4 on a multiple-choice exam with 87 eye-related scenarios. It’s important to note that expert ophthalmologists still achieved the highest average score, but GPT-4’s impressive performance suggests that it could be used in advanced medical application.
4)
Google fires 28 employees over Israel Protest
Google has terminated the services of 28 employees following protests against their cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. These employees affiliated were reportedly affiliated with the group “No Tech For Apartheid” and staged protests at Google offices in New York and California. They even occupied an office used by Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. These protestors demanded that Google should terminate its multi-billion dollar could contract with the Israeli government over Israel’s alleged war crimes against Palestinians. Defending its decision, the company claimed that the actions of these employees were disruptive and violated workplace
