Quora raises $75 Mn to grow its AI Chatbot

Here is today’s Top Tech News. News that every tech enthusiast should keep a tab on.

1)

Quora raises $75 Mn to grow its AI Chatbot

Quora has received a massive funding boost to grow its AI Chatbot platform ‘Poe.’ The company has raised total $75 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Poe allows users to create and interact with chatbots on a variety of topics. Quora claims that Poe has so far seen amazing traction with over 18 million installs and 1.2 million monthly active users as of October 2023.  This is a significant investment, especially considering it’s Quora’s first funding round in nearly seven years. Overall, this investment signals Quora’s commitment to developing Poe as a major player in the AI chatbot market.

2)

Walmart unveils new AI Search Tool for Shoppers

At the ongoing CES 2024 event, U.S. retail giant Walmart unveiled its all-new generative AI-powered search function across iOS, Android and its own website. The new search tool goes beyond the simple and traditional keyword matching, understanding the context of your query and generating personalized responses. This could allow customers to discover new products that they might not have considered, potentially leading to a more satisfying shopping experience. Not to mention, more efficient search could lead to more purchases, boosting Walmart’s revenue. However, Walmart hasn’t given any exact timeline when it plans to launch this AI powered search engine for the public use.

3)

Pennsylvania to use ChatGPT in Government Offices

Pennsylvania has become the first U.S. state to use ChatGPT in its government offices. Pennsylvania will be using ChatGPT Enterprise, the most advanced version of ChatGPT, through a pilot program. This pilot program will initially involve 50 employees, helping them explore how ChatGPT Enterprise can assist with various tasks, including creating and editing copy, simplifying complex policy language, drafting job descriptions and writing computer code. However, the use of AI in government does raise concerns about transparency, accountability, and potential bias. Having said this, other US states are still likely to watch closely the results of Pennsylvania’s pilot program.

4)

Substack to remove Pro-Nazi Content from its platform

In a drastic u turn, Substack – the popular subscription-based publishing platform – has finally agreed to remove newsletters promoting pro-nazi and white supremacist ideas from its platform. Since past few weeks, Substack has been facing criticism and mounting pressure for refusing to crack down on newsletters that were found to be supportive of Nazism. The platform argued that Substack was founded on the platform of free speech and hence it openly encourages diverse opinions. However, human right groups claimed that encouraging such harmful ideology incites violence and promotes discrimination among the citizens. Although Substack has agreed to remove pro-nazi content, the platform hasn’t announced anything about permanently banning the pro-nazi content.

5)

Intel launches new line of ‘AI PC’ chips in a challenge to Nvidia & Qualcomm

The battle for car computing supremacy has just got hotter with Intel launching a new line of AI PC chips specifically designed for vehicles. This new product line will directly challenge Nvidia and Qualcomm, who have dominated the car chip market for many years. These “AI PC” chips prioritize processing power and efficiency for artificial intelligence workloads. This suggests Intel is targeting the future of cars, where AI will play a crucial role in everything from autonomous driving to personalized experiences. Intel’s foray into automotive AI PC will certainly make the competition more intense. It will be interesting to see whether Intel can manage to pose some credible challenge to Nvidia and Qualcomm.