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The article discusses how corporate lobbying has evolved in recent years, with lobbyists now focusing on influencing the public rather than directly targeting lawmakers. Lobbyists have recognized that lawmakers are more likely to support issues that have popular support among their constituents. The article provides examples of successful outside-influence campaigns, such as Google's efforts to rally its users against anti-piracy legislation and the private-equity industry's campaign to persuade Senator Kyrsten Sinema to oppose tax increases. These tactics have become the cornerstone of Washington's lobbying industry, allowing corporations to shape public opinion and influence policy outcomes. [Extracted from the article]

Russian troll farms connected to Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash, are still active and spreading disinformation, according to cybersecurity research by Google. These influence campaigns, which have covert or financial ties to Prigozhin, have been targeting the war in Ukraine and the 2024 U.S. elections. While these campaigns have not gained significant traction, they indicate that Russia maintains the capability to increase its disinformation operations as the U.S. elections draw closer. The U.S. intelligence community has warned of potential foreign interference attempts in the 2024 election, including the use of new technologies like artificial intelligence. [Extracted from the article]

Baidu, often seen as an underperforming tech company compared to Alibaba and Tencent, may have found a way to outperform its peers through its investment in artificial intelligence (AI). Baidu has held talks with Apple about using its chatbot technology in China, and Samsung is already using Baidu's AI features in its newest Galaxy phone. Baidu's AI-related cloud revenue is growing rapidly, and the company expects it to reach several billion yuan this year. If Baidu can continue to monetize its AI leadership while keeping costs down, investors may start to take notice of the company's potential. [Extracted from the article]

Amazon has invested an additional $2.75 billion in the artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic, bringing its total investment in the company to $4 billion. This marks Amazon's largest investment in another company to date. The investment is part of the ongoing AI arms race between tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Anthropic offers an AI assistant called Claude that competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT. The investments in AI startups can be lucrative for tech companies, as they charge the startups for using their cloud-computing services. The Federal Trade Commission is currently investigating these investments and partnerships made by major technology companies. [Extracted from the article]

The European Union has initiated investigations into Apple, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Google under its new digital-competition law. These probes are the first under the EU's Digital Markets Act, which aims to promote competition in digital advertising, online search, and app ecosystems. The investigations will focus on issues such as app-store rules, personal data usage, and compliance with new regulations. If found in violation, the companies could face fines of up to 10% of their worldwide revenue. The EU intends to conclude the investigations within the next year. [Extracted from the article]

Apple has held preliminary talks with Chinese company Baidu about using its generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology in Apple devices in China. This is part of Apple's efforts to expand its AI capabilities and navigate regulatory requirements in China. China requires AI models to be vetted by its cyberspace regulator before being launched to the public, and so far, no models made by foreign developers have been approved. Teaming up with a local AI model supplier could help Apple compete with rivals in Chinese-language AI capabilities. [Extracted from the article]

Appen, an Australian company that trains AI systems for tech giants like Google, is facing challenges as AI-powered machines are now able to do much of the work that Appen's human workers used to do. The company has lost significant revenue after Google ended its contract, and its stock value has plummeted. Appen has tried to diversify its client base, but it has struggled to fill the gap left by its tech clients. The company is now closing offices and changing its CEO in an effort to stem the losses. [Extracted from the article]

Mustafa Suleyman, a prominent figure in the artificial intelligence (AI) community, is leaving his startup to join Microsoft. Suleyman, who has spearheaded AI efforts at DeepMind and Google, will lead a new division at Microsoft focused on AI products for consumer offerings such as Bing search engine and Windows. While Suleyman has been praised for his contributions to the AI landscape, he has also faced controversy and criticism for his management style and the lack of success of his consumer AI products. Microsoft is hoping that Suleyman and his team will bring fresh ideas and invigorate the company's consumer AI efforts. [Extracted from the article]

Microsoft has hired Mustafa Suleyman, a well-known leader and entrepreneur in artificial intelligence, to lead their consumer AI products. Suleyman previously helped lead Google's DeepMind, an AI lab that Google acquired in 2014. He co-founded AI startup Inflection AI, which was last valued at $4 billion and received funding from Microsoft and Nvidia. Suleyman will be reporting to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and will be leading a new organization called Microsoft AI. This move comes as Microsoft aims to clarify and organize its AI strategy, with Suleyman overseeing AI tools for consumer products like Bing and Windows. [Extracted from the article]

Apple is seeking external partnerships to enhance its artificial intelligence (AI) efforts. The company has engaged in discussions with Google, Cohere, and OpenAI to potentially utilize their AI technology for its mobile features. Apple's interest in external collaborations suggests that it may not have developed internal AI tools as advanced as its competitors. The company aims to incorporate generative AI features into its upcoming iPhone operating system, iOS 18, and is focusing on applications such as autocomplete email messages, a more robust Spotlight search function, photo editing, and an advanced version of Siri. Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, has emphasized the company's investment in generative AI, and Apple has been working on its own internal AI tools under the leadership of John Giannandrea. A partnership with Apple would benefit Google's AI initiatives, particularly its Gemini technology, which aims to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT. However, Gemini has faced controversy for producing ahistoric images and refusing to generate depictions of white people. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the different flavors of artificial intelligence (AI) and how businesses can determine which AI is best suited for their specific tasks. The author interviewed executives, engineers, and researchers who work with AI to gather insights on the strengths and weaknesses of various AI models, including those from Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta. The article emphasizes that the best AI for a task depends on both the user and the task itself, and that businesses should experiment with different models to find the most suitable one. It also mentions the importance of considering factors such as speed and cost when choosing an AI model. The article concludes by highlighting the rapid evolution of generative AI and its potential to significantly increase productivity while raising concerns about the future of white-collar jobs. [Extracted from the article]

Temu, a Chinese-founded e-commerce company, has quickly become the most-downloaded app in the U.S. and is making a significant impact on American business. Its parent company, PDD Holdings, spent nearly $2 billion on advertisements at Meta (formerly Facebook) last year, surprising executives. Temu also became one of Google's top five advertisers. The company's aggressive spending on ads is helping to push up digital ad prices and is benefiting Meta and Google's ad businesses. However, some analysts believe that Temu's heavy spending may result in losses for the company and could potentially impact big tech companies like Meta. Temu has also faced criticism over allegations of using forced labor in its products. Despite this, its Super Bowl ad campaign generated significant buzz and increased deliveries for shipping companies. The volume of ads bought by Temu and other Chinese e-commerce platforms is raising the prices of certain ad spots. While some tech executives hope that Temu's ad-spending surge will continue, others are cautious, as similar platforms like Wish eventually faded after a period of high ad spending. [Extracted from the article]

Linwei Ding, a Chinese national who worked at Google, has been charged with stealing the company's artificial intelligence (AI) trade secrets. The US Justice Department alleges that Ding sent sensitive Google trade secrets and other confidential information to his personal Google account while secretly being affiliated with Chinese AI companies. He faces four counts of trade-secrets theft, with each count carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted. The alleged thefts include microchip-related secrets that are considered a competitive advantage for companies in the AI industry. The US government has expressed concerns about China's efforts to steal American AI secrets and its potential use of AI for spying purposes. [Extracted from the article]