This Week in AI: Connected Commerce, Keyboards and the Law

2023 was generative artificial intelligence’s (AI) big launch party — and now we’re in 2024.

The year is already shaping up to be one where businesses increasingly leverage the technology to gain new efficiencies.

PYMNTS Intelligence spent much of 2023 investigating AI’s enterprise-grade applications, as well as talking with experts from various industries about how to most effectively integrate the technology.

After all, firms that best utilize enterprise AI for their business operations today will be the firms that win tomorrow.

But businesses are becoming wary of putting all their tech eggs in one basket. As PYMNTS reported Friday (Jan. 5) companies are reportedly diversifying their artificial intelligence sources after OpenAI’s period of management upheaval in November, as the events highlighted the risks of being too dependent on one company.

The future waits on no one, and this is the must-read pulse check on the top AI news and innovations PYMNTS has been tracking this week. 

Read also: 12 Payments Experts Share How AI Changed Everything in 2023

AI as an Operating System Needs a Hardware Platform

As we plant our feet firmly into 2024, the AI arms race has an emergent new weapon: intelligent hardware devices engineered for the generative AI era.

Microsoft is putting its artificial intelligence Copilot tool at users’ fingertips, the tech giant and OpenAI partner said Thursday (Jan. 4), by adding a button to the Windows keyboard that will activate Copilot.

The move marks Microsoft’s first keyboard layout change in nearly 30 years.

Elsewhere, when Samsung debuts its new smartphone later this month (Jan. 17), AI will play a starring role.

On the software development side, GitHub on Sunday (Dec. 29) made Copilot Chat generally available for organizations and individuals, allowing GitHub Copilot users to benefit from natural language-powered coding at no additional cost.

Because we increasingly stand at an inflection point in how people access information online, tech companies building AI platforms are looking to capitalize on it. 

On Thursday, news broke that AI startup Perplexity had raised $74 million from investors, including Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos, to take on Google in the search space.

But that’s not the only news that is breaking. The New York Times’ (NYT) landmark lawsuit against OpenAI specifically pointed out the fact that OpenAI’s AI systems share news content in response to user queries without sending them to the NYT site, robbing the NYT of traffic and affiliate link data — the same way that AI-powered search engines surface answers to their own user queries.

In light of the use of copyrighted materials for training data, several news media publishers have reportedly met with OpenAI to discuss licensing their content for use in training that firm’s AI models, according to a Sunday report.

The publishers meeting with OpenAI included Wall Street Journal owner News Corp., Dotdash Meredith owner IAC, USA Today owner Gannett and industry trade association News/Media Alliance.

Artificial Intelligence in the Marketplace 

The rise of AI has been a catalyst for the PYMNTS CE 100 Index, which soared 42% in 2023.

If next week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) — running Jan. 9 through Jan. 12 — is any indication, artificial intelligence is moving into the world of consumers, commerce and the connected economy.

Samsung, for example, is stepping up its smart kitchen devices, creating potential opportunities for in-home contextual commerce down the line.

And PYMNTS has been covering how AI is helping retailers turn the tides in the war of returns — a critical post-holiday battlefield. 

But it’s not just retailers. PYMNTS Intelligence found that 83% of bank execs view AI with both “hope and hesitation.” 

To help firms take advantage of all the AI applications out there, Intel and DigitalBridge Group joined forces to establish Articul8, an independent company that provides enterprise customers with a secure and vertically optimized generative AI software platform, according to a Wednesday (Jan. 3) press release.

Arun Subramaniyan, formerly vice president and general manager in Intel’s Data Center and AI Group, has assumed the role of CEO at Articul8.

AI and the Law 

In other news, Robin AI raised $26 million on Wednesday amid the legal profession’s continued embrace of AI, while Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts devoted a large portion of his year-end message to AI’s use in court, noting that it requires “caution and humility.”

PYMNTS Intelligence has found that that 62% of legal professionals believe that effective use of generative AI will separate successful firms from unsuccessful firms in as few as five years. 

And in a report published Sunday, the European Union’s (EU) competition and digital chief, Margrethe Vestager, defended the bloc’s landmark law on AI, arguing that the proposed act will provide “legal certainty” for tech startups building AI technology while enhancing innovation.

What the Experts Are Saying

As for what the experts are saying, PYMNTS sat down with both Ofir Krakowski, CEO and co-founder of Deepdub, and Jaime Tabachnik, co-founder and CEO of trucking FinTech firm Solvento, for the “AI Effect” series this week.

Krakowski said that in the near future, “we’re going to see TV channels generated wholly with AI, topic-based news channels where there is no human in the process,” but that a fully AI-generated scripted show or movie is likely not possible, at least without human involvement.

“We can see front-facing avatars, but you cannot generate a drama series with a lot of motion, complex motion for a long format, this will take some time,” Krakowski said. “Imagination and new creation are not something AI is capable of … Right now, it is just mimicking what it has learned.”

Meanwhile, Tabachnik shared insights around the use of AI in the freight and transport sector.

By automating processes, optimizing operations and enhancing decision-making, AI can drive significant cost savings and improve profitability in the transport industry.

“The timing to disrupt these traditional industries with AI and automation couldn’t be better than today,” Tabachnik said.

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