Tech Biz

OpenAI’s user base has surged to an impressive 300 million weekly active users, CEO Sam Altman revealed at The New York Times DealBook Summit. His ambition is to get to a billion by next year. Continue Reading →

Every year, CES functions as a highly reliable crystal ball. AI will be incorporated into almost every technology you’re likely to see at the show, but there will be much more to see and do at CES. Here's a short list: Continue Reading →

Mastering the art of prompt engineering (aka prompt crafting) is touted as the new "must learn" business skill. It is. But just because it has a fancy, technical sounding name does not mean it is complicated or hard to understand. Here's a very short primer, guaranteed to improve the output you get from ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, or most any generative AI platform. You are only minutes away from unlocking your prompt engineering superpowers. Let's go! Continue Reading →

While the FTE-based model is flawed and often exploited, its one saving grace is that it creates predictable billing for both sides. But there’s a new problem. With a single AI-enhanced, well-trained FTE capable of outproducing entire teams, the math changes. Now what? Continue Reading →

Asking for reports is a fact of corporate life. So is requesting updates to your dashboards. But imagine if you could open a chat window and talk directly with your data. You'd just type (or say), "What's the last day we can sell a full-priced widget in market 18 before we have to mark it down or ship it back to the manufacturer?" and the database would give you the answer. No reports, no dashboards, just a conversation. Continue Reading →

Using proprietary data in AI workflows has the potential to transform brand marketing, but there aren't any one-size-fits-all solutions. To make matters worse, the field is filled with jargon and hype. I can't do much about the hype, but I can arm you with some high-level concepts to facilitate your AI-focused discussions. With that in mind, here's a brief overview of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), one of the most popular ways to incorporate your proprietary data into generative AI workflows. Continue Reading →

OpenAI plans to integrate SearchGPT into ChatGPT by the end of this year. Initially launched as a prototype in July, SearchGPT combines real-time search capabilities with conversational AI providing direct answers, summaries, and contextual insights as opposed to a list of links. The chat interface allows users to ask followup questions and the system links citations to the output ensuring transparency (and the preservation of link-based search). Continue Reading →

Meta has launched Movie Gen, a new AI-powered video creation tool for small businesses. Movie Gen allows users to generate video content from prompts, edit existing videos, and add synchronized sound effects and music. It will not be available for open developer use but is intended for collaboration with the entertainment industry and content creators. Continue Reading →

While companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google focus on responsible AI development, a darker side has emerged on underground networks. Unfiltered AI models are being deployed on the dark web, enabling dangerous applications including tools for cybercrime, the distribution of disinformation, and automated privacy violations. Let's explore. Continue Reading →

I've spent the better part of the past four days putting OpenAI's o1 models through their paces. For those who aren't following the foundational AI model wars, last week, OpenAI released a new series of AI models called o1, which the company says is the first in a “new series of reasoning models for solving hard problems.” I wrote about it the day after it debuted. As far as I can tell, this is the first iteration of the rumored project "Strawberry." In a word, "Wow!" o1 is absolutely next level. What it does, it does better than anything else I've tried. But it's not for everyone. In fact, there's a very good chance it's not for you. Here's why. Continue Reading →