UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti has announced that the bank aims to complete its CHF 3bn ($3.37bn) takeover of troubled Swiss rival Credit Suisse by late May or early June next year. The bank is open to “all options” regarding Credit Suisse’s Swiss business, according to Ermotti. The bank is considering spinning off Credit Suisse’s domestic unit, with its current head, Andre Helfenstein, leading it. The bank had previously excluded such a move, but increasing political and public pressure has forced the bank to re-evaluate. Unfortunately, it remains unclear how many jobs will be lost due to the merger.
Microsoft to invest billions in OpenAI
Microsoft is set to invest billions in OpenAI as part of a third phase of partnership. Microsoft’s Azure AI platform offers a comprehensive range of enterprise-scale solutions for the development of AI. Azure AI enables developers, data scientists, and business users to easily build, deploy and manage intelligent apps across an organisation. The Azure AI platform consists of Azure Applied AI Services, which provide specialised AI services for tasks such as chatbots or video analysis; Azure Cognitive Services, which offers customisable cognitive APIs for vision, speech, and language; and Azure Machine Learning, an end-to-end platform for building, training and deploying AI models at scale. Industry partners such as Meta, AMD, Hugging Face, and OpenAI have chosen Azure to enable AI innovation, while customers such as H&R Block, CarMax, Beiersdorf, PwC, and Progressive Insurance are reimagining customer experiences and streamlining business processes using Azure AI.
Amazon introduces generative AI service called Bedrock
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has introduced a generative AI service called Bedrock that can generate copy and advertising. Bedrock can be deployed by AWS users to generate product social media posts, web copies, and display ads. The move follows Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s annual shareholder letter statement that his business was investing heavily in generative AI and large language models, which he described as “transformative”. Bedrock was unveiled after several rivals, including Google and Microsoft, introduced their own versions of generative AI chatbots earlier this year. An Amazon blog post featured a content marketing manager using Bedrock to create a targeted ad campaign for a new handbag line using data fed into the platform.
AI content writing platform Writesonic creates engaging content in seconds
Writesonic is an AI content writing platform that can create various types of engaging content in seconds. The platform offers three pricing plans, including a free trial, long-form, and a custom plan. It covers content in over 25 languages, and users can select the tone of voice suitable for their content. Writesonic can create landing pages, SEO meta descriptions, social media ads, and Google ads, along with popular copywriting formulas. The platform is intuitive and uses modern design features to help beginners. Support is available through the help center, tutorials, and an active Facebook community. The platform has a detailed privacy policy, and the users need to ensure that their connection is secure. While the technology behind the platform is impressive, the content requires substantial editing from the user for a personal touch and specific details.
Microsoft’s Azure AI platform provides secure and scalable solutions
Microsoft’s Azure AI platform provides enterprise-scale, secure solutions for AI workloads, according to a blog post from the company. The platform offers solutions aimed at tasks including document processing, metric monitoring, enterprise search, video analysis, and chatbots. Users can avail of Azure Cognitive Services, a set of cognitive APIs, as well as Azure Machine Learning, an end-to-end platform for building, training and deploying machine learning models at scale. Microsoft also offers Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Cognitive Service for Language and Azure Cognitive Service for Speech to accelerate time-to-value with pre-built models. Customers using Azure AI include H&R Block, CarMax, Beiersdorf, PwC and Progressive Insurance.
Elon Musk nervous about OpenAI
Elon Musk has said that he is nervous about his former company OpenAI because it is training its ChatGPT platform to be “politically correct”. Musk believes that AI that seeks to understand the universe would not harm humans. He has said that his company, X.AI, has developed a neural network which understands language without the need for large amounts of training data. Last month, Musk issued a letter calling for a six-month pause in the development of “giant” AI, so that researchers had time to investigate its risks and develop mitigation strategies.
In conclusion, UBS aims to complete the acquisition of Credit Suisse by late May or early June next year, but it remains uncertain how many jobs will be lost. Amazon, Microsoft, and Writesonic are providing AI services for content creation, while Microsoft’s Azure AI platform offers secure and scalable solutions for AI workloads. Elon Musk has expressed concern over OpenAI’s approach to “politically correct” training.
