Here are the top trending news from the world of technology. News that we feel every tech enthusiast should keep a tab on.
1)
Open-source AI startup & ChatGPT Competitor ‘Mistral AI’ raises $385 Mn Euros
Paris based AI startup Mistral AI, which was founded to promote open source LLMs, has just raised $385 Mn Euros ($414 Mn) at a eye-popping valuation of $2 Bn euros. This influx of capital will fuel the company’s ambitious plans to become a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. The new round, which comes barely six months after it raised seed funding, was led by California based fund Andreessen Horowitz. The fresh funding has propelled Mistral among the most high profile AI startup in Europe and also gives extra ammunition & financial muscle to compete with OpenAI. The three-year-old startup focuses on developing cutting-edge AI solutions for industries ranging from healthcare and finance to manufacturing and transportation.
2)
Google’s AI-powered note-taking app is now available to US users
Google’s experimental AI-powered note-taking app, NotebookLM, is now widely available to users in the United States. The app was initially launched in beta with a limited access waitlist in July 2023. Integrated with Gemini Pro, it offers several useful features that can boost users’ productivity. This includes features like providing a visual canvas for organizing notes, images, and other content and taking suggested actions based on your notes, such as creating a calendar event or setting a reminder. It also offers improved search like finding specific information within your notes. These features can prove extremely useful for students and professionals, helping them in smart summarization, actionable insights and personalized recommendations.
3)
Apple Pulls down the app that brought iMessage to Android
As was expected from Apple, the company has shut down Beeper Mini’s iMessage android app. The Android app that allowed users to access iMessage on their non-Apple devices had created a lot of buzz ever since its launch. Apple’s decision to block Beeper Mini’s app is unsurprising considering that the company has a long history of being extra sensitive about its data privacy. This was equally vindicated when the company banned a similar Android app called Sunbird, which was designed by smartphone company ‘Nothing.’ Apple, on its part, has said that it is taking these actions in order to protect its users’ data privacy. However, these actions are likely to trigger a debate over Apple’s unwillingness to open iPhone to other systems.
4)
ChatGPT rival PI debuts on Android
The conversational AI startup Inflection AI, which directly competes with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, announced the launch of its AI chatbot Pi on Android. The app was previously available only on IOS device. The move will help Pi to expands its potential user base significantly as Android holds a dominant share of the global smartphone market share. It has received positive feedback from users and reviewers for its conversational abilities and extra focus on safety as well as security. Pi will continue to be powered by Inflection 1 and not the recently launched LLM model Inflection 2.