voice-assistant

Amazon cutting 'several hundred' jobs at Alexa unit in AI-driven shakeup: report

Amazon is trimming jobs at its Alexa voice assistant unit due to shifting business priorities and a focus on generative artificial intelligence.

The cuts affect several hundred employees working on Alexa, with specific numbers not disclosed.

Many companies are shifting resources to generative AI, which can create software code and lengthy text responses from short prompts. [ more ]

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The Verge

1 month ago

Samsung says Bixby's still not dead

Samsung is working hard to equip Bixby with AI features to compete with offerings like Gemini Nano.

Samsung intends to redefine Bixby's role, incorporating generative AI to make it smarter and better at natural conversations. [ more ]

designboom | architecture & design magazine

AI smartphone with e-ink display vocalizes users' tasks & social media feed like podcast show

AI smartphone with E-ink display verbalizes daily tasks and social media updates like a podcast show.

Device has a listening feature recording conversations for personalization but requires permission notification. [ more ]

Medium

BUD-E: An Open-Source Voice Assistant by LAION that Runs on a Laptop

BUD-E is an open-source voice assistant that prioritizes emotional intelligence and understanding in human-dialogue interactions.

The project aims to reduce latency and mechanical responses by leveraging advanced models like Phi 2 and LLama 2 30B. [ more ]

Medium

ODSC's AI Weekly Recap: Week of February 23rd

LAION introduced BUD-E voice assistant for offline use on gaming laptop.

Nvidia's market capitalization exceeded $2 trillion. [ more ]

TechCrunch

This German nonprofit is building an open voice assistant that anyone can use | TechCrunch

Open source AI-powered voice assistants have faced slow development due to the complexity of programming an assistant.

LAION, a German nonprofit, has launched a new initiative called BUD-E to create a fully open voice assistant. [ more ]

Creative Bloq

I was dubious about Volkswagen's ChatGPT AI reveal at CES 2024, but now I've changed my mind

Volkswagen is integrating ChatGPT into its IDA voice assistant, offering it as a standard feature in their cars.

The ChatGPT functionality allows the voice assistant to go beyond basic tasks and engage in enriching conversations with the driver. [ more ]

Acm

Digital life

Stellantis' Peugeot Cars to Use ChatGPT to Talk to Drivers

Peugeot will integrate ChatGPT into its vehicles to enhance its voice assistant.

A pilot ChatGPT service will be launched in five European countries. [ more ]

TechCrunch

Digital life

Siri needs to get a lot smarter, and quickly | TechCrunch

Apple's Siri is falling significantly behind in the voice assistant race.

Siri lags behind competitors like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant in terms of functionality and adaptability. [ more ]

New York Post