This week, in the week in AI CBA on AI, TikTok's AI-powered chatbots, Googlge's AI-powered search, OpenAI's backpedalling, ACCC's call, News' Corp concerns for publishers IP & AI x CX.
CBA bets big on AI
Matt Comyn, CEO of CBA announced the bank is embracing generative AI technology across its operations, particularly to improve customer service. At a tech briefing Comyn revealed the Big Four bank is already using AI models to assist call centre staff, streamline software engineering, and combat fraud. He acknowledged the need for ethical principles and regulatory guidance. Commbank also aims to expand its app offerings, including integrating a retail stock trading platform and partnering with travel website Hopper for travel bookings.
Tako no prisoners
TikTok’s foray into the world of AI-powered chatbots began. Tako, the AI chatbot, is being rolled out to users gradually. Indicative of the significance the Chinese social video platform places on it, the Tako icon is positioned prominently on the right side of the video screen, above other icons. It will provide personalized recommendations and respond to user queries.
Organise the world’s informAItion
Search giant Google released its AI-powered search to beta users, with plans to make it widely accessible. The new search experience has a direct shopping integration and claims to help users get information faster, with fewer queries. The impact on the search industry will be significant as site owners need to adapt to these changes. One impact will be a need for greater focus on long-tail search query optimisation.
Try to comply
After a largely positive appearance before the US Senate, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman had a less warm reception from EU lawmakers, claiming OpenAI may have to “cease operating” in the European Union. Altman said the artificial intelligence giant would “try to comply” with the EU AI act, while criticizing its designation of "high-risk" systems. The major sticking point is the requirement that the current draft of the AI Act requires creators of foundation models to disclose details about their system’s design and provide “summaries of copyrighted data used for training,” which Altman says is too commercially valuable to release - and would also open the company up to a host of copyright infringement claims from publishers and artists.
Altman backpedalled a day later on Twitter.
The copyright issue is increasingly key to the AI race, as AI rivals enter a standoff about how large language models are trained; Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft for copyright infringement of Twitter content in training its AI models.
Dare the Rod
Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims, who masterminded the implementation of the News Media Bargaining Code in Australia to force Google and Facebook to pay publishers for their content, called for it to be reviewed to allow for the copyright-shredding arrival of generative AI.
Extraction and empathy
News Corp’s global chief executive Robert Thomson opened the INMA World Congress of News Media with a speech warning that publishers’ intellectual property was under threat from AI. He told the audience:
“We are accustomed to defining coal or copper mining as an extractive industry – content mining is an extractive industry. On our side, AI without EI is empty content calories. Emotional intelligence should be our comparative advantage given that we are in the editorial empathy business.”
In session
Unmade unveiled a new panel for our humAIn - human creativity x AI conference. ANZ futurist Kate Young will talk about the bank’s work on using AI to improve customer experience.
