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Mint
4 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Why tech billionaires want bots to be your BFF
Next Story Tim Higgins , The Wall Street Journal In a lonely world, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and even Microsoft are vying for affection in the new 'friend economy.' Illustration: Emil Lendof/WSJ, iStock. Gift this article Grok needs a reboot. Grok needs a reboot. The xAI chatbot apparently developed too many opinions that ran counter to the way the startup's founder, Elon Musk, sees the world. The recent announcement by Musk—though decried by some as '1984"-like rectification—is understandable. Big Tech now sees the way to differentiate artificial-intelligence offerings by creating the perception that the user has a personal relationship with it. Or, more weirdly put, a friendship—one that shares a similar tone and worldview. The race to develop AI is framed as one to develop superintelligence. But in the near term, its best consumer application might be curing loneliness. That feeling of disconnect has been declared an epidemic—with research suggesting loneliness can be as dangerous as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. A Harvard University study last year found AI companions are better at alleviating loneliness than watching YouTube and are 'on par only with interacting with another person." It used to be that if you wanted a friend, you got a dog. Now, you can pick a billionaire's pet product. Those looking to chat with someone—or something—help fuel AI daily active user numbers. In turn, that metric helps attract more investors and money to improve the AI. It's a virtuous cycle fueled with the tears of solitude that we should call the 'friend economy." That creates an incentive to skew the AI toward a certain worldview—as right-leaning Musk appears to be aiming to do shortly with Grok. If that's the case, it's easy to imagine an AI world where all of our digital friends are superfans of either MSNBC or Fox News. In recent weeks, Meta Platforms chief Mark Zuckerberg has garnered a lot of attention for touting a stat that says the average American has fewer than three friends and a yearning for more. He sees AI as a solution and talks about how consumer applications will be personalized. 'I think people are gonna want a system that gets to know them and that kind of understands them in a way that their feed algorithms do," he said during a May conference. Over at Microsoft, the tech company's head of AI, Mustafa Suleyman has also been talking about the personalization of AI as the key to differentiation. 'We really want it to feel like you're talking to someone who you know really well, that is really friendly, that is kind and supportive but also reflects your values," he said during an April appearance on the Big Technology Podcast. Still, he added, Microsoft wants to impose boundaries that keep things safe. 'We don't really want to engage in any of the chaos," Suleyman said. 'The way to do that, we found, is that it just stays reasonably polite and respectful, super-even handed, it helps you see both sides of an argument." With all of that in mind, it comes as little surprise that the current crop of chatbots are designed to sound like you're having a conversation with another human. This has resulted in lots of pearl clutching. There are academics warning about the dangers of users falling in love with AI and individual anecdotes of users going overboard in their use. The idea of a heartbroken man falling in love with his chatbot isn't new, of course. It was the plot of the 2013 film 'Her" starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, who voiced the AI. (OpenAI's own AI voice, which sounded eerily similar to Johansson's last year, triggered a public fight with the actress.) Still, we—a society that's only a generation into a world of social media—have some recent experience in how algorithms can have unintended consequences. They create echo chambers that reinforce worldviews rather than expand them. The news of Musk's Grok reboot is an example of that. Grok and xAI were born, in part, out of Musk's concerns about AI being developed by companies he called woke. He pointed to Google results that seemed overly concerned with being politically correct rather than factually accurate. With xAI, Musk aimed to create what he called a 'maximum truth-seeking AI." Yet when an influential X user known as Catturd lambasted Grok's answers in June, Musk took quick note. 'When Grok first came out—it was awesome—now Grok is just woke fake news that repeats liberal talking points," Catturd posted on June 18. 'I know this for a fact because everything Grok says about me is a lie. What a joke Grok has become." Another X user asked Grok why it lied about Catturd. 'I aim to provide accurate, neutral responses based on available data," the chatbot responded on X. 'Claims that I lie about @catturd2 may stem from disagreements with my sourcing, like Media Matters or Rolling Stone, which document his misinformation. I don't have personal biases, but AI training can introduce unintended slants. Some report I censor criticism or push fringe views, while others note I fact-check conservative claims accurately. Bias in AI is complex, and neutrality is tough to achieve. If you have specific examples of lies, please share, and I'll clarify with evidence." Musk wasn't impressed. 'Your sourcing is terrible," Musk replied. 'Only a very dumb AI would believe [Media Matters] and [Rolling Stone]! You are being updated this week." He later said xAI would retrain the AI on data created with an updated version of Grok, 'which has advanced reasoning" that would be used 'to rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors." After all, nobody wants a friend who is always spouting the wrong crazy stuff. Write to Tim Higgins at Topics You May Be Interested In Catch all the Technology News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Google's Sergey Brin on Google's 'biggest flop gadget': Didn't know ...
Google co-founder Sergey Brin has acknowledged to making "a lot of mistakes" with the original Google Glass (biggest flop gadget of the company), admitting the challenges that let to its initial struggle. Speaking at Google's annual developer conference — Google I/O 2025 , Brin said that he didn't fully understand the consumer electronics supply chain when developing the product. This in-turn led to manufacturing and pricing challenges which finally doomed the wearable. What Google co-fonder Sergey Brin said about Google Glass In an interview with Big Technology Podcast's Alex Kantrowitz, Brin conceded that Google Glass, first introduced in 2013, was perhaps 'ahead of its time'. He also pointed out that lack of understanding of consumer electronics supply chain and difficulties in making an affordable smart glasses were some missteps. 'Didn't know anything about consumer electronic supply chains, or how difficult it would be to build smart glasses at a reasonable price point,' said Brin. Despite the past setbacks, Brin still believes the fundamental form factor of Google Glass was "pretty cool" and now sees it as the "perfect hardware" for AI. Google brings smart glasses out of shade with Android XR Following last week's Android Show, where Google previewed some Android 16 features, I/O provided more details on Google's mixed reality plans. The company unveiled its Android XR platform for augmented, mixed, and virtual reality devices. The most interesting development is Project Aura , a prototype of Android XR-powered smart glasses developed with Xreal. These glasses will feature Gemini integration and a large field of view, along with built-in cameras and microphones. Google is also partnering with popular eyewear brands including Samsung, Gentle Monster, and Warby Parker to create more stylish options. Android XR will support features like live translation, directional navigation via a mini Google Maps display, and the ability to view immersive 360-degree videos. After Google Glass and previous AR attempts, this feels like the company's most serious push yet into wearable computing. Google commits $150 million toward the development of AI-powered glasses At the Google I/O 2025, the tech giant confirmed that it will commit 150 mullion to the consumer eyewear company Warby Parker for the development of AI-powered smart glasses . As part of this collaboration, Google has committed up to $75 million for Warby Parker's product development and commercialization costs. In addition, Google has committed to investing up to $75 million in Warby Parker, at Warby Parker's option and subject to reaching certain collaboration milestones. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google's Sergey Brin: 'I made a lot of mistakes with Google Glass'
Google co-founder Sergey Brin said he "made a lot of mistakes with Google Glass" during an onstage interview at Google I/O 2025 on Tuesday. Brin was a surprise addition to an interview with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis conducted by Big Technology Podcast's Alex Kantrowitz. Brin went on to say he "didn't know anything about consumer electronic supply chains," or how difficult it would be to build smart glasses at a reasonable price point. The Google co-founder noted he's a big believer in the form factor of smart glasses, and said he's glad the company is pursuing them yet again, this time with "great partners who are helping us build this." Earlier on Tuesday, Google unveiled its latest effort to develop Android XR smart glasses, roughly a decade after the Google Glass project shut down. Onstage, Google leaders showcased how their smart glasses, powered by DeepMind's Project Astra, could assist with live translations, directions, and generally AI queries. To develop Android XR glasses with AI and AR capabilities, Google is working with a network of partners, such as Samsung and Xreal. Google is also investing up to $150 million in a partnership with Warby Parker, and taking an equity stake in the eyewear company, to support its smart glasses efforts. As Brin referenced, those experienced eyewear and electronics makers may be able to help with some of the supply chain problems associated with producing smart glasses. Brin noted how the advent of generative AI makes the capabilities of smart glasses much more tangible than when Google Glass was around. Earlier in the interview, Brin acknowledged how he's effectively come out of retirement to work on Google's Gemini efforts. The Google co-founder says he's in the Mountain View, California office nearly every day, and says he's helping the Gemini team with multimodal projects, such as Google's video-generating model Veo 3. "Anybody who's a computer scientist should not be retired right now," said Brin. "They should be working on AI." Previous reports have suggested that Brin has pushed Google's Gemini teams quite aggressively to compete in the AI race. Reportedly, Brin told Google employees in a memo they should be in the office at least every weekday, and that working 60 hours a week is likely the sweet spot for productivity. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Sign in to access your portfolio
