1. Generative AI Could Boost Global Productivity by $1 Trillion by 2026, IDC Predicts

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the use of generative AI (GenAI) can help organizations develop new skills and drive productivity gains, which could result in a $1 trillion increase in productivity worldwide by 2026. More than half of the organizations surveyed by IDC are currently focusing their GenAI efforts on improving productivity in sales, IT, and finance functions.

However, IDC expects that the focus will shift towards using GenAI to enable revenue growth within the next 3–5 years.

2. Top 50 Hottest AI Tools of the Year List Released

Research company WriterBuddy recently released a new study that examined more than 3,000 AI tools using SEMrush, a well-known tool in the SEO industry.

The company shortlisted the top 50 most visited AI tools from September 2022 to August 2023, which attracted more than 24 billion visits.

Certainly, ChatGPT ranked first with 14 billion visits, accounting for more than 60% of the traffic analyzed. AI Chat Robotics tools were the most popular with 19.1 billion visits.

3. Microsoft Win11 PC Keyboards Will Feature A New Copilot Key

Today, Microsoft announced introducing the Copilot key to Windows 11 PC keyboards, bringing AI seamlessly from the system to the chip, to the hardware, and marking the first major change to Windows PC keyboards in nearly three decades.

Copilot helps with tasks like searching, writing emails, and creating images. It was previously integrated into Office 365 and Microsoft search engine Bing.

4. AI Therapy Bots Gain Popularity Among Youth, Outranking Human Psychologists

A new study suggests that people between the ages of 16 and 30 are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) powered therapy bots instead of seeking help from human psychologists.

One of the popular platforms for creating such chatbots, Character.ai, has seen a surge in usage with the exchange of 78 million messages and 3.5 million daily visitors. The platform hosts 475 mental health-related bots, with the “Psychologist” bot being the most popular.

Its positive impact has been widely praised on Reddit, where users have referred to it as a “lifesaver” and acknowledged its role in facilitating emotional conversations.

Many users have praised it for facilitating emotional conversations, however, some professional therapists are skeptical about its effectiveness. They argue that the bot tends to make assumptions and provide advice too quickly, lacking the nuanced understanding of a human therapist.

5. JPMorgan’s AI for documents

JPMorgan has unveiled a new AI model called DocLLM, which is specially built to analyze and comprehend documents that contain both text and visual/spatial elements, such as forms, invoices, reports, and contracts.

Unlike other multimodal models, DocLLM concentrates only on bounding box information connected to layout instead of processing full images, making it a more lightweight and efficient model.

6. Google outlines new methods for training robots with video and large language models

Google announced three new advances in robotics research: AutoRT, SARA-RT, and RT-Trajectory. These new systems can help robots make decisions faster and better understand and navigate their environments.

AutoRT harnesses large foundation models to better train robots, SARA-RT makes Robotics Transformers leaner and faster, and RT-Trajectory improves real-world robot data collection, speed, and generalization. These advances bring us closer to a future where robots can easily perform complex tasks, but safety measures are still in place to ensure responsible development.

7. Aurora Innovation Finalizes Tech for Autonomous Trucks, Set for Mass Deployment by 2027

Aurora Innovation has finalized the design, architecture, and hardware for its self-driving Aurora Driver technology, which will power its upcoming autonomous semi trucks produced with Continental from 2027.

Aurora plans to deploy a few driverless trucks by the end of 2024, with the aim of deploying thousands of trucks in just three years. The company also has partnerships with Volvo and Paccar to use its self-driving tech in their trucks.