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RB | July 15, 2024

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Artificial Intelligence Firms You Should Know

Artificial Intelligence Firms You should Know On June 20th, 2024, artificial intelligence darling Nvidia surpassed $3 trillion in market cap. As a result, the chip maker became the most valuable company in the world, beating out Microsoft and Apple. Some are wondering if Nvidia’s current valuation is justified and sustainable. Some are arguing that we’re still just at the beginning of the Generative AI boom. However, others aren’t yet convinced that AI will deliver on the hype that tools like ChatGPT have created.

Generative artificial intelligence

In this context, Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) refers to a trending class of machine learning applications that are able to create new data, including text, images, video, or sounds, based on a large dataset on which it has been trained. Here are some other GenAI firms that could be some alternate firms to check out if NVIDIA is too rich to buy at this level.

Artificial Intelligence vendors

Adobe

Adobe is most famous for its creative software like PhotoShop. However, the company has expanded into artificial intelligence. Adobe planned to acquire Figma in a $20 billion deal announced in September 2022. They called off the deal in December 2023 due to antitrust concerns in Europe. Adobe’s latest image generation model, Firefly 3, announced in April 2024. The model brings a new level of high-quality images and better understanding of prompts given.

Key Products: Adobe Sensei, Adobe Firefly, AI Assistant
Company value: $200.86 billion

Alphabet (Google)

Google and its parent company Alphabet expanded into artificial intelligence with the formation of its Google AI division in 2017. In 2023, the company announced BARD. The company designed BARD to compete with Microsoft’s integration of ChatGPT into its Bing search engine. The early release was marked by reported internal disapproval of the product.

Key Products: Gemini, Vertex AI, Gemini for Google Workspace
Company value: $1.72 trillion

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Known for its scalable cloud infrastructure, Amazon has also thrown its virtual hat into artificial intelligence ring. Yet, the e-commerce and cloud giant finds itself playing catch-up in generative AI.

According to Business Insider’s sources, a stealth internal project code-named Metis, is it next step in AI. “Metis” will be powered by an internal Amazon AI model called Olympus. The latter will power Remarkable Alexa, a new, more capable version of Alexa for a monthly subscription fee.

Metis will reportedly use a technique called retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), according to BI. RAG will enable Metis to retrieve information from beyond the original data used to train the underlying model. This means Metis will offer more up-to-date responses like the latest stock prices or medical reaserach, while other chatbots still produce inaccurate or outdated information.

AWS offers a suite of AI services, including GenAI models for text, speech and image processing.

Key Products: Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Q, Amazon CodeWhisperer, Amazon SageMaker
Company value: $1.79 trillion

Anthropic

Anthropic announced the third generation of its Claude generative AI chatbot, which competes with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. Claude AI is a constitutional chatbot. It has been trained to make judgments based on a set of principles taken from documents including the 1948 UN Declaration and Apple’s terms of service, which expands to issues in the digital domain. Claude 2 has complex choice-making capabilities and scored 76.5% on the multiple choice section of the bar exam. While it hasn’t quite had the publicity of the big artificial intelligence chatbots it looks like Anthropic might have created a worthy competitor.

Key Products: Claude 3, Claude API
Company value: $15 billion

Cohere

Cohere is a company which focuses on building artificial intelligence models for enterprise customers. Enterprise customers can use their own data to train their AI models, without sharing that data. Their primary focus is on creating AI systems that can: understand, generate and, interact with human language.

Key Products: Command, Embed, Chat, Generate, Semantic Search
Company value: $2.2 billion

IBM

IBM’s Watson was the first artificial intelligence language model technology to attain global notoriety, as a result of its 2011 victory on the quiz show Jeopardy!. Watson was question-answering platform, initially developed from 2004-2011. Since then, its deep learning capabilities have been applied to a wide range of industries, including healthcare, cuisine, hospitality, water conservation, and more. IBM has continued to evolve it’s AI capabilities. In the past 5 years, IBM has filed 1,591 AI-related US patent applications. In April 2024, IBM announced its acquisition of HasiCorp. for $6.4 billion.

Key Products: WatsonX.ai, Code Assistant, Slate, Granite
Company value: $153.76 billion

Jasper

Jasper uses artificial intelligence to help businesses write marketing content. They claim it can write the same content much faster than a human being can, in a tone of voice that customers relate to and find familiar. It helps businesses generate consistent and effective digital marketing content, from blog posts to social media updates.

Key Products: Jasper, Jasper API, Jasper AI Copilot
Company value: $1.2 billion

Meta (Facebook)

Meta (formerly known as Facebook) has grown to where 3.14 billion people interact with one of their platform’s daily. The company is known for its social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. While the company has faced criticisms harmful misinformation, polarizing political content, and data leaks.

For years, Meta has used artificial intelligence to recommend posts in our feeds, moderate content, and target ads behind the scenes in Instagram and Facebook.

Key Products: Meta AI, Llama 2.0, Llama 3.0 (coming soon), Seamless Communication models
Company value: $1.252 trillion

Microsoft largest artificial intelligence company

Microsoft has claimed to be the world’s largest artificial intelligence company. MSFT has made a $10 billion investment in OpenAI in January 2023. They then integrated ChatGPT generative AI chatbot and Dall-E image generation into the Bing search engine and Edge web browser.

Key Products: Microsoft Copilot, Copilot for Microsoft 365, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Microsoft Copilot in Bing
Company value: $3.01 trillion

Midjourney

Midjourney AI specializes in creating AI-powered tools that generate realistic and imaginative images from text descriptions. It offers tiered subscriptions and allows users to monetize their AI-assisted artwork. It’s integrated into various platforms, including Discord and Microsoft Edge.

In late March 2023, Midjourney suspended free trials due to people abusing the system.

Key Products: Midjourney AI
Company value: $10 billion

NVIDIA king of artificial intelligence

NVIDIA started working on 3D graphics graphics processing units (GPUs) for multimedia and gaming companies in 1993. The company also began creating artificial intelligence applications back in 2012. Today, NVIDIA is generally considered the leader in AI technology as it is at the forefront of AI and is developing software, chips and AI-related services.The company commands 87% of the GPU market and has had a hand in major AI technology advancements, including ChatGPT, which was trained using 10,000 NVIDIA GPUs. The NVIDIA NeMO LLM’s status as one of the most advanced large language models, along with a new partnership with Microsoft, further cement its place among prominent AI companies.

Key Products: NVIDIA AI, NVIDIA NeMo, NVIDIA BioNeMo, NVIDIA Picasso, various chips and GPUs
Company value: $2.14 trillion

OpenAI sparked the artificial intelligence boom

OpenAI continues to lead the GenAI space with its GPT-4 model, widely used across industries for natural language processing tasks. OpenAI’s tools are integrated into numerous applications, from customer service chatbots to creative writing assistants.

In contrast, OpenAI has famously scooped up data from everywhere to train its chatbots, like Reddit. And, when a user uploads information into OpenAI to ask ChatGPT to do a task, OpenAI uses that data to train its models for everyone’s use. Users can opt out of that, but it’s one of the reasons why companies warn their employees not to share data with OpenAI.

Key Products: GPT-4, ChatGPT, DALL-E 3, Sora
Company value: $80 billion

Stability AI

Stability AI excels in creating advanced AI models, particularly the Stable Diffusion series, that generate high-quality, realistic images from text prompts. They offer models in multiple languages and for commercial use, emphasizing photorealism and complex prompt processing.

Key Products: Stable Diffusion XL, Stable Video Diffusion, Stable Audio, Stable Zero123

Related article

How does ChatGPT actually work? (ZDnet)

Ralph Bach has been in IT for a while and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow me on Facebook. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Artificial ntelligence | Tags: 2024, Artificial intelligence, Business, GOOG, Google, GPU, Microsoft, MSFT, NVidia, OpenAI

RB | June 26, 2024

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Michigan No. 6 In Tech Jobs Posted

CompTIA recently released its monthly assessment of tech jobs. The group found that employers increased their search for the information technology workers accelerated in May 2024. CompTIA’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Jobs Report (PDF) data reveals that the tech sector added 2,181 jobs last month, increasing employment to nearly 5.6 million workers.

Artificial Intelligence tech jobs

New job postings for tech positions reached 209,000 in May. This was an increase of nearly 27,000 from April and the highest total since June 2023, CompTIA reports. In total, there were almost 427,000 active tech job postings last month. The increase of job postings for AI occupations or positions requiring AI skills totaled more than 26,000 from April 2024. AI related jobs accounted for 12% of all tech openings.

Tech jobs posted in Michigan

A closer look at the state-level BLS labor data reveals that Michigan was one of seven states with tech job postings growing by more than 1,000 jobs.

Texas,
California,
Illinois,
Georgia,
New York, and
Michigan.

In Michigan, there were 5,811 tech job postings, an increase of 1,258 from April 2024. The Lansing, MI metro led the nation in increases in tech job postings. Lansing saw a 37 percent increase in tech job postings from the previous month.

Big trends

Shifting focus to the broader landscape, the unemployment rate for tech jobs dropped to 2.5%, well below the national rate of 4%. Tech jobs throughout the economy declined by 42,000, less than 1% of the total base of tech jobs of almost 6.4 million.

Interestingly, the CompTIA report shows that employers are widening their search for tech talent. Notably, 46% of active openings in April didn’t specifically require candidates to have a four-year degree. The percentages were even higher for certain positions, such as network support specialists (86%), IT support specialists (73%), network and systems administrators (55%), web and UI/UX designers (51%), and database administrators (48%).

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According to Foote Partners‘ latest IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index, jobs with rising market value include those related to A.I. and machine learning, cloud, cybersecurity and data science. Many of those positions pay a hefty premium—in many cases, above the average tech salary of $111,193.

Related article

Ford Announces 8-acre Park and Tech Zones Behind Michigan Central in Detroit (dbusiness)

Ralph Bach has been in IT for a while and has blogged from the Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that has caught my attention since 2005. You can follow me on Facebook. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: 2024, Business, Jobs, Michigan, Tech jobs, Unemployment

RB | June 7, 2024

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Don’t Let A Bad Recruiter Control Your Job Search

I have seen several people changing jobs with a recruiter lately. It’s common knowledge that transitioning between jobs can be stressful, and poor recruiters can exacerbate this stress. I’m sure many of us have received calls, voicemails, or emails about the next “great opportunity” because our resumes contained the right keywords.

When you return their call, perhaps feeling desperate or a bit masochistic, the recruiter begin to demand information. Often, they haven’t even read your resume. Liz Ryan CEO/founder of Human Workplace, author of Reinvention Roadmap, and a blogger at Forbes offers some advice on how to handle poor recruiters in her article, Ten Things Recruiters ‘Need To Know’ — That Are None Of Their Business.

Some recruiters are amazing

Ms. Ryan points out the obvious, that some recruiters are amazing partners who can assist you in landing a new job when you’re ready. A good recruiter will ask pertinent questions and keep you updated on the status of your application. Unfortunately though, it is very easy for almost anyone to become a recruiter. This is why there are so many unprofessional, rude, and pushy ones out there, and you need to be prepared to deal with them.

It’s important to communicate to a recruiter when they’re asking you to do or say something with which you’re not comfortable with. One of the first signs that you’re dealing with a rude and unprofessional recruiter may appear in your initial phone call or email conversation.

The unprofessional recruiter

Unprofessional recruiters will ask questions — like the ones below that are none of their business whatsoever. They might ask intrusive questions and insist, “I need to have this information.” They may even become irritable with you.

If a recruiter tells you, “You must answer my questions, or I’ll remove you from my candidate list,” you should respond with, “Go ahead and drop me!” and then end the call. They don’t truly “need” your answers; they just want them desperately so they can control the conversation. Ms. Ryan provides some potential responses to the most inappropriate questions from poor recruiters.

How to respond to bad recruiter questions

Bad Recruiter: What is your current salary?

You: If I decide to change jobs, I’ll be targeting a position that pays around $75,000.

Bad Recruiter: What other companies are you interviewing with?: You: I’m actively job-hunting, but as you can understand, my job search activities are confidential, just like the identities of the other candidates being interviewed for this job.
Bad Recruiter: Can you provide proof of your last year’s earnings?: You: If your client requires written proof of my compensation then they are not the right employer for me.

Bad Recruiter: Can you send me your list of references immediately?: You: I can provide that when an employer has expressed strong interest in me, and I have reciprocated that interest, further down the line.

Bad Recruiter: I must ask all my questions first. Then, I can listen to your questions.: You: Recruiters should respect your time. Selling candidates on job opportunities, and selling employers on candidates, requires listening. Any recruiter who insists that their questions must be answered before the candidate gets to ask any questions is not competent.

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Don’t be afraid to walk away from a bad recruiter interaction. Remember, it’s your career, and you deserve to be treated with respect. By learning to identify red flags and advocate for yourself, you can navigate the job search with confidence.

Related article

Job seekers beware of recruiters. (CSO Online)

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: 2024, Business, Jobs, Layoffs, Recruiting

RB | May 24, 2024

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Creating Strong Passwords is Good For You

You can buy a small padlock for less than a dollar—but you shouldn’t count on it to protect anything of value. A thief could pick a cheap lock without much effort, or break it. Yet, many people use weak passwords. They use them to “lock up” their most valuable assets, such as money and secrets. Fortunately, everyone can learn how to make and manage stronger passwords. It’s an easy way to strengthen security both at work and at home.

What makes passwords ‘Strong’?

We all hate the dreaded “you must change your password” email from IT. It must be at least 12 characters long. It must include numbers, symbols, and upper- and lowercase letters. You think of a word you can remember, capitalize the first letter, add a digit, and end with an exclamation point. The result: Strawberry1!

Unfortunately, hackers have advanced tools. They can easily defeat passwords based on dictionary words. These are words like “strawberry” and common patterns. An example is capitalizing the first letter.

Increasing the complexity, randomness, and length of a password makes it stronger. These changes make it more resistant to hackers’ tools. You can see in the table below from MyITRisk.com. An attacker could guess an eight-character password in 8 seconds. But, a 12-character password would take four years to guess.

Password space characters	Length required characters	Defeted in.
26 (a-z)	8	.0077 Seconds
52 (a-z, A-Z)	8	2 Seconds
62 (a-z, A-Z, 0-9)	8	8 Seconds
26 (a-z)	12	59 Minutes
52 (a-z, A-Z)	12	168 Days
62 (a-z, A-Z, 0-9)	12	4 Years
26 (a-z)	16	51 Years
52 (a-z, A-Z)	16	91 Years
62 (a-z, A-Z, 0-9)	16	55,988.220 Years
MyITRisk.com

It is also important to pay attention to password complexity. Also you should also pay attention to password unpredictability. You want to avoid common substitutions (e.g., ‘a’ to ‘@’, ‘s’ to ‘$’).

Why Uniqueness Matters

People reuse passwords for many accounts. This risky behavior opens the door for attackers. Even a single password, even a strong one, can lead to access to valuable accounts. Password reuse can lead to a domino effect of account breaches.

44% of passwords are reused on many accounts worldwide. This puts sensitive data at risk.
Hackers compromise 20% of passwords, and users reuse 51% of passwords.
54% of employees use the same password for several work accounts.

Reusing passwords, even strong ones, can leave accounts exposed to attacks.

Here’s a real-life example

Ten years ago, Daisy joined an online gardening forum. She also created an online payment account and used the same password. She soon forgot about the gardening forum. But, someone accessed her payments account years later and stole a lot of money.

Daisy didn’t know someone had hacked the gardening forum. The hackers leaked users’ logins online. An attacker likely tried reusing Daisy’s leaked password on popular sites. Eventually, the attacker got lucky.

Guarding your passwords

Don’t write them down. Many write passwords on post-it notes and leave them in plain sight. Even if you hide your password, someone could still find it. Similarly, don’t store your login information in a file on your computer, even if you encrypt that file.
Don’t share passwords – You can’t be sure someone else will keep your credentials safe. While at work, you may have to take responsibility for anything that occurs when someone is logged in as you.
Don’t save login details in your browser. Some browsers store this info in unsafe ways. Another person could access your accounts if they get your device.

Tips for keeping passwords secure

Consider sharing these password tips with family and friends.

Never reuse passwords – Create a unique, strong password for each account or device. This way, a single hacked account doesn’t endanger other accounts.
Create long, complex passwords. Don’t use passwords based on dictionary words, pets’ names, or personal information. Attackers can guess them.
Use a password manager. These tools can store and manage your passwords. They can also generate strong new passwords. Some can also notify you when a password might be compromised.

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A strong password is the main barrier keeping most of your online accounts from being hacked. Without up to date practices, you might be using passwords that cyber-frauds can easily guess within minutes.

The average user creates passwords to fight data theft. The user could switch up the characters in your passwords and “Tr1Ck” your way into security. However. in today’s environment you need to create passwords that can fight modern password theft methods. Today, cyber-criminals use sophisticated technology to get your passwords. Users must consider the hackers software that is designed to account for user behavior as it guesses your passwords.

Related article

Easily Guessed Passwords for New Accounts Include “User”, “Temp”, “Welcome” (Security Boulevard)

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: 2024, Business, Password, Password management, Password strength, Passwords

RB | May 18, 2024

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War on SPAM: Do New FCC Rules Help?

In the battle against SPAM, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made a move that may help us. Back in December 2023, the regulators published new rules to close loopholes used by spammers. FCC commissioners voted 4 to 1 in favor of these regulations, but skepticism remains. Will these changes reduce the flood of unwanted messages we get every day?

These rules focus on closing lead generation-based loopholes. Companies are exploiting the loopholes. They use them to flood consumers with robocalls and texts without consent. Reuters predicts the new rules may “double or triple” the number of lawsuits against spammers. This sounds promising. But, we still need to see how well authorities will enforce these rules. Another concern is if the new rules will succeed. They aim to stop the unethical tactics used by spamming entities.

More control over who can contact them

The new rules require consent from consumers on a per-seller basis. This will give consumers more control over who can contact them. The new rules make clear that it is no longer “business as usual.”

Websites that compare prices and lead generators must get consumer consent to receive robocalls and robotexts. The consent applies to one seller at a time. It can’t apply to many telemarketers at once.

But, the approach’s efficacy remains uncertain. It relies on these entities’ willingness to adhere to the regulations.

SPAM red flags

Furthermore, the FCC now has the authority to “red flag” select phone numbers. Carriers must prevent the flagged numbers from sending texts. The new rules also expand the federal “Do-Not-Call” registry. It will now apply to unwanted marketing texts. It still remains unclear how this will be implemented in practice. There are so many SPAM calls and texts flooding consumers’ phones. Spotting and flagging specific numbers may be hard for the FCC.

Colin Sholes has covered SPAM’s dubious tactics. He is cautiously optimistic about the potential impact of these rule changes. Mr. Sholes, told Business Insider the FCC’s rule changes were “a long time coming.” He predicted they’ll have a big impact. They will decrease the number of SPAM calls and texts consumers get each day. He thinks the new FCC rule put companies “out of business” for using “slimy” tactics.

Politics as usual

It’s worth noting that political and campaign-related messages remain exempt from regulations. This is a significant gap in the FCC’s approach to combating SPAM. This loophole raises questions. Can the new rules fully address the SPAM problem?

Sholes predicts the exemption will last. It will last due to political benefits. Campaign stuff is just never going to go away. Members of Congress and their campaigns benefit from mass communication services. They carve out political exemptions in anti-SPAM laws to protect those conduits.

They may reduce SPAM. But, Sholes also stresses the challenges from political exemptions. He also notes the growing cunning of spammers.

SPAM continues

Despite FCC efforts, SPAM continues to plague consumers with no end in sight. Sholes points out that the FCC’s rules only apply to groups that use robocalling and robotexting tools. Marketers are generally allowed to call or text consumers without consent. This is true as long as they manually dial the phone numbers.

Stricter rules may lead to more lawsuits against spammers. But, it’s unclear if this will actually help consumers flooded by SPAM.

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In conclusion, skepticism persists about the effectiveness of new FCC rules. As we await the outcome of these regulatory changes, the battle against SPAM calls and texts wages on, leaving many wondering if true relief will ever be achieved.

Related article

The FCC just fined an international network of robocallers nearly $300 million for making 5 billion calls in a three month span (Business Insider)

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: 2024, Business, FCC, SPAM

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Bach Seat

Tag Archive for Business

Generative artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence vendors

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Meta (Facebook)

Microsoft largest artificial intelligence company

NVIDIA king of artificial intelligence

OpenAI sparked the artificial intelligence boom

Artificial Intelligence tech jobs

Tech jobs posted in Michigan

Big trends

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Some recruiters are amazing

The unprofessional recruiter

How to respond to bad recruiter questions

More bad recruiter questions

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What makes passwords ‘Strong’?

Why Uniqueness Matters

Here’s a real-life example

Guarding your passwords

Tips for keeping passwords secure

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More control over who can contact them

SPAM red flags

Politics as usual

SPAM continues

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Meta