2023 Digital News - Week 5
A new ChatGPT-powered Bing has mysteriously appeared and suddenly disappeared. In the meanwhile, ChatGPT will help you to manage better your meetings on Teams.
Owen Yin, a student and Bing user, has published on Twitter some screenshots and videos of a new Bing version that could have appeared on its browser. The student has been able to test it a few minutes before it disappeared. The apparent new Bing search is working with conversational AI and is also citing the sources from which is taking info. Other Twitter users have published similar screenshots and the UI looks really similar to ChatGPT one. Could this be Bing’s game-changer in the competition against Google?
After announcing a multi-billion investment into OpenAI at the beginning of February, Microsoft already started the internal ChatGPT implementation. The first service that has been already implemented last week is related to Teams. Indeed, with $7 a month, ChatGPT will simplify your team meetings through the automatic generation of meeting notes, recommendation of tasks, and support for meetings templates creation. In addition, Microsoft is also working on AI-driven email automation and customization for its customers’ management system called Viva Sales to improve its positioning vs Salesforce.
Amazon beat expectations while Apple and Google suffered a decline in sales.
Amazon: sales increased 9% in Q4 2022 to $149.2bn, exceeding analyst expectations for the year. The company recorded an operating loss of $2.7bn in Q4 (vs $3.5bn last year). AWS, the cloud division, fell short of expectations for Q4 with “only” 20% growth vs 27.5% in the third quarter. Advertising increased by 19% from the previous year, surpassing once more other adv companies like Google, Facebook, and Snap. CEO Andy Jassy remains optimistic about the long-term opportunities for Amazon. Here is the Amazon quarterly announcement.
Apple: sales in Q4 2022 were $117.2bn, which decreased 5% in Q4 2022 vs last year. This is the first sales drop since 2019. iPhone sales dropped, and Mac computer sales also fell. However, its services business hit an all-time revenue record of $20.8bn. CEO Tim Cook said the company remains focused on the long term and is leading with its values. Apple is one of the few tech giants that, as of today, did not undertake mass layoffs. Here news about Apple.
Google: Advertising revenue fell 4% in the fourth quarter of 2022, from $61 to $59bn. This is the second quarterly drop in the company's history. YouTube's ad revenue also fell. However, overall revenues at Alphabet grew 1% to $76.04bn. According to CEO Sundar Pichai, the company is re-engineering its cost structure and is excited about the AI-driven leaps they're about to unveil. Here some more info about Google.
OpenAI has started the test for a ChatGPT paid subscription.
For $20 a month, you can now get access to ChatGPT Plus. The AI tool developed by OpenAI will be available with additional benefits like 24/7 access (also in peak periods), quicker responses, and priority access to new features and implementations. The paid subscription is only available in the US but OpenAI is already planning the expansion in other Countries.
Meta could evaluate new paid verification for Instagram and Twitter.
Following the implementation of a comparable system at Twitter, new findings indicate that Meta may be exploring a paid verification function for Instagram and Facebook. Alessandro Paluzzi, developer and reverse engineer, has recently discovered some code snippets specifically mentioning a "paid blue badge" and a new subscription service both in Instagram and Facebook app, suggesting that paid verification may be made available on all of Meta's platforms in the future. Considering that Twitter paid subscriptions are bringing $7MM per quarter, Meta might be interested in covering rising costs and decreasing adv investments.
Shopify is increasing its subscription prices for all US customers.
Shopify announced an increase in its US platform prices that could be applied soon also in Europe. For existing customers, this implementation will start in April, while for new customers the new fees have been already implemented. Monthly subscriptions are growing by +30% on average while yearly ones will almost double. Over the last year, Shopify has taken a number of steps to restore its operations. Indeed, in 2022, Shopify reduced costs, trimmed 10% of its employees, and even stopped holding pointless meetings. Price increases seem to be the inevitable next move to ensure the company’s long-term success.
**BONUS NEWS**
One Finocchiona advertisement has been banned by the Facebook AI model that identified the word as a potential insult. The Consortium for the Finocchiona took the algorithm error with irony and invited Meta’s CEO Zuckerberg to enjoy a sandwich with the Tuscan specialty.
