Big tech earnings presented a mixed picture of AI this week as workers across industries felt the impacts of the technology. Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta all released earnings — but the AI fanfare took a back seat, with investors rewarding or punishing tech giants based on the health of their long-established main businesses. At the same time, though, tech companies in the US are talking less about recession and more about AI this earnings season. In finance, US regulators approved a plan to root out conflicts of interest that arise when financial firms adopt AI.
Here are the key events that happened in the AI sector during the week:
Microsoft charges ahead with spending to serve AI demand
Microsoft on Tuesday laid out an aggressive spending plan to meet demand for its new artificial intelligence services after surpassing Wall Street estimates for fiscal fourth-quarter revenue and profit. Microsoft is weaving AI into its own products, such as the $30-a-month "Copilot" assistant for its Microsoft 365 service that can summarize a day's worth of emails into a quick update. It is also aiming to sell cloud computing services that other firms will use to build AI services.
Meta rallies as AI-powered ad sales drive 'monster' forecast
Meta shares surged on Thursday as a rosy revenue forecast showed that artificial intelligence was helping the social media giant boost engagement and ad sales even in an uncertain economy. "Advertisers are gaining confidence in Meta's enhanced and AI-powered campaign planning and measurement capabilities, and spending more. Unsurprisingly, Reels monetization keeps improving," said Morningstar analyst Ali Mogharabi.
Alphabet rallies as Google Search unfazed by challenge from Microsoft's Bing
Alphabet rallied on Wednesday on signs its dominant Google Search business was faring well in an uncertain advertising market and remained unscathed in the face of competition from an AI-powered Microsoft Bing. Alphabet has rolled out a series of AI products this year and revamped its search engine with the technology as it competes with Microsoft in a race to dominate the nascent field.
ChatGPT now on Android in some countries including US
ChatGPT is now available for Android users in the United States, India, Bangladesh and Brazil, the viral chatbot's owner OpenAI said on Tuesday, as it looks to take advantage of the popularity of the artificial intelligence tool. As AI becomes widely used in tasks such as content writing to coding, San Francisco-based OpenAI announced ChatGPT for Android last week to further expand its user base.
Alarmed by AI's potential, U.S. Senate to summon experts
U.S. senators, alarmed by the malevolent potential of artificial intelligence, will summon developers, executives and experts for hearings later this year on possible legislative safeguards, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday.
Lam Research sales forecast beats estimates on AI boom
Chip-making tools supplier Lam Research forecast quarterly revenue above Wall Street estimates, as semiconductor makers scramble to meet a surge in demand fueled by rising adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
ServiceNow beats quarterly revenue estimates on AI-fueled growth
ServiceNow reported quarterly revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, boosted by a growing demand for its artificial intelligence solutions. The rising demand for workflow automation and the company's continued efforts to expand its portfolio with new generative AI solutions helped drive growth.
Amazon has drawn thousands to try its AI service competing with Microsoft, Google
Amazon.com’s cloud division has drawn thousands of customers to try out its service vying with Microsoft and Google in a key area of artificial intelligence, an executive told Reuters. The company also announced new AI tools on Wednesday, including a program for building more conversational customer-service agents, technology access from the startup Cohere and a healthcare system for generating clinical notes after a patient visit.
Alibaba's cloud unit brings Meta's AI model Llama to its clients
Alibaba's cloud computing division said it has become the first Chinese enterprise to support Meta's open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model Llama, allowing its Chinese business users to develop programs off the model.
US SEC adopts new cyber rule, unveils brokerage AI proposal
On a party-line vote, the five-member U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also voted to propose requiring broker-dealers to address conflicts of interest in the use of artificial intelligence in trading, a reform partly influenced by the events of the 2021 "meme stock" rally when officials found robo-advisers and brokers used AI and game-like features to drive user behavior.
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