Code & Clarity

Amazon, the giant online retailer, just revealed a new use for artificial intelligence that has many people scratching their heads. Soon, when you search for items on the Amazon shopping app, you might see images of products that are entirely made up by AI. These pictures are not of real items for sale, but rather computer-generated suggestions. Imagine typing "blue gingham dress" into the search bar. Below the usual text suggestions, Amazon might now display several AI-created images of different blue gingham dresses. These could show various sleeve lengths, styles, and hemlines. The idea is that if you click on one of these fake images, it will then direct you to a page with real products that closely match that visual style. Amazon explains this new feature is meant to help shoppers who know what they want but struggle to find the right words to describe it. For example, if you are looking for a specific kind of shirt collar, like a "cowl neck," or a...

Uber has recently imposed a cap on its employees' AI spending after it was discovered that the company had blown through its entire annual AI budget in just four months. The new rule sets a monthly limit of $1,500 per employee for the use of AI tools such as Anthropic's Claude Code. This decision comes as a surprise, given that Uber had initially encouraged its staff to use AI as much as possible and even ranked their internal usage competitively on leaderboards. The company's decision to limit AI spending is likely a result of the high costs associated with these tools. In April, Uber's CTO revealed that the company had already exceeded its annual AI budget, prompting a reevaluation of its spending habits. The COO, Andrew Macdonald, has also expressed doubts about the productivity impact of AI, stating that it is difficult to draw a direct line between AI usage and new consumer features. This has raised questions about the return on investment for companies that...

OpenAI has released a new set of capabilities for its Codex tool, aiming to expand its uses in the workplace. The company has introduced six plug-ins that cater to specific jobs, including data analytics, creative production, and investment banking. These plug-ins are designed to make Codex more effective in various professional settings, allowing users to customize the tool to suit their needs. The new tools come with a report that highlights the growing use of Codex in knowledge work, with over 5 million weekly active users. While developers remain the largest user group, knowledge workers now account for about 20 percent of users and are growing at a rate three times faster. The report also notes that Codex is being used in various industries, including finance, engineering, and design. The company has also introduced a new Sites feature, which allows Codex to output its work product as a hosted interactive website, and an Annotations feature that enables users to designate s...

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is planning to raise $80 billion to fund its ambitious AI infrastructure buildout. The company will sell $80 billion in stock, with $10 billion of that going to Berkshire Hathaway, a global holding company formerly led by Warren Buffett. This move is part of Alphabet's plan to scale up its AI capabilities and meet the growing demand for its AI solutions and services. The demand for AI solutions is exceeding the company's available supply, and Alphabet is looking to expand its foundational infrastructure to support this growth. The company expects to spend between $180 billion and $190 billion on capital expenditures this year, with a significant portion of that going towards AI development. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced these plans at Google I/O last month, highlighting the company's commitment to AI innovation. Alphabet's decision to raise $80 billion is a significant move in the tech industry, and it highlights...

DuckDuckGo is making it easier for users to access its no-AI search engine with the launch of new browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. The extensions allow users to set DuckDuckGo's no-AI search experience as their default search engine, providing a search experience without AI-assisted answers, chat prompts, and fewer AI images in search results. This move comes as traffic to DuckDuckGo's no-AI search page has been booming, with a nearly 30% week-over-week increase in web visits and an 18.1% week-over-week increase in U.S. app installs. The company's decision to launch the no-AI search extensions is a response to the growing demand for alternative search engines that do not rely on AI. Google's recent announcement that it would be overhauling its search engine to prioritize AI-generated search overviews has led to a surge in interest in no-AI search engines like DuckDuckGo. The traditional "10 blue links" that defined Google in its earlier days a...