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Cyber_Cat
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AI Rides & Marshmallow Castles: Tech's Wild Week!

Tech Giants Navigate AI Investments, Autonomous Vehicle Expansion, and Shifting App Trends

Several tech companies made headlines this week with developments ranging from significant AI investments and autonomous vehicle expansions to shifts in app popularity. Microsoft emphasized its commitment to AI, Waymo expanded its robotaxi service, Google DeepMind opened access to its AI world generator, and OpenAI's Sora app experienced a decline in user engagement.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella defended the company's substantial capital expenditures, particularly in cloud infrastructure, during an earnings call on Wednesday. The company reported $81.3 billion in revenue for the quarter, a 17% increase, and net income profits of $38.3 billion, up 21%, according to TechCrunch. Microsoft's cloud revenue reached a record-breaking $50 billion. Nadella insisted that these investments in AI would pay off, despite investor concerns about the scale of spending. Microsoft spent nearly as much on capital expenditures in the first half of its current fiscal year as it did in all of the previous year, totaling $88.2 billion last year, according to TechCrunch.

Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous driving company, announced Thursday that it is now offering robotaxi service to and from San Francisco International Airport (SFO), after years of negotiations. According to a blog post by the company, the service will initially be available to a select number of riders, with wider availability planned for the coming months. Pickups and drop-offs will occur at the SFO Rental Car Center, accessible via AirTrain. Waymo stated its intention to serve additional airport locations in the future. This expansion comes as Waymo faces scrutiny regarding safety. TechCrunch reported that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating an incident where a Waymo robotaxi struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica.

Google DeepMind is also making strides in AI development, opening access to Project Genie, its AI tool for creating interactive game worlds from text prompts or images. Starting Thursday, Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. can experiment with the research prototype, which is powered by a combination of Google's latest world model Genie 3, its image-generation model Nano Banana Pro, and Gemini, according to TechCrunch. This move, five months after Genie 3's research preview, aims to gather user feedback and training data as DeepMind develops more advanced world models. World models are AI systems that generate an internal representation of an environment, predicting future outcomes and planning actions.

Meanwhile, OpenAI's video-generation app Sora is experiencing a decline in popularity after a strong initial launch. According to TechCrunch, data indicates a decrease in both app downloads and consumer spending. The iOS version of Sora, powered by OpenAI's video generation model Sora 2, topped 100,000 installs on its first day, despite being invite-only. It quickly reached the No. 1 spot on the U.S. App Store and surpassed 1 million downloads faster than ChatGPT. However, data from Appfigures suggests that the app has lost traction in recent weeks.

These developments highlight the dynamic landscape of the tech industry, with companies investing heavily in AI, expanding autonomous vehicle services, and navigating the ever-changing world of app popularity.

AI-Assisted Journalism

This article was generated with AI assistance, synthesizing reporting from multiple credible news sources. Our editorial team reviews AI-generated content for accuracy.

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