Anthropic launches tool to connect AI systems directly to datasets
The Model Context Protocol connects an AI system to multiple data sources, which Anthropic says can eliminate the need to create custom code for each one.
Anthropic has released a new open-source tool to connect AI assistants directly to the information they need to inform their responses or carry out tasks. The new Model Context Protocol (MCP) provides a universal connection to all sorts of data sources, which Anthropic says will improve performance.
Earlier this month, OpenAI started testing a new “Work with Apps” feature that lets the Mac version of ChatGPT directly connect to certain coding apps. Anthropic’s tool, on the other hand, aims to work across all AI systems and data sources.
As noted by Alex Albert, Anthropic’s head of Claude relations, developers currently have to create custom code for each dataset they want their AI model to draw from. With Anthropic’s MCP, Albert says developers can integrate it with their AI tool once and then “connect to data sources anywhere” thanks to a “standard protocol for sharing resources, tools, and prompts.”
Anthropic says coding software like Replit, Codeium, and Souregraph have already started using MCP to build out their AI agents, which can complete tasks on behalf of users. This tool will likely make it easier for other companies and developers to connect an AI system with multiple data sources — something that could become especially helpful as the industry leans into agentic AI.
More about Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol on The Verge
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AI helps India's Meesho cut customer call costs by 75%
Softbank-backed Meesho has rolled out what it claims to be India’s first generative AI-powered voice bot among e-commerce firms for customer support, paring down some expenses by 75%.
The Bengaluru-based e-commerce startup, which serves 160 million customers in India, said Tuesday its AI bot currently handles 60,000 customer calls daily in English and Hindi. The startup, which also counts Prosus and Elevation among its backers, plans to add support for six more Indian languages.
Rather than developing its own large language model, Meesho has for now combined existing AI large language models with custom-built components that understand local context and language nuances. The system includes specialized building blocks for speech recognition and natural language processing.
“We haven’t built our own LLM because we believe the off-the-shelf ones available out there were doing well in Hindi and English,” said Sanjeev Barnwal, co-founder and chief technology officer of Meesho, in an interview with TechCrunch.
More on Meesho’s cost cutting with AI on Tech Crunch
Hacking generative AI: Limiting security risk in the age of AI
While 81% of executives stress the importance of secure and trustworthy AI, only 24% of AI projects are secure. Is it ever ok to prioritize innovation over security when it comes to AI?
Listen to Chris Thompson, Global Head of IBM X-Force Red, and Moumita Saha, Senior Security Architect at AWS talk about the generative AI attack surfaces, risks and how we can secure AI models.
Orange partners with OpenAI, Meta to develop custom African-language AI models
French telecoms giant Orange on Tuesday said it’s partnering with Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Facebook-owner Meta to build custom artificial intelligence models designed to better understand regional African languages.
Orange said it’s working with OpenAI and Meta to develop custom AI models built on their respective Whisper and Llama open-source AI models — openly available systems that can be adapted to meet specific needs — that can understand West African languages not understood by most conversational systems.
Currently, much of the data major AI companies train their algorithms on originates in the United States, which means their models can lose important context, such as culture and language, when it comes to different regions like Europe, the Middle East and Africa. That means it can be hard for those models to understand text and voice-based communications composed in less well-represented languages, according to Steve Jarrett, Orange’s chief AI officer.
“Having an open model, you’re able to do what’s called fine tuning, where you you introduce additional information to the model that wasn’t included when it was first trained,” Jarrett told CNBC in an interview. “We’re adding the recognition of West African regional languages that are not understood today by any AI.”
More about Orange and OpenAI’s partnership on CNBC
New Audio AI Fugatto Generates Sound from Text | NVIDIA Research
While some AI models can compose a song or modify a voice, none have the dexterity of the new offering, from NVIDIA Research.
Fugatto (short for Foundational Generative Audio Transformer Opus 1), generates or transforms any mix of music, voices and sounds described with prompts using any combination of text and audio files.
It can create a music snippet based on a text prompt, remove or add instruments from an existing song, change the accent or emotion in a voice — even let people produce sounds never heard before.
Note: Some music, sounds, and the voice of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang used in this video are AI generated.
Zoom Video Communications Inc rebrands as AI-first company
Zoom — the company best known for bringing the world the videoconferencing software that got corporate workers through the coronavirus pandemic — wants to be known for its status as an AI-first company, CEO Eric Yuan wrote in a company blog post published Monday announcing a major rebrand.
From this day forward, the company formerly called "Zoom Video Communications Inc." will be known simply as "Zoom Communications Inc." the post reads, as the company focuses on an AI-first approach to corporate communications.
For the company, an AI-first approach means "taking a federated approach to building AI-centric tools and products that enable you to work happier, smarter, and faster," the blog post said.
"Woven throughout Zoom Workplace, AI Companion frees us up to focus on more important work and minimizes time wasted on less meaningful tasks," the company announced. "By summarizing meeting tasks, drafting email responses, and preparing you for meetings, AI Companion is your digital assistant that reduces your over."
It added that the new capabilities aim to " free up a whole day's worth of work and allowing you to work just four days per week."
A Path to Beneficial Superintelligence
Watch Dr. Ben Goertzel, CEO of SingularityNET and ASI Alliance, discuss the path to beneficial Superintelligence. Recorded at the Superintelligence Summit held by Ocean Protocol in Bangkok on November 11, 2024.
SingularityNET was founded by Dr. Ben Goertzel with the mission of creating a decentralized, democratic, inclusive, and beneficial Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). An AGI that is not dependent on any central entity, is open to anyone, and is not restricted to the narrow goals of a single corporation or even a single country.
Thats all for today, however new advancements, investments, and partnerships are happening as you read this. AI is moving fast, subscribe today to stay informed.