Latest news with #AI+Summit
Axios
3 days ago
- Business
- Axios
AI+ Summit: Tipping points galore
AI is hitting multiple tipping points in its impact on the tech industry, communication, government and human culture — and speakers at Axios' AI+ Summit in New York Wednesday mapped the transformative moment. 1. The software business is the first to feel AI's full force, and we're just beginning to see what happens when companies start using AI tools to accelerate advances in AI itself. "We're using agents to build agents," May Habib, CEO of Writer, told Axios' Ina Fried. "We've been saying for a long time that software is eating the world — now AI is eating the software," said Danny Allan, CTO of AI-security firm Snyk. 2. Chatbots are changing how people interact with one another. Boston Consulting Group managing director Vladimir Lukic said he's now using AI to game out conversations with CEOs in advance of meetings. When he tells them that he's asked a chatbot what questions the CEO is likely to ask him, the CEO will invariably want to know the prediction — and that ends up being what they talk about. 3. Government isn't likely to moderate AI's risks. With the Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress largely pulling back from AI regulation, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul sounded an alarm over a provision in the House-approved Trump spending bill that would bar states from passing new AI rules for a decade. "We have to stop this," she said, "but I'm right now not holding my breath" that Washington will reverse course. 4. Culture makers fear AI will undermine the urge to create. AI builders used mountains of "publicly available" data assembled from the collected creative works of humankind in order to train their models.
Axios
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Axios
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: "Not a punk rock thing" to use artists' work to train AI for free
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt said there needs to be an incentive to keep creatives paid and employed as AI disrupts the entertainment business at Axios' AI+ Summit in New York on Wednesday. The big picture: Even though many tech firms won't say it, their generative AI models have been trained on existing art including movies and books — and controversially without compensation.
Axios
4 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Weather Company CEO wants AI to help you know when to walk your dog
Weather Company CEO Rohit Agarwal said that AI brings new opportunities for forecasting but keeping humans in the loop is their "secret sauce" during Axios' AI+ Summit in New York on Wednesday. Why it matters: AI is improving forecasting and has the potential to help combat climate change, boost public safety and offer hyperlocal forecasts. Zoom in: Agarwal said AI has the potential to solve problems for businesses and enterprises that are highly dependent on the weather to serve their customers. For example, Agarwal explored the possibility of telling pet owners the specific day of the week or time of day that walks should take place to keep pets safe. "Wouldn't it be fun if we actually deliver that message to you, knowing that you're likely to have a pet, that you're likely to choose in the morning or afternoon walk, and that you have the type of dog that actually can use a lot of exercise?" Agarwal told Axios' Ashley Gold. But as companies race to adopt the technology, human expertise plays a crucial role. Driving the news: Agarwal said the Weather Company's AI models are one of their "superpowers," along with the human element. "We think that our secret sauce is also how we apply talented scientists and meteorologists to the formula to ensure that there is checks and balances against what those models are effectively communicating and computing so that we can ensure that we are delivering an accurate forecast for our customers," Agarwal said. As the Trump administration takes a sledgehammer to the federal government, including at NOAA and the National Weather Service, Agarwal said the Weather Company leverages relationships with those agencies to deliver "world class forecast data."
Axios
4 days ago
- Business
- Axios
5 key things from Gov. Hochul's interview with Axios
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Wednesday that lawmakers who claim not to have read parts of the GOP spending bill should use ChatGPT to ask: "Anything I should worry about in here?" The big picture: Hochul spoke about the economic, political and social consequences of AI — from training workforces to children's safety — while speaking with Axios' Ina Fried at the AI+ Summit in New York. Here are five key things Hochul said in her interview with Axios' Ina Fried. 1. Hochul took a dig at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for saying she didn't know the GOP tax bill that passed the House last month included a provision that would ban states and municiplaities from regulating the tech for 10 years. Hochul referenced Greene, who sits on the House Oversight Committee, without naming her when mentioning she's set to testify on Capitol Hill next week with other Democratic governors about immigration policies. "They're claiming did not know that there was a 10 year ban on any ... AI" regulation, she said. "You voted for it. Just ask ChatGPT. ... just some humble advice for them." 2. She called out the GOP spending bill for that provision, calling it a "concerning" move by House Republicans. Hochul indicated it jeopardizes New York's ban on sexual exploitation of young girls on social media through the use of AI. 3. AI doesn't have to replace jobs, Hochul said. "AI can increase productivity dramatically," the governor said, adding that she's not looking to eliminate jobs. "I want ... people to have a better customer experience when they come into a DMV or other offices, so I see great potential here." 4."I'm New York state's first mom governor, and I look out for all the kids," she said regarding online safety. "So that's where I approach this from, is what we can do to protect our children, but not unnecessarily constrain what AI is all about and the potential?" 5. New York is challenging the White House including on saving offshore wind, congestion pricing and challenges to birthright citizenship.
Axios
4 days ago
- Business
- Axios
DreamWorks co-founder Katzenberg likens AI to CGI revolution
Hollywood giant Jeffrey Katzenberg at Axios' AI+ Summit Wednesday likened the arrival of artificial intelligence to the advent of computer graphics in the 1990s, which revolutionized animation. The big picture: Whether Hollywood overcomes its unease to eventually embrace AI could be a bellwether for the technology's impact on other industries and on jobs. The dispute over AI was central to the 2023 writers strike, which ended with an agreement that included landmark rules on AI in projects. Zoom out: Katzenberg, a co-founder of DreamWorks and one-time Disney executive whose work includes films like "Shrek," reflected on the "huge" resistance to making "Toy Story" with the then-novel CGI technology. The people most afraid were the ones who would be disrupted, he said. "Everything that you are hearing today are the issues that we had to deal with," he said. Katzenberg continued, "Yes, there was disruption, but animation's never, ever been bigger than it is today." The bottom line: "AI isn't going to replace people, it's going to replace people that don't use AI," he said.
