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Time of India
4 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Meta faces Italian antitrust probe over WhatsApp AI integration
Facebook-parent Meta is reportedly facing competition investigation in Italy over its new AI chatbot integrated in its popular messaging app WhatsApp. As reported by Reuters, Italy's antirust watchdog AGCM has started an investigation into Meta Platforms, alleging that the company may have abused its dominant market position by integrating its Meta AI chatbot into WhatsApp without obtaining user consent. The probe mainly revolves around concerns that embedding Meta AI directly into WhatsApp's search bar could unfairly push users towards Meta services. This move of the company may potentially distort competition and harm rival AI platforms. 'By pairing Meta AI with WhatsApp, Meta appears to be able to steer its user base into the new market not through merit-based competition, but by 'forcing' users to accept the availability of two distinct services,' the authority stated. AGCM also suspects that Meta's move may also violate European Union competition rules, particularly around user autonomy and fair market access. The regulator is also investigating whether the integration was done without explicit user consent, raising privacy and ethical concerns. 'Offering free access to our AI features in WhatsApp gives millions of Italians the choice to use AI in a place they already know, trust and understand,' a Meta spokesperson told Reuters. The investigation will focus on whether the AI chatbot's integration into WhatsApp could potentially restrict competition or create an unfair advantage for Meta's other services. WhatsApp boasts a massive user base in Italy, making any new feature that could steer user behaviour a subject of intense regulatory scrutiny. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Meta to allow candidates to allow use AI during interviews, how this shows big Silicon Valley trend
Meta is planning to allow coding candidates to use an AI assistant during interviews, reports 404 media. The publication claims to have seen the company's internal memo where the Facebook-parent told its existing employees to volunteer for a 'mock AI-enabled interview'. According to a recent internal post titled 'AI-Enabled Interviews—Call for Mock Candidates,' the company is testing this updated format to better reflect real work situations. 'Meta is developing a new type of coding interview in which candidates have access to an AI assistant. This is more representative of the developer environment that our future employees will work in, and also makes LLM-based cheating less effective,' the post stated. 'We need mock candidates,' the post continued, adding 'If you would like to experience a mock AI-enabled interview, please sign up in this sheet. The questions are still in development; data from you will help shape the future of interviewing at Meta.' Meta confirms it is testing AI-enabled interviews Confirming the update, a Meta spokesperson told 404 Media: 'We're obviously focused on using AI to help engineers with their day-to-day work, so it should be no surprise that we're testing how to provide these tools to applicants during interviews'. Previously, in a Joe Rogan podcast Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that he foresees humans managing 'AI coding agents' who will write codes for the company. 'I think this year, probably in 2025, we at Meta as well as the other companies that are basically working on this, are going to have an AI that can effectively be a midlevel engineer that you have at your company that can write code,' Zuckerberg said in January. 'Over time we'll get to a point where a lot of the code in our apps and including the AI that we generate is actually going to be built by AI engineers instead of people engineers … In the future people are going to be so much more creative, and they're going to be freed up to do kind of crazy things.' iQOO Z10R 5G goes on Sale: BEST Budget Phone for Content Creators?
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Meta to reportedly revive smartwatch plans with built-in camera
Facebook-parent Meta is reportedly reviving a project it shelved in 2022. As reported by DigiTimes, Meta has once again started working on its ambitious smartwatch project. The report adds that the company's smartwatch may feature at one built-in camera, continuing Meta's unconventional approach to wrist-based tech. Unlike traditional smartwatches that prioritize health tracking and notifications, Meta's device is designed to complement its smart glasses and Quest VR headsets, offering users a way to capture and interact with the world around them. The camera-centric design suggests a focus on augmented reality (AR) and AI-powered experiences, rather than fitness or productivity. As per the report, the upcoming Meta smartwatch is rumoured to feature a 12MP camera which will be placed underside for off-wrist photography. Along with this, the wearable is also said to house a 5MP front shooter wrist-based video calls. While Meta hasn't confirmed specs, the new version is expected to retain similar functionality, possibly enhanced by the company's recent advances in large language models and AI wearables. The device is reportedly part of Meta's broader strategy to enhance the metaverse experience, integrating real-world visuals with virtual environments. Insiders suggest the smartwatch may be unveiled at Meta Connect, the company's annual developer conference, scheduled for September 17, 2025.
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Fed decision, jobs report will step out into spotlight
It's rare that folks think about a week of economic reports as potentially dramatic. This week, however, has the potential to be very dramatic. There's just so much data and, yes, politics, about to be loosed on markets, on businesses and around the world. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter There's the July unemployment report, due Friday. The widely studied and analyzed PCE inflation report inflation report, due Thursday. There's the first round of estimates of second-quarter gross domestic product, the report card on how the economy is faring. Related: It's a lollapalooza week ahead for markets Parallel to the economic data are some 843 earnings reports due this coming week from the likes of Microsoft (MSFT) , Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (META) , Apple (AAPL) and (AMZN) . It all comes in the context of continued negotiations on trade deals with tariff rates coming in at lower rates than President Trump suggested in April. Trump said Sunday the European Union has agreed to a deal that envisions tariffs on European goods at 15%. The United States is still negotiating on tariffs with China, Canada and others. So far, stock investors are happy to get a settlement. Stock index futures were signaling stocks will open higher on Monday. Gains would come after the Standard & Poor's 500, Nasdaq Composite and Nasdaq-100 indexes all hit record highs last week. And, of course, there's the Federal Reserve meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Will the central bank cut its key federal funds rate, not at 4.25% to 4.5%? Donald Trump wants a rate cut badly now. Treasury Scott Bessent says he wants it. Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, says he wants it. Two Fed governors, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, are for it. But the other 10 voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee, including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, have said they're content to wait, probably until the Fed's Sept. 16-17 meeting. Related: Intel CEO outlines 'hard but necessary decisions'; Trader Guilfoyle: CEO Tan 'Has a Chance' Powell attracts most of President Trump's ire; he's threatened to fire Powell, whose term expires next May. (Whether he legally can fire Powell is not clear.) Powell remains worried the president's big beautiful tax bill and his tariffs will affect inflation. Powell is not opposed to cutting later and, in fact, the futures markets think the Fed will decide to wait until September. A second rate cut will come in October or December. Overnight trading in the 10-year Treasury note shows the yield rising to 4.41% from Friday's 4.392%. Related: Mexican restaurants, chains hit hard by Chapter 11 bankruptcy There are estimates showing jobs growth falling to around 110,00 from 147,000 in June with the unemployment rate holding at 4.1% or so. But this bit of data has become quite volatile and a bit suspect because it's getting harder to obtain reliable data from phone and online surveys. Bloomberg/Getty Images Another indicator should come Thursday when outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas should release its monthly tally of reported layoffs and job cuts. One more jobs indicator: the weekly report on initial jobless claims, due Thursday. The most recent report showed 217,000 layoffs, down 4,000 from a week earlier. More Tech Stocks: Analyst who correctly predicted Rocket Lab stock surge resets forecastVerizon Q2 earnings report surprises with remarks on tax reformFund manager who forecast Nvidia stock rally reboots outlook The Personal Consumption Expenditures Index measures what is happening to prices for services and products consumers actually buy. It was 2.3% year-over-year in June and may be up slightly in July. Related: Chapter 11 bankruptcy forces popular animal attractions to close Two reports will look at this question: the S&P Case-Shiller report that looks at home prices on Tuesday and the National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index on Wednesday. The Case-Shiller report has suggested home prices are moderating. The pending sales report was up slightly in June but is down around 40% from levels last seen in 2022. Part of the downturn is due to: Higher interest home little construction of homes aimed at first-time home buyers. The Conference Board releases its Consumer Confidence Index report for July at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The University of Michigan releases its Consumer Sentiment Index at 10 a.m. Friday. Both look at how consumers are looking at inflation, the economy and other factors. The June reports showed increasing confidence, a reflection of better conditions in financial markets and the economy. Related: Veteran fund manager points to glaring stock market risk The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Microsoft expands AI team with key Google DeepMind hires
Microsoft has reportedly hired more than 20 employees from Google's DeepMind AI research lab, as the competition among tech giants to recruit AI specialists escalates. Among the new hires, Amar Subramanya, who previously led engineering for Google's Gemini chatbot, announced his move to Microsoft via a LinkedIn post. He joined Microsoft AI as corporate vice-president. According to a Financial Times (FT) report, Subramanya is now part of a group of former DeepMind professionals at Microsoft, which includes engineering lead Sonal Gupta, software engineer Adam Sadovsky, and product manager Tim Frank. Microsoft has attracted at least 24 DeepMind staff members over the past six months, the publication added. Microsoft's AI team is currently focusing on projects such as the Copilot assistant and the Bing search engine. This wave of hiring reflects a broader industry trend where tech companies are actively seeking top AI researchers and engineers from competitors, contributing to an increase in salaries within the sector. The recruitment activities between Microsoft and Google are particularly intense, partly due to Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, now overseeing Microsoft's consumer AI strategy. Suleyman previously brought in Dominic King and Christopher Kelly from DeepMind to lead a new AI health unit at Microsoft, which has developed a system reported to outperform human doctors in diagnosing complex medical conditions. The departure of Subramanya from Google coincided with that of Mat Velloso, another DeepMind alumnus who has since joined Meta. Velloso is associated with Facebook-parent's new initiative, Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), which aims to develop artificial general intelligence. Meta has invested $15bn in data-labelling start-up Scale AI and appointed its co-founder Alexandr Wang to lead this initiative. Recently, Meta also recruited Ruoming Pang, a former top AI executive from Apple. Despite these departures, a source close to DeepMind told FT that the company's attrition rates remain below the industry average. Furthermore, DeepMind has managed to recruit a comparable number of researchers from Microsoft. "Microsoft expands AI team with key Google DeepMind hires" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
