At its annual AWS conference, Amazon revealed a new suite of AI platforms called foundation models that enable the creation of text, images, and videos, among other things.
TakeAway Points:
- Amazon announced a new slate of artificial intelligence platforms, known as foundation models, at its annual AWS conference, allowing for text, image, and video generation among other things.
- Despite widespread concern that generative AI could interfere with major elections around the globe this year, the technology had limited impact across Meta Platforms’ apps, the tech company said on Tuesday.
- Coordinated networks of accounts attempting to spread false content are increasingly shifting their activities to other social media and messaging apps with fewer safety guardrails or are operating their own websites in order to stay online.
New AI suite
The new offerings pit it against rivals like Adobe and Meta that are racing to serve customers who want to automate more of their services.
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy announced the new “Nova” models on Tuesday. Developers, Jassy said, had a list of desires, prompting the new services.
“They want better latency. They want lower cost. They want the ability to do fine tuning,” Jassy said.
The announcements at the conference in Las Vegas are Amazon’s biggest step toward combating a reputation that it was caught flatfooted in developing AI applications as competitors sped ahead.
AI applications for video generation
Video generation from a single image or text prompt has been particularly hot, with Adobe, Meta, OpenAI, and TikTok parent ByteDance, among others, all announcing new such AI applications. Amazon on Tuesday said its Nova Reel software allows users to make six-second videos that can be useful for, say, displaying products on the Amazon website. Videos of up to two minutes will be available in the coming months, Amazon said.
Entertainment industry technologists are eager to get their hands on such tools to more efficiently enhance and expedite filmmaking capabilities. Still, others worry that such systems could infringe on copyrighted works.
Also on Tuesday, Amazon said it had developed Canvas for generating images from short text prompts. Jassy emphasized that Amazon would include watermarking to ensure the software is used responsibly to prevent harmful content from being spread.
Other offerings announced Tuesday are meant to speed up the time it takes to process and analyze text.
Meta Says Gen AI Had Minor Effect On Global Elections
Meta Platforms stated on Tuesday that generative AI had no effect on its products, despite growing worries that it would tamper with this year’s big elections worldwide.
Coordinated networks of accounts seeking to spread propaganda or false content largely failed to build a significant audience on Facebook and Instagram or use AI effectively, Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, told a press briefing. The volume of AI-generated misinformation was low and Meta was able to quickly label or remove the content, he said.
The snapshot from Meta comes as misinformation experts say AI content has so far failed to significantly sway public opinion, as notable deepfake videos and audio, including of President Joe Biden’s voice, have been quickly debunked.
Coordinated networks of accounts attempting to spread false content are increasingly shifting their activities to other social media and messaging apps with fewer safety guardrails or are operating their own websites in order to stay online, Clegg said, adding that Meta took down about 20 covert influence operations on its platform this year.
Clegg said Meta was overly stringent in its content moderation decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in content that was mistakenly removed.
Protecting free expression
The company heard feedback from users who complained that their content had been removed unfairly, and Meta will aim to protect free expression and be more precise in enforcing its rules, Clegg said.
“We feel we probably overdid it a bit,” he said. “While we’ve been really focusing on reducing the prevalence of bad content, I think we also want to redouble our efforts to improve the precision and accuracy with which we act on our rules.”
Some Republican lawmakers have questioned what they say is censorship of certain viewpoints on social media. In an August letter to the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he regretted some content take-downs the company made in response to pressure from the Biden administration.
Clegg said Zuckerberg hoped to help shape President-elect Donald Trump’s administration on tech policy, including AI.
“Mark is very keen to play an active role in the debates that any administration needs to have about maintaining America’s leadership in the technological sphere … and particularly the pivotal role that AI will play in that scenario,” he said.
