Universal Music Group (UMG) is partnering with Endel, an "AI sound wellness company" specializing in personalized algorithmic soundscapes, the companies announced today. The partnership aims to let UMG artists create machine-learning-generated sounds for activities like sleep, relaxation and focus. The record label "will use Endel's proprietary AI technology to enable UMG artists to create science-backed soundscapes," the companies said. The soundscapes can contain new music and updated versions of back-catalog tracks. The companies emphasize that the project "will always respect creators' rights and put artists at the center of the creative process," adding that musicians and their teams have the final say on the results.

As Microsoft unveiled more of its plans for AI domination at its Build developer conference today, no aspect of its business will be left untouched by AI. In addition to bringing its "Copilot" to Windows 11 and Edge, the company also shared details on how it will be infusing the Store with AI, beginning with the new AI Hub. This is a "new curated section in the Microsoft Store where we will promote the best AI experiences built by the developer community and Microsoft," the company said in a press release. It will use this area to "educate customers on how to start and expand their AI journey, inspiring them to use AI in everyday ways to boost productivity, spark creativity and more." Kickresume, Play.ht and other services that let users tap AI to help them create content.

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said part of the reason for his current tour of European cities is to discover a suitable location for a new office. "Poland would be an interesting place," Altman said in an interview Tuesday when asked about European offices. "We want to do a research and engineering office in Europe, not a regulatory one. We are trying to figure it out. This is part of the goal of this trip."

As generative AI has taken the tech world by storm, it was only a matter of time before Photoshop got in on the action. Adobe announced today that a new Generative Fill feature is coming to its ubiquitous photo-editing software later this year. The company promises "a magical new way to work" as the Firefly-powered feature lets you add, remove and extend visual content based on natural-language text prompts. "Generative Fill combines the speed and ease of generative AI with the power and precision of Photoshop, empowering customers to bring their visions to life at the speed of their imaginations," said Ashley Still, Adobe's senior VP of Digital Media. Adobe's Generative Fill is equivalent to DALL-E 2's inpainting (generating AI content within a section of an image) and outpainting (AI-generated content extending beyond the image's borders).

With Global Accessibility Awareness Day just days away, Apple is previewing a raft of new iOS features for cognitive accessibility, along with Live Speech, Personal Voice and more. The company said it worked in "deep collaboration" with community groups representing users with disabilities, and drew on "advances in hardware and software, including on-device machine learning" to make them work. The biggest update is "Assistive Access" designed to support users with cognitive disabilities. Essentially, it provides a custom, simplified experience for the phone, FaceTime, Messages, Camera, Photos, and Music apps. That includes a "distinct interface with high contrast buttons and large text labels" along with tools that can be customized by trusted supporters for each individual.

Amazon.com Inc. plans to bring ChatGPT-style product search to its web store, rivaling efforts by Microsoft Corp. and Google to weave generative artificial intelligence into their search engines. The e-commerce giant's ambitions appear in recent job postings reviewed by Bloomberg News. One listing seeking a senior software development engineer says the company is "reimagining Amazon Search with an interactive conversational experience" designed to help users find answers to questions, compare products and receive personalized suggestions. "We're looking for the best and brightest across Amazon to help us realize and deliver this vision to our customers right away," the company said in the listing, which was posted on its jobs board last month. "This will be a once in a generation transformation for Search."

The race to roll out artificial intelligence is happening as quickly as the race to contain it – as two key moments this week demonstrate. On 10 May, Google announced plans to deploy new large language models, which use machine learning techniques to generate text, across its existing products. "We are reimagining all of our core products, including search," said Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet, at a press conference. The move is widely seen as a response to Microsoft adding similar functionality to its search engine, Bing. A day later, politicians in the European Union agreed on new rules dictating how and when AI can be used.

For the past two months, anybody wanting to try out Google's new chatbot AI, Bard, had to first register their interest and join a waitlist before being granted access. On Wednesday, the company announced that those days are over. Bard will immediately be dropping the waitlist requirement as it expands to 180 additional countries and territories. What's more, this expanded Bard will be built atop Google's newest Large Language Model, PaLM 2, making it more capable than ever before. Google hurriedly released the first generation Bard back in February after OpenAI's ChatGPT came out of nowhere and began eating the industry's collective lunch like Gulliver in a Lilliputian cafeteria. Matters were made worse when Bard's initial performances proved less than impressive -- especially given Google's generally accepted status at the forefront of AI development -- which hurt both Google's public image and its bottom line.

IBM is taking on the likes of Microsoft, AWS, and Google by introducing Watsonx, a new generative AI platform, which will help enterprises design and tune large language models (LLMs) for their operational and business requirements. Watsonx comes with a suite of tools for tuning LLMs, a data store built on lakehouse architecture, and an AI governance toolkit, the company said. Watson AI is IBM's artificial intelligence engine that the company had trained on different machine learning algorithms along with question analysis, natural language processing, feature engineering, and ontology analysis. Watsonx can be seen as the evolution of Watson AI. With the Watsonx platform, the company said it is trying to meet enterprises' requirements in five areas including interacting and conversing with customers and employees, automating business workflows and internal processes, automating IT processes, protecting against threats, and tackling sustainability goals.

IBM is taking on the likes of Microsoft, AWS, and Google by introducing Watsonx, a new generative AI platform, which will help enterprises design and tune large language models (LLMs) for their operational and business requirements. Watsonx comes with a suite of tools for tuning LLMs, a data store built on lakehouse architecture, and an AI governance toolkit, the company said. Watson AI is IBM's artificial intelligence engine that the company had trained on different machine learning algorithms along with question analysis, natural language processing, feature engineering, and ontology analysis. Watsonx can be seen as the evolution of Watson AI. With the Watsonx platform, the company said it is trying to meet enterprises' requirements in five areas including interacting and conversing with customers and employees, automating business workflows and internal processes, automating IT processes, protecting against threats, and tackling sustainability goals.