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Generative artificial intelligence (AI), like most programming languages, uses Epoch Time to standardize its operations.

Epoch Time is the number of seconds that have elapsed since Jan. 1, 1970; but as the technology continues its onward march, putting more silicon into more business solutions, a new unit of measurement capable of addressing the rapid advances we are witnessing may just be needed.

While many eyes were on the drumbeat of AI announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, MicrosoftsAI investments helped it (briefly) surpass long-time rivalAppleas the worlds most valuable company.

This years 2024 CES show was more than an occasion to introduce new gadgets, robots and AI-driven product development; it also served to highlight how marketers are increasingly leaning into AI-driven customer insights.

Of course, product and solution development did literally take center stage.

Walmart used CES to promote how the retail giant has been investing in eCommerce anddigital capabilitiesto compete with Amazon in the online space, announcing Tuesday (Jan. 9) that it has integrated generative AIacross its digital shopping platform, allowing customers to search for specific themes or occasions and receive curated results across multiple categories.

Among the new tools are My Assistant, a generative AI-powered tool for Walmart associates that is being expanded to enable staff in 11 countries to interact with the tool in their native language. Launched in the United States in August, the tool helps associates with tasks like summarizing large documents.

Not to be outdone, Amazon has been leveraging AI models available in Microsofts Azure OpenAI Service to provide a more personalized shopping experience. Amazonslatest tool, announced Tuesday, lets viewers cast content to its devices fromApple andGoogle-powered streaming apps.

Victorias Secretannounced Thursday (Jan. 11) that it hopes to soon let its customers turn to AI for product recommendations.

As consumer packaged goods brands look to manage cost inflation,IBMis separately seizing on the opportunity to drive sales with smarter supply chain solutions, announcing on Thursday apartnershipwith software companySAP.

This week was a big one on the enterprise AI front.

IBM teamed withCasper Labsto help companies gain more insight into their AI systems. As PYMNTS has written, AI is one of thefirst technologiesthat can violate nearly all of a companys internal policies in one fell swoop.

At the same time, OpenAIsChatGPT Enterprisehas reportedly gained traction in the corporate world, with 260 businesses signing up for the service within four months of its launch.

Meanwhile, Mastercardis developing Mastercard Small Business AI, a tool for small business owners, announced Thursday.

Also on Thursday, PYMNTS examined the potential of OpenAIs new ChatGPT store as amonetization strategy.

As PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster has written, for anapp store to take off, it needs the same thing Apple and Google needed with their app stores 16 years ago: a critical mass of developers and users.

Notably, OpenAI partner Microsofts own AI Copilot app trails ChatGPT downloads substantially, despite offering the same tech for free.

On Tuesday (Jan. 9) researchers fromMicrosoftand scientists at thePacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Washington stateannouncedthat they successfully used AI to design an industrial material that can be used to build a working battery requiring up to 70% less lithium than many competing designs.

After all, AI isincreasinglybeing integrated intoevery elementof theconnected carexperience, so why not battery development, too?

Most recently, Volkswagenon Tuesday announced that it had integratedOpenAIs AI chatbot,ChatGPT, into its IDA voice assistant, providing customers with access to an ever-expanding AI database and allowing them to have researched content read out to them while driving.

A bipartisan congressional working group is being created to explore the impact of AI on the financial services and housing industries.The formation of the Working Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI) was announced byHouse Financial Services Committee(HFSC) ChairmanPatrick McHenryand Ranking MemberMaxine Waterson Thursday (Jan. 11).

Of course they will have to move fast as PYMNTS reported, quantum powered AI could already be around the corner.

Meanwhile, the battle lines between open-source and closed-source AI are increasingly being drawn as proponents of each look to lobby and influence AI regulation.

And one key element of regulation will be reigning in the growing risks and attack vectors that AI brings.

The AI-granted ability to generate human-like text in an instant,virtually clonepeoples voices based on just snippets of audio, andscale behavioral-driven attackswith the click of a button has increasedaccess to cybercrimes that were previously only the realm of the most sophisticated bad actors.

Underscoring the urgency of synthetic informations threat, theWorld Economic Forum(WEF) labeled misinformation and disinformation as the top risk facing the world in the next two years in its newly publishedGlobal Risks Report 2024.

Fortunately, the marketplace is responding. On Tuesday, ID R&D introduced a voice clone detection tool to combat AI-driven fraud.

As AI gets integrated across more and more avenues of daily life, its impact on work is increasingly coming into focus.

As PYMNTS unpacked on Tuesday, the future of AI is steadily becoming indistinguishable from the future of work. The Japanese government has called on its domestic tech companies to behuman-centricwhen developing or using generative AI.

Duolingohas cut about 10% of its contractors due to its use of generative AI to create content.

Googleis also reportedly laying off hundreds of workers in its ongoing cost-cutting campaign. The tech giant plans to cutpositionsin its voice assistant business, as well as hundreds more jobs among the hardware team behind itsPixel,NestandFitbitproducts,as it looks to focus on AI.

In 2024, were going to shift from a world where it was a risk to try using generative AI to become more efficient, into a world where there is actually a bigger risk of being left behind if you dont try it,James Clough, chief technology officer and co-founder ofRobin AI, told PYMNTS during a conversation for the AI Effect series. Thats why its called a co-pilot, right? Because a co-pilot implies the existence of a pilot, and its still the pilot whos in control. Its the pilot whos setting the direction. Its best thought of as a person and machine partnership rather than a replacement.

Elsewhere in legal news, OpenAIsaid on Monday (Jan. 8) thatThe New York Timeslawsuit against it is without merit.

The rest is here:
This Week in AI: The Future of Work and Home - PYMNTS.com