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Claude maker Anthropic files secret IPO: America's most valuable company yet?

Claude maker Anthropic files secret IPO: America's most valuable company yet? Anthropic AI, the U.S.-based technology giant behind chatbot Claude, has confidentially filed for an IPO as reports suggest that OpenAI is also planning to confidentially file an IPO in the coming weeks. Wall...

Dawn (Pakistan)

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IT/기술

Survey finds generational gap in attitudes to AI romance

Almost 50 per cent of young adults in six major economies think AI romantic companionship will improve human happiness through emotional support in the next decade, the results of a large survey suggested on Monday. The percentage dropped progressively across older age categories to just a quarter of people aged 55 and over, according to the research shared exclusively with AFP. Leaps in AI development have seen people turn to chatbots as confidants and lovers, while advancements in robotics are helping produce more sophisticated sex dolls — raising questions over the impact on human relationships. The survey of nearly 10,000 people across the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, Indonesia and Hong Kong provides a snapshot of this “rapidly changing moral landscape”, pollsters YouGov said. It also shows “a profound ideological split between Western and Asian markets”, with the latter seemingly more accepting of technologically enabled sex and romance. In terms of emotional support, 48pc of all respondents aged 18-24 and 47pc of 25 to 34-year-olds said they thought “AI intimacy companions” — a category ranging from chatbots to sex dolls — would improve human happiness in the next decade. When the same question was asked focusing on deeper connection and sexual wellbeing, the figures came in at 32pc and 38pc respectively. On both counts, older people were less optimistic. The psychological impact of chatbots on vulnerable people has been under scrutiny, with the deaths of several teenagers linked to AI use by their families. Geographic split YouGov and the media company that commissioned the research, Tokyo-based Star X Gen, told AFP they were surprised by the regional disparity. In Indonesia, 50pc of people — of all ages — said they thought AI companions would improve connection and sexual wellness. It was 34pc in Hong Kong and 24pc in Japan, declining to 20pc in the United States, 15pc in Germany and just 9pc in Britain. “While Western audiences largely view synthetic intimacy as a threat to authentic human closeness, Asian audiences appear increasingly ready to integrate AI into their personal and physical lives,” said YouGov’s Philippe Chan. While the use of AI chatbots for romance and sex is becoming more commonplace, their embodiment in robots or dolls is at a more nascent stage. Across all 9,912 respondents, only 17pc said they would consider using an “AI intimacy doll”, compared to 59pc who said they would not. Across the board, younger adults were more likely than older ones to consider using a doll — and in Japan and Germany, the number of younger people who would think about trying a doll was nearly double the national average. “While the global (general population) remains wary, the next generation is actively redefining the boundaries of companionship,” the report said. In Japan, over a third of younger adults said they believed AI dolls could provide a sense of love, outnumbering those who disagreed.

Dawn (Pakistan)

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IT/기술

Expensive AI binge leaves companies balking at soaring bills

Artificial intelligence is getting expensive — and companies are starting to rethink their embrace of the disruptive technology. Playing by a well-worn Silicon Valley playbook, AI companies charged rock-bottom prices to hook customers after ChatGPT burst onto the scene. Kevin Simback of startup incubator Delphi Labs calls it the era of “subsidised intelligence” — meaning investors were basically footing the bill so companies could offer AI on the cheap. “But the tides are beginning to turn,” Simback warned and an era where the big AI companies actually need to make money has begun — with leaders OpenAI and Anthropic looking to go public and attract main street investors later this year. Prices are rising across the board, and one big reason is AI agents. Unlike a chatbot that just answers questions, agents actually do things — book appointments, write code, manage files. And they’re expensive to run, because one task can spin up dozens of agents all working at once, each racking up charges. Those charges are measured in tokens — the basic unit AI companies use to bill customers. A single agent-powered task can burn through dozens of times’ more tokens than a simple chat message. Meanwhile, the computer chips and data centres needed to power all this AI can’t keep up with demand, creating computing shortages and adding further uncertainty to the nascent industry. “Especially in developer circles, the cost to use AI for things like coding has grown exponentially,” said Mark Barton of tech consultancy Omniux. “All the costs are really starting to skyrocket.” Some companies have been so eager to use AI that they’ve gone overboard in a usage binge called “tokenmaxxing”. “In some cases, people are seeing the cost of tokens exceed the cost of the employee within a month or two of use, just because they’re using it too much,” says analyst Jack Gold of J.Gold Associates. Smarter spending Even Meta — which earlier this year encouraged employees to use as many tokens as possible as a measure of productivity — has had second thoughts. “Nobody should be using AI tools just for the sake of using them,” chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth wrote in a memo to staff, reported by the Wall Street Journal. Uber’s chief operating officer this week went a step further, raising eyebrows by saying all this AI spending was showing no noticeable increase in productivity. To cut costs, some companies are switching to free, open-source AI models that anyone can download — not as powerful as ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, but good enough for many tasks. Others are moving to smaller, more specialised models built for specific industries like real estate or finance, rather than giant general-purpose ones. And some are simply breaking big AI tasks into smaller steps, handing each piece to the cheapest model that can handle it. The price difference can be dramatic. “The big large monolithic model, it’s $15 per million tokens, but you can get that down to like five cents if you use the smaller mini model,” says Adrian Balfour of consultancy Enverso. All of this points to AI becoming more like a commodity — where the specific model matters less than finding the right one at the right price. But don’t count out the big players and their state-of-the-art models just yet. “The most advanced users” will always be willing to pay for the best, says John Belton, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. “It’s a growing pie.”

Dawn (Pakistan)

중도 성향

IT/기술

After the AI binge, companies balk at soaring bills

Artificial intelligence is getting expensive — and companies are starting to rethink their embrace of the disruptive technology. Playing by a well-worn Silicon Valley playbook, AI companies charged rock-bottom prices to hook customers after ChatGPT burst onto the scene. Kevin Simback of startup incubator Delphi Labs calls it the era of “subsidised intelligence” — meaning investors were basically footing the bill so companies could offer AI on the cheap. “But the tides are beginning to turn,” Simback warned and an era where the big AI companies actually need to make money has begun — with leaders OpenAI and Anthropic looking to go public and attract main street investors later this year. Prices are rising across the board, and one big reason is AI agents. Unlike a chatbot that just answers questions, agents actually do things — book appointments, write code, manage files. And they’re expensive to run, because one task can spin up dozens of agents all working at once, each racking up charges. Those charges are measured in tokens — the basic unit AI companies use to bill customers. A single agent-powered task can burn through dozens of times’ more tokens than a simple chat message. Meanwhile, the computer chips and data centres needed to power all this AI can’t keep up with demand, creating computing shortages and adding further uncertainty to the nascent industry. “Especially in developer circles, the cost to use AI for things like coding has grown exponentially,” said Mark Barton of tech consultancy Omniux. “All the costs are really starting to skyrocket.” Some companies have been so eager to use AI that they’ve gone overboard in a usage binge called “tokenmaxxing”. “In some cases, people are seeing the cost of tokens exceed the cost of the employee within a month or two of use, just because they’re using it too much,” says analyst Jack Gold of J.Gold Associates. Smarter spending Even Meta — which earlier this year encouraged employees to use as many tokens as possible as a measure of productivity — has had second thoughts. “Nobody should be using AI tools just for the sake of using them,” chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth wrote in a memo to staff, reported by the Wall Street Journal. Uber’s chief operating officer this week went a step further, raising eyebrows by saying all this AI spending was showing no noticeable increase in productivity. To cut costs, some companies are switching to free, open-source AI models that anyone can download — not as powerful as ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, but good enough for many tasks. Others are moving to smaller, more specialised models built for specific industries like real estate or finance, rather than giant general-purpose ones. And some are simply breaking big AI tasks into smaller steps, handing each piece to the cheapest model that can handle it. The price difference can be dramatic. “The big large monolithic model, it’s $15 per million tokens, but you can get that down to like five cents if you use the smaller mini model,” says Adrian Balfour of consultancy Enverso. All of this points to AI becoming more like a commodity — where the specific model matters less than finding the right one at the right price. But don’t count out the big players and their state-of-the-art models just yet. “The most advanced users” will always be willing to pay for the best, says John Belton, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. “It’s a growing pie.”

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Claude maker Anthropic files secret IPO: America's most valuable company yet?

Survey finds generational gap in attitudes to AI romance

Expensive AI binge leaves companies balking at soaring bills

After the AI binge, companies balk at soaring bills