5 things about AI you may have missed today: Demand raised for crackdown against deepfakes, AI-focused Amazon to cut job

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Today, November 18, marked a day of shocking developments in the artificial intelligence space. In the first incident, the cofounder of OpenAI, Sam Altman, was sacked from the position of CEO of OpenAI by the company's board of directors. In the fallout of the decision, company president Greg Brockman also resigned from his position. In other news, Amazon announced it is trimming jobs at its Alexa voice assistant unit, citing shifting business priorities and a greater focus on generative artificial intelligence. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

Amazon is reducing jobs in its Alexa voice assistant unit, citing changes in business priorities and a higher emphasis on generative AI, said a report by Reuters. The job cuts impact several hundred employees working on Alexa, with the company indicating a shift in efforts to align with business priorities and customer preferences, particularly in the realm of generative AI, mentioned the report. The announcement was made via email by Daniel Rausch, Vice President of Alexa and Fire TV, who mentioned the discontinuation of some initiatives as a result of these strategic shifts. The exact number of affected employees was not disclosed.

Billionaires Eric Schmidt, Xavier Niel, and Rodolphe Saade have revealed plans to establish Kyutai, a nonprofit AI research lab based in Paris, according to a report by Forbes. The lab aims to contribute to Europe's efforts to rival Silicon Valley in AI development. Modeled after OpenAI, Kyutai will operate as a nonprofit and adopt an open-source approach. The lab has recruited scientists with backgrounds from Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and Meta, signaling a collaboration between former Silicon Valley executives and