- WhatsUp AI by Phot
- Posts
- Google hired this man for $2.7B🔥
Google hired this man for $2.7B🔥

Your Weekly Dose of AI News.
Read time: under 6 minutes
Welcome WhatsUp AI Subscriber!
Hold onto your neural nets, folks—the AI universe is buzzing with excitement! Phot.ai has been selected for the AWS Generative AI Accelerator 2024, setting the stage for groundbreaking innovations. ByteDance is making an AI leap with Huawei chips potentially powering the future of TikTok. Apple is rumored to be unleashing game-changing AI features in iOS 18.1, promising to redefine mobile experiences. In a surprising twist, Google is reportedly investing $2.7B in a reverse acqui-hire to bring back AI genius Noam Shazeer. China’s AI breakthroughs are turning heads as they innovate despite sanctions. Lastly, Atlas is revolutionizing AI by powering Salesforce’s Agentforce, pushing the boundaries of customer relationship management. The future of AI looks brighter than ever!
Here are all the top trends making headlines!
What’s Trending 🚀
📈 Phot.ai Got Selected for AWS Generative AI Accelerator 2024
🎬ByteDance’s AI Leap: Huawei Chips Powering the Future of TikTok
📱 Unleashing AI: iOS 18.1’s Game-Changing Features!
🔄 $2.7B Reverse Acqui-Hire: Google Reclaims AI Genius Noam Shazeer
🚀 China’s AI Breakthrough: Beating Sanctions with Innovation
🌟 Revolutionizing AI: How Atlas Powers Salesforce’s Agentforce
Struggling to get enough eyeballs on your content?
Posting on LinkedIn or social media won't do the trick; visibility only lasts 24 hours.
But a well-written article stays relevant and accessible for YEARS.
This is how top companies consistently reinforce their expertise.
You can do the same.
Here are 3 ways to start today:
Build your own Newsroom: Create a central news hub on your website to build trust.
Place your brand in top tier magazines: Target industry-specific magazines to reach a larger, more relevant audience.
Get featured in magazines for free: Increase your chances of getting noticed by journalists by publishing regularly.
Sounds like a lot of work, but not when you use Pressmaster.ai.
Create and publish valuable articles in minutes, and access top magazines for 40% less than the market average.
Phot.ai Selected for AWS Generative AI Accelerator 2024
We are thrilled to announce that Phot.ai has been selected to participate in the prestigious AWS Generative AI Accelerator 2024! This global program, which received over 4,700 applications from 129 countries, has chosen only 80 startups, making the acceptance rate less than 2%. Being part of this cohort is a testament to the innovative solutions we bring to the table
We are excited to leverage this opportunity to further enhance our AI-powered platform and bring innovative solutions to our users. Stay tuned for more updates as we embark on this exciting journey!
To celebrate this exciting milestone, we’re offering our readers an exclusive 30% discount on our platform. Use code AWS30 at checkout to take advantage of this limited-time offer!

Courtesy: DH
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is planning to develop a new AI model using chips from Huawei Technologies. This move comes as a response to US export restrictions on advanced AI chips, which have pushed ByteDance to seek domestic suppliers. The new AI model will be trained primarily with Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip, although ByteDance has faced challenges in obtaining a sufficient supply of these chips.
Key points:
AI Integration: AI has become central to various industries, including gaming and e-commerce, with companies differentiating their offerings through custom AI models.
Chip Supply Issues: ByteDance has ordered over 100,000 Ascend 910B chips but received fewer than 30,000, slowing down their development timeline.
Existing AI Models: ByteDance’s current AI technology includes the Doubao large-language model and a text-to-video tool called Jimeng. The company recently introduced two video-focused Doubao models to compete with OpenAI.
Despite the challenges, ByteDance remains one of the largest buyers of Huawei’s AI chips and continues to invest heavily in AI technology. This strategic shift highlights the growing importance of AI in the tech industry and the impact of geopolitical factors on technological advancements.
ByteDance’s efforts to innovate and adapt in the face of supply constraints demonstrate its commitment to staying at the forefront of AI development.

Courtesy: Tom’s Guide
The iOS 18.1 public beta is now available, offering a glimpse into Apple’s new AI features. The official release is expected in mid-October, with notable features like Genmoji and Image Playground arriving in iOS 18.2, likely in December. Genmoji will allow users to create emojis from text or photos, while Image Playground will enable AI-generated images.
Apple is also enhancing Siri for better contextual and personalized responses, which is expected by March with iOS 18.4. The current beta includes Clean Up, an AI photo editing tool similar to Google’s Magic Eraser, and other AI-powered features like notification summaries, suggested replies, and article summaries in Safari.
To fully enjoy these features, you’ll need one of the latest iPhones, such as the iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 series.
Apple’s push into AI with iOS 18.1 and beyond promises to make everyday tasks more intuitive and personalized, enhancing the overall user experience.

Courtesy : ibtimes
Google has rehired Noam Shazeer, a prominent AI expert, for a staggering $2.7 billion. Shazeer, who initially joined Google in 2000, left in 2021 after the company declined to release a chatbot he developed. He then co-founded Character.AI, a startup that quickly gained a $1 billion valuation.
Character.AI Acquisition: Google paid $2.7 billion to license Character.AI’s technology and bring Shazeer back to lead AI efforts.
Gemini Project: Shazeer will now spearhead the development of Gemini, Google’s next-generation AI model aimed at competing with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Past Achievements: Shazeer previously created Meena, a chatbot he believed could replace Google’s search engine, though it was deemed too risky to release at the time.
Shazeer’s return is seen as a pivotal move for Google’s AI advancements. Even former Google CEO Eric Schmidt praised Shazeer’s capabilities, highlighting his potential to develop human-level AI.
This move underscores Google’s commitment to staying at the forefront of AI technology by leveraging Shazeer’s expertise and Character.AI’s innovative solutions.
China has achieved a significant milestone in generative AI (GAI) by developing a single model across multiple data centers. This is particularly impressive given the complexity of using different GPUs in a single data center, let alone across various geographic locationsPatrick Moorhead, Chief Analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, highlighted this achievement on X (formerly Twitter).
American Sanctions: Due to U.S. sanctions, China has been unable to acquire the latest, most powerful chips for AI research. In response, Nvidia created the less powerful H20 AI chips to comply with these restrictions.
Innovative Solutions: Chinese researchers have been combining GPUs from different brands into one training cluster. This includes high-end chips like the Nvidia A100 and more readily available GPUs like Huawei’s Ascend 910B.
Efficiency Challenges: Historically, combining different GPUs has led to efficiency drops. However, China seems to have found ways to mitigate these issues, as evidenced by the development of the single GAI model across multiple data centers.
This achievement underscores China’s determination to advance its AI capabilities despite geopolitical challenges. It also highlights the innovative approaches Chinese researchers are taking to overcome hardware limitations.
China’s progress in AI is a testament to the adage that necessity is the mother of invention. Their ability to adapt and innovate under pressure is truly remarkable.
Salesforce’s new Agentforce suite introduces a low-code tool powered by the Atlas reasoning engine, which aims to create autonomous AI agents capable of human-like reasoning and independent action.
This marks a significant shift from previous Salesforce agents that required pre-configured workflows.
Key features of the Atlas engine include:
Human-like reasoning: Allows AI agents to think and act autonomously.
Multi-model integration: Utilizes multiple large language models (LLMs) and large action models (LAMs) for diverse tasks.
Query processing: Involves several steps, including chit-chat detection, query evaluation, and context refinement.
Function calling: Connects LLMs with external tools and APIs to execute user requests.
The Atlas engine’s agentic loop ensures efficient query handling by looping over the query until a satisfactory response is generated. This process is enhanced by tools like the re-ranker, refiner, and response synthesizer, which refine and synthesize responses.
Salesforce’s approach aims to reduce manual tasks for developers, allowing them to focus on supervisory roles. The system also includes robust quality checks to ensure responses are accurate and free from bias or harmful content.
Salesforce’s Agentforce suite, powered by the Atlas engine, represents a significant advancement in AI technology, promising to streamline operations and enhance productivity.
How would you rate today's newsletter?Do share your feedback for us to serve you better |
Got thoughts? Hit us up! We'd love to hear your feedback or any cool tidbits you'd like to share. Just reply to this email
Reply