AI
Street Fight Live: A Practical Guide to AI
AI continues to hold equal parts hype and practical applicability. We got a rare and valuable taste of the latter in a panel discussion at Street Fight Live.
AI
Searching for Meaning in a Post-GPT World
What does AI mean for media companies, brands, and everyone else that has optimized themselves for search engines? This was the topic of a presentation at Street Fight Live from Yext VP of Strategic Partnerships, Brooke Henderson.
AI
Meta Breaks Down AI-Fueled Ads
There’s lots of talk about Meta’s AI integrations in its ad creation and campaign workflows. But we rarely get a glimpse into how those integrations and infusions are happening. Last week at Street Fight Live, we were given just that. Meta’s Brody Karmenzind presented all the ways AI enters the picture.
AI
Gemini Uplevels Google Maps
Google Maps is the latest product to get an infusion of Google’s generative AI model, Gemini. This involves several angles but the main takeaway is that Google Maps users will be able to tap into Gemini’s capabilities to make it more intuitive to find places and ask questions about them.
AI
Salvaging Siri: Apple Intelligence Comes to the Rescue
Apple Intelligence is now live with this week’s iOS 18.1 general availability. This will mean many things, as Apple Intelligence is more of an embedded set of system functions than it is a feature or app. But the most important thing it could do is to rescue Siri from its morass of mediocrity.
AI
Read AI Closes $50 Million Series B, Expands Product
AI-driven enterprise analytics player Read AI is out today with a one-two punch. The first is a fresh Series B funding round, to the tune of $50 million. And the second is the expansion of its product from a call/meeting analytics tool to a broader play that spans email, Slack, and productivity tools like Jira.
AI
Q3 Funding: AI Sucks All the Air out of the Room
PitchBook reports that venture funding for generative AI companies totaled $3.9 billion in Q3. This was spread over 206 deals, not counting OpenAI’s $6.6 billion round, as that’s an outlier that skews the data.
AI
Walmart’s Adaptive Retail Mixes a Cocktail of Emerging Tech
Walmart has federated several disparate tech efforts into its latest formalized program: Adaptive Retail. It contains some programs underway and some still developing, for a cocktail of emerging tech infusions.
AI
Google Signals How it Will Monetize AI (for now)
It was only a matter of time. Google has started to integrate ads into its relatively new AI Overviews.
AI
Yext Offers a Model for the AI Era
At the center of several trends we’re watching is Yext. The company embodies fundamentals in presence management – a core subset of local media & marketing – while also being at the vanguard of AI. We dive into insights from CEO Mike Walrath.
AI
Is Data Mistrust Holding Back AI Adoption?
AI is only as good as the data that you feed it. And this concept of data readiness was the focus of a new study from Precisely and the Center for Applied AI and Business Analytics at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business.
AI
TWiL Episode 89: Lessons in Reaching $100M ARR
In this episode of This Week in Local, we dive into the latest tech trends from SIGGRAPH 2024, with a special focus on the keynote featuring Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang.
AI
TWiL Episode 88: Will SMBs Adopt AI Agents?
In this episode of This Week in Local, we dive into the latest tech trends from SIGGRAPH 2024, with a special focus on the keynote featuring Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang.
AI
Automattic Doubles Down on AI Writing Assistants
WordPress.com owner Automattic has launched a new writing assistant. Known as Write Brief with AI, the AI assistant function is meant to automate the tedious process of editing and improving website copy for individuals and SMBs.
AI
Chat GPT Mobile App Hits Revenue Milestone
OpenAI’s latest bar it has set involves its mobile app usage. Specifically, the ChatGPT app derived $28 million in net revenue on iOS and Android in July, according to Appfigures.
AI
Do SMBs Really Want Human-Like Chat Agents?
At SIGGRAPH 2024, Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang imagined together a day when every small business would have a virtual assistant in the form of embodied avatars that support customers. We shoot holes in the idea.
AI
Chatmeter Elevates Customer Surveys
Chatmeter announced today that it’s releasing version 2.0 of its Surveys product. One of the features nested within its Pulse AI: Signals platform, Surveys lets multilocation businesses gather customer insights.
AI
Is OpenAI Too Good to Fail?
My colleague Mike Boland and I have remarked many times in our discussions on Localogy’s This Week in Local podcast that one of the notable
AI
Siri Gets a Stay of Execution
Apple Intelligence will uplevel Siri, answering our question of whether Siri gets killed or gets a brain transplant. How exactly will Siri improve? We go down the list.
AI
Microsoft and Criteo, Tiger Pistol, TikTok Shop and Prime Day Lead This Week In Local
The past week in Local news was highlighted with Microsoft and Criteo transforming retail media, Tiger Pistol and AdBud, the potential effects of TikTok Shop,