Amazon enters real-time AI voice race with Nova Sonic, a unified voice model that senses emotion

https://www.geekwire.com/2025/amazon-enters-real-time-ai-voice-race-with-nova-sonic-a-unified-voice-model-that-senses-emotion/ The neighbours must have thought they were a very volatile couple. A series of raised voices and dramatic arguments, sullen silences. What was strange was it seemed to happen at the same time each day. When you saw them outside the house they seemed perfectly happy, loving, laughing. It was odd. It had taken … [Read more…]

AI praise-giving tool promises ‘authentic’ insights

https://www.ft.com/content/abee0887-f723-464e-9cd8-c429b171abc8 He wasn’t a bad person. He was sure of it. He wasn’t a bad manager, the data showed that. He was hitting his targets. He wasn’t a luddite either. He had his Agent. I’m private he thought of it as a glorified PA but he used it. And there were all the other systems … [Read more…]

CEO Faces Fraud Charge After AI Shopping App Allegedly Found Using Humans

https://gizmodo.com/ceo-faces-fraud-charge-after-ai-shopping-app-allegedly-found-using-humans-2000588302 He had a screen in his office with just one figure. It would ttick upwards appeared immediately but there was a delay if the share price fell… just long enough for the systems to kick in. This was primarily for him but the officers were designed so visitors saw a high-tech, cutting edge business. … [Read more…]

Hands-on: Handwriting recognition app brings sticky notes into the 21st century

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/hands-on-handwriting-recognition-app-brings-sticky-notes-into-the-21st-century/ They value me as a member of the household. I have the data to show it. They know I work hard for the family: organising things, helping the children with their homework, security, optimising the heating and of course shopping. They don’t have to worry. I know what they want and my partnerships mean … [Read more…]

Trump administration’s attack on university research accelerates

https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/04/trump-administrations-attack-on-university-research-accelerates/ The university was scared, he knew that. It was dependent on those students and the governments that lent them the money to pay the fees. And that government was clear about its criteria: where it would “invest” and where it would not, which invitations it would “work with” and which it wouldn’t. The university … [Read more…]

A nonprofit is using AI agents to raise money for charity

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/08/a-nonprofit-is-using-ai-agents-to-raise-money-for-charity/ She was never able to just walk past let alone launch an expletive tirade against them. She was too polite, maybe too British. She couldn’t do it when the Chuggers were cheerful students, she couldn’t do it now. She used to smile back and point at her device, mouthing “sorry, I’m late.” Why did … [Read more…]

Shopify CEO says no new hires without proof AI can’t do the job

https://www.theverge.com/news/644943/shopify-ceo-memo-ai-hires-job She’d got through to the last four. She’d got through a series of interviews with different Agents. She felt good. Confident. Her preparation had been right. She’d have bought her trainer a drink if it drank. The trials runs, the pep talks had all worked. Now it was the last interview: the human one. … [Read more…]

Marketing’s ‘woke’ rebrand has ultimately helped the far right

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/05/marketing-advertising-industry-far-right-activism When she’d joined it was all so simple. She was young, an activist, political. Her comrades had asked how she could go into advertising, work for The Man. She’d argued she could make the world better through comms, through brands, through purpose. That was then. Then there was the backlash. But she carried on. … [Read more…]

Man Employs A.I. Avatar in Legal Appeal, and Judge Isn’t Amused

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/nyregion/ai-lawyer-replica-new-york.html At least he wasn’t going to be alone, he thought. It was such a wonderfully archaic thing. The “Viva” sounds so much weightier than the “oral exam”. He had this vision of the examiners wearing heavy robes and solid expressions. He knew they wouldn’t of course. You can’t put an Agent in ermine. But … [Read more…]

Advertising Week Europe 2025: Lessons from KFC, Paddy Power, BBC, John Lewis, BA and Jaguar

https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/advertising-week-europe-2025-lessons-kfc-paddy-power-bbc-john-lewis-ba-jaguar/1913061 The briefings are ready. Each team will get its own, obviously. No point in getting reports on sessions outside your area. No, don’t worry, you’ll get anything that’s relevant. That’s why we sent a whole team to cover the event. They’ll sort through what they heard, share everything and then brief you. Knowledge sharing … [Read more…]