Tech Roundup: Microsoft Bing Image Creator, OpenAI ChatGPT Plugins & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

• OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT plugins, including two of its own, a web browser and a code interpreter, as a way to "help ChatGPT access up-to-date information, run computations, or use third-party services." (Is this the beginning of ChatGPT as a platform? Will there be an app store next? Needless to say, the update represents a major milestone in the development of AI chat as a platform for accessing and interacting with the internet, not to mention open up new possibilities and markets.)
• Microsoft gets a breather as the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says the company's proposed acquisition of game developer Activision Blizzard "will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in relation to console gaming" in the country.
• TikTok admits it scans users' videos to determine their age (as a way to get around the problem of children lying about their age when signing up for services), after denying the app collects body, face or voice data to identify its users, as calls mount for a ban of the popular platform in the U.S. (It's worth pointing out that Instagram follows a similar approach where users are required to upload video selfies to confirm their identifies.)
• Google discontinues its Glass Enterprise Edition 2; to offer support for the product until September 15, 2023; tests a new adaptive button for Chrome browser on Android to surface different options (New tab, Share, Voice search, Translate and Add to bookmarks) in the toolbar based on individual usage.
• Microsoft's LinkedIn adds AI-powered writing suggestions for Premium subscribers, initially for writing profiles, using OpenAI's GPT-4, and for recruiters writing job descriptions, using GPT-3.5; to integrate a cryptocurrency wallet into its Edge browser, days after adding a giant Bing button to the Sidebar in an effort to push people toward its search engine.

• Newsletter platform Substack brings its Chat feature to the web after launching it on mobile in November 2022.
• Snap adds new content filtering capabilities that allow parents to restrict teens from being exposed to content identified as sensitive or suggestive.
• Chinese internet search giant Baidu releases to select users a beta version of Ernie Bot, its much-anticipated answer to OpenAI's ChatGPT.
• Amazon stops selling newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print; plans to shut down Kindle Newsstand in September 2023.
• Twitter starts displaying the number of times a tweet has been bookmarked, months after adding the view counter.
• TikTok rolls out new option to refresh the "For You" feed to reset the recommendations offered by the platform.
• Microsoft announces Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing OpenAI's GPT-4 to Office apps via a feature called Business Chat that can summarise meetings and generate answers "anchored in your business content"; comes days after Google announced similar AI features for Google Workspace, including AI-assisted text generation in Gmail, Docs and more. (The development is another indication that both Microsoft and Google are moving quickly to integrate large language models into their offerings, even as OpenAI has come under criticism for not disclosing ChatGPT-4's training data or methods. The company has since said its earlier approach to openly sharing research was "flat out" wrong.)
• Meta debuts Verified in the U.S. for US$ 12/month on the web or US$ 15/month on Android/iOS, with a blue badge, proactive impersonation protection and customer support.
• Uber expands its Record My Ride safety feature, which allows both passengers and drivers to record audio during a trip, to more cities across the U.S.

• Duolingo, a language learning app with over 500 million users, is reportedly working on a music app.
• Apple Pay debuts in South Korea, allowing those living in the country to make contactless payments using the iPhone or Apple Watch; to open its first flagship store in India in the city of Mumbai next month.
• Global premium smartphone sales rise 1% YoY in 2022, taking 55% of the smartphone market's revenue for the first time; Apple takes 75% of the premium market.
• ByteDance's video editing app CapCut, which launched in 2020, surpasses 200 million monthly active users and tops 400 million downloads in 2022, up 43% YoY and above TikTok in recent weeks.
• Google officially launches Bard, its answer to Bing Chat, ChatGPT and Claude, in limited test to users in the U.K. and the U.S.; rolls out option to sync apps across Android devices through the Play Store.
• Meta's Instagram tests ads in search results, with plans for a global rollout in the coming months, and launches Reminder Ads for opt-in reminders about events; adds new admin controls to WhatsApp to "decide who is able to join a group" and brings new option to allows users to "know which groups you have in common with someone."
• Microsoft unveils Bing Image Creator for Edge browsers, powered by OpenAI's DALL-E and accessible via Bing Chat, letting users create images from text prompts; comes as Adobe announces Firefly, a "family" of creative generative AI models, and releases a DALL-E-like image generator and a WordArt-like stylized text generator.
• Microsoft launches Loop, its Notion and Asana competitor, in preview, letting users collaborate in shared Microsoft 365 workspaces on the web, Android, and iOS; debuts generative AI-powered knowledge cards and stories to Bing search results.
• Microsoft-owned GitHub announces Copilot X, a new Copilot version with chat and voice features using OpenAI's GPT-4 model to help with certain coding tasks.
• Amazon introduces new Fire TV Omni QLED series and Fire TV 2-Series, as Fire TV device sales cross over 200 million; expands its game streaming service Luna to the U.K., Germany and Canada.

• Opera integrates ChatGPT and ChatSonic into its web browser; adds AI prompts to allow users to "initiate conversations with generative AI services to shorten or explain articles, generate tweets, or request relevant content based on highlighted text."
• Epic Games unifies all of its disparate asset marketplaces under one brand, Fab, where "creators can find, publish, and share digital assets for use in creating digital experiences."
• Twitter to wind down its legacy verified program and remove legacy verified checkmarks starting on April 1, 2023, as it rolls out Blue subscription service globally (Twitter Blue is estimated to have surpassed 385,000 subscribers on iOS and Android, netting the company US$ 11 million on mobile in its first three months.)
• Meta's WhatsApp debuts a new Windows client that comes with performance improvements and support for video calls with up to eight people and audio calls with up to 32 people; rolls out its official chat account on the service to highlight newly added features and provide valuable tips and tests disappearing audio messages in chats.
• PayPal expands passkey support to Android, more than six months rolling it to iOS and web.
• AI chatbot company Replika restores erotic roleplay for users who signed up before February 1, 2023, after complaints from some users who considered themselves "married" to chatbot companions.
• Payments and shopping service Klarna plugs into OpenAI to add support for ChatGPT to offer a "highly personalized and intuitive shopping experience by providing curated product recommendations to users who ask the platform for shopping advice and inspiration."