5 things about AI you may have missed today: EU chief calls for AI regulation, Adobe introduces AI features and more

AI Roundup: Adobe is introducing generative AI features and new pricing plans, with subscription costs rising from $2 to $5 per month starting in November. On the other hand, EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen called for a global panel of experts to address the challenges of AI regulation, involving scientists, tech companies, and independent experts. All this, and more in today’s AI roundup.

1. Adobe introduces AI features, pricing plans

Over the past few months, Adobe has been slowly rolling out AI features for its suite of programs. The company on Wednesday opened access to various generative AI features, while also revealing pricing plans, according to a Reuters report. Starting in November, the subscription plans for Adobe’s programs will rise from $2 to $5 per month. In addition to that, customers will get ‘credits’ every month that can be utilized towards generative AI features.

2. Need for ‘global’ panel of experts on AI, says EU Chief

With arguments surrounding the rapid development of AI and its regulation, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen called for a ‘global’ panel of experts that will tackle the challenges posed by this rapidly evolving technology. According to an AFP report, “I believe we need a similar body for AI -- on the risks and its benefits for humanity. Yes, with scientists, but also tech companies and independent experts,” the EU Chief said at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

3. Salesforce CEO calls AI ‘amazing’

AI-powered applications such as ChatGPT, and Stable Diffusion, which can generate content from just text-based prompts, have fascinated the world in the last few months, highlighting the potential of AI. Speaking about this technology, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff called it ‘amazing’, while expressing his company’s commitment to creating a trusted AI platform, according to a PTI report. “Technology is also moving faster than ever. We have seen over and over again from cloud to mobile to social to the data explosion we are experiencing now... plus now this burst of AI... nothing like any of us have ever seen before, this has got everyone's attention,” Benioff said.

4. Alibaba’s AI model now open to the public

Chinese technology giant Alibaba on Wednesday announced that it is opening up its AI model called Tongyi Qianwen to the public, Reuters reported. This could mean it has received regulatory approval from the government, which is mandatory for companies before their products are made publicly available. The company further stated that it has reached cooperation agreements with companies such as Oppo, Taobao, and DingTalk, which will use the Tongyi Qianwen to train their own AI models.

5. IIT, INRIA researchers develop AI algorithms to inspect bridges

Experts at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi and France’s National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (INRIA) have announced the development of AI-powered algorithms that will allow them to predict the structural health of bridges, as well as other structures such as ropeways, transmission towers and more. According to a PTI report, “We have employed data-driven methods like Machine Learning, AI, and Bayesian statistical inference to estimate a bridge's health and predict its remaining usable life. This outcome has the potential to reduce risks to infrastructure under operational and adverse loading condition”, Subhamoy Sen, Associate Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, IIT Mandi said.