Today in AI: Google's Bard chatbot gets smarter, Heinz puts recipes to test against AI, why was Altman fired?

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Google's AI chatbot Bard gets smarter, now answers questions about YouTube videos

Google is expanding Bard's YouTube Extension to understand some video content on the platform and answer specific queries on them.

• This feature update comes a week after Google expanded access to Bard to teenagers in most countries around the world, starting with the English language. The company said the AI chatbot can be a helpful tool for teens when they "need a little extra inspiration and motivation on their ideas, hobbies, and plans or when they want to better understand topics quickly."


• The AI chatbot, which was first unveiled by Google in February 2023, also now has deep integration with several of the firm's consumer applications and services, including Gmail, Docs, and Maps, besides YouTube.

AI vs Taste of Home: Heinz puts signature recipes to test against AI-generated ones

Six home recipes were put to the test: stir-fried beef noodles, stir-fried meat and vegetables, steamed fish, fried prawns and scalded seasonal vegetables. Zhuang Enjian, the innovation chef of Kraft Heinz China, evaluated the recipes by tasting them and assigning a grade.

• This has allowed the company to celebrate the taste and heritage of its signature soy sauce, which has been around since 1983, both online and offline. Douyin, the mainland Chinese version of TikTok, is one of the platforms that Kraft Heinz uses to host events ranging from pop-ups to live-streaming sessions to offline activations in Guangzhou.


• In addition to sharing content online, an AI robot was invited to participate in a livestream and final competition alongside three key opinion leaders (KOLs) and over twelve home chefs.

Altman is back at OpenAI, but questions remain as to why he was fired in first place

Altman had been fired Friday after clashing with the board over his drive to transform OpenAI from a nonprofit organization focused on the scientific exploration of artificial intelligence into a business that builds products, attracts customers and lines up the funding needed to power AI tools.

• OpenAI’s new interim board, which won’t include Altman at the outset, will be led by Bret Taylor, a former co-CEO of Salesforce Inc. The other directors are Larry Summers, the former US treasury secretary, and existing member Adam D’Angelo, the co-founder and CEO of Quora Inc.


• Job one for the interim board will be finding new directors who can strike a better balance between OpenAI’s business imperatives and the need to protect the public from tools capable of creating content that misinforms, worsens inequality or makes it easier for bad actors to inflict violence.