Hard Numbers: Bye-bye Bard, Arm’s up, Robots took my job, Super Bowl ad blitz
February 13, 2024
The Google AI logo is being displayed on a smartphone with Gemini in the background.
Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Reuters
20: Google is switching things up. Its AI chatbot, Bard, is being replaced by Gemini. Like ChatGPT, there’s a $20-a-month premium version of the service, called Gemini Advanced. Google said the chatbot is a “new experience far more capable at reasoning, following instructions, coding, and creative collaboration” than anything on the market.
60: The British chip designer Arm Holdings is experiencing a market surge. The company’s stock saw a 60% increase after positive financial results and a rosy outlook. The company, which licenses its chip designs, attributes increased demand to the AI boom.
4,600: Artificial intelligence has already led to 4,600 layoffs in the US, according to the firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. And that’s a conservative estimate. Unlike with robotics breakthroughs of yore, this wave of artificial intelligence seems laser-focused on displacing white-collar workers.
7 million: AI made its way into some of this year’s Super Bowl ads — 30-second commercials that sold for about $7 million. Etsy debuted its AI shopping assistant, Microsoft boasted its Copilot AI business tool, and Google highlighted how its Pixel 8 phone uses the technology to help blind people take photos.