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AI chatbots are coming to your Salesforce applications and it looks like it’ll all of them. Company executives had a lot to show off during Tuesday’s Dreamforce 2023 keynote address, including major updates to both its Einstein AI and Data Cloud services. 

Einstein AI has received a slew of updates and upgrades since we saw it integrated with Slack back in May. The new Copilot service will take the existing AI chatbot and tune it to a client company’s specific datasets using their Salesforce Data Cloud data. This enables the Einstein AI to provide better, more relevant and more actionable answers to employees’ natural language questions and requests. 

“Copilot is a conversational AI assistant for both companies and employees to securely and safely access generative AI to do their jobs better, faster and more easily,” Salesforce CEO of AI, Clara Chi, said during a press call monday. “It’s going to be available to every Salesforce user across every cloud.”

The new Copilot Studio takes that tuning process a step further, allowing customers to “customize Einstein Copilot with specific prompts, skills, and AI models,” per a Monday release. This more tightly structures Einstein’s behaviors without constricting its generative capabilities. What’s more, Salesforce executives announced that Copilot will be available across a variety of mobile platforms, including “real-time chat, Slack, WhatsApp or SMS.” 

“We think that there is an incredible opportunity in AI,” Patrick Stokes, Salesforce EVP and GM of Platform, said during the press call. “We think that it is creating jobs, we think that it is driving productivity across organizations… we also think that as customers and businesses are driving towards these AI strategies, they may not have the platform that they really want or that they really need.”

He notes that much of their customers’ data is fractured and split among different applications, data lakes, APIs and vendors. “This is all leading to low productivity, and what they really want, is one connected platform or one that will connect their data,” Stokes continued. To address that need, Salesforce also announced that it is integrating the chatbot with its Data Cloud service to create a one-stop platform for building low-code AI-powered CRM applications. Salesforce calls it the Einstein 1 Platform.

“All of these fields coming together from different systems that speak different languages… now speak one language on the platform,” Chi said. “Any data from any system can now be used like any other object or field in Salesforce.”

One of Salesforce’s first big innovations was its metadata framework a system that describes the relationship between, and behaviors of, individual pieces of a company’s data. That metadata framework is also an ideal medium for training machine learning models to better understand customer interactions and business operations, thereby improving and refining their performance.

“Much of Salesforce is built on this metadata framework — from our platform to analytics, commerce, sales service and marketing,” Stokes said. “Now our Data Cloud and Einstein are really giving you one platform where you can build all of your customer experience in one place with all of the data and AI that you need.”

To minimize the rate of hallucination and false responses by the AI, Salesforce has developed the “Einstein trust layer” which we first saw roll out to the company’s CRM applications in March. The trust layer both secures data retrieval from the cloud and masks any sensitive or proprietary information before passing it on to the language model with another round of toxicity checks after that. 

The company does not deny that this new generation of generative AI can and likely will lead to job losses, such as coders whose services will be replaced by Einstein 1, but remains confident that there is reason for optimism. “I think it is a it’s a big moment in time and there will certainly be impact a certain jobs,” Chi admitted. “There’s also certainly going to be a new jobs that are being created such as prompt engineer.” Oh boy, a prompt engineer, the career every kid dreams of.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-next-generation-einstein-ai-will-put-a-chatbot-in-every-salesforce-application-120004305.html?src=rss 

Meta has rolled out software update v57 for its Quest headsets, and one of the biggest changes it brings is giving you the ability to make your avatar a better representative of your true self. When you choose a certain color for your hair and eyebrows, for instance, you’ll be able to fine-tune it further through a slider that lets you adjust its depth. Yes, that means you’ll now be able to more accurately pick your avatar’s skin tone. You can put makeup and face paint on your avatar, in the exact colors you want, as well. 

In addition, update v57 gives you the capability to unsend image messages in virtual reality and the Meta Quest mobile app. When you hover over the image in VR or click on it in the app, you’ll see the option to “Unsend a message.” If you choose to do so, both parties will get a notification that a message has been removed for transparency. At the moment, this particular feature is available in Australia, Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan and the US.

If the feed that greets you when log into VR looks different, that’s because Meta is also replacing Quest’s Explore feed with an updated one dubbed the “Horizon Feed.” It still shows content relevant to your interests, though, so long as they’re age-appropriate. Finally, update v57 introduces free-form locomotion, which lets you teleport throughout your Home space instead of being confined to predetermined spots. You still can’t move through walls, furniture and other objects, but you can now at least explore your environment more freely. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-customizable-quest-avatars-get-a-lot-more-inclusive-105509001.html?src=rss 

A small number of Apple’s iPhone 15 models manufactured in India could be available on launch day for the first time, according to a report from Bloomberg. Apple has built iPhones in India since 2017, but it has typically taken up to a year to ramp up production. This time, a small number built in India could go on sale immediately in that nation and some other regions. 

It’s been known for a while now that Apple contractor Foxconn would manufacture more iPhone 15 models than before at a facility in Tamil Nadu, India. It’s part of Apple’s plan to diversify manufacturing in the face of supply chain risks due to tensions between the US and China. The number of units available on launch day from India will reportedly depend on the availability of components manufactured elsewhere and Foxconn’s ability to ramp up production. 

Apple has only built a fraction of its iPhones in India, and production has typically lagged behind China by six to nine months. That changed with the iPhone 14, as Foxconn (and another manufacturer, Pegatron) were able to start manufacturing in India within the same month of the official release. Apple intends to eventually shift 25 percent of its production to the nation. 

Recent conflicts between the US and China haven’t impacted Apple much, likely because Foxconn and other suppliers in the nation employee millions of people. It also has followed China’s laws, removing thousands of illegal apps like VPNs. However, recent actions in the country to ban iPhones and other foreign devices for government officials have left the company more vulnerable than usual. Apple also sells a large number of phones in China, accounting for about 19 percent of its total revenue.

Apple is set to release the iPhone 15 today at its Cupertino HQ, reportedly with thinner bezels, a titanium frame, USB-C charging and more. We’re also likely to see updated watches and Airpods, along with its latest iOS 17, watchOS 10 and iPadOS 17 operating systems. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-launch-day-iphone-15s-may-originate-from-india-103337179.html?src=rss 

Apple chief Tim Cook previously announced that the tech giant will be purchasing chips for its iPhones, Macs and other key products made in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) new factory in Phoenix, Arizona. It seemed like a huge win for the Biden administration, which signs the CHIPS Act into law last year to boost manufacturing in the US and lessen its reliance on overseas suppliers. Now, The Information has reported that even though the components for Apple’s chips will be manufactured in the US, they’ll still have to be sent back to TSMC’s home country for assembly. 

Apparently, the manufacturer’s factory in Arizona doesn’t have the facilities to package its customers’ more advanced chips. “Packaging” is what you call the final stage of fabrication, wherein the chip’s components are assembled inside a housing as close together as possible to enhance speed and power efficiency. The iPhone, in particular, has been using a packaging method developed by TSMC since 2016. Chips for iPads and Macs can be packaged outside of Taiwan, but the iPhone’s will have to be assembled in the country. 

The Information says Apple is the manufacturer’s only customer using its packaging method at high volumes, but TSMC has other clients, including NVIDIA, AMD and Tesla. It’s unclear how many of those companies’ chip models will have to be sent back to Taiwan for packaging, but they reportedly include chips for artificial intelligence, including NVIDIA’s H100. The publication also previously reported that Google will be using TSMC’s advanced packaging used on the iPhone for its future Pixel phones. 

The government set aside over $50 billion in funding under the CHIPS Act to provide subsidies for companies building chip factories in the US. President Joe Biden and his administration are encouraging the growth of the US semiconductor industry to mitigate fallout from the growing tension between the United States and China over Taiwan. In August, the president even signed an executive order that limits American investments in Chinese tech firms dealing with semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

Seeing as the government recently established (PDF) a National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing program to boost chip packaging in the US, it’s aware of the need to bring the process into the country, as well. Apple and all the aforementioned TSMC clients aren’t the only companies whose chips have to be sent overseas for assembly, since manufacturers aren’t making enough products in the US to justify building packaging facilities in the country. However, that program is only getting $2.5 billion in funding under the CHIPS Act, and the Institute of Printed Circuits told the publication that the amount shows packaging isn’t being prioritized. As for TSMC, The Information’s sources said it has no plans to build packaging facilities in the US due to the huge costs involved, and any future packaging method it develops will most likely be offered in Taiwan. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-chips-made-in-the-us-still-require-assembly-in-taiwan-report-suggests-075211020.html?src=rss