Google DeepMind and LinkedIn dive into the AI pool: Google DeepMind and LinkedIn’s founders launched a data-based chatbot called Pi — AI startup Inflection’s first product — where users will see personal conversations with the chatbot via an app, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, reports the Financial Times.

So, what’s in store? The new chatbot has the “persona of a sympathetic sounding board, rather than trying to provide information,” Inflection CEO Mustafa Suleyman said. It also has a more narrow use case — making it safer and easier to utilize, he added. Unlike most chatbots, Pi keeps the conversation flowing by asking users questions at the end of responses, “helping facilitate your own line of inquiry,” Suleyman added. The app — like many others — has an objective to help generate scripts and create art right away.

AI related concerns persist: As concerns about AI technology’s potential privacy violations, bias, proliferate scams and misinformation — as well as the rapid advancements of the technology — remain a pressing matter for those inside and outside the industry, Google and Microsoft’s CEOs will see a White House meeting today with American Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss AI related issues, Reuters reports.

Is Vice going under? Vice Media is struggling to secure a buyer that would save the company from bankruptcy, the New York Times reports, citing two sources with knowledge of the matter. The company, which “charmed giants like Disney and Fox into investing before a stunning crash-landing,” could be forced to file for bankruptcy within weeks, but still has a “slim” chance of locking down a buyout agreement, the sources said. The Canada-founded company has failed to turn to the black in the past several years, leading to several rounds of layoffs.

Tags: