Salesforce has trained and released the 3rd non-commercial version of the popular BLIP models, vision and language models mainly used for image understanding and captioning.

Several major AI companies, including Anthropic, Nvidia, Apple, and Salesforce, used subtitles from 173,536 YouTube videos across 48,000 channels to train AI models, despite YouTube's rules against unauthorized data harvesting. This has sparked backlash from content creators, who argue that their work has been exploited without consent or compensation, raising concerns about AI's impact on the creative industry and the ethics of using such training data.

Salesforce has introduced xGen-VideoSyn-1, a text-to-video (T2V) model that generates realistic scenes from textual descriptions. The model uses a video variational autoencoder (VidVAE) to compress video data, reducing computational demands, and a Diffusion Transformer (DiT) for improved temporal consistency and generalization.

Salesforce says that its AI tools can handle tasks without human supervision. The company plans to charge $2 per conversion held by its new generative AI agents. Salesforce is insulating itself from customer job cuts by pricing its new AI features based on outcomes rather than the number of employees using it. Its new AI agents will allow companies to increase their workforce capacity during busy periods without having to hire additional full-time employees or gig workers.

Salesforce has debuted Agentforce, its effort to create generative AI bots capable of taking action on their own - within established limits.

Salesforce is overhauling its AI strategy, introducing generative AI tools for tasks without human supervision and revising its pricing model to $2 per AI-driven conversation. This shift aims to address investor concerns about AI-induced job losses impacting subscription-based revenues. The new AI tools offer higher efficiency and autonomy compared to traditional copilots and chatbots.

Google has reaffirmed its commitment to a hybrid work schedule, distinguishing itself from other tech giants like Amazon, which recently mandated a strict return-to-office policy. During a recent town hall meeting, Google executives assured employees that the current hybrid work model would remain in place, allowing staff to work from the office at least three days a week. This decision comes in response to growing concerns among Google employees about the potential loss of their flexible work arrangements, especially after Amazon's CEO announced that all corporate employees would be required to return to the office five days a week starting in January. The topic of maintaining the hybrid work policy was a significant point of discussion during Google's "TGIF" monthly meeting, where employees had the opportunity to submit questions. The overwhelming majority of inquiries focused on the company's commitment to its existing work-from-home arrangements, reflecting a strong desire among staff for continued flexibility. In contrast, other companies, such as Salesforce, have also shifted back to a predominantly in-office schedule, further highlighting the trend among some tech firms to enforce stricter return-to-office rules. Despite the pressure from industry trends, Google leaders, including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, emphasized that the current hybrid model is effective and will remain flexible as long as productivity levels are maintained during remote work days. This approach indicates a willingness to adapt to employee needs while ensuring that work performance does not suffer. A Google spokesperson confirmed the leadership's comments but did not provide additional details. Overall, Google's stance on hybrid work reflects a broader conversation within the tech industry about the future of work and the balance between in-office and remote arrangements. As companies navigate these changes, Google's decision to maintain a flexible work environment may serve as a model for others looking to support their employees' preferences while fostering productivity.