AI News Roundup: Dell's Sustainable Servers, Zoom's New Chatbot

AI Business brings you the latest in deals and products from across the AI world.

This week’s roundup covers Dell’s latest PowerEdge servers for AI workloads, Intel partners with Deci to accelerate deep learning and more!

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Dell’s new sustainability-focused data center servers

Dell Technologies has unveiled a new compute module designed to power more sustainable data center needs for workloads like data analytics. Energy use in data centers has been increasing by 10% to 30% annually due rapid growth in workloads due to high volumes of data

The latest Dell PowerEdge servers come with Smart Cooling technology designed to reduce CO₂emissions. The servers also have a built-in cyber-resilient architecture to help reinforce customers' security efforts.

The PowerEdge servers come equipped with 4^th generation AMD EPYC processors for powering AI, high-performance computing and virtualization.

The new offering comes in one- and two-socket configurations and offers support for as much as 50% more processor cores than the previous generation. Dell said that customers using the new servers can expect up to a 121% performance improvement.

"Customers demand uncompromised compute performance delivered in the most sustainable manner possible," said Rajesh Pohani, VP of portfolio and product management for PowerEdge, HPC and core compute at Dell. He added that these servers offer up to double the performance of the previous generation.

The new PowerEdge servers come in four versions - the R7625; R7615; R6625 and R6615.

Stable Diffusion-powered product images

Photo editing app PhotoRoom has unveiled Magic Studio - an AI-powered tool to improve product shots for e-commerce.

Powered by the open source text-to-image engine AI Stable Diffusion, users upload a product image and enter a text description of what they are selling and the required depiction. The AI tool then reworks the image to the desired setting and emails the finished product image in minutes.

The Magic Studio feature is currently only available on the English-language version of the app for PhotoRoom Pro subscribers, which costs $9.99 a month or $69.99 a year.

Users cannot, however, use Magic Studio to edit images of humans or animals.

The product announcement comes shortly after PhotoRoom raised $19 million in a series A round led by Balderton Capital.

Intel, Deci partner on deep learning

Intel is working with deep learning company Deci in a bid to create more scalable AI.

The collaboration will see Deci’s proprietary Automated Neural Architecture Construction (AutoNAC) technology combined with Intel chip architectures.

The partnership will enable developers to build, optimize and deploy more accurate and efficient models for the edge, data center, and cloud, the pair said upon announcement.

Intel has been working with Deci for a while - with the latter joining the Intel Disruptor Program earlier this year. Deci also joined Intel Ignite, an accelerator program designed to support innovative startups in advancing new technologies in disruptive markets.

“Deep learning at scale on CPUs is more feasible than ever before,” said Yonatan Geifman, CEO and co-founder of Deci. “We expect that our joint activities will only further propel AI accessibility, dramatically optimizing deep learning inference for any task in any environment.”

Zoom gets a chatbot

Videoconferencing platform Zoom has launched new products for hybrid businesses, including a conversational AI chatbot solution.

The Zoom Virtual Agent uses natural language processing and machine learning to understand and quickly resolve issues for customers.

The chatbot is built off of technology from Solvvy, the conversational AI company Zoom acquired in May.

It provides responses and guides customers, to the right resolution, or if needed, to the right agent.

Zoom Virtual Agent can be integrated with Zoom Contact Center and other leading CRM and contact center solutions and will be available in early 2023.

Zoom also unveiled IQ Virtual Coach, which simulatesselling situations to give salespeople a practice environment, and Zoom Spots, a virtual co-working space integrated within the Zoom platform.

Capgemini buys AI consultancy

Capgeminiis set to acquire Quantmetry, a consulting firm that works in fields including AI and mathematical data modeling.

Capgemini entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire the Paris-based company, although no financial details were disclosed. The transaction is expected to be completed in the coming days.

Quantmetry’s customers include French companies in sectors such as manufacturing, energy, retail, consumer goods and insurance.

NortonLifeLock and Avast to become Gen Digital

NortonLifeLock, the cybersecurity company formerly known as Symantec, has rebranded again after merging with Avast.

The newly combined company will be known as Gen Digital. In an announcement, Gen said it is designed to “further accelerate the company's innovation and pave the way for the future of digital empowerment.”

Gen has dual headquarters in Tempe, Arizona and Prague, Czech Republic and has teams around the world in more than 150 countries.

Vincent Pilette, who was NortonLifeLock’s CEO will retain his role at Gen, while Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek will serve as the company’s president.