Salesforce to Open 1st AI Center in London

FILE PHOTO: The company logo for Salesforce.com is displayed on the Salesforce Tower in New York City, US, March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The company logo for Salesforce.com is displayed on the Salesforce Tower in New York City, US, March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
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Salesforce to Open 1st AI Center in London

FILE PHOTO: The company logo for Salesforce.com is displayed on the Salesforce Tower in New York City, US, March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The company logo for Salesforce.com is displayed on the Salesforce Tower in New York City, US, March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

Salesforce has picked London for its first AI center, where it said industry experts, developers and customers will be able to collaborate on innovation and develop new skills.
The US cloud software company, which is hosting 18,000 people at its annual London World Tour event on Thursday, said a year ago it would invest $4 billion in Britain in the next five years, including in artificial intelligence innovation.
Zahra Bahrololoumi, chief executive of Salesforce UK and Ireland, said the company's customers were excited about the benefits of AI, but were cautious about the emerging risks.
"No company will adopt AI unless they can trust it, which is why we are so well positioned," she told Reuters, pointing to Salesforce's Einstein technology, which has a "Trust Layer" to ensure customers' data is not compromised.
"We are sending a clear message to customers and partners on AI, we are deeply committed to working closely together so that you can reap the rewards of this transformative technology, while ensuring it is a force for good," she said.



Google, Volkswagen Partner on Smartphone AI Assistant

People walk next to a Google logo during a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
People walk next to a Google logo during a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Google, Volkswagen Partner on Smartphone AI Assistant

People walk next to a Google logo during a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
People walk next to a Google logo during a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)

Alphabet’s Google is providing key capabilities for an artificial intelligence assistant for Volkswagen drivers in a smartphone app, part of Google's strategy to win business by offering tools to build enterprise AI applications.

Consumers can ask Volkswagen's in-app assistant questions like "How do I change a flat tire?" or point their phone cameras at vehicle dashboards to receive relevant information.

The AI assistant draws on Google's Gemini large language models, programs that can understand and generate predictive responses to human language, and cloud computing capacity. The VW tool was designed by adding data such as Volkswagen owner’s manuals and YouTube videos on vehicle maintenance to Gemini.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian told Reuters that the product required overcoming technical hurdles to multimodality, the ability to process different data types such as text, images and videos.

"The problem looks superficially simple, but it’s technically very complex," Kurian said. "Most people think what we built is a speech-to-text translation system that then looks up a manual. Absolutely not."

The AI assistant is free and available to about 120,000 owners of Volkswagen’s Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport models. It will roll out by early next year to other cars from model year 2020 and later.

Corporate adoption of generative AI could alter the lucrative cloud computing market, where Google places third in terms of market share behind Amazon and Microsoft . Most companies are still searching for applications that users will find practical.

Cloud computing is a growing business segment for Google, accounting for $33 billion of the firm's $307 billion in overall revenue in 2023.

AI solutions have driven billions in revenue this year, the company has said, though it declined to disclose more precise figures.

Volkswagen declined to give details about usage for its AI assistant so far.