Altman gets political...

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San Francisco’s mayor-elect, Daniel Lurie, has named OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as one of the co-chairs of his transition team.

Altman will join nine other leaders to advise Lurie on how the city can innovate and rebuild partnerships, focusing on its tech connections.

Lurie, a political newcomer, spent $9 million of his own money to fund his campaign and won against incumbent Mayor London Breed.

He officially takes office on January 8th and will need to tackle public safety issues that have driven tech leaders, such as Elon Musk and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, to criticise the city and leave for newer tech hubs like Miami and Austin.

Here are key things to note:

Altman’s experience, including his work with OpenAI and Y Combinator, makes him a valuable connection to San Francisco’s tech industry.

Lurie has called Altman “one of the most important figures on the planet,” showing the high expectations for his involvement in shaping the city’s future.

The transition team also includes notable names like former Twitter CFO Neg Segal and former fire chief Joanne Hayes-White.

Lurie’s approach combines expertise from tech, civic, and nonprofit sectors, showing his intent to bring diverse voices to the table.

While Altman’s role could help win back the trust of tech leaders like Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, it also raises questions about tech’s influence on politics.

Whether this strategy will succeed in reversing San Francisco’s challenges remains to be seen, but it marks an ambitious start to Lurie’s term.

Altman is about to beta-test city governance. We hope there’s no bugs.

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ElevenLabs has introduced a new feature to help developers create conversational AI bots.

This update adds more flexibility to their platform, allowing users to adjust tone, response length, and other settings.

The company, previously focused on text-to-speech services, noticed that many clients were already using its tools for conversational AI but struggled with integrating knowledge bases and managing interruptions.

To address this, ElevenLabs created a full pipeline for building conversational agents.

In brief:

Developers can log in, choose a template or start a new project, and configure the bot’s language, tone, and persona.

Additional options include adjusting response creativity, voice stability, and conversation length.

Users can also add knowledge bases or integrate their own AI models to customise the bot further.

Businesses can collect data during interactions, like customer names or emails, and set criteria to measure call success.

ElevenLabs is also expanding its capabilities, developing speech-to-text features for the platform.

While it doesn’t offer a standalone speech-to-text API yet, this could change, bringing competition to big names like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI.

The company also competes with voice AI startups like Vapi and Retell.

By offering more customisation and the ability to switch between models, ElevenLabs aims to stand out in the market as it seeks funding, with a valuation above $3 billion.

One sassy chatbot, please.

Space: SEOPS has booked a Falcon 9 with SpaceX for a dedicated rideshare to geostationary transfer orbit in late 2028.

Crypto: The Shanghai High Court ruled cryptocurrencies have "property attributes" under Chinese law but reaffirmed the ban on their use in commercial activities like token issuance and trading.

Games: For the first time in its 30-year history, Need for Speed will introduce motorbikes in the upcoming "Lockdown" update for Unbound, launching November 26.

Don’t Miss: Google has unveiled the Android 16 developer preview, introducing an enhanced photo library and medical data-sharing features while aiming for faster updates with a revised release timeline. Public beta arrives in January 2025, with a final release expected after April, likely coinciding with Google's annual I/O event.

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