When Google incubator Jigsaw first launched its AI-powered Perspective API, it was intended to help websites host less toxic forum discussions and comment sections.

But the free tool has more recently been put to another use: reducing the incidence of offensive language generated by a new wave of large language models (LLMs).

Companies like Google, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic have used the tool to help evaluate the toxicity of their AI’s output and cut down on harmful training data, according to Lucy Vasserman, who leads engineering and product at Jigsaw.

These kinds of problems are foundational for Jigsaw, which focuses on creating tech that combats threats to open society, like misinformation, toxicity and hate, online extremism, and internet censorship.

Vasserman spoke with Tech Brew about reining in language models, the state of online discussions, and AI threats on the horizon.

Keep reading here.—PK

An inbox that works for you by helping you spend less time on email and get back to what matters most? Sounds like quite the upgrade.

That’s your inbox on Superhuman. Built to work with Gmail and Outlook, Superhuman helps teams cut the time they spend in their inboxes in half, respond to twice the number of emails, and save 3+ hours weekly.

Split your inbox into streams for VIPs, your team, and your most-used tools to reduce context switching, set handy reminders, and never miss important updates. With powerful AI features like writing, editing, summarizing, and translating (très bien!), Superhuman helps you work faster and more efficiently.

Ready for a better email experience? Join companies like Brex, Deel, and Notion and get hours back each week.

If last year was the year of resale, then this year is the year of AI. Now, there’s a crossover.

EBay has released in beta a plug-in that, through generative AI, allows sellers to automatically generate text for their item descriptions based on product attributes, which helps cut down on the time and effort required to list item.

EBay is no stranger to using AI and deep learning models, but generative AI is the next frontier for eBay, which aims to streamline the listing process for sellers, and the company in the future will integrate more applications to better curate niche products for its buyers.

“AI and deep learning has been infused throughout eBay. I think the difference in the last six months has been the dawn of the large language models that make this very conversational,” Eddie Garcia, eBay’s chief product officer, told Retail Brew. “The AI can create content, it can create images, it could write a description for the item. That’s the new innovation.”

Keep reading here.—KM

Latin America’s importance to worldwide agriculture is immense, and venture-capital investment seems to be catching on.

The region houses Brazil, which is the fourth-largest food producer and No. 2 food exporter in the world, according to venture-capital firm AgFunder’s inaugural Latin America AgriFoodTech Investment Report. Latin America also holds the distinction of being the world’s foremost soy producer, while also sporting 23% of global beef and buffalo output and 20% of global poultry production. The region is also a major producer of crops like cacao and coffee.

The report dove into the current state of agtech investment in the region, which has been historically underfunded, only receiving 5% of what it calls “global agri-food tech” venture-capital investment in 2022.

Keep reading here.—JM

Stat: 16%. That’s the drop in time Reddit users spent on the site following a protest in which moderators shuttered hundreds of subreddits, the New York Times reported, citing estimates from Similarweb.

Quote: “We need the best of the best sitting at the table: the top AI developers, top executives, scientists, advocates, community leaders, workers, national security experts all together in one room, doing years of work in a matter of months.”—Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

Read: Why are LED light bulbs so bad? (New York)

#thriving: Bynder’s State of Content Report found that 77% of tech marketers are prioritizing time to market in 2023. Get key stats and insights to create a speedy, flourishing content program in the full report.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}