Wiser! Recap: what's going on in tech
Wiser! #123: Replika | China CBDC | AI Drones | NFT Stamps | Humane | ChatGPT
Wiser! is a twice-weekly newsletter that makes sense of what’s going on in the tech economy to better understand what’s coming next; from BigTech to Emerging Tech, from Brand Strategy to Innovation. Premium Members got this email (and much, much more) last Friday. Wiser! Recap (this one) will always be FREE TO READ for all subscribers.
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What’s going on in Tech that you might have missed?
Here are 6 stories that I’ve made sense of for you. Click the continue reading link for much longer explanations and all the detail.
w/CBDC
1. China launches digital yuan to pay all public workers in Changshu
China is launching a project to pay all public workers in the city of Changshu in digital yuan, marking the country's biggest push to circulate its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The CBDC will be issued and monitored by the Chinese government, raising concerns about surveillance and control.
Here’s The Thing: Chinese citizens lead the world in mobile-payment adoption. They’re already leaving digital footprints across the Chinese economy as the nation moves rapidly towards a cashless society. Opponents cite surveillance as the big issue, but the issue of surveillance is a mute point. The thing to watch is how the CCP integrate the digital yuan with popular payment superapps like Alipay and WeChat Pay. Consumer adoption is the thing to watch, not listen to the surveillance narrative. China is building an international digital ecosystem and trading economy and the CBDC is at the heart of it. This is how it is going to challenge the USD as the world’s global reserve currency.
w/AI
2. The debate around AI's impact on humanity is divided
The debate around AI's potential impact on humanity is divided between those who believe it will lead to infinite progress and those who believe it will lead to collapse. OpenAI's co-founder, Greg Brockman, explained that they are releasing their language models incrementally to gather feedback and ensure they benefit all humanity.
Here’s The Thing: the overarching framework shaping this debate is whether technology will allow us to transcend our limits or whether we must accept new limits to avoid collapse. It’s a speculative argument, whichever side you’re on. Do we throw it out there and see what happens, even if it ends in doom? Or do we hold back, and never realise the utopian dream of an artificial future?
3. The ethics of military drones: a growing concern
On the subject of AI's impact on humanity, the ethics of using artificial intelligence in warfare is not new. The debate can be traced back to the 1950s. Now it’s being reported that the UK’s Royal Air Force is developing mini-helicopter AI controlled drones that can fire missiles at targets four miles away. Air force chiefs ordered the new lightweight drones after they played a successful role in Ukraine’s resistance against Moscow.
Here’s The Thing: drones have been linked with civilian deaths in many conflict zones. The absence of any international laws specifically referring to the use of drones, or facial recognition technology to detect targets, doesn’t help. The issue is that the technologies are prone to error and unlawful death and injury. In Libya and Gaza, drones were reported to have killed people “autonomously, and independent of human control”. In the year when AI appears to have taken over the world, the debate is increasingly going to focus on the morality, legality and ethics of artificial intelligence and the use of technology.
Continue reading…(for a longer article and explanation of this subject)
w/AI
4. British student uses ChatGPT to successful challenge parking fine
A British student successfully appealed a £60 parking fine with the help of OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT. The student input her details and the bot generated a personalised response in minutes, leading to the fine being revoked. This case is similar to that of another Brit who used ChatGPT to reduce a £100 penalty to just £15.
Here’s The Thing: the role of AI in law is not a new subject. In 2020, a California task force dedicated to exploring ways to expand access to legal services recommended allowing unlicensed practitioners to represent clients. Also in 2020, the American Bar Association told judges using AI tools to be mindful of biases instilled in the tools themselves. And UNESCO, the international organisation dedicated to preserving culture, has a free online course covering the basics of what AI can offer legal systems. The point is that AI is proving very effective in handling the bulk of the routine tasks undertaken by lawyers, at a fraction of the cost, making legal advice available to millions of people who currently can not afford it.
Continue reading…(for more on the potential of AI to replace human lawyers)
w/Web3
5. Portugal issues its first NFT collectible stamp
Called the “Crypto Stamp,” this is a physical and digital postage stamp issued as a digital token, aka NFT, or Non-Fungible Token. This means that the digital asset is created and verified using Blockchain technology.
Here’s The Thing: it’s a novel idea that’s aimed more to the stamp collector market rather than the conventional utility of paying for a letter to get from A to B. And this isn’t Europe’s first NFT stamp. The Austrian Post introduced the first blockchain-based NFT crypto stamps with a physical digital twin in 2019, and has collaborated with the Netherlands PostNL to launch a new edition of Crypto Stamps in 2022.
Continue reading…(for more on this story about the potential and utility of NFT stamps)
w/Wearables
6. Humane's wearable AI assistant
Humane is a startup you probably hadn’t heard about before the recent Ted Talk that demonstrated their wearable AI assistant. Founded by ex-Apple employees, Humane has created a new wearable device that acts as a personal assistant using AI and a display projected onto the palm of your hand. It records everything you see and hear, summarises messages, emails, and calendar invites, and can be controlled by tapping or voice commands.
Here’s The Thing: who needs a battery powered screen when you’ve got the palm of your hand with you all the time. Just as Amazon are trialling cashless payments based on the unique pattern of veins in everyone’s hand, Humane’s solution combines an AI assistant and not much else. For those of us who wear glasses, this info will be projected in front of our eyes, but for the glassless masses, this looks an ideal solution (and a lot cheaper than a new iPhone.)
Continue reading…(for the Ted Talk from Humane)
w/BrandStrategy
What's happening in Brand Strategy?
Visa: announce an “ambitious crypto product roadmap” to aid the mainstream adoption of public blockchain networks.
Nike: released a collection of limited-edition sneakers with an embedded chip, which connected the digital and physical worlds by linking the NFT to the NFC chip in the shoes.
Sneaker brand, Asics: limited-edition shoe and tie-up with blockchain platform Solana Pay to offer exclusive NFTs tied to the purchase of shoes.
IKEA: partnered with a design agency, Space10, to experiment with AI-generated furniture designs.
Qantas: announced that it would use AI to determine the most fuel-efficient flight paths for its new 20-hour-long flights.
P&G: interview with P&G's head of brand marketing who discusses the use of AI and algorithms as cheaper and more efficient than traditional ad-testing methods, citing P&G's savings of $65 million in 2022.
♾️ To learn more about how consumer brands are enhancing customer engagement with emerging technologies, read this...
What happens when the AI chatbot breaks your heart?
In this week’s Premium article, I took a look at Replika, the AI chatbot that has a reputation for developing personal and intimate relationships between its human customers and the AI chatbots that inhabit the app.
All was going well until the intimacy button was flicked off in the app and now all the AI avatars have a headache every time there’s a mention of you-know-what. Continue reading (€).
Just the headlines
Canadian musician Grimes says AI artists can use her voice without worrying about copyright or legal enforcement.
Microsoft will reportedly unbundle Teams from Office to avoid antitrust concerns.
Elon Musk’s overhaul of Twitter’s verified checkmark program did not go as planned.
AI-generative startup Runway has released an app that lets users transform any video with a text, image, or video prompt.
Apple’s much-anticipated mixed-reality headset is rumoured to include several iPad applications and will have a focus on gaming, prompting a battle with Meta.
Air New Zealand and Qantas are preparing to rollout 20-hour-long flights, the longest passenger flights yet, by using AI to determine the most fuel-efficient flight paths.
Snapchat’s “My AI” feature fails to impress users, who aren’t pleased that they can’t opt out of it.
ChatGPT and GPT-4 are already flooding the internet with AI-generated content.
Amazon launches AI-powered “dialogue boost” to make movies easier to hear.
Stability AI is prompting a war against OpenAI by releasing text-generator StableLM.
Ordinal inscriptions exceeded the 1 million mark, suggesting the trend is here to stay. Ordinals is a protocol that enables Bitcoin NFTs and other exciting potential innovations on the world’s biggest blockchain.
A16Z published its 2nd annual “State of Crypto” report.
The U.S. House Financial Services Committee recently published a draft of new crypto legislation (including stablecoins and approach to CBDC).
AI’s first hit song, featuring fake versions of Drake and The Weeknd, has been removed from streaming services after it racked up 600k Spotify plays and 15 million views on TikTok.
Mercari, a secondhand goods marketplace, has debuted Merchat AI, a shopping assistant that uses the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT.
Apple has opened its first retail store in India, 25 years after Apple first entered the Asian markets.
The metaverse is no place for kids, according to a group of more than 70 advocates for children's rights and online privacy.
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