🤔 Wiser! #136: Eye Tracking Tech | Google's AI Search | McDonald's NFTs | Writer's Vertical LLM
Apple have thrown eye tracking technology into the spotlight with the Vision Pro. Writer signal the start of LLM verticalisation, Google have an AI dilemma over Search and McDonald's NFT Grimace!
What's in Wiser! this week
Eye-tracking never figured much on my investigative radar as I looked around for real use cases and utility from emerging technologies. And why would it, eye tracking tech dates back to the 1960s, hardly “emerging.” But that all changed with Apple announcing the eye tracking controlled Vision Pro and now I’m converted. I was amazed at how many great stories there are in eye tracking, which is why this week’s WiserPLUS! exclusive is all about it. (As is the latest podcast for Big Tech Little Tech.)
In other news, the three top stories that caught my attention were:
the healthcare specific AI from Writer, signalling the beginning of the verticalisation of large languge models,
Google’s AI dilema over Search and the threat to its advertising fuelled cash cow,
And McDonald’s use of NFTs to build consumer engagement in Singapore (plus learn a ton about how to exploit the digital tokens to enhance brand value.)
Chart of the week celebrates the 25th birthday of the Mac. Plus there are over a dozen links to interesting tech stories.
ATB, Rick
P.S. REMEMBER: Insight and Information Gives You Leverage! (Build your own competitive advantage by being 1% smarter than your competition.)
P.P.S If you’re on a FREE plan, you’ll get this newsletter in FULL next Tuesday. If you’re a paying subscriber, you get it all now, and I hope you enjoy, Rick
WiserPLUS! Member’s Content
The Eyes Have It: The Utility of Eye Tracking Technology
You’d think that eye tracking technology is so very 21st century, simply a product of the internet age. But you’d be wrong! The very first eye tracking devices were developed in the early 1900s, and they were quite rudimentary. They used beams of light to track the movement of the eye, and the data was recorded on film.
It wasn’t until the 1960s when mobile eye tracking technology was developed to have more in common with the computer-based eye tracking devices we have today. These early devices used sensors to track the movement of the eye. Now, in the 2020s, eye tracking is being used in a wide range of applications, from scientific research, detecting early signs of illness, gaming and immersive experiences in virtual reality, and understanding consumer behaviour in retail and automative.
So What? All of it sounds interesting, is highly innovative and pretty much out of the headlines…that was until Apple announced the Vision Pro mixed reality headset. With eye tracking technology in Apple’s spatial computing driving seat, this far from emerging technology is about to be move centre stage…and you need to know all about it!
WiserPLUS! members can learn about it here... (€)
w/ArtificialIntelligence
The Verticalisation Of Large Language Models Is Coming
One of the many AI software tools out there is called Writer and they just released a large language model designed specifically for use in healthcare. The model is called Palmyra Med and Writer says it has outperformed both GPT-4 and medically trained human test takers on PubMedQA, which is a leading benchmark for biomedical question answering. So, unlike a generic AI model like GPT-4, which knows a little bit about a lot of things, Palmyra Med is only trained using publicly available sets of medical data. In other words, Palmyra Med is trained to go deep in a narrow range of subjects.
Here’s The Thing You Need To Know: What we’re seeing and using at the moment are generic large language models. Which is great for mainstream and generic activities. But there’s real value to be had when the AI is trained for a specific set of tasks and not as a jack of all trades. This is exactly what the likes of Palmyra Med and BloombergGPT are. And we’re going to see it happening more frequently and right across the board. There will be a LegalGPT, EnergyGPT, LogisticsGPT to name a few. The point is that not only are these industry vertical LLMs trained purposefully to serve their sector, they can also be trained to understand industry specific considerations such as regulations, privacy, compliance and so on. This makes them much more valuable within their industry niche.
Learn more about Writer and Palmyra Med…
w/ArtificialIntelligence
Google’s AI Dilemma Over Search
Google's next generation of Search is called the “search generative experience”, or SGE for short. This is its AI powered search engine that’s being slowly integrated into the search engine that 9 out of 10 internet users know and love. SGE just got some major updates, including; you can now see photos and videos in search results, Google says the time to generate SGE search results is now 50% faster, and now SGE will show the published date of the links that it cites in its results.
Here’s The Thing You Need To Know: Google’s entire $160 billion business model is built on putting ads in front of users and from users clicking ad sponsored links at the top of the search results. With an AI powered search that not only finds, but also reads and summarises the search results, the opportunity for ad placement is significantly reduced. This is a monumental threat to the Google advertising cash cow. It’s no surprise then that Google have reiterated that search ads will continue to appear in the AI powered SGE results, although frankly, from a user perspective you have to ask yourself, why?
Try Google’s AI Search Experience for yourself…
w/NFTs
McDonald’s Tests Customer Engagement With NFTs
A couple of months ago, McDonald’s, the most downloaded food app in the world, introduced a purple milkshake called Grimace. It was in honour of a 50 year old promotional character used by the food giant in the 1970s. The purple shake sparked a viral trend on TikTok and sounds pretty disgusting to me. Anyhow, the reason this story caught my eye is because McDonald's Singapore is giving away 2,000 NFTs featuring the purple Grimace character. The NFTs are free to claim through the McDonald’s mobile app and will be “soulbound”, which is jargon that means once the NFTs have been minted, they'll belong to that wallet for life. In other words, McDonald's wont make money through secondary sales.
Here’s The Thing You Need To Know: First, like all the consumer brands playing with NFTs, they’re testing out the impact of the emerging tech on customer behaviour. Second, they’re strengthening brand loyalty and customer engagement. Remember, unlike a paper voucher or a QR code on your app, an NFT is a smart digital token. The relationship between McDonald’s and the customer remains dynamic and connected in a much stronger way than through a traditional loyalty programme. 2,000 NFTs is insignificantly small but that’s not the point. Expect to see more consumer brands test the boundaries of customer engagement through NFTs.
Chart of the week
Happy 25th Birthday Mac
On the 25th anniversary of the iMac's launch, it’s worth reflecting on how the all-in-one computer helped rekindle Apple's profitability. In 2001, when the first ****iPod was unveiled to the world, Mac sales commanded a staggering 70% share of the company's net revenue, contributing an impressive $4.4 billion, but now represents only 10% of total sales at $40 billion.
What Else Is Interesting?
DeepMind, Google’s artificial intelligence research lab, has been testing new technology that could effectively turn generative AI into a personal life coach.
Snapchat's controversial AI chatbot went rogue this week and posted a random story and ignored users in an act the social media firm called a “glitch.”
The Associated Press has told news writers to avoid using ChatGPT for published content.
The New York Times has updated its terms of service to prohibit its content being used to train artificial intelligence models. The move follows other companies including Spotify who also updated their own terms to prohibit the practice.
Meanwhile, the New York Times is joining tech companies in an attempt to block a new children’s online safety law in California that the paper worries would damage its business and amount to censorship.
On Wednesday, Coinbase received regulatory approval to offer leveraged crypto future trading in the United States, becoming the first crypto-native company to do so.
A UK stroke patient is walking independently again thanks to "smart trousers" controlled by artificial intelligence. The tech stimulates her paralysed leg to match her healthy leg's movements.
Amazon will now use LLMs to help merchants write product descriptions. (see my article about Shopify’s new AI features to help sellers.)
Porcha Woodruff thought the police who showed up at her door to arrest her for carjacking were joking. She is the first woman known to be wrongfully accused as a result of facial recognition technology.
Apple wants to know when you’re going in for a hug. The company is seeking to patent a system for “skin-to-skin contact detection,” which uses sense circuitry to detect touching or movement “between a first body part and a second body part.”
Microsoft is still struggling to make Bing a big thing, despite adding AI capabilities. The company’s search engine reportedly holds just 3% of the search market worldwide.
The iconic reclining seat manufacturer, La-Z-Boy, has announced a new AI-powered ‘decliner’ that generates a cancellation excuse via SMS by pulling its handle.