🤔 w/142: The Rise of Embedded AI in Popular Platforms

PLUS: BYD is close to overtaking Tesla in all-electric vehicle sales. Spotify is testing AI-powered voice translation. Walmart introduces AI features for shopping. Meta's AI-stickers cause controversy

Oct 08, 2023

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P.S. REMEMBER: Insight and Information Gives You Leverage!

w/Opinion

The Rise of Embedded AI in Popular Platforms: Convenience and Consolidation

Over the past 9-10 months we’ve seen hundreds of new AI apps and tools that all perform specific tasks to create words, pictures and sounds. Even though that’s a very short timescale, the opportunity for individual, single-purpose tools is already coming to an end.

That’s because AI functions and features are being embedded into the most popular platforms. When AI is embedded into a multi-purpose tool, app or platform, a state of convenience is achieved and the need for a bunch of individual apps goes away.

Google’s strategy has been to embed AI everywhere as a free feature. They can afford to give AI away as an opportunity cost to keep your attention and engagement. This week they announced a ton of new free AI-powered features embedded into the Pixel 8 smartphone. Using Google Assistant with Bard, the Pixel 8 can summarise a web page, fix spelling mistakes in emails, answer phone calls and remove any background noises, create AI summaries of voice notes, change facial expressions in photos and de-blur images. All for free and all integrated within the phone. No need for separate apps or a monthly subscription, it’s all there in every Google device for free.

Microsoft have done much the same with Bing. Bing Chat is built on ChatGPT and can write 2000 word blogposts, summarise webpages and provide AI generated answers to search queries. And it’s integrated into the Edge browser as a free function. If you have a ChatGPT Plus subscription, you can also access DALL-E 3 from within Bing Chat.

Canva is a great example of a platform that has wasted no time embedding a host of AI features into its creativity portfolio. As the underdog battling for marketshare against Adobe, Canva have this week unveiled Magic Studio. It’s an AI-powered design suite that automates a bunch of creative tasks and gives Adobe’s Firefly a run for its money. Canva already had several text-to-image options. Now they’ve added the impressive text-to-video feature from Runway. This is an impressive arsenal, and one that I, personally, find extremely valuable given that image creativity is not my strong suite!

And then there’s Notion. I’ve mentioned before how I use Notion as my all-in-one productivity tool. They were quick to embed AI across the platform 6 months ago, based on Anthropic’s Claude. Notion AI saves me a ton of time by automating a lot of the research grunt work that goes into writing Wiser! Whilst the words you read are all mine, the processing of all the input is AI-assisted.

Which is the point of generative AI after all. It’s about improving productivity and replacing non-value generating grunt work with time and space for human talent to work on creating value. It’s no wonder that business leaders like JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon believes that “AI could be applied to every process of the firm's operations.”

w/Data

BYD Nears Overtaking Tesla as Leading Seller of All-Electric Vehicles Worldwide

BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, is on the verge of surpassing Tesla as the leading seller of all-electric vehicles worldwide. Source: Chartr

w/News

What’s Going On In Tech?

Spotify is testing an AI-powered voice translation feature that reproduces podcasts in other languages using the podcaster's own voice. Look out for the Hungarian version of Big Tech Little Tech in due course! Source
AI platform Rewind has introduced ‘Rewind Pendant‘, a wearable necklace that captures what you say and hear in the real world, allowing you to summarise your days using AI. Source
Walmart is bringing AI features to help customers shop and decorate, with users able to chat with a shopping assistant, search via natural language queries, and get interior design ideas. The consumer-facing additions come on the heels of the company’s corporate AI tool launched in August. Source
LinkedIn is incorporating AI tools to enhance the recruitment process, allowing recruiters to have more time for meaningful conversations with potential candidates. Source
Visa has unveiled a new $100 million generative AI venture fund. The fund aims to target AI startups that could potentially redefine the future of commerce and payment systems using generative AI. Source
Meta's recently launched AI-generated stickers are going viral, but not in a good way. The company’s EMU algorithm lacks filters, allowing controversial phrases and images that have induced a wave of ridiculous, and sometimes offensive or copyright-infringing stickers spreading across social media. Source
Meta plans to charge European users a monthly fee of £14 for an ad-free experience on Instagram and Facebook. Source
Crunch Fitness has become the first gym to deploy Amazon One palm-based entry for its members. By simply hovering their palm over an Amazon One device, members gain entry without the need for membership tags or a mobile app. Source
German startup Wingcopter has launched a zero-emissions drone and electric cargo-bike delivery project to bring everyday consumer goods to remote rural areas in Central Germany. The Wingcopter 198 drone uses tilt-rotor technology that makes it withstand strong winds and rain and has a payload capacity of up to 5kg with a range of 110km. Source
Tom Hanks warns fans of AI deepfake of the actor used in a dental ad. Hanks has emphasised concerns about the future impact of AI in Hollywood cinema. Source
Meanwhile, amid concerns about AI-generated misinformation ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Google has announced new labels for deceptive AI-generated political ads. Now, US lawmakers are calling on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to do the same. Source
Adidas have opened a new high-tech robot warehouse in Suzhou, China. This facility, which spans 139,000 square metres, is operated by robots that process more than one million items per day. Source
Fashion designer Christian Louboutin has partnered with comic book giant Marvel to release exclusive digital collectibles created on the Ethereum network. As part of Louboutin's "Marvel Collection" capsule, buyers of the physical shoes and accessories will receive NFTs as a free bonus. Source
Meanwhile, despite the numerous clickbait titles pronouncing the death of NFTs, Adam Mosseri, the Head of Instagram is "still bullish on NFTs." Source
Researchers at the University of Oxford have successfully 3D printed stem cells that mimic the architecture of the cerebral cortex, potentially revolutionising the treatment of brain injuries. Source
And finally, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto exchange FTX formerly known as SBF, finally headed to court this week for the biggest trial in crypto history. Prosecutors will spend the next six weeks attempting to prove he swindled customers out of $8.7 billion. Follow the trial with this live blog.

Want to get more out of Claude?

Anthropic have posted a very helpful blog that gives guidance on how to get the most out of Claude’s ability to handle much bigger prompts and data sources that ChatGPT and most other large language models. Read it here.

w/Insights

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