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ElevenLabs Launches AI-Powered App, Turning Any Website into a Personalized Podcast Experience
ElevenLabs launches AI-powered iPhone app that converts any website into a podcast: The new ElevenLabs Reader app allows users to listen to any content, from novels to web pages, using the platform's extensive library of cloned and synthetic voices. The app, currently available for iPhone users in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., offers a 3-month free trial with near-unlimited generations and access to high-quality voices. Users can clone their own voice for a personalized listening experience, making it feel like they recorded the content themselves. ElevenLabs plans to expand the app to more countries, devices, and languages soon, with...
read Jun 26, 2024Meta’s AI Glasses Stumble as Real-Time Translator, but Hint at Promising Future
The Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses struggle to deliver on their promise of a hands-free, real-time AI translation tool for travelers, with mixed results and technical limitations. Key takeaways: A temperamental party trick, not a reliable travel companion; While the glasses could competently translate simple phrases and provide broad summaries, they often failed to parse more complex or colloquial text, and couldn't handle spoken language at all. The AI translation feature only supports a handful of languages (Spanish, Italian, French, and German) and focuses solely on written text, not speech. Instead of providing detailed, word-for-word translations, the glasses tended to paraphrase...
read Jun 26, 2024Morgan Stanley Introduces AI Assistant to Boost Advisor Productivity and Transform Wealth Management
Morgan Stanley is introducing an AI-powered assistant called Debrief to help its roughly 15,000 wealth advisors automate meeting notes, draft emails, and create client discussion summaries, marking a significant step in the adoption of generative AI on Wall Street. How Debrief works: The program, built using OpenAI's GPT-4, joins client Zoom meetings to replace the manual note-taking typically done by advisors or junior employees: Clients must consent to being recorded each time Debrief is used. The AI assistant keeps detailed logs of advisors' meetings and automatically generates draft emails and summaries of the discussions. Morgan Stanley plans to release Debrief...
read Jun 26, 2024OpenAI Delays ChatGPT-4o’s Voice Features Amid Safety Concerns
OpenAI delays ChatGPT-4o's advanced voice features due to safety concerns: OpenAI announced that it needs an additional month to launch ChatGPT-4o's advanced voice mode, which was originally planned for a small group of ChatGPT Plus users in late June, in order to ensure the model meets safety requirements and provides real-time responses to complex queries. The delay is due to the need to improve the model's ability to detect and refuse certain content, enhance user experience, and scale systems for real-time responses. Some users who signed up for ChatGPT Plus specifically for early access to these features are disappointed by...
read Jun 26, 2024Generative AI: A Mindful Alternative to the Mindless “Raw-Dogging” Flight Trend
The latest trend of doing nothing on flights, referred to as "raw-dogging", has passengers avoiding any activities or stimuli during their journey, but the emergence of generative AI may provide a mindful alternative to this mindless approach. Key aspects of the "raw-dogging" trend: The trend involves passengers consciously deciding to avoid any form of entertainment, consumption, or social interaction during a flight, essentially creating a modified sensory deprivation experience: Passengers are expected to sit quietly, avoid conversations, politely rebuff others, and respond only to flight attendants or crew when necessary. Eating, drinking, using devices, reading, or engaging with in-flight entertainment...
read Jun 25, 2024Google Infuses Workspace with AI, Raising Productivity and Privacy Concerns
Google is adding Gemini 1.5 Pro as a pop-out sidebar in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Gmail, enabling the AI to sift through documents, scan data, write emails, and summarize messages: In Slides, Gemini can create agendas, summarize presentations, generate new slides, and create custom images. For Sheets, it will generate table templates, formulas, and help sort data. The Gemini sidebar and Gmail integration will only be available to paying Google Workspace, Gemini Education, or Google One AI subscribers, not free users. Privacy Implications: Gemini's access to users' content, files, and data in Google's apps could pose privacy concerns:...
read Jun 25, 2024Groundbreaking AI Model Slashes Energy Use, Matches Top Performance
UC Santa Cruz researchers have developed a highly energy-efficient large language model that maintains state-of-the-art performance while drastically reducing computational costs. Key innovation: Eliminating matrix multiplication in neural networks; The researchers eliminated the most computationally expensive element of large language models, matrix multiplication, by using ternary numbers and a new communication strategy between matrices: Instead of real numbers, the matrices use ternary numbers (-1, 0, 1), reducing computation to summing rather than multiplying. The matrices are overlaid and only the most important operations are performed, further reducing computational overhead. Time-based computation is introduced during training to maintain performance despite the...
read Jun 25, 2024Slushy Raises $10.2M, Becoming First Adult Content Platform to Secure Institutional Investment
Slushy, an adult entertainment platform, has raised $10.2 million in a landmark venture funding round, becoming the first adult content company to secure institutional investment. Key Takeaways: Slushy's successful fundraising validates its unique approach to adult content, which combines innovative technology with robust moderation, security, and compliance: The round includes investments from prominent VCs and high-profile angels, such as Mantis VC, Electric Feel Ventures, and music entrepreneur Brooklyn Johnny. Slushy's platform empowers creators to monetize their content and connect with audiences directly, while providing users with a personalized experience through AI-powered discovery tools. The funds will be used to develop...
read Jun 25, 2024Amazon Unveils Metis: The E-Commerce Giant’s Answer to ChatGPT
Amazon is reportedly developing its own AI chatbot codenamed "Metis" to compete with ChatGPT, signaling the company's ambition to catch up in the rapidly advancing AI race. Key features of Metis: The AI chatbot is said to offer conversation through text and image-centric answers, with capabilities to share links, respond to follow-up queries, and generate its own images: Metis may utilize retrieval augmented generation, allowing it to find and offer information beyond its original training data, such as providing up-to-date stock prices. Amazon reportedly envisions Metis as an AI agent capable of working autonomously by analyzing new data and making...
read Jun 25, 2024DHS Hires First 10 AI Experts, Signaling Growing Importance of AI in Government
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken a significant step forward in integrating artificial intelligence expertise into its operations by hiring the first 10 members of its newly formed AI Corps, a move that underscores the growing importance of AI in enhancing national security and addressing critical challenges. Building the AI Corps: DHS has selected a diverse group of experts from various backgrounds to join its AI Corps, which aims to study and implement AI technologies across the department's portfolio: The AI Corps, modeled after the U.S. Digital Service, will consist of 50 individuals tasked with exploring ways...
read Jun 25, 2024AI Discovers Rare-Earth-Free Magnet, Promising Cheaper, Greener EVs and Tech
UK company Materials Nexus has used its AI platform to discover a new rare-earth-free permanent magnet called MagNex, 200 times faster than traditional methods and with the potential to significantly reduce material costs and carbon emissions in magnet production. Growing demand for rare earth magnets in electric motors: The shift towards electric vehicles is driving a rapid rise in demand for compact, high-power motors that rely on rare earth magnets, with Materials Nexus estimating a tenfold increase in permanent magnet demand by 2030 in the EV industry alone. Over 80% of modern electric vehicles use permanent magnet motors, which are...
read Jun 25, 2024Deepfakes Threaten Democracy: Google Study Reveals AI’s Role in Swaying Public Opinion
A new study from Google's DeepMind reveals that the most common misuse of AI is creating political deepfakes to sway public opinion, raising concerns about the impact on elections and the spread of misinformation. Key findings: The research, conducted in collaboration with Google's Jigsaw unit, analyzed around 200 incidents of AI misuse and found that: Creating realistic fake images, videos, and audio of politicians and celebrities was the most prevalent misuse, nearly twice as common as the next highest category. Shaping public opinion was the primary goal, accounting for 27% of misuse cases, followed by financial gain through services like...
read Jun 25, 2024Nvidia’s AI Success Fails to Translate into Top 100 Brand Recognition
Despite Nvidia's recent rise to become the world's most valuable company, it failed to crack the top 100 in Interbrand's ranking of the most recognizable brands, pointing to the limited real-world impact of AI among consumers. Tech giants dominate brand rankings: Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Google, and other well-known tech companies secured top spots in the brand rankings, while Nvidia was notably absent from the top 100. The top 10 featured consumer-oriented brands like Amazon, Toyota, Coca-Cola, and Nike, indicating the importance of brand awareness among the general public. Even within the tech sector, brands like Cisco, IBM, Intel, HP, Panasonic,...
read Jun 25, 2024Startup Helps Authors License Work to AI, Navigating Rights in New Era
A startup called Created by Humans is launching to help book authors license their work to AI companies, aiming to create a framework for AI rights and broker deals between authors, publishers, and AI firms. Filling a void in the market: Created by Humans seeks to address the lack of universal permissioning and monetization systems for creative content used to train large language models: The startup is one of several emerging to help creators navigate the complex landscape of licensing their work for use in AI technologies. Co-founder and CEO Trip Adler brings years of experience working with book authors...
read Jun 25, 2024AI Transforms Corporate Leadership: Balancing Innovation, Ethics, and Human Intuition
The integration of AI into corporate leadership is transforming decision-making, fostering innovation, and reshaping traditional leadership roles, but also presents challenges that require a balanced approach to harness its full potential. AI's impact on leadership: A vision for the future; Corporate leadership in the AI age leverages technology to enhance decision-making, foster innovation, and anticipate market shifts, empowering leaders to make informed decisions swiftly: IBM's Watson assists leaders by providing insights from unstructured data, enabling better-informed decisions and enhancing strategic vision and operational efficiency. Google employs AI to analyze market trends and consumer behavior, driving continuous innovation and keeping the...
read Jun 25, 2024AI Breakthrough: Simulating Millions of Years of Protein Evolution in Days
A former Meta engineer's AI research lab, EvolutionaryScale, has launched ESM3, a multimodal generative language model that can design novel proteins, simulating millions of years of evolution in a matter of days. Groundbreaking capabilities: ESM3 is a frontier generative model for biology that can reason across the fundamental properties of proteins - sequence, structure, and function: The model was trained on 2.78 billion natural proteins and 771 billion unique tokens, enabling it to generate novel proteins with an unprecedented level of control. In tests, ESM3 generated a novel green fluorescent protein (esmGFP) that would have taken over 500 million years...
read Jun 25, 2024Gmail Introduces Gemini AI Features for Paid Users
Gmail is expanding its AI capabilities, introducing new features that could significantly improve email management and productivity for paid users. Here's a summary: Key Takeaways: Google is rolling out Gemini AI features in Gmail, including an AI sidebar for web users and email summaries in the mobile app, aimed at making it easier to manage and respond to emails. The new Gemini side panel can summarize email threads, draft new emails, and respond to freeform questions, leveraging Google's most advanced AI models like Gemini 1.5 Pro. Gmail mobile apps will also gain the ability to have Gemini summarize email threads....
read Jun 25, 2024AI-Powered Game Characters: Unsettling Glimpse into Immersive Future, Despite Current Limitations
Chatting with an AI-powered NPC version of myself created by my colleagues provides an unsettling glimpse into the future of immersive video game characters, but also reveals the current limitations and challenges of this emerging technology. A mischievous and unpleasant digital doppelganger: My colleagues used tools from AI company Inworld to craft an NPC based on my personality, but the resulting character - King Fiall of Nirth - proved to be an extremely sarcastic and insufferable conversation partner: Despite tweaking personality sliders and providing key traits, goals, and utterances, King Fiall's responses were often over-the-top sarcastic and unpleasant, differing greatly...
read Jun 25, 2024Substrate Unveils Platform to Democratize AI Development for Enterprises
Substrate, a startup founded by industry veterans, has emerged from stealth to launch an AI development platform that aims to democratize AI for enterprises by providing a unified solution for building, deploying, and managing machine learning models and pipelines. Lego blocks approach to AI development: Substrate's platform enables developers to create complex AI workflows by stitching together high-quality, curated open-source models, making it easier and more cost-effective for enterprises to harness advanced AI capabilities: The platform addresses accuracy, cost, and latency issues by breaking down complex problems into smaller, more manageable pieces that are easier to solve, similar to how...
read Jun 25, 2024Record Labels Sue AI Music Startups Udio and Suno Over Alleged Copyright Infringement
Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group are suing generative AI music startups Suno and Udio over alleged copyright infringement, with the lawsuits including examples of AI-generated songs that closely resemble the work of human artists. Key Takeaways: The lawsuits filed by major record labels against Suno and Udio underscore the growing tension between the music industry and AI companies: The plaintiffs, which include Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group, claim that Suno and Udio have infringed on their copyrights by using their music to train AI models without permission. Examples of AI-generated...
read Jun 25, 2024GPT-4 Powered Robot Showcases Realistic Behavior, Hinting at Future of Robotics
Alter3, a GPT-4 powered humanoid robot, showcases the potential of combining advanced language models with robotics to create more realistic and adaptable robot behaviors. Harnessing the power of large language models: Alter3 leverages GPT-4's vast knowledge to directly map natural language commands to robot actions, simplifying the process of controlling the robot's 43 axes: Researchers at the University of Tokyo and Alternative Machine have designed Alter3 to take advantage of GPT-4's capabilities, enabling it to perform complex tasks like taking a selfie or mimicking a ghost. GPT-4 acts as a planner, determining the steps required to perform the desired action,...
read Jun 25, 2024California AI Startups Clash with Lawmakers Over Proposed Safety Rules
California startups and Y Combinator oppose proposed AI safety regulations, arguing they could stifle innovation and threaten the state's tech economy. Key stakeholders express concerns: A coalition of 140 machine-learning startups and venture capital firm Y Combinator have signed an open letter opposing California Senate Bill 1047, which would impose guardrails and transparency requirements on large AI models: The signatories argue that the proposed regulations are arbitrary, vague, and burdensome, potentially leading AI companies to leave California for less restrictive locales. They claim the bill's language is too broad and could inadvertently apply to smaller startups, not just the intended...
read Jun 25, 2024Open-Source AI Breakthrough: 1M Token Context Unlocks New Possibilities
Gradient and Crusoe collaborate to create open-source LLM with 1 million token context window, potentially reshuffling the AI landscape and unlocking new applications. Key takeaways: Gradient and Crusoe have extended the context window of Llama-3 models to 1 million tokens, a significant milestone in the race to create open-source models with long context windows: Most LLMs with very long context windows, such as Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT-4, and Google Gemini, are private models. Open-source models with long context windows could reshuffle the LLM market and enable applications not possible with private models. Enterprise need for open models: Gradient works with...
read Jun 25, 2024Apple Rejects Meta AI Partnership, Citing Privacy Concerns; Pursues Other Collaborations
Apple's privacy concerns prevented an AI partnership with Meta Key Takeaways: Apple turned down a potential AI partnership with Facebook parent company Meta due to privacy concerns over Meta's practices: Brief discussions about integrating Meta's large language model (LLM) into iOS took place in March, but Apple decided not to move forward with a more formal partnership. Apple determined that Meta's privacy practices were not stringent enough to meet its standards for safeguarding user data. Ongoing AI Partnerships: While Apple passed on working with Meta, the company has pursued other AI collaborations: Apple signed a deal with OpenAI to integrate...
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