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- 👾 The AI evolution
The machines are talking with each other. Welcome to the AllThingsAI newsletter. Let’s get into it.
The breakdown
Read time: 3 mins
DeepMind co-founder thinks interactive AI is on the way.
SoftBank could invest in OpenAI.
Databricks secures bricks of cash.
Stephen Fry is vocal about AI voice cloning.
Some neat AI apps to kick the tires on.
Plus, a handful of other recommendations and tool reviews.
Source: Adobe Firefly. Prompt: Two humanoid robots stand talking.
AI could soon talk to AI
Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman says generative AI is a phase and that we’re moving toward interactive AI (IAI).
Suleyman, who left Google in early 2022 and has since founded AI startup Inflection, says IAI will be able to connect to other systems - and people - to get things done. Speaking with MIT Technology Review, Suleyman says IAI will work by providing it with a “general, high-level goal and it will use all the tools it has to act on that.”
Considering Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff just told us artificial general AI (AGI) is on the way, it’s starting to feel like we’re currently living through the AI equivalent of 1990s dial-up internet.
SoftBank x OpenAI (maybe)
Japan-headquartered investment company SoftBank is considering a stake in OpenAI, according to sources for the Financial Times.
SoftBank, which first turned heads with its roughly $100 billion Vision fund in 2017, is said to be scoping out a clutch of AI deals, which could include a strategic partnership with the Chat-GPT operator.
SoftBank-owned chipmaker ARM went public last week, ensuring the parent company has about $65 billion extra to play with when when shopping around for AI investments.
Building value, brick by brick
AI cloud data platform Databricks has raised a $500 million Series I on a $43 billion valuation. (Yes, 43 BILLION DOLLARS.) The investment was led by T. Rowe Price with Nvidia and others also getting involved.
For those watching AI companies closely, valuations like this may signal a bubble - after all, many crypto exchanges were once worth tens of billions. But such a late-stage buy-in may suggest AI is on a very different trajectory.
Taking the words out of Stephen Fry’s mouth
Stephen Fry is calling attention to AI companies that are using people's voices without permission for audio emulation tools.
Speaking at a conference in London, Fry played a clip that sounded like him, saying aloud something he has never said. The actor and writer claimed the unnamed company used voice recordings from his narration of the Harry Potter audiobooks to train its AI system.
“This is audio,” Fry continued. “It won’t be long until full deepfake videos are just as convincing.”
Poll
Results from our last poll:Should there be federal rules dictating the development and implementation of AI?
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ✅ Yes. We can’t just trust AI companies to act responsibly without oversight.
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ ❎ No. Regulation destroys innovation.
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AI tools you should try
ExamCram (free with a paid option): Here’s an app for those dealing with the pressure of an upcoming exam - an AI-powered tool that lets you create flashcards and quizzes based specifically on your study materials. It also features a chatbot for breaking down concepts and digging into documents.
LeiaPix Convertor (free): AI image manipulation apps are some of the most interesting right now, and LeiaPix is no exception. Its Convertor tool lets you transform a photo or graphic into an animated video or GIF, but it also has more tricks up its sleeve. With an AI-generated depth map feature, it can provide the necessary information you need to convert a 2D photo into a 3D model that can then be taken ported over to apps such as Blender and Unreal Engine.
Attention Insight (free trial, then paid): Designing a website means thinking about everything from fonts to the images you’re going to paste on the landing page. But how do you know if any of that will actually drive engagement? Attention Insight is a service that promises to help you understand how your website will perform. It generates attention hotspots, showing the likelihood that visitors are going to take in your message and call-to-action.
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