Applied AI Weekly News

Justin Grammens

Welcome Applied AI Weekly Readers! I'm excited to share with you some of the most interesting articles I've found this past week on Artificial Intelligence. As usual, the week did not disappoint.

Quick note those before we get into the articles.

We have a bunch of both in-person and virtual meetings coming up at Applied AI. Check out all of our events!
I'm speaking at an AMA event this Wednesday. Register today!
The Applied AI Conference is back this spring. Keep your eyes peeled as we'll be announcing dates and the call for speakers in the coming week!

This week's Applied AI newsletter showcases Bill Gates' perspective on 2024 as a transformative year, alongside emerging threats from election deepfakes and Slovakia's recent AI-related election challenges. Sam Altman's insights into AI's future trajectory are notable. In creative AI applications, early Mickey Mouse cartoons have inspired public-domain AI-generated imagery. Volkswagen is set to enhance its vehicles with ChatGPT integration, adding a conversational layer to the driving experience. Samsung reintroduces Ballie, an upgraded home robot with AI enhancements. Additionally, OpenAI's introduction of the GPT Store marks a significant step in AI customization and accessibility, offering a platform for a wide range of personalized AI applications.

Enjoy this issue! And be sure to reach out if you wish to learn how AI can help your business.

News

The Road Ahead Reaches a Turning Point in 2024

When you think back on 2023, how will you remember it? 2023 signaled the start of a new era. Here’s why I believe 2024 is an opportunity to shape the world’s next chapter for the better.

Get ready for AI mayhem in the 2024 elections

Voters are likely to encounter persuasive ‘deepfakes’ and personalized disinformation. But that doesn’t have to affect the outcome — if we prepare.

Slovakia’s Election Deepfakes Show AI Is a Danger to Democracy

Fact-checkers scrambled to deal with faked audio recordings released days before a tight election, in a warning for other countries with looming votes.

Sponsor

Leverage Artificial Intelligence to Bring Efficiency and Automation to Your Business

At Recursive Awesome, we help business leaders leverage Artificial Intelligence to bring efficiency and automation to their business. We are experts in not only strategy but implementation using a wide array of tools such as ChatGPT, Bard, Llama2, and many others from Microsoft, AWS, and Google. Contact us today!

Business

My Conversation With Sam Altman

In the sixth episode of my podcast, I sat down with Sam Altman to talk about where AI is headed next and what humanity will do once it gets there.

Early Mickey Mouse Is Now in the Public Domain - and AI Is Already on the Case

Experimental AI image generator trained on Disney's 1928 cartoons can make eldritch horrors. On January 1, three early Mickey Mouse cartoons entered the public domain in the US, and AI experimenters have wasted no time taking advantage of it. On Monday, a digital humanities researcher named Pierre-Carl Langlais uploaded an AI model to Hugging Face that has been trained on those public domain cartoons, and anyone can use it to create new still images based on a written prompt.

Consumer

Volkswagen Says It’s Putting ChatGPT in Its Cars for ‘Enriching Conversations’

The chatbot will be available across VW’s lineup, including in Tiguan, Passat, and Golf as well as the automaker’s ID family of electric vehicles. The feature will come to Europe first and is being considered for customers in the US, though plans have yet to be finalized.

Samsung Brings Back Ballie

At its CES 2024 keynote, Samsung brought back Ballie, the spherical home robot it first announced in 2020, with a few AI upgrades.

The Rabbit R1 is an AI-powered Gadget

Jesse Lyu, the CEO and founder of an AI startup called Rabbit, says he doesn’t want to replace your smartphone. At least not right away. His company’s new gadget, a $199 standalone AI device called the R1, is so staggeringly ambitious that Lyu seems to think he can’t help but replace your phone at some point. Just not quite yet.

The ElliQ Eldercare Robot Gets a Hardware Upgrade, Generative AI for Improved Conversations

In some parts of the world (read: Japan, primarily), eldercare has been an important robotics focus for decades. In recent years, other markets have begun exploring the space. Labrador Robotics’ home assistive system is a good example here in the States. In Tel Aviv, meanwhile, Intuition Robotics has been promoting a “companion” robot since 2016 or so.

Tools

Progress on More Complicated Scenes for Photo Realism With V6

Even though it breaks down when you look closer, it's hard for my brain to comprehend that it isn't real. Check these images out. Which is real and which isn't?

Development

Introducing the GPT Store

We’re launching the GPT Store to help you find useful and popular custom versions of ChatGPT. It’s been two months since we announced GPTs, and users have already created over 3 million custom versions of ChatGPT.

How to Launch a Custom Chatbot on OpenAI’s GPT Store

You can now publish a bespoke version of ChatGPT that you’ve trained yourself. The marketplace for these custom GPTs is open to the public and works in a way that’s similar to Apple’s App Store.