📱 The newest Pixel

🧵 In today's edition:

• 📱 The newest Pixel

• ⚡️ More Apple tea

• 🧑‍🏫 How will AI impact education?

• 🛠️ AI Tools to Check Out

• 🤑 AI Fundraising News

• 🐦 Tweet Post of the Day

📱 The newest Pixel

Google is bringing its GenAI capabilities to a wider consumer base with the launch of the Pixel 8a smartphone. 

Here’s the TL;DR: 

• The Pixel 8a, priced at $499, offers many of the AI-powered features found in Google's flagship Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro models.

• The 6.1-inch Pixel 8a will get access to Google's Gemini chatbot and AI-driven photo/video editing tools like Magic Editor, Circle to Search, Best Take, and Magic Audio Eraser. 

• It will eventually receive an on-device version called Gemini Nano that can perform some GenAI tasks locally.

• Powered by Google's Tensor G3 chip, the Pixel 8a boasts a 64MP primary camera, 13MP ultra-wide lens, 120Hz display, and up to 256GB storage. 

• Key AI features include removing objects in photos, searching the web for circled items, combining facial expressions for group shots, and reducing video background noise.

Overall: Google is positioning these GenAI capabilities as compelling smartphone features to drive device sales across its Android lineup. It has also partnered with Samsung to bring similar AI powers to the Galaxy S24 series.

While no single "killer app" has emerged yet, Google and rivals like Apple are betting that GenAI will catalyze new smartphone demand.

Read more: Yahoo Finance

⚡️ More Apple tea

As we draw nearer to WWDC, Apple continues to unveil further details about its AI developments.

It was recently reported that Apple is developing its own AI chips for data centers under the codename Project ACDC.

Why is this important?

• Over the past decade, Apple has become a leading player in designing custom chips for its devices, such as iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs. Project ACDC aims to extend this chip design expertise to Apple's data center servers.

• The AI chips being developed are likely aimed at running AI models (inference) rather than training AI models, a market where Nvidia currently holds over 80% of shares.

• An Apple-designed server chip could be a suitable development as tech giants compete to integrate GenAI, like ChatGPT, into their products and services.

Why now?

• Investors have expressed impatience with Apple's perceived slow progress in AI, while competitors like Microsoft have benefited from increased stock valuations due to AI partnerships and announcements.

• Apple CEO Tim Cook has reassured investors that the company is heavily investing in AI and will showcase major AI product reveals at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June.

Overall: Apple's extensive history of custom silicon design could provide a key advantage over competitors in the AI era. While challenges such as developing a 5G modem persist, Apple's capability to closely integrate hardware, software, and services makes its AI chips a promising prospect for enhancing on-device and cloud AI capabilities.

Read more: WSJ

🧑‍🏫 How will AI impact education?

According to a new Canva survey, teachers struggling with burnout are increasingly turning to AI tools to ease their workload and address pain points. 

Here are some findings: 

• 35% of K-12 teachers in the U.S. experience burnout daily or most days, while 83% experience it at least sometimes.

• Burnout is taking a toll, with 57% of teachers considering quitting or switching schools and 64% considering leaving the profession entirely. It's also leading to absenteeism, reduced patience with students, and diminished instructional quality.

• 42% of teachers are already using AI in the classroom. Younger teachers are leading the adoption, with 49% of millennials and Gen Z educators using AI, compared to just 28% of teachers with over 20 years of experience.

• 92% of teachers using AI find it helpful in addressing pain points, with 60% saying it improves work efficiency and 58% reporting it alleviates burnout feelings. 

• Even among non-users, 56% believe AI could reduce burnout, especially among younger teachers (63%) and those with five or fewer years of experience (75%).

• Additionally, 68% of teachers not currently using AI said they're likely to try it for curriculum and planning, particularly kindergarten and elementary school teachers (72%). 

Overall: This is just the start for teachers using AI in the classroom. 

As Canva's Carly Daff notes, "We're seeing teachers leverage AI's enormous potential in the classroom to enhance content quality and reclaim time for creativity and student engagement."

Read more: Fox Business

🛠️ AI Tools to Check Out

• OpusClip: A generative AI video tool that repurposes long videos into shorts in one click. Powered by OpenAI. Check it out!

• Codiga: Customizable static code analysis that works in your IDE, CI/CD pipelines, and more. Check it out!

• Charisma.ai: Give your characters voices, emotions, memories, and goals, and bring them to life on the web, app, gaming, VR, and other interactive formats. Check it out!

🤑 AI Fundraising News

• Paxafe raises $9M in Series A funding to deliver autonomous AI-enabled decision support for quality, transportation, and logistics leaders, helping them extract value and resiliency from their existing visibility solutions.

• Numeric raises $10M in Seed funding to provide an AI accounting automation platform that helps companies perform technical accounting research, proactively flag data discrepancies, draft variance explanations, and automate recurring month-end close processes.

🐦 Tweet Post of the Day

💰️ $190k/mo for a ChatGPT wrapper??