💭 Thoughts to text

🗞️ Your Weekly Round-Up

1️⃣ NYT sues OpenAI and Microsoft

The NYT is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, alleging that the companies used millions of the Times’ articles to train the language models behind ChatGPT and Copilot. 

Exhibits submitted in the lawsuit show that OpenAI and Microsoft's LLMs generate outputs that closely resemble and mimic Times' content, undermining its relationship with readers and depriving it of revenue. 

The complaint also suggests that the AI model threatens high-quality journalism by compromising the news outlets' ability to protect and monetize their content.

Read more: The Verge

2️⃣ AI Fridge

Don’t know what to make for dinner? Samsung might have a solution for you. 

Samsung recently announced plans for its newest AI-enabled fridge that goes beyond the basics, with an internal camera identifying food items and a Samsung Food app suggesting recipes based on your stock. 

The app also integrates with your Samsung Health profile, crafting recipes tailored to your dietary needs.

Read more: The Verge

3️⃣ Copilot app now available

Following in the footsteps of ChatGPT, Microsoft has launched its Copilot app exclusively for the Google Play store. 

What can you expect? 

• Chatbot capabilities (of course), 

• Image generation through DALL-E 3, 

• Ability to craft emails and other documents, and last but certainly not least,

• Free access to GPT-4 👀 (a paid feature on ChatGPT).

Brb, getting my hands on an Android phone ASAP…

Read more: The Verge

4️⃣ AI’s role in audio technology

AI's impact on the human experience spans video, text, and images. 

Yet, its impact on audio remains underrated. 

• Streaming giants like Spotify and Apple Music employ AI to craft personalized audio experiences, curating playlists based on user habits and contextual data.

• AI's role extends to audio restoration, enhancing degraded recordings, and elevating audio quality in film and television post-production.

As AI develops, new systems will be created that will redefine the future of music, entertainment, and communication.

Read more: Financial Express

5️⃣ Thoughts to text

Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney developed a technology called DeWave that converts silent thoughts into text using an EEG cap that records brain activity. 

Why is this important?

• This innovation dramatically enhances communication, especially for those unable to speak due to illness or injury.

• Beyond aiding individuals, DeWave also integrates with machines, potentially allowing users to control bionic arms or robots with just their thoughts.

The team is seeing early signs of success - in trials with 29 participants silently reading text passages, DeWave showcased impressive results, achieving a 40% translation accuracy.

Read more: Fox News

6️⃣ AI helps cut the carbon footprint of online shopping returns

“Return packages” from online shopping are an often overlooked source of waste and greenhouse gas emissions. 

• Returned items have an estimated retail value of nearly $1 trillion in the U.S. alone this year. 

• The costs and inefficiencies in "reverse logistics" resulted in a significant portion of returned products (~ 80%) ending up in landfills. 

To tackle this issue, retailers are: 

• Leveraging AI to process customer feedback on return reasons, offering insights that guide future customers while reducing the practice of "bracketing" shopping, where customers buy multiple items to test and return some. 

• Developing AI-driven software to help aggregate returns heading to the same warehouse, optimizing transportation space while identifying and sorting products, making it easier to resell.

Read more: Semafor

7️⃣ A whole new, more equitable world

In his 2024 predictions blog post, Bill Gates stated that AI could transform the world into a "more equitable place." 

Gates emphasizes that strategic investments in AI could potentially bridge the gap between innovation in affluent and developing regions. 

He also spoke about AI in healthcare and its ability to: 

• Help treat high-risk pregnancies, 

• Help people assess their risk for HIV, and

• Make medical information more accessible for every healthcare worker.

Read more: Gates Notes

8️⃣ How will AI disrupt VC?

In a recent All-In Podcast, Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya highlighted that AI's development could reshape the startup landscape, giving founders more power and ownership while being the ultimate disruptor for VCs themselves.

How? 

• AI empowers founders to retain larger stakes in their companies due to tools like GitHub Copilot streamlining coding tasks, allowing startups to achieve more with less funding.

• This shift means founders could own up to 80% of their companies, creating better opportunities for lucrative exits.

• Less ownership for VCs = smaller fund returns.

Read more: Fortune

9️⃣ Open source vs. proprietary software

This year, we saw an interesting tug-of-war between open-source and proprietary software: 

• Adobe's failed attempt to acquire Figma boosted open-source rival Penpot.

• Unity's controversial fee structure changed, causing developers to explore the open-source alternative, Godot.

• Even Google acknowledged the strength of open source in AI, expressing concerns about a lack of a competitive advantage. 

While users experienced the potential pitfalls of proprietary platforms, companies started to embrace open source without compromising their commercial interests, often resorting to licensing deals as a good concession. 

2024 might just be a defining year for the open-source vs closed-source debate.

Read more: TechCrunch

🔟 How should workers respond to AI fears?

AI has transformed the workplace, becoming an important part of daily routines since the launch of ChatGPT.

However:

• While many employees have embraced AI for streamlining administrative tasks and basic ideation, some employers have restricted its use due to concerns about misuse or data leaks. 

• Creative jobs are also facing threats from evolving AI. A Goldman Sachs report estimates that AI capable of content generation could replace a quarter of human jobs. 

Despite these concerns, jobs in strategy formulation or roles requiring sophisticated interpersonal relationships, like nurses and business consultants, are less vulnerable to AI replacement.

The best way forward? Experts suggest that, instead of fearing AI, individuals should view it as a tool and focus on adapting, learning, and leveraging the technology, encouraging an “embrace-and-educate” approach to AI integration in the workplace.

Read more: BBC

🤑 AI Fundraising News

• Agtonomy raises $22.5M in Series A funding to address labor shortages and climate change challenges and play a critical role in shaping the future of agriculture.

• Annea raises $2.9M in Seed funding to use their AI-powered software to create digital twins of wind turbine components, allowing for early detection of underperformance and failures and accurate production forecasting.

• Sehat Kahan raises $3M in Series A funding to offer telehealth services, connect patients with a network of 7,500 doctors within 60 seconds, and develop advanced features, such as predictive AI models and precision medicine tools, to enhance patient care.

• Hakbah raises $5.1M in Series A funding to increase financial inclusion in the Saudi region through its social savings platform, which digitizes traditional group savings and makes savings accessible to the underbanked population.

• Grass raises $3.5M in Seed funding to leverage the advantages of a decentralized model for web scraping and generate datasets that can be traced back to their origin, ensuring fair compensation for contributors.

• Skyline Robotics raises $9.8M in funding for their flagship innovation, Ozmo, the world's first robotic system designed for high-rise window cleaning.

• Myth AI raises $1.3M in Seed funding to reduce waste in the fashion industry by streamlining pattern-making processes for manufacturers and designers through its AI technology.

• Red Cell Partners raise a $91M fund to bring more AI to healthcare and defense.

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