Meta Dominates This Week 📺 AI Powers Gene Editing 🧬 Adobe Goes All In 🤯
Your weekly AI wrap
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Adobe Firefly Image 3: Next-Gen AI Image Generation Debuts
Adobe's Firefly unveils its latest AI image generation model, Image 3, offering significant leaps in quality, detail, and control for creative professionals.
Now available in beta for Photoshop, the Firefly web app, and InDesign, this model delivers photorealistic results, advanced styling options, and greater accuracy in understanding complex prompts.
Why it matters:
Faster Ideation and Creation: Firefly Image 3 empowers users to realise their visions faster with higher-quality outputs while also simplifying the creative process.
Enhanced User Control: New features like Structure and Style Reference give users exceptional control over their image generation, while the Generative Expand feature extends image dimensions.
Try it free here (I'm genuinely impressed with the results)
AI as a New Digital Species – Opportunity and Responsibility
Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Google's DeepMind, argues for understanding AI as a new kind of digital species. This perspective highlights the transformative potential of AI while emphasising our responsibility to steer its development towards positive outcomes.
Why it matters:
AI's Rapid Evolution: Technological advancements, particularly in large language models, are transforming AI into sophisticated companions and partners.
AI = Humanity Reflected: AI is not a separate entity; it reflects our collective knowledge, values, and potential for good or ill.
Intentional Design is Key: We must actively shape AI's capabilities, avoiding features like self-replication that could lead to unintended consequences. The goal is to imbue AI with humanity's best qualities – empathy, kindness, and creativity.
Risks and Responsibilities: Suleyman cautions against pessimism aversion. While AI's impact has been largely positive so far, vigilance is vital. Areas like AI autonomy require careful ethical consideration.
Ray-Ban | Meta Smart Glasses Upgrade: New Styles, Video Calls, Enhanced AI
The Ray-Ban and Meta collaboration is arguably one of the most successful wearables, now Meta AI is baked into the device, enabling AI powered functionality.
Users can now make video calls on WhatsApp and Messenger, sharing their perspective hands-free. The glasses also feature enhanced AI capabilities for smarter assistance and real-time information.
Why it matters:
Hands-Free Communication: Video calling adds a new dimension of hands-free connectivity and real-world interaction through the glasses.
AI-Powered Assistance: Enhanced AI with Meta AI Vision makes the glasses even smarter, providing helpful information through visual recognition and real-time interactions.
🎥 RayBan smart glasses hype video
Meta AI: New Features and Global Expansion
Meta AI, Meta's AI assistant integrated into Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, is becoming more intelligent, faster, and globally accessible.
It aims to compete with popular AI assistants like ChatGPT, offering users help with everyday tasks like planning outings, searching for information, and enhancing creativity with image generation tools.
Meta has also released a dedicated website, meta.ai, for users to interact with the Meta AI chatbot.
Why it matters:
Seamless Integration: Meta AI offers convenient access to information and task completion without requiring users to leave the app they're currently using.
Enhanced User Experience: The upgraded Meta AI provides smarter recommendations, faster responses, and improved image generation capabilities.
Global Reach: Expanding access to Meta AI makes this AI assistant more widely available for users in various countries.
📰 See Meta's press release (examples)
Perplexity: AI Powered Search Engine Gets Unicorn Status
Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine startup, is raising a new funding round of at least $250 million at a valuation between $2.5 and $3 billion.
This follows multiple fundraises in recent months, including a $74 million round in January and a $63 million raise in March that valued the company at $1 billion.
Why it matters:
Explosive Growth: Perplexity's rapid growth and skyrocketing valuation highlight intense investor interest in AI and its potential to disrupt traditional search.
Competition Heats Up: The company is vying for dominance in the generative AI search market, facing competition from established tech giants like Google and Microsoft.
Enterprise Focus: Perplexity is launching a new "pro" product for enterprises, leveraging multiple language models to offer more accurate and customisable search results.
High-Profile Backers: The startup has attracted an impressive list of VC firms and prominent tech figures as investors, including IVP, NEA, Jeff Bezos, and Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun.
📰 TechCrunch: Perplexity's meteoric rise
Meta's Llama 3 Challenges Top AI Models, Outperforms in Benchmarks
Meta's release of Llama 3 adds another player to the field of large language models, pushing the boundaries of open-source AI development.
While competitors like OpenAI's GPT-4 remains close-sourced, Meta is making Llama 3 openly available, fostering collaboration and innovation in the AI community.
This open-source approach can potentially accelerate the commoditisation of AI, making these powerful tools more accessible and affordable for developers and businesses.
By contrast, closed-source models like GPT-4 may retain an edge in performance due to controlled training data and limited access, but this could come at the cost of slower innovation and a lack of transparency.
Why it matters:
Competitive Performance: Meta claims Llama 3 outperforms major AI models, underscoring the company's progress in the competitive language model arena. It notably avoids direct comparison with OpenAI's GPT-4.
Open-Source Push: Meta's commitment to open-source AI continues, offering access to developers for building innovative applications.
Future Potential: Meta promises larger Llama 3 models with multimodal capabilities in the works, potentially expanding the model's applications.
Generative AI in Biology: New Tools for Gene Editing
A startup called Profluent is using AI techniques similar to those behind ChatGPT to design new gene-editing mechanisms.
Based on Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR technology, these AI-generated editors could lead to more precise and powerful treatments for genetic diseases.
Profluent has open-sourced one of its AI-designed editors, called OpenCRISPR-1, for wider experimentation.
Why it matters:
AI-Powered Medicine: This development showcases the potential for AI to accelerate drug and treatment discovery, potentially revolutionising healthcare.
Faster, More Precise Treatments: AI-designed gene editors could lead to quicker development of highly tailored treatments for individual patients.
Open-Source Innovation: Profluent's decision to open-source OpenCRISPR-1 could foster collaboration and speed up research in this area.
📰 Excellent article by the NY Times
📝 Read the research paper here
Wendy’s: Fast Food Embraces AI
Wendy's partners with Google to debut 'Wendy's FreshAI', a new AI chatbot designed to take drive-thru orders.
The system uses advanced language models to understand complex menu items and customisations.
While Wendy's touts improvements in speed and accuracy, some experts remain skeptical about how the AI will handle real-world interactions with frustrated customers.
Why it matters:
Drive-Thru Innovation: Wendy's FreshAI represents a major step in automating the drive-thru experience, potentially leading to faster service and reduced errors.
The Human Factor: Wendy's emphasises that the AI is designed to assist, not replace, human workers. The question remains how customers and employees will adapt to the technology.
Potential for Expansion: Wendy's sees the potential to integrate this AI into other ordering channels like its app, kiosks, and smart devices.
🎥 Watch a drive thru interaction
Quick Bytes
TED x OpenAI’s SORA video: What TED will look like in 40 years (must watch)
Mark Zuckerburg talks about Llama 3 on the Dwarkesh Podcast and the Roberto Nickson show
A financial look at the generative AI market in 2024
TED talk: How AI Will Step Off the Screen and into the Real World
Drake releases track with AI generated Tupac and Snoop Dogg vocals, the track takes aim at Kendrick Lamar.
AI index: State of AI in 13 charts
Holy smokes what an amazing edition!!! Being a web developer and reading about these advancements is so interesting!! Keep it coming, I’m here for the long haul!!