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Welcome back, Superhuman
Americans have trouble agreeing on pretty much anything. But AI might be the rare topic that brings a majority of them together. And: Learn how to enhance videos with Krea AI.
Today’s Insights
The problem with ‘AI washing’
Tutorial: Using Krea AI to enhance videos
Everything else you should know today
How Americans feel about AI regulations
5 new AI tools to boost your productivity
AI-Generated Images: Glasshouses
NEXT IN AI
Why ‘AI washing’ could spell trouble for the tech industry
If you say you’re related to a well-known celebrity, but it turns out you’re only their seventh cousin…well, you aren’t exactly lying, but it’s fair to say you’re being more than a little misleading.
Now, regulators are accusing companies of trying something similar with AI: They say major tech firms and bootstrapped startups alike are playing the “AI card” for clout, even if their product contains only the tiniest bit of generative technology — or none at all. In other cases, firms might slap an already-existing AI tool onto their product just so they can use the AI label. These controversial practices are known as “AI washing.”
A murky label: Part of the problem is that no one can agree on a single definition for AI. Machines that use algorithms to pick up on statistical patterns have been around since at least the 1950s. Computer scientists might argue that those simple precursors are AI, technically. But they share little resemblance to models like OpenAI’s GPT that can perform open-ended tasks and generate new content from scratch.
What’s the harm? Companies might pay a premium for a tool they believe has state-of-the-art AI capabilities. If the product ends up under-delivering, clients can miss out on revenue — or worse, they can get inaccurate or incomplete data, leading to misinformed decisions down the line. Besides that, investors might lose trust in the AI industry, meaning that firms who do actually put AI to good use could miss out on support too.
How big is the problem? The European investment fund OpenOcean estimates that by the end of the year, a third of new startups will reference AI technology in their pitch decks. While most uses are legitimate, several high-profile cases show that AI washing is a growing problem. For instance, Amazon was accused earlier this year of hiring Indian workers to operate the “AI” cameras at its grocery stores.
What are we doing about it? For its part, the SEC is stepping up its enforcement action. It recently charged two investment advisers with exaggerating their usage of AI in marketing materials.
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AI AT WORK
How to enhance your videos using Krea AI
Go to Krea AI and log in to your account.
Go to the AI Video Enhancer option.
Upload your video and select the upscaling factor and frame rate from the list.
Once done, click the Enhance button and wait a few seconds until the video is enhanced.
Download your enhanced video and share it with your friends.
AI & TECH NEWS
Everything else you need to know today
Source: Etsy
Human Touch: Etsy will now require sellers to disclose which of their products are created with AI and which are human-designed. This comes after some shoppers had complained that the platform was filling up with “AI junk.”
Carbon Swap: In the largest deal of its kind, Microsoft has agreed to pay US petroleum company Occidental hundreds of millions of dollars for credits that will be used to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Rising Tide: Taiwan-based semiconductor manufacturer TSMC briefly hit a $1 trillion market cap this week, fueled by close partner Nvidia’s rapid growth.
Prompt Playground: Quora’s Poe platform, which integrates different chatbots under a single interface, will now let users write prompts to design apps, games, and data visualizations.
Joyride Jammer: Tesla will soon introduce a “Night Curfew” feature that notifies parents when their children drive after hours. They’ll also reportedly be able to set a maximum speed limit for their vehicle.
🍲 Food for Thought: The recipe app Pestle is introducing a new feature that lets users automatically convert food-related Instagram Reels into recipes, then save them to their personalized collections.
👀 Cautionary Tale: A digital security expert told Business Insider he’s concerned that new AI-powered vending machines that dispense ammunition could be hacked. The vending machines, which use facial recognition to check buyers’ identities, have so far been introduced in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas.
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GOVERNANCE & POLICY
How Americans feel about Big Tech’s push toward AGI
Source: SCMP
In a deeply divided era, there’s one thing that most Americans can agree on. Roughly 75% of voters from both major parties think the US should slow down its development of powerful AI systems, according to a newly-published study from the pro-regulation non-profit AI Policy Institute.
AI executives say they don’t have much of a choice but to push ahead. China and other competitors are making rapid progress, they argue, and if the US were to slow its development by even a few months, it could quickly fall behind.
They may be onto something: Last week’s World AI Conference in Shanghai offered a sneak peek into just how far Chinese AI companies have come. US sanctions haven’t stopped startups like SenseTime and iFlytek from building AI models that reportedly match or exceed GPT-4. Meanwhile, another recent study found that 83% of businesses in China have already started using generative AI, compared with just 70% in the UK and 65% in the US.
Still, most Americans aren’t convinced that sprinting full speed ahead is worth it. Only 23% say they want the US to land a decisive victory over China by achieving superintelligence as fast as possible. More than eight in 10, meanwhile, think the US should slow down its efforts in order to avoid a potentially catastrophic event.
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PROMPT OF THE DAY
Jobs-to-be-done
Prompt: Assume I'm a Product Manager for a [insert product here, ex: grocery delivery mobile app]. It will be serving the [insert region here, example: Toronto GTA region] only. I want to conduct some consumer research to figure out my consumer's jobs-to-be-done.
What personas should I target and then what questions should I be asking them to elicit their job-to-be-done. Take inspiration from the book "Mom Test".
You can adapt the prompt to your specific needs.
Source: Aatir Abdul Rauf / Substack
AI-GENERATED IMAGES
Which glass house are you staying in?
Source: Reddit user u/shaner4042 on Midjourney
Midjourney Prompt: phone photo from inside an all glass capsule [in location], that contains a luxury bed and wall mounted tv --v 6.0 --style raw
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