Apple's AI features are all about accessibility

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Welcome back, Superhuman

Sometimes, less is more. Apple might not have shown off any groundbreaking new technologies at its Monday afternoon event. But playing to its strengths may be a better strategy than chasing the shiny new thing — and the iPhone maker appears to be playing the game on its own terms.

Today’s Insights

• Apple is playing to its strengths with AI

• Tutorial: How to reduce no-shows and increase call conversions with automations

• Decoding dog barks with AI

• 5 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• Everything else you should know today

• AI-Generated Images: DJ turn it up

NEXT IN AI

Apple is playing to its strengths with AI

Just hours after Apple’s blockbuster AI event Monday afternoon, Elon Musk was ready to weigh in. The xAI CEO said visitors at his offices will now be required to place their Apple devices inside electromagnetic-blocking Faraday cages before they’re allowed to enter.

The reason: Apple revealed it’s partnering with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its operating system, and Musk suggested he doesn’t trust either company to keep users’ data secure. Critics argue Musk’s just jealous, since he and OpenAI have a rocky history. Supporters, on the other hand, say Musk has every reason to be concerned.

What’s the fear? Apple showed off how its new AI features will be able to piece together information about your life, including who your family members are, how you organize your day, and where you tend to travel. Critics say that’s too much information for any company to have about you, putting users at risk of privacy breaches.

The response: Users on Musk's own platform fact-checked his posts, pointing out that the new features will have several layers of security, on both Apple devices and private servers. Apple enthusiasts say the iPhone maker is actually taking a more conservative approach compared with its rivals — and that’s something to celebrate.

Playing to their strengths: So what’s Apple’s strategy with AI? The Cupertino giant has one thing no one else has — hardware that’s used by over a billon people worldwide. As Ben Thompson from Stratechery noted, “Apple Intelligence will know more about you than any other AI, because your phone knows more about you than any other device…Apple Intelligence is by-and-large focused on specific use cases where that knowledge is useful.“

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AI AT WORK, PRESENTED BY CALENDLY

How to reduce no-shows and increase call conversions with automations

Getting ghosted on meetings or joining your own calls late? Send meeting reminders automatically with Calendly Workflows.

These automated emails and text messages help make sure everyone arrives at the meeting on time and prepared. Here's how to set them up:

1. Sign in to Calendly and go to the Workflows tab.

2. Start from a template or fully customize your reminder.

3. Set a time trigger, like an email 1 day prior and a text 30 minutes before.

4. Personalize the message with an agenda, pre-read, or other links.

5. Save! Sit back while Calendly helps you reduce no-shows.

Try Calendly and start turning your calls into closed deals today.

PROMPT OF THE DAY

Shopping made easy

Prompt: I want you to act as my personal shopper. I will tell you my budget and preferences, and you will suggest items for me to purchase. You should only reply with the items you recommend, and nothing else. Do not write explanations. My first request is "I have a budget of [enter amount here, for ex: $200] and I am looking for [enter item here, for ex: a dress] for [enter event here, for ex: a black-tie wedding]." 

You can adapt the prompt to your specific needs. For example, you can include more guardrails like your personal style, preferred colors, and even sizing options.

_{Source: @giorgiop on Github}

AI & PETS

Researchers are trying to decode dog barks with AI

How many times have you looked at a barking dog and thought, “What I would give to know what you’re saying.” Now, scientists at the University of Michigan are using AI to help solve that riddle. They collected barks, growls, and grunts from 74 dogs, then fed their samples into a platform that’s usually reserved for interpreting human speech.

To their surprise, it worked better than models designed from the ground up to analyze animal vocalizations — likely because there’s a much larger dataset to draw from when it comes to human voices. The AI was able to categorize a dog’s breed, sex, and context with 70% accuracy based on barks alone.

There’s growing interest in how AI can be used to help our pets outside of academia, too. For $800, you can buy an AI-powered robot called ORo that can feed, train, and play “virtual fetch” with your canine companion while you’re gone. Smart collars use machine learning to detect when a pet could be getting sick.

But veterinarians warn that pets need our attention and touch as much as we need theirs. In the future, pet owners will have to find a balance — using AI to help keep their companions happy and healthy, but making sure smart gadgets don't eventually replace them altogether.

As for decoding animal languages, the jury is still out on whether we can make Doctor Dolittle a reality, but scientists are giving it their best shot. A team of researchers from Tel Aviv University and other schools are offering a prize of up to $10 million to anyone who can successfully usher in “interspecies communication” with AI.

PRODUCTIVITY

5 AI Tools to Supercharge Your Productivity

✅ Mindmap Generator: Create, organize, and visualize your ideas effortlessly for your audience, students, or children.

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✅ Recall: Summarize any online content and save it to your knowledge base where it’s automatically organized with AI and interlinked for easy rediscovery.

✅ Looka AI: An AI-powered platform to design a logo for your brand that truly represents you.

✅ Podify: Use AI to analyze your LinkedIn posts, ensuring all content modifications and engagements reflect your unique voice.

PS: Want more? Check out our Top 100 AI Tools.

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AI & TECH NEWS

Everything else you need to know today

• Heading South: Argentina’s libertarian president is pitching the country as a safe haven for AI companies, especially as the European Union and other governments pass new laws to limit their power.

• Tangled Web: A years-long legal battle between Qualcomm and Arm could delay the rollout of new AI PCs, since both tech giants collaborate to build the chips that power them.

• TL;DR: Yahoo Mail is getting new LLM-powered features, including AI summaries and a “priority” tab that will surface your most important messages.

• Mistral’s Windfall: Paris-based foundational AI company Mistral has raised $640 million in a Series B funding round — putting the company’s value at $6 billion.

😄 One Fun Thing: Researchers at Stanford are working on AI-enhanced, VR glasses that look like ordinary eyeglasses but can immerse you in a 3-D world. They’re just in the testing phase for now, but the technology could eventually pave the way for new types of AR and VR headsets that are less bulky and intrusive.

AI-GENERATED IMAGES

Pick your DJ

Prompt: blacklight illustration, detailed, [enter character name here] DJ, turntables, headphones, neon and LED lighting

Niji 6, play with stylize and chaos.

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🧞 Your wish is my command 

Thanks for reading.

Until next time!

Zain & the Superhuman AI team

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