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Welcome back, Superhuman
DeepMind’s AlphaFold changed the field of biology in 2020 by using AI to solve medical puzzles that had stumped biologists for decades. Now, AlphaFold3 is here to push scientific discovery into a whole new frontier.
Today’s Insights
DeepMind’s new AI-powered drug discovery platform
5 new AI tools to boost your productivity
Prompt: Game Night
Chart: How organizations have benefited from AI adoption
AI-Generated Images: A weekend in Copenhagen
AI & TECH NEWS
Everything you need to know today
Source: TikTok
Reality Check: TikTok announced it will start placing digital watermarks on AI-generated videos, becoming the first major social media platform to do so.
Analog Atrocity: Apple apologizes after facing intense backlash over a new commercial that shows a hydraulic press crushing a guitar, a film camera, and other items.
AiPhone: The iPhone maker will also reportedly power its new AI features via data centers equipped with its own in-house processors, while lighter AI features will be processed on-device.
Power Play: Chinese tech giant Alibaba is rolling out a new version of its LLM, which it says has already been used by 90,000 clients.
Budget-Friendly: AI startup Cohere says you can now fine-tune its Command R model to perform similarly to GPT-4 while costing up to 15 times less.
NEXT IN AI
DeepMind’s ‘revolutionary’ new AlphaFold3 can map the building blocks of life
Source: DeepMind
When you think of life’s biggest mysteries, you might imagine vast stretches of outer space or the dark abyss of the ocean. Researchers at DeepMind have been trying to solve a riddle that’s a little closer to home — but no less perplexing: How different molecules interact with each other to power our bodies. They just showed off a new AI platform that gets us one step closer to understanding.
First, here’s a quick biology brush-up: Proteins are really important because they help with all sorts of functions, from repairing damaged tissue to carrying oxygen in our blood. Scientists want to know the shape of different proteins so they can take advantage of their unique traits. Before, researchers had to test multiple shapes until they happened to land on the one that worked. The first version of AlphaFold, released in 2020, used AI to predict each of those structures, speeding up what was once a years-long process.
But proteins aren’t the only important molecules in the body: There’s also DNA and RNA. That’s where DeepMind’s latest release, AlphaFold3, comes in. The new AI-powered platform can predict how each of these building blocks interact with each other — like mastering a family tree with millions of overlapping relationships.
Scientists think this technological breakthrough could help us:
Treat Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other protein-folding disorders
Predict how drugs will interact with certain proteins, speeding up pharmaceutical discoveries
Develop new vaccines
Build stronger, lighter, and more durable materials
Who can use it? For now, it’s off-limits to for-profit companies, besides those that have exclusive partnerships with DeepMind’s sister company, Isomorphic Labs. Universities and non-profit organizations, meanwhile, will have full access to the platform — and can start using it to solve some of today’s biggest molecular mysteries.
PRODUCTIVITY
5 AI Tools to Supercharge Your Productivity
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✅ Retell AI: Build AI voice agents that interact like humans, follow instructions, and execute complex tasks.
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PROMPT OF THE DAY
Friday FunDay – Game Night
Prompt: I’m hosting a gaming night for my friends. Suggest [5 multiplayer games] suitable for a group setting, with brief [descriptions] and [required equipment or setups].
You can adapt the prompt to your needs. For example, you can specify which games you have available, which ones you’d rather not play, and which ones you can go out and buy.
Source: greataiprompts
CHART
How organizations have benefited from generative AI adoption
Source: Scale AI
More than six in 10 organizations who use AI say it’s improved efficiency, and 59% say it’s improved customer experience, according to a new report from Scale AI. In addition, nearly half of respondents say LLMs have helped them come up with ideas for new products or services — a testament to AI’s brainstorming capabilities.
Only around a third of companies say their profit and revenue have improved thanks to AI. That shows there’s still room for improvement when it comes to AI’s money-making potential. Still, just 8% of organizations said they haven’t seen any improvements across the board. Seven percent have yet to adopt AI in any capacity.
Source: Scale AI
Companies are starting to adopt different types of AI models as well. In 2023, only 37% of companies used commercial or closed-source AI platforms. But by 2024, that figure rose by nearly 50 points, with roughly 86% of companies relying at least in part on closed-source LLMs.
At the same time, open-source models have gotten more popular, too. Today, two-thirds of organizations use open platforms, compared with just 41% last year.
There might be opportunities for growth when it comes to AI platforms that have been built from the ground up to perform specific tasks. Around a quarter of organizations are training their own AI models, only a modest increase from 22% last year.
AI GENERATED IMAGES
A weekend in Copenhagen
Source: @77028438 on Midjourney
Prompt: One Danish artist known for his depictions of city life was Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916). While Hammershøi is perhaps best known for his interiors and landscapes, he also painted scenes of urban environments, particularly those in Copenhagen, Denmark. One of Hammershøi's paintings that touches on the theme of city life is "Amagertorv, Copenhagen" (1892). In this atmospheric painting, Hammershøi portrays a bustling square in the heart of Copenhagen, with figures going about their daily activities against a backdrop of historic buildings and cobblestone streets. The painting captures the energy and vibrancy of city life, while also conveying a sense of calm and tranquility. Another example is "Copenhagen Street Scene" (1902), which depicts a quiet street in Copenhagen lined with colorful buildings and leafy trees. The painting conveys the charm and character of the city's architecture, as well as the sense of intimacy and familiarity that comes with living in a close-knit urban community. Through his paintings, Hammershøi sought to capture the essence of city life in Copenhagen, with its unique blend of history, culture, and modernity. His works offer viewers a glimpse into the everyday rhythms of urban existence, inviting them to explore the beauty and complexity of the cityscape --ar 3:4
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