A mobile device without apps

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Welcome back, Superhuman

CES is in full bloom. Companies are falling over each other to show off their new AI-powered products at one of the biggest events in tech. But a nifty new device called the Rabbit r1 is hopping over the competition to steal the spotlight.

TODAY’S MENU

• Rabbit shows off new AI mobile device that works without apps

• How to upscale or enhance images with AI

• AI is reshaping the retail industry

• Chart: Execs can’t shut up about AI

• 5 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• AI Generated Images: Song lyrics as images

NEWS

Today in AI & Tech

• Flying Car: Helix begins US sales of its lightweight electric personal aircraft that doesn’t require a pilot’s license to fly.

• Bad Look: SEC Twitter account gets hacked and falsely posts agency approved Bitcoin ETFs.

• Close Eye: Media giant Fox Corp launches a new blockchain platform to help media companies track how their content is being used online.

• Straight As: University experiments with enrolling AI-powered students that will participate in classes.

• Burned: AI-generated ads use Taylor Swift's likeness to trick fans with fake Le Creuset cookware giveaway.

NEXT IN AI

Rabbit unveils R1, an AI-powered mobile device that operates without apps

Bye bye apps, hello AI-powered devices. That’s the big idea being pushed by a new generation of AI-powered hardware companies that want to bypass apps and give users a more intuitive and conversational experience. After the announcement of Humane’s Ai Pin late last year, Rabbit is the latest hardware company to turn heads after unveiling its new r1 device.

In a detailed product launch video, Rabbit’s CEO Jesse Lyu kicks things off by telling us that the r1 is a standalone mobile device that runs on a “Large Action Model” powered by AI. R1 comes with a touch screen, a push-to-talk button, an analog scroll wheel, microphones, speakers, and a rotating camera. It also comes packed with Bluetooth, Wifi and a sim card slot.

Lyu goes on to show us how the device works. First, he pushes the button to ask the device questions about philosophy, stock prices and movies. The device responds with voice, along with text and images on the screen.

The device also integrates with apps like Spotify and Uber, which in turn lets you instruct the device to do things like play a song or order a cab. The device is also shown to accomplish tasks that would otherwise require multiple apps, like planning and booking a trip.

The camera on the r1 is computer vision enabled (fancy word for AI), which lets you do things like generate a recipe based on what it sees in your fridge. It can also do things like edit documents when you point the device’s camera at your laptop.

Perhaps most fascinatingly, Rabbit is working on “teach rabbit“ a functionality that will let users train the device to do tasks on their behalf. The video shows Lyu teaching the device how to generate images in Midjourney, a popular AI image generation app.

The r1 is priced at $199 and requires no subscription. The device is available for preorder on Rabbit’s website.

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AI AT WORK

How to upscale and enhance images with AI

Got a blurry old family photo that you want to enhance? Or maybe you’ve got a tiny pixelated image you’d like to upscale for work? Here’s how to do it in just a few clicks:

• Go to Krea AI and log in with your Gmail account.

• Click on the Upscale and Enhance option.

• Upload any image that you want to upscale or enhance from the menu on the left of your screen.

• After uploading the image, set the AI Strength and Upscaling Factor parameters and click on the Enhance button.

In our tests, we found that Krea works best when given slightly blurred images like old family photos. For pictures that were extremely blurry, the results were somewhat mixed.

CHART

Execs can’t stop talking about AI

The number of companies that have mentioned AI on earnings calls has rocketed since the launch of ChatGPT. The number of times AI has been mentioned on earnings calls has also seen a similar rise.

THE RETAIL INDUSTRY

AI is redefining the retail industry, as retailers bet big on new use cases

98% of retailers plan to invest in AI over the next 18 months. The statistic comes from a new survey conducted by Nvidia, which looks at how the retail industry is adopting generative AI to enable new use cases.

According to Nvidia’s research, AI is having a positive impact on both revenue and operating costs. Key AI use cases outlined in the report include store analytics, personalized recommendations, and loss prevention.

What began as retailers adopting off-the-shelf models like GPT-4 last year is now transitioning to a growing realization within the industry that the path forward is to develop custom AI models trained on top of foundational models with a company’s own data.

Custom models unlock several use cases for retailers, such as creating on-brand copy, generating images and videos for advertising campaigns, producing content like SEO-optimized blogs at scale, enhanced product recommendations and more.

Retail giants like Walmart and Amazon are betting big on generative AI. Walmart is working on a new feature that aims to automatically order the right stuff at the right time for shoppers. Amazon recently shared that it’s working on a new AI feature that assists shoppers in finding clothes that fit. Both companies are also developing devices that automatically detect what shoppers have in their cart when exiting a store, making it easier and faster to pay for items.

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AI GENERATED IMAGES

Song lyrics as images

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Until next time!

Zain

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