OpenAI fixes its lens on webcams 📹

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Welcome back, Superhuman

News broke as we were finishing up this newsletter that Sam Altman and the team at OpenAI are posting pictures of… strawberries. The pictures seem to be alluding the codenamed “Project Strawberry,” which many think is GPT-5 or Q* — OpenAI’s next big AI breakthrough. There are no other details as of yet but we’ll be keeping you updated as more details emerge.

Today’s Insights

• Why OpenAI is backing a webcam maker

• Tutorial: How to transform images with Krea AI

• Using AI to predict the weather

• Everything else you should know today

• 5 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• AI-Generated Images: Pink Panther

NEXT IN AI

OpenAI’s unlikely investment in webcam startup Opal

Of all the startups OpenAI could invest in, one that builds high-end webcams for YouTube creators wasn’t on our Bingo card. The Information reported that OpenAI just led a $60M funding round for Opal, a SF-based company that designs “DSLR quality” webcams and accompanying software. 

What’s the connection? A source said OpenAI will lend its GPT model to future Opal hardware. At this point, we don’t know if that means a webcam outfitted with special AI capabilities, a completely different type of AI device, or both. 

Digging deeper, the investment isn’t all that surprising: Sure, OpenAI has focused almost exclusively on the software side of the industry — building state-of-the-art LLMs, then using them to power ChatGPT. But CEO Sam Altman has also hinted at bigger ambitions. For one, he’s an investor in Humane, the creator of one of the first AI wearables. He’s also gathering $1B for a proposed AI gadget built by former Apple designers. 

AI-first devices have gotten off to a rocky start — partly because no one can justify replacing their phones just yet. In fact, more people returned Humane’s $700 pin than purchased it between May and August. 

• But already-existing pieces of hardware — the gadgets we use every day anyway — might turn out to be a better fit for LLMs

• Alphabet’s injecting its smart home devices — including a thermostat, camera, and speaker — with new AI capabilities

• OpenAI is allegedly in the early stages of creating its own AI-capable Smart Home suite, too

And don’t forget: In June, we learned that OpenAI had signed a major deal with Apple, ensuring ChatGPT will be more easily accessible to many of the world’s estimated 1.5 billion iPhone owners — and cementing OpenAI’s investment in the devices that can operate its models.

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THE AI ACADEMY

How to transform image scenes using Krea AI

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

• Click on Enhance at the top and upload your reference image.

• Click on Scene transfer in the left tab and Activate it.

• Upload the reference image in the Scene Image section or Explain the image scene in the Scene Prompt box and click on Enhance.

• Wait a few seconds, and it will seamlessly change the scene of the picture you have uploaded.

• Download it and share it with your friends.

For the example, I have used the following prompt:

“bike on the road, rainy cloudy sky, and skyscrapers in the background”

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AI & THE WEATHER

New AI models are predicting the weather with greater accuracy

Accurate weather forecasts are more important than ever this year, as hurricanes like Beryl — the earliest-forming Category 5 storm in modern history — slam the Caribbean, and the world reacts to the hottest days on record.

But traditional forecasting models take a long time to generate results, and their predictions aren’t always accurate. For instance, as the New York Times points out, most models thought Beryl was headed toward Mexico. Instead, it pummeled Texas, claiming dozens of lives. 

One of the few models that got it right: An AI system created by DeepMind called GraphCast. It combines decades of weather data with an advanced neural network. And it can predict a storm’s path in a matter of minutes, instead of hours.

That’s not even DeepMind’s only AI-powered weather model: Another called NeuralGCM combines traditional methods with AI to predict longer-term weather patterns. For example, it can use ocean surface temperatures to estimate what the earth’s climate might look like decades down the line. 

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AI & TECH NEWS

Everything else you need to know today

• AI Curator: Amazon Music will soon use AI to recommend top podcasts. Meanwhile, the Amazon-owned audiobook platform Audible is experimenting with an AI-powered search tool.

• TL;DR: Reddit is taking cues from Google and Perplexity and adding AI summaries to the top of its search results.

• Modern Warfare: Peter Thiel’s Palantir just shipped off its first TITAN prototype — an AI-powered truck that can capture data from both land and space — to a military base in Washington state.

• Book Smart: South Korea is rolling out AI-powered textbooks that will allegedly be able to analyze students’ reading abilities and adjust their content accordingly.

🧠 Brain Food: Since LLMs generate answers based on the accumulation of data they’ve taken in, they’re not always the greatest at coming up with brand-new ideas. But researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver are working on a model that’s optimized to think as creatively as possible. The computer scientists trained their LLM to always recognize and pick the most “interesting” and unique answer when presented with different options, which helps it come up with more unconventional ideas.

PRODUCTIVITY

5 AI Tools to Supercharge Your Productivity

✅ Quickchat AI: Build and customize your own AI assistant to automate customer support, sales, and more.

✅ Fanfuel: An AI copilot that can handle scripts, thumbnails, and analytics for your YouTube videos.

✅ Upmetrics: An AI-powered business planning software that combines actionable planning, real-time forecasting, and insightful reporting.

✅ Flowith: Use an intuitive AI canvas and smart framework to boost your productivity and help you stay in the flow.

✅ Nuelink: Organize, automate, analyze, and manage your social media with an AI-powered scheduling platform.

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

^{* indicates a promoted tool, if any}

PROMPT OF THE DAY

Make the most of LinkedIn

Prompt: Pretend you are an expert sales coach and you work for [insert company here] that focuses on [insert mission and client-base]. Devise a plan to leverage LinkedIn Sales Navigator's "Lead Recommendations" feature to discover potential leads who share similar characteristics with our existing customers. Explain how this feature can help us expand our prospect list.

You can adapt the prompt to your specific needs.

_{Source: @Scaz.Ltd}

AI-GENERATED IMAGES

Pink Panther

Midjourney Prompt: a black panther staring at you from far away, pink sky, lush pink trees, yellow grass patch, asain style, David Hockney, Ascii art, gongbi, traditional chinese painting style, neon colors.
--ar 2:3 --v 6

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🧞Your wish is my command

Thanks for reading.

Until next time!

Zain & the Superhuman AI team

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