The chatbots are taking over šŸ’¬

PLUS: Microsoft's metaverse vision for enterprises

Good morning. Hereā€™s whatā€™s leading each section today āœØ

  • Headlines: Microsoft is set to launch its public preview of Mesh this October, a metaverse for enterprises

  • Spotlight: Hollywood writersā€™ strike ends with first-ever protections against AI

  • Startups & Fund Raising: Former Tinder CEOā€™s chatbot startup raises $3.9 million

  • Research: Generating Visual Scenes from Touch

  • Quick Bytes: Unlocking Freedom from Anxiety and Trauma through Virtual Reality Therapy

Quote of the Day šŸ”Š

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ā€¦consultants using AI were significantly more productive (they completed 12.2% more tasks on average, and completed task 25.1% more quickly), and produced significantly higher quality results (more than 40% higher quality compared to a control group)

Source: Harvard Business School Technology & Operations Mgt. Unit Working Paper No. 24-013

Must-reads šŸ“°

  1. Microsoft is set to launch its public preview of Mesh this October, a metaverse for enterprises: Microsoft Mesh is set to launch its public preview this October, bringing innovative three-dimensional immersive experiences to redefine how employees connect. Emphasizing human connection and adaptability, Microsoft aims to facilitate meaningful relationships and optimized performance within diverse working environments. (Microsoft) 10-minute read

  2. Metaā€™s AI chatbot plan includes a ā€˜sassy robotā€™ for younger users: The new feature, dubbed "Gen AI Personas," is scheduled for the upcoming Meta Connect event and features diverse "personas" designed to captivate young users with vibrant interactions, building on the rapid success of ChatGPT. (The Verge) 3-minute read

  3. Googleā€™s announces its Immersive Geospatial Challenge inviting developers to either use Geospatial Creator to build an augmented reality experience in Adobe Aero or Unity, or use Photorealistic 3D Tiles to create a 3D virtual, immersive experience. Developers will have a chance to win one of 15 available prizes, ranging from $1,000 USD to $6,500 USD, an opportunity to meet with a Google employee, and an opportunity to see your work featured on a Google-owned website. (Google) 5-minute read

  4. Mastercard and Mercedes-Benz let you pay at the gas pump via fingerprint: The companies are bringing embedded in-car payments to the point of sale, allowing customers to make convenient and secure digital payments directly from their Mercedes-Benz vehicles using a fingerprint sensor. The service will initially be available at over 3,600 service stations in Germany. (Venture Beat) 8-minute read

  5. Walmart's New Virtual Experience, Walmart Discovered, Is Inspired by the Community: The retailerā€™s new experience on Roblox allows users not only to participate in the community, but shape it ā€“ voting for their favorite games, virtual items and experiences. (Walmart) 5-minute read

  6. Three ways our AI is powering awe-inspiring XR experiences: Qualcommā€™s AI technology is revolutionizing Snapdragon XR platform, to enable the next generation of immersive experiences. (qualcomm) 3-minute read

Spotlight šŸ’”

Summary: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) concludes its strike, establishing pioneering AI safeguards. The deal reached with studios ensures AI cannot create or alter literary material, protecting writers' credits and rights.

Why it Matters: This is a landmark resolution, balancing AI integration with creative integrity in the entertainment industry, and could model how other sectors navigate AIā€™s role in creative processes, securing human creativity and intellectual rights.

Details: The accord allows AI utilization in writing only with company consent and full disclosure of AI involvement to the writers, maintaining strict human control and supervision, and preserving writers' rights against AI exploitation.

The Big Picture: This agreement signifies a crucial balance between technology and creativity, impacting discourse surrounding AI in creative domains and potentially influencing guidelines in other creative industries regarding AI integration.

The Bottom Line: This resolution is a pivotal precedent, ensuring creative control and intellectual rights are upheld in the era of AI, offering a blueprint for harmonious AI integration across various industries.

Startups & Fund Raises šŸ¦„ 

  1. Former Tinder CEO Renate Nyborgā€™s startup Meeno, which aims to fight loneliness through an AI-powered chatbot, announced that it has raised a $3.9 million seed round led by Sequoia (TechCrunch) 5-minute read

  2. Copenhagen startup called Corti has raised $60 million to expand its contribution to the field: an AI assistant designed to support healthcare clinicians with patient assessments in real time. Prosus Ventures and Atomico are leading the Series B investment, with previous backers Eurazeo, EIFO and Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker.

  3. Vectara introduces groundbreaking Boomerang technology, a neural information retrieval model designed to tackle AI hallucination by enhancing the accuracy of vector embeddings crucial for large language models (LLMs). This innovation stands as a significant stride in minimizing risks and elevating the reliability of AI-generated information. (VentureBeat) 10-minute read

Research šŸ”¬

Overview: A groundbreaking new paper has pushed the boundaries of visuo-tactile synthesis, achieving the synthesis of visual images purely from tactile signals, utilizing the advances in latent diffusion models. This research stands out as it successfully generates more plausible imagery from touch than previous attempts, and it addresses new synthesis problems, creating images without the need for additional scene information, and producing images that do not include the touch sensor or the hand holding it.

How it works: By employing advanced latent diffusion models, this approach synthesizes images from tactile signals and vice versa. It significantly surpasses previous methods in the tactile-driven stylization problem, where the goal is to manipulate an image to align with a touch signal. The model has proven effective in generating images solely from touch without relying on extra information about the scene, creating images without displaying the touch sensor or the hand, and predicting an imageā€™s shading based on its reflectance and touch.

Between the lines: The existing methodologies before this had limitations in quality and capability and only addressed narrow aspects of the visuo-tactile synthesis problem. This study not only overcomes the quality barrier but also pioneers in solving novel synthesis issues, like omitting the touch sensor or hand in the synthesized images, and determining an image's shading from its reflectance and touch, marking a notable progression in the field of cross-modal synthesis.

Why it matters: This research is pivotal as it opens up new possibilities in the field of visuo-tactile synthesis, presenting potential advancements in areas such as virtual reality, prosthetics, and human-computer interaction. The ability to generate accurate and detailed images from touch alone could revolutionize interfaces and experiences, allowing for more immersive and intuitive interactions, especially in applications where visual information is limited or not available.

Quick Bytes āš”ļø

Source: CNA

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