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| Welcome to Inside AI! Here are today's top stories: - Likewise's AI chatbot can recommend movies, TV shows, and podcasts.
- Walmart is launching an AI-powered shopping assistant.
- Two Congress members warn tech CEOs about AI-generated political ads.
If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you! Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Bill Gates-backed startup Likewise is launching an OpenAI-powered chatbot for entertainment recommendations. The free Pix chatbot suggests content for books, movies, TV shows, and podcasts. More: - Pix offers entertainment suggestions and responds to inquiries via text, email, Pix's mobile app, website, or voice commands through Pix's TV app.
- To create the bot, Likewise tapped approximately 600 million consumer data points, coupled with machine learning algorithms and OpenAI's GPT 3.5 and 4 AI models.
- The AI chatbot learns user preferences over time and proactively notifies them about new content matches.
- Likewise is an early-stage startup founded in 2017 by ex-Microsoft communications chief Larry Cohen, with financial support from Gates' private office.
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| 2 | Walmart is set to introduce three AI-powered features: a shopping assistant, a generative AI-powered search bar, and an interior design tool. While Walmart didn't specify which AI models power the features, the company confirmed that it relied on different external models for development. More: - Walmart's new shopping assistant, set to undergo testing soon, helps customers with tasks like event planning and product selection.
- The company will also launch an online generative AI search tool for customers to ask questions in a search bar. The tool, designed to understand context, can also create lists of items.
- Finally, the interior design assistant combines generative AI and augmented reality (AR).
- Customers upload room photos, and the AI will analyze and send personalized redecorating suggestions, including proposals for items in the room.
Zoom out: - In August, Walmart began rolling out a generative AI workplace tool to 50,000 non-store employees.
- The company has added AI technology to other shopping features, including a "Voice Order" service and an "Ask Sam" voice assistant to help in-store employees find items.
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| 3 | | U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to the CEOs of Meta and X, formerly Twitter, raising "serious concerns" about the growing number of AI-generated political ads on their platforms. The letter warns that a lack of transparency of content in the political ads could fuel election-related misinformation ahead of the 2024 elections. According to an Axios-Morning Consult poll, just over half of Americans, or 53%, think AI-spread misinformation will impact who wins the 2024 presidential election. 
Details: The letter was sent to Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and X CEO Linda Yaccarino. Klobuchar told the Associated Press that voters have a right "to know what guardrails are being put in place." Along with Clarke, she has requested a response from the executives by Oct. 27. Zoom out: Earlier this year, Clarke proposed a bill that would require political campaigns and groups to reveal their use of AI-generated imagery in political ads. Clarke said her bill is a direct response to the Republican National Committee's AI-produced ad depicting dystopian images and scenarios that it suggests could happen if President Biden were re-elected. A pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC also released a TV ad attacking former President Trump, using an AI-generated version of Trump's voice. Meanwhile, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has moved closer to potentially regulating AI content in political ads. Q: Do you think political campaigns and groups should be required to reveal their use of AI-generated imagery in political ads? Join the conversation here. | | | |
| 4 | | Chipotle is testing a robot, created with startup Hyphen, to prepare burrito bowls and salads for digital orders. The "cobot" technology, short for "cooperative robotics," automatically dispenses ingredients for the bowls on the bottom makeline. Meanwhile, employees can use top makeline to create burritos, tacos, and quesadillas for the same order. More: - Chipotle believes the system could handle approximately 65% of its digital orders.
- It could help each restaurant process and assemble more than 350 digital order meals per hour.
- Hyphen's automated makeline is now undergoing testing at the Chipotle Cultivate Center in Irvine, California.
- According to Curt Garner, Chipotle's chief customer and technology officer, it will be "months away" before the system is trialed in a restaurant.
Zoom out: - Chippy, a robot that creates tortilla chips, was previously used by Chipotle as an automation test subject.
- Chipotle has also experimented with Autocado, a robot designed to help make guacamole, and is considering testing dishwashing robots in the near future.
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| 5 | | Adobe is expected to launch an AI-powered photo editor, Project Stardust, that automatically identifies objects in photos, making it easy to move, delete, or modify them. Project Stardust allows users to pick out objects with a click rather than having to outline them precisely. More: - Adobe is expected to unveil the photo editing tool at next week's Adobe Max event.
- According to a promo video, the "object-aware editing engine" automatically identifies objects in photos for easier manipulation.
- In a demo, the software was able to identify a suitcase in a photo and allow the user to move or delete it and its shadow while keeping the background the same.
- Additionally, typing the phrase "yellow flowers" in a text prompt let the user add a bouquet from various options.
- Project Stardust also includes a tool similar to Photoshop's "Contextual Task Bar" that anticipates the next steps in the image design process and suggests quick edits.
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| 6 | | NICE, a software company, announced its $350M acquisition of AI-driven outreach provider LiveVox. NICE said the deal will help it add AI capabilities to its product line for managing companies' service systems. More: - NICE Systems offers contact center software, AI, digital, and workforce engagement solutions.
- Under the merger agreement, LiveVox stockholders will receive $3.74 in cash per each LiveVox common stock share at the transaction's closure.
- NICE CEO Barak Eilam said, "Today, we are taking another major step in making smart conversational AI a reality."
- The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2024.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - LiquidPiston's engines are up to 10x smaller and 30% more fuel efficient. Invest as they disrupt the $400B combustion engine market.*
- Observe, a startup offering observability tools for machine-generated data, secured $50M in convertible debt to help grow its sales and R&D teams.
- EqualAI, a non-profit focused on minimizing AI harm, has shared effective techniques harnessed by members of its AI governance program, including PepsiCo, Salesforce, Verizon, and AWS executives.
- Fiverr's latest Business Trends Index shows a 10,490% surge in global AI content editing searches in the past six months, along with a 7,345% increase in prompt engineering inquiries and a 3,746% rise in AI video-related queries.
- These are the 5 core strategies for cloud innovation that showcase how digital native businesses are harnessing cloud innovations. Read now.*
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is an editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters, with a career spanning journalism since 2007. She has written for publications including The Arizona Republic and USA Today and authored a book on the solar industry in 2016. Reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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