Your AI Coffee Break #3
A weekly roundup of AI news, updates, reviews and random facts brought to you by the founders of Contented AI, Hannah and Lucy.
Welcome to the third edition of the Contented AI newsletter. We know you've got a lot on, and with newsletters and a variety of spam flooding your inbox, it's tough to find the time to read the things you want to.
Our goal is to ensure you're always kept in the loop with the latest developments in AI, without feeling overwhelmed or left behind.
That's why we've crafted a snappy, action-packed weekly read that's perfect to enjoy with your favourite beverage—coffee, tea, juice, or even a freshly squeezed feijoa juice if you are lucky enough to grow them🧃
Sit back, relax, and let us do the AI heavy lifting for you.
This week we cover
🚀 Great week at Contented AI & creating personal AI tools
👯♀️ AI and the opportunities for women founders
📰 AI news roundup: Good, bad, and the wacky stories making headlines
🔍 An inside look at what the AI giants are up to this week
📗 Anne Boleyn- how would she have used AI to her advantage?
👥 Contented AI updates: Our recent adventures and collaborations
🛠️ Product of the week: Notion AI
💡 Prompt/tip of the week: Memos made easy
Update from Hannah 👋
We continue to be blown away by the feedback and the engagement from startups, small businesses, freelancers and professionals who are inviting us into their work lives so we can help transform their tasks and their mental load.
It sounds like one of those jokes. What do you get when a nurse, a teacher, a health tech company, an e-commerce manager, an HR consultancy director, a climate change economist and a learning and development manager all walk into a bar (or in this case the Contented AI office). Well the answer isn’t a joke - its a group of extremely happy, relieved and inspired people who now know how to implement AI workflows into their lives. Welcome to a week in the world of Contented AI.
🙌The biggest highlight for me was running a one hour session with an L&D professional in the UK who had reached out to me personally on Linked n. She was worried about becoming obsolete because she was Gen X and scared of new technology. She paid for a session herself even though she is employed by a large organisation. Here is her feedback afterwards:
This is what it is all about for us- bringing these tools into everyday peoples lives.
Being able to see the impact Contented AI is having on people is incredible. This is only the start.
Hannah- One half of Contented AI
Say hi on LinkedIn
Women founders and the opportunities with AI.
This week Hannah presented on a panel for Tech Week- the topic was Women Founders breaking into Health Tech. It focused on the challenges and opportunities for women and she was joined by Dr Dianne Jones from Myovolt and Niamh Buchanan from WellNow.
Women traditionally haven’t had the same career opportunities as men and this is more so for women who have children. So you can imagine why there are so few female founders in Aotearoa and around the world.
The overall average of female founders in an ecosystem (the total number of female founders divided by number of startup founders surveyed) is just 15%. It’s fair to say that the tech startup ecosystem is a long way from gender equality (Source Startup Genome Report Mar 23)
AI has the possibility to change the landscape for women which will hopefully pave the way for more women to go down the path of entrepreneurship. But how? Here are just a few way:
🪙Access to funding: AI has the potential to help address the gender bias often present in traditional funding processes. AI algorithms can assess business proposals and investment opportunities based on objective criteria, reducing human bias. Platforms that use AI for matchmaking between investors and entrepreneurs can help women founders connect with potential investors who may be more open to diverse funding opportunities.
🔥Reducing burnout: Traditional gender roles and societal expectations often place a heavier burden on women when it comes to caregiving and household responsibilities. Balancing this can lead to overwhelming stress and burnout. AI-powered technologies offer valuable solutions by automating routine tasks and streamlining time-consuming processes both at work and at home. AI can lighten the load and free up valuable time- which is crucial for success and positive mental health.
🚀Skill development and learning: AI-powered learning platforms are able to offer tailored educational resources and training programs specifically designed for women founders. These platforms can provide access to online courses, webinars, and networking opportunities, enabling women entrepreneurs to enhance their skills, knowledge, and professional networks in a easy to consume way.
News stories: Good, bad and the wacky 📰
👍 Good- Introducing TidyBot, Princeton University’s AI powered robot
Have you ever wished for a personal robot assistant that could tidy up your rooms exactly the way you like? One that knows whether you prefer your shirts in a drawer or displayed on a shelf? Well, that's precisely what a team at Princeton University is working on.
Their latest project, TidyBot, is all about personalised physical assistance. Their aim is to teach robots to understand and learn your unique preferences, which can then be applied to different scenarios.
This is a tricky task, given the enormous variety in personal tastes and cultural backgrounds. But by combining advanced language-based planning and perception with the latest large language model technology, their robots are learning these preferences from just a few examples.
👎 Bad- Voter influence at scale: AI's greatest threat
During OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s testification to the US Congress, Altman acknowledged that AI could “cause significant harm to the world.” “If this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong,” he said. One of the most immediate threats, he pointed out, is “the more general ability of these models to manipulate, to persuade, to provide sort of one-on-one interactive disinformation.” Voter disinformation and manipulation, personalised but done at scale, could pose a new threat to democratic governments and society in general.
🙃 Wacky- AI Goes Avian
Bird Buddy is turning heads and attracting feathers with its AI-infused bird-watching experience. Bird Buddy's smart bird feeder, along with its connected camera and mobile app, creates personalised bird-watching experiences. It identifies your feathery visitors and allows you to capture photos and videos
Not only that, their AI-powered mobile app can identify an impressive 452 bird species, thanks to its proprietary bird identification system. Now users can not only enjoy their feathered visitors but also learn about them!
What the AI giants are up to this week 🔍
🤖 Open AI
OpenAI has officially launched an iOS app for ChatGPT, marking a significant milestone for the beloved AI chatbot. Initially available only to US users, this app offers an ad-free, on-the-go AI experience that also includes voice input. OpenAI has promised to expand its reach to other countries in the coming weeks.
OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman testified before Congress, advocating for AI regulation, including the creation of a licensing agency for AI models. Lawmakers responded positively, showing concern about potential issues like:
Supercharging election misinformation.
Copyright and licensing disputes.
Job disruption/automation.
Regarding AI's use of artists' works, Altman agreed on the need for compensation but remained unclear on how it could be achieved. He also refrained from detailing the training of recent ChatGPT models and possible use of copyrighted content. This conversation highlights the growing urgency for AI regulation. Watch it here
💻 Meta
Google and OpenAI are increasingly restrictive on the research they share, but Meta is taking a different approach. Meta released ImageBind, an AI model capable of “learning” from six different modalities, including depth, thermal, and inertia.
This brings AI closer to learning like humans. ImageBind gives machines an understanding of an object’s sound, their 3D shape, how warm or cold they are, and how they move. Read more
🔍 Google
Google announced Bard’s new model PaLM 2, along with new features to export to Gmail and Docs. Read more
Google’s new language model PaLM 2 uses 5x more training data (3.6 trillion tokens) than PaLM 1 did - a leap forward that should enable a much broader and richer understanding of natural language. (However, OpenAI's GPT-4, despite being slightly smaller in data size, places an emphasis on the quality and diversity of data rather than sheer volume).
Google's Workspace products, including Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Sheets, now leverage the PaLM 2 model.
Google's health research teams have trained Med-PaLM 2 with medical knowledge, enabling it to answer queries and summarise insights from complex medical texts. This version of PaLM 2 has achieved remarkable results in medical competency, even performing at an "expert" level on US Medical Licensing Exam-style questions. Google plans to enhance its capabilities further, potentially integrating x-ray and mammogram analysis.
Google is also working on a number of AI projects to support advertisers and YouTube creators with content generation:
Ads: Google intends to leverage AI to make advertisements more targeted and appealing to users. Their goal is to align ad content more closely with user interests, promising a more personalised experience rather than a barrage of indiscriminate advertisements.
YouTube Creators: Google also extends its AI tools to YouTube creators, providing them with valuable insights to better understand their audience's preferences. This application of AI will aid creators in identifying what resonates most with their viewers, assisting them in crafting more engaging content.
In short, Google's new AI models are all set to change how we see ads and how YouTube creators make and improve their content. Read more
🌐 Others
New VC firm called Vela Partners, which uses AI and predictive algorithms to identify investments, raised a $25 million fund. Read more
Zoom plans to incorporate Anthropic's AI chatbot, Claude, into its Contact Center product for enhanced customer support services. Although plans for integrating Claude into other areas of the Zoom app are still unclear, Zoom aims to compete with AI-powered apps like Slack. Read more
The European Parliament has approved several amendments to its draft Artificial Intelligence (AI) legislation, which will affect AI technologies like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Providers of these foundational models will need to conduct safety checks, data governance measures, and risk mitigations before launching their models. They will also be required to consider potential risks to health, safety, fundamental rights, the environment, and democracy. Read more
IBM has unveiled Watsonx, an artificial intelligence (AI) platform providing tools to create AI models and access to pre-trained models. Watsonx is intended to overcome obstacles like privacy concerns and transparency issues hindering AI adoption in the business sector. Despite similar offerings from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, IBM asserts that Watsonx is unique due to its range of pre-trained, enterprise-focused models and cost-effective infrastructure. Read more
This Week’s Expert Insight 🎓
This week we had the fortune of talking to Dr Stella Collins, the Chief Learning Officer and co-founder of Stellar Labs, about their learning platform that uses AI to guide people's learning based on neuroscience.
Stella hopes that the impact of AI in the learning industry will shift from focusing solely on content-heavy lessons to helping people apply what they learn in their workplace more effectively.
Interview coming soon
"I think AI is really going to help us to be more productive and to learn in a way that is much more effective for us as individuals, and I think that's really exciting." - Dr Stella Collins
This Week’s AI-ified Character
📕Anne Boleyn AI twist: A fun take on the hard done by second wife of King Henry the 8th
ChatGPT how would Anne Boleyn have used AI if it were available?
In an imagined scenario where Anne Boleyn had access to ChatGPT, she could have leveraged it to manage her public image, draft speeches and diplomatic letters, and highlight her contributions as queen and wife of King Henry 8th. She could use it to expand her knowledge on crucial topics of her time such as religion and politics, and most importantly to understand legal proceedings to craft her defence during her trial. The AI could also serve as a digital confidante, providing emotional support in her isolating role. Finally, she could use it to analyse historical situations similar to hers to strategise accordingly.
Contented updates 👥
Our recent adventures and collaborations
We have been meeting and working with clients across many industries including Health Tech, Learning and Development, HR, E-Commerce and Teaching.
We are now offering Foundation Sessions (1:1 for an hour) for people who want to get started, get set up on key AI tools like ChatGPT and to talk about how these tools can impact their business and their lives. Great for the unsure or the wary!
Lucy caught up with Brittany Bastings from ListAssist while in Auckland. They’re building an AI tool that’s revolutionising real estate industry. They’re gaining a lot of attention in the US 🎉
Upcoming webinars
You may already be familiar with Zapier as one of our favourite AI plug-ins, known as a pioneer in no-code automation. Excitingly, they're soon sharing their AI insights in an upcoming webinar.
The best part? They’re sharing everything they’ve learned in an upcoming webinar.
Next Wednesday, May 24 (at 5 am), join a panel of go-to-market leaders from Zapier to learn how they leverage the powerful pairing of AI and Zapier across departments, including marketing, sales, customer success, support, and revenue operations.
Product of the week 🛠️
Notion’s Smart AI
What can it do?
Since the introduction of Notion AI, we've been continually impressed with its extensive capabilities, far surpassing our initial expectations. It can draft blog posts, emails, or tweets, and much more. It has become an invaluable tool in overcoming writer's block and refining our writing to a high standard.
Why do we love it?
What sets Notion AI apart, and what has truly transformed our workflow, are the integrated Smart AI blocks within our templates. Each of our meetings uses a Notion template. We simply incorporate our meeting transcript, and Notion’s intelligent AI blocks work their magic - distilling transcripts into succinct summaries and actionable items. We highly recommend exploring Notion AI's potential in revolutionising your own productivity and creativity.
Prompt/tip of the week 💡
Are you looking for ways to get your ideas or strategies noticed at work? Look no further than the humble memo.
Memos a clear and concise way to share your thoughts, and a great tool for gathering feedback and support. Plus, they're quickly shareable, making it easy to get useful feedback and turn colleagues into champions of your ideas.
Write a concise memo to [specific department, team, or client] regarding [topic].
In the memo, explain [key details] and the desired outcome. Provide an action plan with clear steps and timeline.Thanks for reading
If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to us at hello@contentedai.com, or hit subscribe below if you’d like this newsletter weekly.