Your AI Coffee Break #8
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 eighth edition of the Contented AI newsletter- as always our goal is for you to be 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 coke no sugar (a guilty pleasure in the Contented AI Office)
Sit back, relax, and let us do the AI heavy lifting for you.
This week we cover
💭 Reflections on AI's potential for good and the challenges it poses.
🎨 Exciting upgrades from top AI art generators.
🗓️ 'MidJourney for Beginners' Webinar happening on July 10th.
📰 The latest scoop in AI news - the good, the bad, and the downright wacky.
🛠️ Catch up on what we've been up to - from empowering mortgage brokers with AI to creating funky 70's-inspired visuals for a startup.
🎀 How Barbie might use AI if she could.
🧭 Discover our Product of the Week, Scribe - a tool that turns processes into easy-to-follow guides.
Update from Lucy 👋
Back in 2018, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, shared a powerful statement: "AI is here to help us be our best, and stop us being our worst."
I couldn’t agree more. Every time a new technology rolls onto the scene, there's this collective gasp. We wonder, "Is this going to be the one that tips the scales?" But then, what happens? More often than not, these technologies unfold into incredible game-changers.
Think about the early days of the Internet. There were valid concerns about privacy, security, and expanding the digital divide. But fast forward to today, and we can't imagine life without it. The Internet has brought education to even the remotest corners of the world, generated countless job opportunities, and right now, it's allowing me to send this newsletter straight to your inbox.
AI follows a similar trajectory. It has the power to uncover hidden patterns, provide answers to previously unsolvable questions, and offer solutions to longstanding problems that have left us scratching our heads.
However, it's crucial to consider the ethical implications, potential biases, and misuse of AI. The concern about bias is significant, and if you asked me a couple of weeks ago, I would have expressed my worries.
A recent technical report on the latest ChatGPT model, GPT4 has unearthed some promising results (the AI world moves fast). The AI exhibited less bias on implicit bias tests than humans, even those trained specifically to counter such bias.
But, let's not throw caution to the wind just yet. Previous GPT models and other models display bias, and we need to acknowledge and learn from those instances. The good news is, reinforcement learning from OpenAI has been progressively effective. Each subsequent model has seen a noticeable cut-down in bias.
Maybe I’m a bit of an optimist but I am inclined to think that AI, with the right set of checks and balances, could be a force for removing bias instead of reinforcing it.
But it still leaves this big meaty question open: what if someone wants to use AI with bad intentions, with bias? Who draws the line in the sand then? Well, that's the big question. And it’s one that anyone, even OpenAI is yet to answer.
Would love to hear what you think and til next time.
Lucy
1/2 of Contented AI
Connect with me on Linkedin
AI art just took a big step forward!
Stable Diffusion and MidJourney, the top AI art generators out there, both just announced they've upgraded their models.
If you've ever used the AI image generator tool on Canva, you've used Stable Diffusion's technology. They've just revealed their latest update, which is their most advanced to date.
Comparing examples of prompts tested on the previous version (left) and the new model (right), you can see major improvement in just two months.
MidJourney, not wanting to be outdone, has also launched their own model upgrade. The changes might be subtler, but the output is noticeably sharper.
Plus, they've introduced a cool new feature that allows you to "zoom out" on an image. Take a look below:
If that caught your interest, check out this video showcasing MidJourney’s new zoom-out feature.
Why is this important? Text-to-image models are advancing quickly and are poised to drive significant innovation in movies, TV, and video content.
We’ve set the date for our ‘MidJourney for Beginners’ Webinar: July 10th
This webinar's for all you marketers, graphic designers, and small business owners looking to amp up your brand's visuals. Here's what's on the agenda:
An intro to the AI-powered image generator, MidJourney, and its cool features.
A handy guide to set up your account and make your way around the platform.
Tips and tricks to create killer images that scream 'your brand'.
Real-deal examples of businesses acing their brand game with MidJourney.
👉 Complete this form to secure your place
News stories: Good, bad and the wacky 📰
👍 Good - Wimbledon to use AI commentary during tournament
Wimbledon is taking a giant leap into the future of sports broadcasting this year! In an innovative collaboration with IBM, Wimbledon will introduce AI-powered commentary to its coverage. Data from various sources around the court will be processed by IBM’s AI models, resulting in natural language commentary fine-tuned to the language of tennis and Wimbledon. This commentary can then be converted into audio commentary in near-real-time, thanks to a second text-to-speech AI.
👎 Bad - AI-Generated Junk Websites Mislead Advertisers
NewsGuard reports a rising trend of AI-generated text populating junk websites, misleading over 140 major brands into advertising on these sites. Despite Google's policies, these unreliable sites are cluttering the internet and wasting ad spend. NewsGuard discovers about 25 such sophisticated sites weekly. While not typically spreading misinformation, they contribute to the growth of clickbait content. The lack of transparency in digital advertising reinforces the need for better regulation.
🗣 Wacky- The Race to Hide your Voice
Your voice - it's more revealing than you might think. To us humans, it's pretty straightforward to pick up on someone's mood from their voice; we can easily tell if they're thrilled or peeved. But machines? They can dig much deeper. By analysing your voice, AI can infer your age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and even health conditions. It gets even wilder - researchers have managed to create images of faces using just voice data. In recent news, Meta decided not to release their AI voice replication tech, named Voicebox.
This Week’s AI-ified Character- Barbie
ChatGPT, how would Barbie use AI if it were available to her?
Barbie could explore various professions, asking ChatGPT about different jobs, their responsibilities, and required skills, thereby expanding her career narrative. As a global icon, she could use ChatGPT to learn and practice languages, aiding kids worldwide in language learning. An integration with ChatGPT would also enhance Barbie's storytelling ability, making playtime more dynamic and engaging by continuing the story where the child leaves off. In this way, Barbie could help foster creativity and imagination. Barbie could also become a source of information for children, providing accurate, age-appropriate answers to queries on a range of topics, from science to culture. For role-playing games, ChatGPT could allow Barbie to participate more actively, encouraging kids to create adventurous scenarios. However, it's essential to ensure children's data privacy, appropriateness of content, and adequate supervision for a safe, positive interaction in such applications.
Contented updates 👥
Our recent adventures and collaborations
Just about to finis wrapping up an AI-powered workflow revamp for a mortgage broker firm. The result? Massive time-saving per client.
Congratulations to Empathix an AI-powered recruitment platform - who have just been selected into the StartMate Accelerator- there were over 400 applicants. Go Olivia!
We're thrilled about the variety of our clients - especially the small businesses or solo traders operating on tight marketing budgets. It's amazing to witness the powerful impact our AI tools can have on their growth.
We're in cahoots with a new startup, creating some funky 70’s inspired AI imagery for their marketing and product roll-out. It's all peace, love, and AI over here! 🕺
Product of the week 🛠️
Scribe- training manuals made easy!
What can it do?
The Scribe Chrome extension turns any process into a step-by-step guide, complete with text, links and annotated screenshots. Scribe uses AI to automatically create how-to documentation with text and screenshots simply by following along as you work.
Why do we love it?
We recently put together some training instructions for a client on how to integrate Asana with their emails. It took a good few hours! Then we found Scribe with the help of one of our clients and its was mind blowing has fast and also how great the manuals came out.
How to get started?
Head to https://www.scribehow.com- you can try it for free. All you have to do is follow the instructions of how to link it with Google Chrome and off you go.
Prompt/tip of the week 💡
Get ChatGPT to act as an interview so you can prepare for that job interview.
You: “I want you to act as an interviewer. I will be the candidate and you will ask me the interview questions for the position [Copy and paste the job role or advertisement]. I want you to only reply as the interviewer. Do not write all the conservation at once. I want you to only do the interview with me. Ask me the questions and wait for my answers. Do not write explanations. Ask me the questions one by one like an interviewer does and wait for my answers. My first sentence is “Hi”ChatGPT: Interviewer: Hello, thank you for joining us today. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background and experience?You: I have been training to be an astronaut for 10 years now. I am the first female to go through the program and receive consistent A+ marks. I am also a mother of 5.ChatGPT: Interviewer: That's impressive! Being an astronaut requires exceptional dedication and skill. Could you tell me more about the specific training you've undergone during the past 10 years to prepare for this role? And how have you managed to balance your responsibilities as a mother of 5 while pursuing your astronaut training?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.