Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

Neuralink just reached a new milestone, implanting its brain chip into a human patient for the first time.

If Elon Musk’s ‘Telepathy’ device is successful, it could truly change how we interact with technology forever. Let’s explore…

In today’s AI rundown:

• Neuralink places first brain chip implant in human

• Yelp launches new AI features for users, businesses

• How to summarize a YouTube video or podcast using Bard

• Tencent details multimodal LLM advances

• 6 new AI tools & 4 new AI jobs

• More AI & tech news

Read time: 4 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

NEURALINK

🧠 Neuralink places first brain chip implant in human

Image source: Neuralink

The Rundown: Elon Musk just announced that Neuralink successfully implanted its advanced brain chip in a human test subject for the first time, saying the patient is ‘recovering well’ from the surgery in a post on X.

The details:

• Musk touted "promising neuron spike detection," in the patient, suggesting the chip’s sensors are capturing individual brain cell activity.

• Musk also revealed that Neuralink’s first product will be called 'Telepathy’, which plans to enable paralyzed patients to control devices by thought.

• The company’s initial patient trials targeted quadriplegic patients aged 22+ suffering from spinal injuries or ALS.

Why it matters: Did you have telepathy on your 2024 bingo card? Neuralink continues to push the boundaries of brain hardware, with a chance to potentially enable game changing new abilities for paralyzed patients — and push the tech closer to consumer availability.

TOGETHER WITH AE STUDIO

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YELP

🍔 Yelp launches new AI features for users, businesses

Image source: Yelp

The Rundown: Yelp just introduced several new AI enhancements on the platform, including AI-generated business summaries and insights to help users quickly understand what to expect from local businesses.

The details:

• One-sentence AI summaries will now describe a business's most notable qualities like atmosphere, service, amenities, and popular menu items.

• Yelp is also providing business owners new AI-driven recommendations on things like optimal budgets for easier and more cost-effective advertisements.

• A new AI-powered home feed on iOS aims to help users more easily discover relevant businesses and content on the platform.

Why it matters: With mass amounts of data, Yelp’s AI-driven advancements make a lot of sense — and convenience-type integrations like these are perfect ways to get consumers more comfortable with the tech by improving user experience in subtle ways.

AI TRAINING

📝 How to summarize a podcast using Bard

The Rundown: Google has recently made big improvements to Bard with upgrades from Gemini — and the chatbot has become great at summarizing long videos or podcasts from YouTube.

Step-by-step:

1. Head to Bard (available in nearly every country except Canada).

2. Enter prompt: “Write a detailed summary of this video [insert link]. Summarize using bullet points. Include timestamps to the relevant themes/sections. Include quotes”

3. You now have a summary and the key points of the video or podcast!

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AI RESEARCH

📶 Tencent details multimodal LLM advances

Image source: Tencent

The Rundown: Tencent researchers just released a paper highlighting the rise and advancement of multimodal LLMs (MM-LLMs), including best practices and future outlooks for the powerful models.

The details:

• MM-LLMs combine powerful language models with other modalities like images, audio, and video, enhancing cognitive capabilities.

• The paper analyzed 26 MM-LLMs, comparing them across benchmarks and detailing ‘key recipes’ for enhancing the models.

• Key advancements include progression from single modality input/output towards versatile "any-to-any" functionality.

• Research also found significant improvements in alignment, instruction tuning, and conversational abilities.

Why it matters: This new research helps document emerging best practices in multimodal LLMs — while also highlighting the wild advancements we’re about to see as models become more versatile.

NEW TOOLS & JOBS

AI tools powered by Supertools

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• 📈 Stock Robo GPT- An economic analyst who assists with forecasting and analyzing US stocks and ETFs (link)

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• 🎭 Meme Magic GPT- Easily generate creative and customized memes in seconds (link)

• 📸 Shakker AI- Stylize, remix and transform your images (link)

• 👍 Huudle- Boost productivity and enhance relationships with AI-powered async video communication (link)

AI jobs powered by The Rundown Jobs

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• 🎯 Sanctuary AI- Principal Program Manager (link)

• 👩‍💼 Cohere- Sales Development Representative (link)

• 🔧 Open AI- Reliability Engineer, Research Platform (link)

QUICK HITS

Scott Galloway's edtech company Section is conducting a survey to assess AI readiness across industries, roles, and companies. Take the survey and get a discount code to Section's upcoming AI Crash Course. (Sponsor)

Humanoid robotics startup Figure AI is reportedly in talks for a funding round of up to $500M led by Microsoft and OpenAI, potentially putting the company at a $1.9B pre-money valuation.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin released a paper on the intersections of crypto and AI, detailing the pros and cons of how blockchain tech and decentralization can and will be integrated with artificial intelligence.

OpenAI quietly rolled out another new ChatGPT feature to ensure coding responses generate fully, rolling out in settings under ‘General’ → ‘Always expand code output’.

The New York Times is forming an "AI initiatives" team, including engineers and editors to prototype generative AI uses for reporting and presentation — though emphasizing its journalism will still be human-written.

The Biden administration will begin requiring AI firms to disclose safety testing results to the government under the Defense Production Act before public release in an effort to manage AI risks.

Samsung is considering a subscription model for advanced AI features on Galaxy devices after 2025, though no definitive plans have been set.

THAT’S A WRAP

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Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

Apple's Vision Pro is officially under the microscope — with early reviews offering a blend of awe and caution.

With reportedly over 200,000 preorders, the hype is there. But can the reality match high expectations and a lofty price tag? Let’s dive deeper…

In today’s tech rundown:

• Early Vision Pro reviews mixed amid pre-sale hype

• Researchers harness power from sound waves

• 9 new products

• PayPal cuts thousands of jobs in ‘right-sizing’

• Swiss startup reinventing nuclear energy

• NYT assembling GenAI division

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

APPLE

🥽 Early Vision Pro reviews mixed amid pre-sale hype

Image source: Apple

The Rundown: Early reviews are beginning to roll in for Apple’s buzzy new Vision Pro, with tech outlets breaking down the pros and cons of the headset — which has reportedly already seen over 200,000 preorders in the first 10 days.

The details:

• The 4K OLED displays and spatial 3D video blew reviewers away, making videos and movies incredibly immersive.

• Eye and hand-tracking was mostly seamless, enabling an intuitive control system — but tracking was reportedly inconsistent at times.

• The bad: Some reviewers had to take regular breaks due to the headset's heaviness, while the battery life was just 2-3 hours.

• Some also said the software felt unfinished, with few ‘true AR’ apps that blend virtual and real — while the App Store lacked key offerings like YouTube or Netflix.

• At $3,500 plus more for accessories, reviewers questioned if the experience was significantly better than non-wearable setups.

Why it matters: The Vision Pro looks to advance the state of AR/VR with its impressive visuals and control, but compromises like weight, battery life, and isolated experience show the product still has maturing to do. At $3,500+, it may be a tough sell to anyone outside of early adopters right now.

TOGETHER WITH INCOGNI

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Help protect yourself from identity theft, spam calls, ID theft and health insurers raising your rates. Plus, just for our readers: Get 55% off Incogni using code PRIVACY.

BATERY TECH

🔋 Researchers harness power from sound waves

Image source: ETH Zurich

The Rundown: Researchers at ETH Zurich just developed a battery-free sensor that harnesses energy from sound waves to power electronic devices, with the potential to help reduce electronic waste and enable new medical applications.

The details:

• The sensor works by converting vibrations from specific sound frequencies into small electrical pulses.

• It can distinguish between certain spoken words like "three" and "four”, with only certain words triggering the device.

• Potential applications include powering medical implants like hearing aids, eliminating the need for replacement batteries.

Why it matters: This innovation shows the promise of energy sources like sound to enable battery-free electronics. If commercialized, millions of single-use batteries could be eliminated yearly — while also unlocking new medical possibilities as implants shift away from finite power sources.

NEW PRODUCTS

🤖 Huudle AI Project Assistant- Streamline meetings, manage tasks, and enhance team alignment (link)

🏷️ Blozum- Triple your sales with our AI-powered WhatsApp assistant (link)

👨‍💻 AI Figma to Code by Anima- Transform your Figma designs into code effortlessly with AI assistance (link)

🎨 Shakker.Ai- Instantly create images from your imagination (link)

🎙️ Podnotes- Turn podcasts into transcribed, summarized, and repurposable content (link)

👨‍✈️ Omnipilot- Seamless autocomplete and AI-powered contextual generation for all macOS applications (link)

📱 Synthesia- Create professional videos without mics, cameras, or actors using an AI-generated character (link)

🧠 AI-suggests- Generate tons of ready-to-use content and new ideas for your business instantly (link)

🎥 Munch- Extract the most engaging and impactful clips from your long-form videos (link)

Browse the most popular tools ever featured with our tool database.

SNIPPETS

The New York Times is assembling a team to innovate with generative AI and machine learning while maintaining a commitment to human-driven journalism.

Boeing workers are believed to have omitted reinstalling bolts on a 737 Max 9 aircraft, leading to a midair incident and subsequent grounding of planes.

AT&T and TransUnion are collaborating to offer a service where businesses can make branded calls to customers with visible names and logos to combat robocall proliferation.

Apple is deeply concerned about U.K. legislative proposals that might empower the government to secretly control global software updates and weaken user privacy and security.

Xbox President Sarah Bond criticizes Apple for implementing a Core Technology Fee for app installations that surpass one million downloads.

Transmutex, a Swiss startup, is reinventing nuclear energy with thorium and a particle accelerator to create safer, more sustainable reactors incapable of sustaining a chain reaction.

PayPal is laying off thousands of employees in an effort ‘right-size’ the business, coming on the heels of changes across the company’s leadership team.

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Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

Microsoft just released its annual ‘Future of Work’ report, highlighting how the rise of AI will impact our shifting workplace roles and demands.

While we might not be handing our jobs completely over to AI — nearly all of us will be working alongside the tech VERY soon. Let’s get into it…

In today’s AI rundown:

• Microsoft maps AI's coming impact on jobs

• OpenAI courts chip giants in South Korea for AI hardware

• How to feature your logo in a video with Runway

• AI-powered robot achieves record braille reading speed

• 7 new AI tools & 4 new AI jobs

• More AI & tech news

Read time: 4 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

MICROSOFT

💼 Microsoft maps AI's coming impact on jobs

Image source: Microsoft

The Rundown: Microsoft just released its annual ‘Future of Work’ Report with a focus on AI, detailing both the transformative potential of tech in the workplace and the care needed to avoid downsides like skill displacement and job loss.

The details:

• Surveys and studies showcase significant productivity gains from AI tools, with 68% of study participants responding that Copilot improved their quality of work.

• Lower-skilled workers tended to benefit more from AI use, but performance gaps could still widen in some cases.

• The report highlighted over-reliance as a key challenge to collaborating with AI, with humans readily accepting incorrect AI outputs.

• Microsoft anticipates that smooth AI integration with workflows and norms will shape acceptance as much as the technology itself.

Why it matters: While AI will impact almost all jobs in some capacity, understanding the nuances, successes, and pain points of its early adoption can help us better prepare for how it will shape our workplaces in the near future.

Check out the full report here.

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OPENAI

🤝 OpenAI courts chip giants in South Korea

Image source: Getty Images

The Rundown: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently visited South Korea to discuss potential collaboration with Samsung and SK Group on manufacturing specialized AI chips amid broader speculation of the company’s desire to break into the chip production market.

The details:

• Altman reportedly toured a Samsung factory and met with execs from both companies, with discussions on ‘cooperation and investment’ in AI chip production.

• Samsung and SK are leaders in high bandwidth memory critical for AI chips — with the tech giant also working with Google on AI initiatives.

• Altman was recently in talks with Middle East investors and Taiwanese manufacturers on building a global network of AI chip factories.

Why it matters: As OpenAI rushes to stay ahead in AI capabilities, forming alliances with hardware titans would aid efforts to ensure compute capacity keeps pace with ambitious software goals — and avoid the predicted chip shortages that Altman spoke of at length in Davos.

AI TRAINING

🎥 How to feature your logo in a video with Runway

Image source: Johannes Plenio and Runway

The Rundown: With Runway’s new Gen-2 Magic Tools, you can feature your logo in a video in any setting.

Hat tip to Nicolas Neubert for sharing the tips and prompts below.

Step-by-step:

1. Create an image with your logo with your preferred background scape using Figma or Photoshop.

2. Head to Runway, select the image-to-image generator under the generate image menu, and upload your image.

3. Stylize your image with a prompt and adjust the settings:

   • Example prompt: Object sinking in water in the shape "r", ocean landscape, dark atmosphere, surreal sculptures muted colors, cinematic contour lighting, low contrast ProLog, award winning composition, chromatic aberration

   • Preset: Custom Color Grading Preset Prompt Weight: 6.0

   • For best results, you’ll want to upgrade to HD.

4. Save your favorite generated image to assets and select the image in the Text/Image to Video feature to create your video.

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AI RESEARCH

🫵 AI-powered robot achieves record braille reading speed

Image source: University of Cambridge

The Rundown: Researchers at the University of Cambridge just developed a robotic fingertip that uses AI to read Braille at over 300 words per minute — doubling the most accurate human speeds.

The details:

• An onboard camera captures blurred images, which are then sharpened by optimized machine learning algorithms.

• Computer vision AI then identifies the Braille letters accurately despite moving at high speeds.

• In tests, the system read at 315 words per minute and 87% accuracy — twice as fast and as accurate as human braille readers.

Why it matters: While it’s impressive to see the braille reading performance, the real breakthrough is in the robotic fingertip’s ability to ‘sense’ via touch — a feature that will be important as humanoid robots continue to take on more complex tasks.

NEW TOOLS & JOBS

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• 🌍 Language Teacher GPT- A personal tutor for effective language learning through conversation (link)

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• 🔍 Potis AI- Evaluate candidates' real-world skills for fair and reliable hiring (link)

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AI jobs powered by The Rundown Jobs

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QUICK HITS

George Carlin’s estate is suing the makers of the "Dudesy" podcast for using AI to impersonate the late comedian in a YouTube special, alleging copyright infringement and misuse of Carlin's name and likeness.

China has approved over 40 AI models for public use over the past six months, as part of the country’s aggressive strategy to match U.S. advancements.

OpenAI is partnering with nonprofit Common Sense Media, known for rating media content for kids, to develop AI safety guidelines and curate family-friendly apps.

A California restaurant called CaliExpress is infusing AI and robotics to run the operation, including a "Flippy" frying robot, a grill robot, and facial recognition AI for ordering.

Meta released Code Llama 70B, an upgraded version of its code generation LLM, ranking as one of the ‘highest performing open models’ available.

Former Cloudera CEO Rob Bearden's new startup Sema4 AI announced a $30.5Mr raise for its AI automation tools aimed at helping enterprises.

ChatGPT is being accused of violating EU privacy laws by Italian data protection authority Garante, with OpenAI potentially facing hefty fines.

THAT’S A WRAP

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Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

Zoom just revealed new upcoming Vision Pro offerings, bringing remote work and conferencing into AR/VR.

If Apple’s launch is a home run, will Zoom breathe new life into the stagnant video meeting space? Let’s dig deeper…

In today’s tech rundown:

• Zoom brings realistic avatars, 3D viewing to Vision Pro

• Amazon cancels Roomba deal on regulatory concerns

• 8 new products

• Apple hits back at proposed EU laws

• Canon moves into chipmaking

• Tesla owners angry over new software update

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

ZOOM

Zoom brings realistic avatars, 3D viewing to Vision Pro

Image source: Zoom

The Rundown: Zoom just unveiled new mixed reality features for Apple's new Vision Pro headset, including digital avatars and collaborative 3D model viewing.

The details:

• Zoom will leverage Vision Pro's Persona system to animate users' facial and hand expressions on calls.

• Shared 3D assets can be viewed and manipulated together in a virtual space.

• An integrated Zoom chat and the ability to pin real-world participants aims to boost virtual meeting engagement.

• The capabilities build on Vision Pro's room-scaling and background removal strengths that boost remote collaboration.

Why it matters: While other companies are shying away from building on top of the Vision Pro, Zoom is doubling down. Could a coming AR/VR revolution breathe new life into the meeting leader, bringing a whole new dimension (literally) to how we interact on meetings?

TOGETHER WITH VANTA

The ISO 27001 Compliance Checklist

Are you building a business? Achieving ISO 27001 compliance can help you win bigger deals, enter new markets, and prove security practices to customers anywhere in the world — but it can also cost you real time and money.

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AMAZON & ROOMBA

🚫 Amazon cancels Roomba deal on regulatory concerns

Image source: Bloomberg

The Rundown: Amazon just nixed its proposed $1.4B purchase of Roomba maker iRobot due to antitrust scrutiny, following increased pressure from EU and U.S. regulators around Big Tech’s dealmaking and fair competition compliance.

The details:

• Regulators had suggested the deal could restrict competition in the robotic vacuum cleaner market.

• Amazon will pay a whopping $94M fee to iRobot for terminating the deal, which was originally revealed in 2022.

• iRobot laid off 30% of its staff following the news, with its founder and CEO also stepping down.

Why it matters: In an unusual surrender, Amazon's scrapped acquisition signals the waning ability of Big Tech to gobble up competitors as governments promote more competitive markets. But regulations will likely only slow — not stop — Amazon’s far-reaching ambitions across markets.

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Browse the most popular tools ever featured with our tool database.

SNIPPETS

Arc has launched a minimalist, AI-powered search tool browser app for the iPhone, focusing on search summaries and a streamlined user interface.

Apple attacked new proposed UK laws allowing the government to secretly veto global privacy updates before release, saying it would undermine security and force companies into surveillance.

Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission resumed after the lander, which had experienced a power outage post-landing, recharged its solar panels and re-established communication with JAXA.

Flutter Entertainment is preparing for a New York Stock Exchange listing, reflecting its significant growth in the US sports betting market.

Canon is set to challenge ASML by introducing a new, low-cost nanoprint lithography technology for chip manufacturing.

Some Tesla owners have expressed frustration over a new software update that intensifies driver supervision mandates on the Autopilot feature.

DJ Novotney, an influential Apple hardware engineering architect with 25 years of service, is departing to join Rivian, an electric vehicle manufacturer.

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Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

Ready to unleash a team of AI experts in every chat?

OpenAI’s new ‘GPT mentions’ feature just seamlessly integrated GPTs into user workflows — setting the stage for powerful multi-bot experiences ahead. Let’s explore…

In today’s AI rundown:

• OpenAI introduces GPT mentions

• X secures Georgia tax break for $700M AI data center

• How to utilize GPTs in your ChatGPT workflows

• Bard surpasses GPT-4 on chatbot leaderboard

• 8 new AI tools & 4 new AI jobs

• More AI & tech news

Read time: 4 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

OPENAI

🆕 OpenAI introduces GPT mentions

Image source: ChatGPT screenshot

The Rundown: OpenAI just quietly shipped a new ‘GPT mentions’ feature to ChatGPT, allowing users to seamlessly integrate custom bots into a conversation by tagging them in a Slack-type style.

The details:

• The beta feature is accessed by typing ‘@’ during a ChatGPT conversation, which brings up a list of GPTs to mention and use.

• The improvement reduces GPT friction, enabling users to call on a GPT directly in-chat instead of navigating the GPT Store.

• Mentions also allows for the integration of multiple GPTs in a single chat, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity.

• The feature was first spotted by Dan Shipper on X, with no official announcement by OpenAI yet.

• The feature appears to be rolling out to ChatGPT premium users slowly, with only a select few users getting early access.

Why it matters: Mentions may look like a small feature update, but it is a powerful one. Enabling the use of multiple GPTs in an ongoing chat gets users closer to having a team of expert AI agents working together — and now it’s just an @ away!

TOGETHER WITH OCTOAI

🤖 Mixtral on OctoAI: 12x lower costs, 30% faster speeds vs GPT-4-Turbo

The Rundown: Innovators who built on OpenAI are hungry for alternatives as their LLM-powered apps catch fire with users. Why?

• Inference costs on OpenAI are too high for new apps to become successful businesses.

• Low latency and scale don’t come out of the box. Not realistic for most folks.

• Closed-sourced models lack the flexibility needed to deliver excellent experiences.

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X (FORMERLY TWITTER)

💰 X secures Georgia tax break for $700M AI data center

Image source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Rundown: Elon Musk's X Corp. just secured a $10M property tax break in Atlanta covering hardware for its $700M AI data center — landing the agreement after previously claiming the company would shift the project to Portland if not approved.

The details:

• The 10-year agreement covers existing and future equipment at X's Atlanta-area data center used to train LLMs.

• X estimates the data center will add $241M in economic impact, with Fulton County also forecasting $16M in new taxes for the area.

• X also previously purchased 10,000 GPUs for an artificial intelligence project in April 2023 (which was later revealed as xAI).

Why it matters: X joins Microsoft in building out major AI infrastructure in Georgia — with a data center that will play a vital role in X’s grand ambitions. While Grok has been a bit primitive compared to ChatGPT, Musk and the team at xAI continue to chip away on the future of AI on X (formerly Twitter).

AI TRAINING

⚙️ How to utilize GPTs in your ChatGPT workflows

The Rundown: With the recent update to ChatGPT using mentions, you can now use GPTs within ChatGPT conversations to improve and streamline your experience.

Note: This feature is slowly rolling out to ChatGPT premium users, with only a select few users getting early access.

Here is a quick step-by-step:

1. Prompt ChatGPT with a question.

2. Add a GPT to the conversation by typing "@" and selecting one. In this case, we will select the Whimsical GPT called AI Diagrams.

3. Now that the GPT is part of the conversation and has context to your previous prompts and responses, we will ask the AI Diagrams GPT to represent the information visually.

4. Now you have a Whimsical mindmap of your ChatGPT conversation.

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AI RESEARCH

🏆 Bard surpasses GPT-4 on chatbot leaderboard

Image source: HuggingFace

The Rundown: Google Bard just moved into second place on HuggingFace’s Chatbot Arena Leaderboard, surpassing GPT-4 and trailing only GPT-4 Turbo in the crowdsourced LLM rankings.

The details:

• Bard’s rise follows recent improvements to the model, with the free tier rating similar to or ahead of GPT-4 in capabilities.

• Gemini Pro is only the middle tier of Google’s planned models, with the top-tier Ultra expected to be released sometime soon.

• The LMSYS ChatBot Arena Leaderboard crowdsources rankings using an Elo system, with other 200,000 votes collected across models.

Why it matters: Gemini’s rise up the leaderboard is impressive — and shines an even brighter light on the upcoming Ultra launch, setting sky-high expectations as the most likely contender to compete with OpenAI’s GPT models.

NEW TOOLS & JOBS

AI tools powered by Supertools

• 🤯 MindStudio- Learn how to build AIs with MindStudio. Join this FREE 2 hour live course on building no-code AI apps. No experience needed! (link)*

• 📥 Jellypod- Transform your inbox into a personalized daily podcast (link)

• 🎨 Logo Muse- A GPT to help you create minimalist logos effortlessly within ChatGPT (link)

• 👷‍♀️ Chipp- Build a custom ChatGPT without code and monetize it on your website (link)

• 📹 Kuasar Video- Scores tens of thousands of videos on social media and analyze them using video AI (link)

• 🤖 Gravity- An on-device AI for your Mac that remembers everything (link)

• 🧙‍♂️ Professor Synapse- A GPT to summon expert agents for goal achievement (link)

• 📩 Letterly- Record your voice and let AI turn it into well-written text (link)

AI jobs powered by The Rundown Jobs

• 🔧 Open AI- Reliability Engineering Manager at OpenAI (link)

• 🤝 C3 AI- Director, Alliances at C3 AI (link)

• 👔 Synthesia- Product Enablement Manager at Synthesia (link)

• 🎯 Cohere- Go-To-Market Talent Sourcer at Cohere (link)

*Sponsored link

QUICK HITS

Perplexity announced an integration into Arc Browser as the default search option, offering users an AI-powered search experience leveraging models like GPT-4, Claude 2.1, and Gemini Pro.

Mental health startup Sonia built an AI therapist to provide structured cognitive behavioral therapy sessions, with modules for specific stages, emergency risk monitoring, and therapeutical worksheets.

Apple Podcasts now offers AI-powered transcripts in its iOS 17.4 beta for nearly all of its shows, with the feature expected to release to the public in March.

Wondercraft announced a $3M raise for its AI-powered platform allowing users to easily crease podcasts, audiobooks, and more.

A new report from the International Energy Agency found that data centers’ electricity use is ballooning, driven by the expansion of energy-intensive tech like cryptocurrency mining and AI systems.

Midjourney released V6 updates including pan, zoom, and vary region image generation capabilities, alongside expanded alpha website access.

X temporarily blocked searches of Taylor Swift following outrage surrounding viral AI-generated explicit deepfakes of the singer, with the White House calling for regulation following the incident.

THAT’S A WRAP

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Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

Tesla is bringing the Dojo supercomputer to its New York factory — hoping to crunch massive amounts of video data to advance the company’s self-driving vision.

But while Musk calls the project a long shot — Tesla continues speeding (and spending) toward an AI-dominated future. Let’s investigate…

In today’s tech rundown:

• Tesla brings Dojo supercomputer to New York

• Camera system captures animal vision perspectives

• 8 new products

• X opens new Trust & Safety office

• Google settles multi-billion patent infringement lawsuit

• Fossil pivots away from smartwatches

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

TESLA

🗽 Tesla brings Dojo supercomputer to New York

Image source: Tesla

The Rundown: Tesla just announced a $500M plan to construct one of its Dojo supercomputers at its Buffalo, NY Gigafactory, a major new investment at the troubled facility.

The details:

• The Dojo supercomputer will process video data from Tesla vehicles, training AI to power its Full Self-Driving Beta software.

• Musk has called Dojo a ‘long shot bet’ and ‘not a sure thing at all’ but also says its success would result in payoffs at the multi-hundred-billion level.

• Tesla took over operations at the state-subsidized Buffalo plant after acquiring the struggling SolarCity in 2016.

• Musk called the $500M investment small compared to what the company is spending on Nvidia hardware and AI chips.

Why it matters: Tesla is ramping up spending in AI to continue scaling its self-driving car future. And while Musk calls Dojo a long shot — few are better equipped to bring this type of vision to fruition.

TOGETHER WITH OCTOAI

🤖 Mixtral on OctoAI: 12x lower costs, 30% faster speeds vs GPT-4-Turbo

The Rundown: Innovators who built on OpenAI are hungry for alternatives as their LLM-powered apps catch fire with users. Why?

• Inference costs on OpenAI are too high for new apps to become successful businesses.

• Low latency and scale don’t come out of the box. Not realistic for most folks.

• Closed-sourced models lack the flexibility needed to deliver excellent experiences.

Switch from GPT-4-Turbo to 12x your savings and see 30% lower latency.

Try OctoAI Text Generation and get $10 in free credits when you sign up today.

CAMERA TECH

📸 Camera system captures animal vision perspectives

Image source: University of Sussex

The Rundown: Researchers just engineered a new camera setup and processing software that records footage from the visual perspective of a variety of animals based on their unique receptors.

The details:

• Hardware modifications allow the simultaneous recording of visible and non-visible wavelengths to emulate animal vision capabilities.

• Software then processes the multilayered footage to recreate a species' visual experience with up to 99% accuracy.

• The team has made both hardware specs and algorithms open source for nature filmmakers and researchers.

• Example videos showcase insect, avian, and even butterfly visions of the world, highlighting unique views.

Why it matters: This wild camera tech provides an unprecedented look at how other species perceive and interact with their surroundings — shedding light on animal behavior and potentially aiding conservation efforts.

NEW PRODUCTS

🤖 ChatGPT Teams- A personalized super assistant for each team member (link)

🗣️ Letterly- Convert your conversation into polished text with AI (link)

🎥 Kuasar Video AI- Analyzes social media videos using AI (link)

✅ Project Plan Generator- Create a detailed action plan for your project effortlessly (link)

📝 Opendraft- Craft extensive 2,000-word articles using AI (link)

✏️ Yaara- Use AI to write proven, high-converting copy (link)

🎵 Mubert- Soundtrack for your content made by AI (link)

🛠️ 60sec.site- Generates beautiful landing pages for you in under 60 seconds (link)

Browse the most popular tools ever featured with our tool database.

SNIPPETS

X is set to establish a new trust and safety office in Austin with 100 full-time content moderators dedicated to combating child sexual exploitation.

X also confirms blocking searches for Taylor Swift's name to address the spread of nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes of the artist.

The National Security Agency (NSA) has admitted to buying records detailing Americans' website and app usage from data brokers.

Fossil has decided to stop producing smartwatches, focusing instead on other business areas, but will continue to support current models for now.

Google settled a multi-billion dollar patent infringement lawsuit with Singular Computing regarding AI-related technology used in its Tensor Processing Units.

The FAA is investigating an American Airlines flight that made a hard landing in Maui, resulting in six hospitalizations.

A team led by Faith Hawthorn at the University of Warwick used NASA's TESS data to identify 85 new exoplanets, potentially advancing the search for extraterrestrial life.

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Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

Think controlling your dreams sounds like Science Fiction? A new AI-powered device called Morpheus-1 may change your mind.

The halo-like headband claims to help induce and control lucid dreaming — and if its upcoming trials succeed, our sleep may never be the same. Let’s explore…

In today’s AI rundown:

• New device aims to induce lucid dreams on-demand

• OpenAI rolls out new model upgrades, cost cuts

• How to access Copilot's GPTs & plugins on mobile

• Pika releases RPG for improved prompt comprehension

• 6 new AI tools & 4 new AI jobs

• More AI & tech news

Read time: 4 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

PROPHETIC

🧠 New device aims to induce lucid dreams on-demand

Image source: Prophetic

The Rundown: Tech startup Prophetic just introduced Morpheus-1, described as the world's first ‘multimodal generative ultrasonic transformer’ designed to explore human consciousness through controlling lucid dreams.

The details:

• Morpheus-1 combines machine learning, EEG data, and ultrasound waves to detect REM sleep and trigger dream states that users can control.

• A halo-like headband detects brain waves, with ultrasound beams then stimulating specific brain areas tied to conscious dreaming.

• Onboard batteries, Bluetooth, and WiFi allow all-night operation and data syncing, with a companion app tracking sleep phases and collecting dream data to refine the AI models.

• Prophetic said the beta program for Morpheus-1 will begin this spring.

Why it matters: Ready to control your dreams? With so much still left to understand about the brain and sleep, combining AI with neuroscience could be a major unlock for demystifying and expanding human consciousness.

TOGETHER WITH BRAVE

🌐 Supercharge your AI with Brave Search API

The Rundown: Building the next great AI? Take it to the next level with Brave Search API:

• Power your AI with real-time queries from an index of 20 billion pages (with millions more added daily)

• Use Brave's unique, user-driven data, not just web crawlers, to train your LLM and chatbots with real-time data

• Enjoy an intuitive data structure at a fraction of Bing's cost

Your AI is nothing without a connection to the web. Click here to get started with 2,000 free queries/month.

OPENAI

⚙️ OpenAI rolls out new model upgrades, cost cuts

Image source: Midjourney

The Rundown: OpenAI just announced several new upgrades to its GPT models, including reduced ‘laziness’ and lowered API costs alongside other technical improvements.

The details:

• GPT-3.5 Turbo gets unspecified improvements, a 50% input cost drop, and a 25% output price cut for API usage.

• GPT-4 Turbo gets an upgrade to reduce ‘laziness’, addressing complaints of the model’s quality degrading.

• The top tier 4T model with Vision will also be launching in ‘general availability’ in the coming months.

• Developers gain more control over API keys, with the text moderation API also getting improvements to catch harmful content better.

Why it matters: Reduced API costs add up for developers building off OpenAI tech, as well as help keep them in the ecosystem as competition swells. The holidays are apparently over for GPT-4, getting a 2024 attitude adjustment after recent reports of the AI underperforming.

AI TRAINING

📱 How to access Copilot's GPTs & plugins on mobile

Image source: Microsoft Copilot

The Rundown: Microsoft Copilot just got a new mobile update, rolling out the ability for users to access both GPTs and plugins for free in-app on the go.

Thank you to Paul Couvert for sharing this tutorial.

Step-by-step:

1. Open the Copilot app — or download it if you haven’t already via the App Store or Google Play Store.

2. Access GPTs in the menu bar on the left side of the app — the four currently available are Designer, Vacation Planner, Cooking Assistant, and Fitness Trainer.

3. Enable plugins by clicking the three-dot options icon at the top right and selecting ‘Plugins’ — you can choose up to three at a time to activate.

AI RESEARCH

🎨 Pika releases RPG for improved prompt comprehension

Image source: Pika

The Rundown: Pika researchers just developed a new approach called RPG (Recaptioning, Planning, Generating), which uses powerful multimodal AI systems to enhance text-to-image models, improving generations from complex text prompts.

The details:

• RPG leverages chain-of-thought reasoning and multimodal understanding, breaking down prompts into simpler sub-prompts and planning complementary regions for each subset.

• The images are then generated region-by-region, guided by the subprompts.

• The approach significantly outperforms leading diffusion models on metrics like text-image alignment and multi-category object composition.

Why it matters: While text-to-image models have come a long way over the last year, they still struggle with capturing every detail of a complex prompt. Pika’s latest breakthrough brings an impressive level of control — giving creators even more power over their outputs.

NEW TOOLS & JOBS

AI tools powered by Supertools

• 🎥 guidde- Magically create stunning video documentation with AI (link)*

• 🎤 Tech Interviewer- A fully-simulated AI interviewer that acts like an actual human (link)

• 📸 Keep it shot- Instantly rename and find messy screenshots with AI (link)

• 💬 Dubbing Studio by ElevenLabs- Precise control over translating videos for global audiences (link)

• ⚠️ Norm AI- Eliminate compliance risks for your business at scale with AI (link)

• 🗣️ izTalk- Overcome language barriers with instant AI translation (link)

AI jobs powered by The Rundown Jobs

• 🐙 OctoAI- Technical Support Engineer (link)

• ✏️ Sanctuary AI- AI/ML Intern: Reinforcement Learning (link)

• ⭐️ OpenAI- Digital Success Manager (link)

• 🌎 Anthropic- Global Account Executive (link)

*Sponsored listing

QUICK HITS

Google Cloud and Hugging Face announced a new partnership to advance open-source AI, with HF users now able to leverage Google infrastructure to build models.

Brave integrated open-source Mixtral 8x7B as the default LLM on both free and paid versions of its AI browser assistant Leo.

The Federal Trade Commission is probing the investments of tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google into OpenAI and Anthropic, investigating how the deals impact the AI competitive landscape.

PayPal revealed plans for new AI products, including tools for merchants to better reach new customers and a Fastlane feature for ramping up checkout speeds.

FuboTV launched "Instant Headlines," a feature that uses AI to generate 10-word summaries of news segments to help viewers decide what to watch in real-time.

University of Amsterdam researchers developed RoboChem, an autonomous AI robot for chemical synthesis that outperforms human chemists in speed and accuracy.

AI-generated graphic images of Taylor Swift went viral across X, outraging fans and sparking broader discussions around restricting deepfake content.

THAT’S A WRAP

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Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

Apple just made some big changes to its controversial App Store rules — but critics argue the tech giant’s moves aren’t as open as they appear.

Heavyweights like Epic Games and Spotify are loudly gearing up for a digital showdown. Let’s investigate…

In today’s tech rundown:

• Epic, Spotify plot App Store moves after EU ruling

• New 3D printing method creates metal parts in minutes

• 8 new products

• FTC investigating tech giant’s AI investments

• Pokemon investigating Palworld for IP infringement

• Microsoft cuts jobs from gaming division

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

APPLE, EPIC, & SPOTIFY

😡 Epic, Spotify plot App Store moves after EU ruling

Image source: X (formerly Twitter)

The Rundown: Epic Games is bringing Fortnite back to iPhones in Europe, with Spotify also exploring in-app purchase features following the EU’s DMA rulings forcing Apple to allow third-party app platforms.

The details:

• Apple announced it will now allow third-party app stores and payment systems (with stipulations) on the App Store in the EU to comply with the Digital Markets Act.

• Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called Apple’s changes ‘hot garbage’, in an X post detailing the finer points of the changes.

• Epic intends to leverage the DMA ruling to sell Fortnite outside the Apple ecosystem via its own store and dodge its 30% cut.

• Spotify, another vocal opponent of Apple’s practices, is also planning to launch in-app purchases like subscriptions, audiobooks, and podcasts with the new changes.

Why it matters: While tech companies scramble to shift to the new DMA ruling, it sounds like Apple has still found ways around truly opening its walled garden App Store. Further legal battles will likely be needed to truly loosen the tech giant’s grip on developers.

TOGETHER WITH TWEETHUNTER

🐦 Build and monetize your Twitter audience

The Rundown: Supercharge your X (Twitter) growth with Tweet Hunter - the ultimate tool for scaling and monetization.

TweetHunter helps you:

• Generate up to 100 high-quality tweets in one hour with personalized suggestions

• Find the best-performing Tweets to apply to your own content

• Schedule a month’s worth of Tweets in one sitting

Whatever your current growth strategy is, TweetHunter is faster. Try it here.

3D PRINTING

🦾 New 3D printing method creates metal parts in minutes

Image source: MIT

The Rundown: MIT researchers just developed a rapid 3D printing technique using liquid metal that can create large aluminum components 10 times faster than other methods.

The details:

• The new liquid metal printing approach directs molten aluminum into a bed of glass beads, which quickly harden into durable 3D structures.

• The resolution is lower than finer metal printing techniques, but speed and scale are greatly boosted.

• Other metals beyond aluminum could work with minor tweaks to the LMP process.

Why it matters: LMP's ability to quickly print strong metal pieces makes it ideal for larger structures needing fast, affordable production — and as the process improves, its transformative potential for construction and manufacturing grows.

NEW PRODUCTS

🎥 guidde- Magically create stunning video documentation with AI (link)*

💰 Venture GPT- AI assistant for entrepreneurs and investors in the startup ecosystem (link)

🦙 Distributed Llama- Parallelize large language models across devices (link)

🖥️ Jusi- AI-driven platform for quickly creating websites & apps (link)

🌐 Byword- Create SEO-friendly articles en masse (link)

📧 Superhuman- The fastest email experience ever made, with AI-powered features (link)

👩‍🎨 Looka- AI-powered platform to design a logo and build a brand in seconds (link)

📊 Sheet AI- Put AI in your Google Sheets (link)

Browse the most popular tools ever featured with our tool database.

*Sponsored Link

SNIPPETS

The FTC is investigating major cloud providers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google for their billion-dollar investments in AI startups such as OpenAI.

Meta has implemented new measures to block teens from receiving direct messages from strangers on Facebook and Instagram.

Google Pixel 9 leaks appeared online, showing broad design changes with a more iPhone-like design and a potential third telephoto lens addition.

Microsoft announced layoffs impacting approximately 1,900 employees from its gaming division, including Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax teams.

The Pokémon Company plans to investigate the game Palworld for potential infringement of its intellectual property rights after its notable launch and substantial sales.

Elon Musk has announced a new, more affordable Tesla EV expected to start production in late 2025 with innovative manufacturing processes.

Japan’s SLIM spacecraft successfully touched down on the moon, but landed upside down and faces issues with power generation as the country plots a recovery.

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Our newsletter is read by thousands of tech professionals, investors, engineers, managers, and business owners around the world. Get in touch today.

THAT’S A WRAP

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