Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

It seems like ChatGPT is getting into the holiday spirit a bit early this year. Users are noticing the chatbot is becoming lazy — with data to support it.

According to the “Winter Break Hypothesis,” OpenAI’s assistant might’ve been trained to learn the human trends of laziness around the holidays. Let’s dig in…

In today’s AI rundown:

• Is ChatGPT getting lazy near the holidays?

• Microsoft ships small but powerful new model

• 9 new AI tools to try

• How to use DALL-E 3 in any mobile app

• Congressional candidate deploys AI for voter outreach

• SI publisher fires CEO over AI controversy

• Anthropic brings Claude to spreadsheets

Read time: 3 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

CHATGPT

🎄 Is ChatGPT getting lazy near the holidays?

Image source: DALL-E 3

The Rundown: A new theory dubbed the "Winter Break Hypothesis" claims that ChatGPT has gotten lazier by learning that people relax more around the holidays — with statistically significant data to support it.

The details:

• Complaints of ChatGPT laziness emerged in November, with users noticing shortened or denied responses.

• OpenAI admitted awareness of issues, but no causality behind the change in model behavior.

• The Winter Break Hypothesis suggests that since ChatGPT takes the date as input, trends around reduced human productivity this time of year impact its behavior.

• X user Rob Lynch ran a test that fed GPT-4 prompts specifying different dates, finding much shorter responses in December.

Our thoughts: AI is just like us! Before we know it, ChatGPT will be throwing up an automated ‘Out of Office’ reply between Christmas and New Year’s. The subtle quirks of LLMs continue to amaze (and scare) many users.

TOGETHER WITH INCOGNI

🕵️‍♂️ Keep your info off the dark web

The Rundown: Every day, data brokers profit from selling your phone number, birthday and SSN (and you don’t want to know who’s buying it).

Incogni fixes this:

• Scrub your personal data from the web

• Confront data brokers head-on for you

• Remove sensitive information from all broker types (even the scary ones)

Define your digital identity with Incogni. Click here to sign up and use code RUNDOWN60 for 60% off!

MICROSOFT

🤖 Microsoft ships small but powerful new model

Image source: Microsoft

The Rundown: Microsoft Research just released Phi-2, a surprisingly powerful 2.7B parameter ‘small language model’ capable of running on a laptop or phone — matching or exceeding the capabilities of larger models.

The details:

• Phi-2 achieves impressive results among models under 13B parameters in reasoning, language, math, and coding benchmarks.

• It outdoes the 7B parameter Mistral and Llama 2 models, and even surpasses Google's 3B parameter Gemini Nano 2 on some tests.

• Microsoft credits strategic data selection emphasizing textbook-quality content, plus innovative knowledge transfer techniques in efficiently scaling up Phi-2.

• But businesses can't tap the model yet, as Microsoft currently only licenses it for non-commercial research purposes.

Why it matters: Achieving these results in such a small package is quite the feat — and the ability to run on devices like a laptop or phone opens the door for more capable local, offline usage. With the release just a week after Google unveiled Gemini Nano, Microsoft is undoubtedly making a statement!

TRENDING TOOLS

🐻 BlitzBear- Outrank your SERP competitors in a few clicks. BlitzBear optimizes your blog SEO using AI without the manual work required (link)*

🔄 Recast Studio- Transform your podcasts effortlessly with AI (link)

💬 Chat with YouTube- Interact with AI to inquire about YouTube content (link)

💰 Mezzi- Minimize your tax expenses effortlessly (link)

📰 Brief- Get a custom AI-curated news digest (link)

📂 MagicDocs- Streamline your document management with AI (link)

🐦 Postwise- Craft viral Tweets in seconds (link)

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

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

* = This is sponsored content

AI TRAINING

📱 How to use DALL-E 3 in any mobile app

Wish you had a way to harness the powers of AI image generation right in your favorite mobile apps? Now you can, with the help of the Microsoft Swiftkey keyboard (works on both iOS and Android).

Follow the steps below to integrate it on your phone by Paul Couvert:

Step 1: Download the Microsoft Swiftkey Keyboard (App Store, Google Play)

Step 2: Enable SwiftKey by toggling on the app under Settings → Keyboards

Step 3: Head to an app (iMessage, Twitter, etc.). Click on the globe icon to pull up your keyboards — you should now see a Bing icon. Tap create to access DALL-E and start generating directly in other apps!

In addition to DALL-E, you’ll also gain access to quick Bing AI chats, Microsoft Translator, an enhanced GIF selection and more. Happy AI image creating… now on the go!

QUICK HITS

📞 Congressional candidate deploys AI for voter outreach

Democratic congressional candidate Shamaine Daniels is deploying Ashley, the first AI phone banker in politics. The bot conducts personalized voter outreach using generative AI — with the ability to handle an infinite number of calls while using data on the candidate’s positions and key issues for voters.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

📊 Anthropic brings Claude to spreadsheets

Anthropic just announced that it’s Claude LLM is now accessible within Google Sheets via an extension and API access. The feature allows users to harness Claude’s writing skills via prompts directly weaved into a spreadsheet workflow. Access the new feature with Anthropic’s guide here.

🤯 SI publisher fires CEO over AI controversy

Sports Illustrated's publisher ‘The Arena Group’ just fired CEO Ross Levinsohn, following controversy surrounding the outlet’s AI-generated content. SI came under fire in November after a Futurism article exposed its use of AI authors, bios, and articles — scrubbing the evidence from the web post-inquiry.

💼 New jobs in the world of AI

Principal Technical Product Manager at OctoML

Research Director at Runway

VC Partnerships Manager at OpenAI

Browse all available AI job positions with our job board.

SPONSOR US

🦾 Get your product in front of over 400k+ AI enthusiasts

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

That’s it for today’s news in the world of AI!

If you have anything interesting to share, please reach out to us by sending us a DM on Twitter: @rowancheung & @therundownai

❤️ Rundown review of the day

Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

Epic Games just secured a landscape-rattling legal victory — with a jury determining Google illegally monopolized power through its App Store model.

The court’s decision could have massive implications for the app economy as we know it. Let’s dig deeper…

In today’s tech rundown:

• Epic's legal bomb detonates App Store model

• Hybrid ‘biocomputer’ harnesses brain cells

• 8 new products

• Bezos, Blue Origin set date for next launch

• Adobe’s Spectrum 2 design system update

• Google Fiber announces prices, new U.S. cities

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

GOOGLE

💥 Epic's legal bomb detonates App Store model

Image source: The Verge

The Rundown: Fortnite creator Epic Games just scored a victory over Google in its antitrust lawsuit, with the jury unanimously ruling in favor of claims that the tech giant monopolized the market through its charging of commissions as high as 30% on developers.

The details:

• The unanimous consumer jury ruled Google engaged in anticompetitive conduct by forcing its billing system and making side deals with companies like Spotify.

• Legal experts and Epic's CEO say additional dominoes will now fall, requiring cuts to fees.

• Google makes an estimated $10B yearly from its Play Store cut, which analysts figure loses $1.3B per 5 percentage points reduced — with Apple's App Store revenue facing similar jeopardy.

Why it matters: In an epic (🥁) battle that Google has fought for over three years, the tech giant suffers a serious blow in a win for developers — with the walled gardens of app stores about to see some major reform.

TOGETHER WITH SUPERHUMAN

🚀 Fastest email experience ever made

The Rundown: Experience the fastest and most fun email experience ever with Superhuman’s AI features to fly through your emails.

Help your team move 2x fast with:

• Auto summarize conversations

• AI-email drafts written in your style

• Type at the speed of thought with auto-correct and suggestions

• Custom 1-click action items features

Join today to unlock 1 free month today!

BRAIN TECH

🧠 Hybrid ‘biocomputer’ harnesses brain cells

Image source: Science Photo Library

The Rundown: Scientists at the University of Indiana Bloomington just developed an innovative "Brainoware" system, integrating lab-grown human brain cells with electronic circuits to achieve feats like voice recognition.

The details:

• Researchers linked mini-brains called "organoids" made of human neurons to chips with thousands of electrodes, allowing a two-way flow of information.

• Brainoware recognized voices from recordings, with the tissue creating electric patterns that AI decoded to speakers with 78% accuracy.

• Such human-based computing could enable far more energy efficient AI someday, while also promising better lab models of brain disorders.

Our thoughts: The combination of brain tissue and electronics alone sounds like something right out of science fiction — but the future of biological computing as a field may be much wilder than we can even imagine.

NEW PRODUCTS

🐻 BlitzBear- Outrank your SERP competitors in a few clicks. BlitzBear optimizes your blog SEO using AI without the manual work required (link)*

💡 Ideaflow- Capture ideas instantly with an AI-powered voice app (link)

🗣️ EnVsion AI- Condenses hours of customer interviews into concise summaries quickly (link)

🗺️ 80days.me v3- Streamlines multi-city European travel planning with quick clicks (link)

🧑‍🎨 AirBrush Headshot- Create professional AI-generated headshots easily (link)

🤝 Intelogos AI- Boost team happiness and efficiency (link)

⚡️ Notion AI- Your notes, on steroids. Access the limitless power of AI, right inside Notion (link)

🖥 Userdesk- Build your AI ChatBot trained on your Notion, website and more (link)

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

* = This is sponsored content

SNIPPETS

Blue Origin is targeting December 18 for the long-delayed return launch of its New Shepard rocket after a 15+ month grounding, pending FAA approval.

Google Fiber revealed its lightning-fast 20Gbps fiber internet service will cost $250 per month, starting rollout in early 2024 to Kansas City, North Carolina, Arizona and Iowa.

BlackBerry canceled its planned spinoff of its IoT unit and named John Giamatteo as its new CEO, dropping the previously announced restructuring plan in favor of reorganizing while aiming for profitability.

Adobe launched Spectrum 2, a refreshed design system coming to 100+ apps starting in early 2024, aiming for a more vibrant, accessible and approachable user experience.

Meta is launching an early test of multimodal AI features in its Ray-Ban smart glasses — which use the camera and mics to let the virtual assistant describe surroundings and suggest relevant info on visuals.

The FCC made a final rejection of SpaceX's Starlink subsidiary's application for $885M in government rural broadband funds, ruling that the company did not demonstrate it could deliver the proposed service.

Netflix published its first "What We Watched" report detailing viewing hours for all titles on the platform above 50K hours, aiming to boost transparency.

SPONSOR US

⚡️ Get your product in front of over 75k+ tech enthusiasts

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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❤️ Rundown review of the day

Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

French startup Mistral just flexed some serious AI muscle — dropping a powerful new model alongside a whopping $415M raise at a $2B valuation.

With an impressive model and major funding — is there a new AI powerhouse brewing in France? Let’s investigate…

In today’s AI rundown:

• Mistral announces new open-source model

• Creator replicates Gemini demo with GPT-4V

• 9 new AI tools to try

• How to level up your notes with NotebookLM

• Google explores using AI for your life story

• Stanford researchers release W.A.L.T. for AI video

• Meta debuts Audiobox demo for AI voice, sound effects

Read time: 4 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

MISTRAL

🚀 Mistral announces new open-source model

Image source: Mistral

The Rundown: French startup Mistral AI just released Mixtral, an open-source 45B parameter AI model using advanced “mixture of experts” architecture to match rivals with far lower cost — while also announcing an eye-popping $415M Series A round that values the company at $2B.

The details:

• Mixtral matches or outperforms models like LLaMA 2 and GPT-3.5 on most benchmarks while running 6x faster.

• It significantly improves on past Mistral multilingual and scientific reasoning abilities in areas like math and code generation.

• Mistral also introduced La Plateforme, which provides API access to hosted versions of Mixtral and its other models to quickly build apps.

Why it matters: With lean team of top researchers and rapid iterations, Mistral continues pushing boundaries on efficient yet powerful open models. Notably, the new $415 Series A round comes about 6 months after a $113m seed round — showing serious money is flooding into open-source.

You can try compare Mistral’s new model to GPT here.

TOGETHER WITH NOTION AI

🧠 A search bar for your second brain

The Rundown: Unlock new levels of productivity with Notion Q&A - your personal assistant in the digital realm.

Notion’s new Q&A feature lets you ask any question about your entire Notion workspace:

• What action items came out of my meeting with my manager last week?

• Where can I find my class notes on the nervous system?

• Summarize the activities I have planned for my trip to London

Elevate your workflow with instant knowledge  – ask, explore, and let Notion Assistant be your key to seamless productivity. Dive into your workspace and test it out today.

GEMINI OPENAI

🎥 Creator replicates Gemini demo with GPT-4V

Image source: Greg Technology on YouTube

The Rundown: In the wake of Google’s backlash around the ‘faked’ Gemini demo (covered yesterday), creator Greg.Technology just replicated the video using GPT-4V in real-time —  prompting without edits to highlight how far ahead GPT-4V is when even compared to the staged Gemini demo.

The details:

• Greg recreated key parts of the polarizing Gemini demo, which wowed viewers before being exposed as a misleading representation of the model’s capabilities.

• Greg voiced over GPT-4V generating live reactions to his drawings, emoji signals and games, achieving a responsive back-and-forth.

• He published the code and acknowledged the remake wasn't as polished as Google's production, but demonstrated ChatGPT's prowess in real-time.

The relevance: GPT-4 looks to still set the gold standard, excelling at voice tasks even without edits. Videos like this make the Gemini misstep look even worse — presenting serious questions heading into a critical launch for Google.

TRENDING TOOLS

🤖 Tars Copilot- Stop worrying about project management for good - let Tars (inspired by Interstellar) handle your tasks, deadlines and project status (link)*

🎥 Dubverse- Easiest (and magical) way to dub videos (link)

🔥 Krater.ai- Your one-stop AI powerhouse for a multitude of tasks. (link)

🌄 Freepik Pikaso- Real-time AI-powered sketch-to-image conversion (link)

💼 BoldDesk- An affordable Zendesk & Freshdesk alternative at half the cost (link)

📖 Depth Tale- Craft interactive stories easily with a modern, user-friendly platform (link)

🎧 Xound- AI-powered tool ensuring pristine audio and pitch for content creators (link)

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

🕵️‍♂️ GPT Zero- Detect whether an essay is ChatGPT or human-written (link)

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

* = This is sponsored content

AI TRAINING

📓 How to level up your notes with NotebookLM

Google’s AI note-taking app just got a major upgrade with Gemini — and its available for free. Here’s how to take advantage of this productivity hack:

Get access: Sign up for NotebookLM here. If you're outside the U.S., just use a VPN or Opera Browser.

Add your docs: Click on "New source" and select the Docs you want to add to your Notebook (as many as you want). NotebookLM will automatically give you a summary or "Source Guide" for the Docs you upload.

Ask questions: In your Source Guide box, you'll also see auto-generated questions to try — it’s the ultimate ChatPDF. You can also opt to ask your own questions.

Pin quotes: NotebookLM automatically shares citations from your sources whenever it answers a question — so you can quickly jump from a citation to the source, letting you see the quote in its original context.

Change formats: NotebookLM also helps organize your notes into structured documents — simply select a set of notes you’ve collected and ask NotebookLM to create something new, like a study guide or email newsletter.

Take your notes to the next level with this amazing AI organizer!

QUICK HITS

🎙️ Meta debuts demo for AI voice, sound effects

Meta just launched a demo of Audiobox, its foundation model for generating highly realistic, voices, sound effects, and music — created from a combination of natural text prompts and/or voice inputs. Try the model for yourself here.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

📖 Google explores using AI for your life story

Demo drama aside, Google has reportedly floated "Project Ellmann" to leverage Gemini AI and generate users' life events from just data from your phone. Envisioning AI that knows "everything about your life," features could include chatbots detailing your bio and travel history from photos.

🎥 Stanford researchers release W.A.L.T. for AI video

Stanford researchers just introduced W.A.L.T., an AI system that generates photorealistic and consistent video from text prompts or still images — while also capable of outputs with consistent 3D camera motion. Check out some of the the wild demo generations here.

💼 New jobs in the world of AI

Senior Sales Engineer at OctoML

Applied Engineering: Head of Data Engineering at OpenAI

Senior Electrical Engineer at Shield AI

Browse all available AI job positions with our job board.

SPONSOR US

🦾 Get your product in front of over 400k+ AI enthusiasts

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

That’s it for today’s news in the world of AI!

If you have anything interesting to share, please reach out to us by sending us a DM on Twitter: @rowancheung & @therundownai

❤️ Rundown review of the day

Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

3D printing just ventured where light can’t reach — inside your body.

Researchers are using focused ultrasound waves to bioprint custom structures within organs — unlocking a new world of possibility. Let’s dig deeper…

In today’s tech rundown:

• Ultrasound prints implants INSIDE the body

• Teens still hooked on YouTube, TikTok despite backlash

• 8 new products

• Reddit suffers major outages

• TikTok acquires major Indonesian e-commerce giant

• Apple releases major iOS update, new journal app

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

3D PRINTING TECH

🖨️ Ultrasound tech prints implants INSIDE the body

Image source: Duke University

The Rundown: Duke and Harvard researchers just devised a technique using focused soundwaves to solidify an injected "ink," enabling non-invasive 3D printing of customized implants deep inside human tissue.

The details:

• The process called DAVP hardens a biocompatible liquid into scaffolds, drug reservoirs, or other structures by targeting it with a specialized ultrasound probe.

• Light can't penetrate skin, so existing bioprinting is limited — but ultrasounds can reach over 100x deeper, allowing inner-body use.

• In tests, DAVP sealed heart tissue, regenerated bone, and printed chemotherapeutic gels in livers without damaging surroundings.

• The technique could enable less invasive surgeries, and enable treatments targeting organs previously unreachable.

The relevance: While we didn’t have 3D printing INSIDE the body on our bingo cards, technology continues to amaze. This research has enormous medical potential if proven safe at scale — opening the door for a wave of new treatments.

TOGETHER WITH JASPER

🦄 Accelerate content generation with AI

The Rundown: Unleash the power of Jasper, the generative AI tool that crafts captivating content at 10x speed:

• Generate SEO content, Facebook ads, video scripts and more

• Scan and identify your brand voice for seamless integration

• Receive actionable insight to improve and adapt your content

Click here to transform your content game, and let Jasper help you stop posting “AI-sounding” content today.

TECH TRENDS

📱Teens still hooked on YouTube, TikTok despite backlash

Image source: Midjourney

The Rundown: A new Pew Research survey just found that YouTube and TikTok still dominate teens' media diets, with nearly 1 in 5 saying they use each platform "almost constantly" despite proliferating concerns.

The details:

• Among 1,453 surveyed teens ages 13-17, 93% use YouTube and 63% use TikTok. Trailing were Snapchat (60%), Instagram (59%) and Facebook (33%).

• 33% said they use at least one of those apps nearly constantly — and 46% use the internet overall almost constantly.

• While popularity remains high, growth for sites like Facebook and Twitter (now X) has declined over the decade.

Why it matters: For anyone who interacts with teenagers, these numbers shouldn’t come as a surprise. Despite concerns in the media, sites like YouTube and TikTok still have a vice grip on the younger generation (and most of us in general) as the world continues to get more and more digital.

NEW PRODUCTS

🤖 Tars Copilot- Stop worrying about project management for good - let Tars (inspired by Interstellar) handle your tasks, deadlines and project status (link)*

📰 GPT-4 generated legal news website- Stay updated with AI-generated legal news (link)

💡 Kel- An AI-powered assistant for command-line interfaces (link)

🔧 LLM Templates- Efficiently manage daily activities with pre-designed language model templates (link)

🧠 Imagine with Meta AI- Meta's web-based competitor to Midjourney, driven by AI (link)

🐦 TweetHunter- All-in-one Twitter growth tool to create content using AI, build an audience, and schedule posts (link)

⚡️ Notion AI- Your notes, on steroids. Access the limitless power of AI, right inside Notion (link)

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

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

* = This is sponsored content

SNIPPETS

Reddit has resolved a significant outage that disrupted the loading of posts and comments for users.

TikTok owner ByteDance agreed to acquire a 75% stake in Indonesian e-commerce giant Tokopedia, resuming operations after being banned from the country in October.

The Browser Company has launched a beta version of its Arc browser for Windows users with invites being sent out to those on the waitlist.

Apple has released iOS 17.2 featuring a new Journal app, enhanced Siri health interactions, and various other updates across its device ecosystem.

Researchers at Northwestern University have created specially designed VR goggles for mice to better understand their brain reactions to perceived aerial attacks.

Google Play Movies & TV is slated to shut down on January 17, 2024, leading to the dispersal of purchased content.

United Launch Alliance will only manage three rocket launches in 2023, with the debut of its Vulcan rocket postponed until January 2024 due to ground system issues.

SPONSOR US

⚡️ Get your product in front of over 75k+ tech enthusiasts

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

If you have anything interesting to share, please reach out to us by sending us a DM on Twitter: @rowancheung & @therundowntech

❤️ Rundown review of the day

Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

Google’s viral Gemini demo is under fire this week — with the revelation that the video relied on heavy editing to overstate the model’s capabilities.

Is the hyped model farther behind ChatGPT than initially thought, or is this just a simple PR miscommunication? Let’s investigate…

In today’s AI rundown:

• Google under fire after misleading Gemini demo

• Europe breaks new ground with landmark AI rules

• 9 new AI tools to try

• How to bring emojis to life with AI

• Seattle backs revolutionary DNA tech with $75M

• Google NotebookLM rolls out to all U.S. users

Read time: 3 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

GOOGLE

🐥 Google under fire after misleading Gemini demo

Image source: Google

The Rundown: Google is facing backlash after admitting its flashy Gemini demo video utilized heavy editing and prompts to make the model seem more impressive — misleading consumers with the viral video. What the quack!?

The details:

• The slick demo wowed viewers with Gemini's capability in tasks like recognizing drawings — with Google now revealing it wasn't live.

• In reality, frames were extracted from footage, and then researchers entered written prompts for Gemini off-camera, massaging the interactions.

• Some defend brief demo embellishment as common practice — but critics argue it misrepresents capabilities.

Why it matters: It’s been a rollercoaster for Google/Gemini over the past week — with the demo quickly going from an incredible achievement to what now feels a bit like smoke and mirrors. If the model is as capable as Google claims, it would’ve been best to demo it transparently and let Gemini speak for itself.

TOGETHER WITH ARTISAN

🤖 The age of AI employees is upon us: meet Artisan

The Rundown: Meet Ava, your new AI employee. Ava is an SDR with 10x the skills of a human appointment setter, but for 4% of the cost.

Artisans are highly advanced digital workers, and Ava is the first one - she:

• Forms your ICP and prospects from a database of 270M+ contacts

• Warm up email addresses and send 1000s of hyper-personalized cold outreach emails

• Autonomously schedule meetings in your calendar

Hire Ava today and 10x your leads, meetings & deals.

AI REGULATION

🇪🇺 Europe breaks new ground with landmark AI rules

Image source: Commissioner Thierry Breton on X

The Rundown: After a marathon of talks, EU officials finally clinched a tentative deal establishing the world's first comprehensive legal framework governing AI systems — though some critics argue it doesn't go far enough.

The details:

• The Artificial Intelligence Act aims to ensure oversight of high-risk AI through transparency, risk management, and human review.

• It covers controversial areas like the use of facial recognition, with compromises allowing law enforcement applications.

• The act will be officially voted on early next year and won’t take effect until at least 2025.

Our thoughts: AI regulation is a polarizing issue — with many feeling the act doesn’t go far enough and others saying its overreach destroys European AI advancement potential. Regardless of where it truly lands, Europe makes the first major move — establishing itself as a potential leader on the AI legal front.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

TRENDING TOOLS

🤖 Freeflo- Create better AI images with beautiful, free and endlessly reusable style prompts for Midjourney, Clipdrop, Firefly and DALL-E (link)*

🧑 Taskade Custom AI Agents- Specialized tools designed to automate routine activities like research, task management, and content creation (link)

💌 Charm Check- Transform your dating profile into an attractive one with expert guidance (link)

🔍 ayraa- Your AI-powered workplace search assistant (link)

🎬 Video Translation by Akool- Easily translate and adapt your videos with a single click (link)

📚 BigRead.ai- Enhance your learning experience with an AI-powered personal tutor (link)

📤 Outboundly.ai- Streamline your AI-driven cold communication efforts (link)

💼 Taplio- All-in-one AI-powered tool for creating, managing, and growing your personal brand on LinkedIn (link)

⚡️ Notion AI- Your notes, on steroids. Access the limitless power of AI, right inside Notion (link)

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

* = This is sponsored content (delete if no tool sponsors)

AI TRAINING

🐈 How to bring emojis to life with AI

The viral trend of the week? Bringing emojis to life with AI image upscaling.

Follow the steps below by Dogan Ural to bring your favorite emoji to life

Step 1: Select a Detailed Emoji. Pick an emoji with clear visual elements like facial features, hair, accessories, etc. The more nuanced details, the better the AI can render it. For the example below, we used the cat emoji.

Step 2: Upload to an Upscaler. Download your chosen emoji and upload it to an AI image upscaler (Magnific or Krea work best).

Step 3: Craft Your Prompt. Write a text prompt describing the emoji plus any animation notes, ex: “Joy emoji with sparkling eyes, slowly spinning and laughing.”

Step 4: Generate Your Emoji. Hit enter and slide the upscaler to watch your new detailed emoji render. Tweak prompts and weights, re-generating until it’s just right!

QUICK HITS

⚡️ Almost 80% of developers believe generative AI boosts their productivity (sponsor)

What's your take? Take part in the Developer Nation Survey and influence the future of the developer ecosystem. Every respondent will get a virtual goodie bag packed with FREE resources and the chance to win amazing prizes!

Start the survey now!

🧬 Seattle backs revolutionary DNA tech with $75M

UW Medicine and partners just secured $75M to advance "DNA typewriters" — cells that self-record biological data over time. Envisioned as smartwatches for cells, the tech blends AI and biotech to leverage DNA's digital properties as a storage mechanism.

📝 Google NotebookLM rolls out to all U.S. users

Google just opened its experimental AI note-taking app NotebookLM to everyone in the U.S., alongside new features and upgrades. Now armed with document transformation and Gemini integration, NotebookLM can summarize notes, answer questions, and even turn them into outlines or scripts.

💼 New jobs in the world of AI

Director of Sales Engineering at OctoML

QA Engineer at Robust Intelligence

Government Partnerships Lead at Anthropic

Browse all available AI job positions with our job board.

SPONSOR US

🦾 Get your product in front of over 400k+ AI enthusiasts

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

That’s it for today’s news in the world of AI!

If you have anything interesting to share, please reach out to us by sending us a DM on Twitter: @rowancheung & @therundownai

❤️ Rundown review of the day

Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

The FDA just handed a pioneering gene editing treatment landmark approval — harnessing precision DNA snipping to override sickle cell deficiency.

Has the CRISPR revolution officially arrived in the medical world? Let’s find out.

In today’s tech rundown:

• FDA greenlights landmark first CRISPR treatment

• Snapchat+ tops $20M revenue

• 9 new products

• Google shuts down Beeper’s Android-iMessage integration

• Elon Musk reinstates Alex Jones to Twitter/X

• Apple’s USB-C update rumored for Spring 2024

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

GENE EDITING

✂️ FDA greenlights landmark first CRISPR treatment

Image source: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

The Rundown: The FDA just approved the first ever CRISPR-based treatment in a landmark moment for gene editing — with the therapy set to treat debilitating sickle cell disease.

The details:

• Called CTX001 or Casgevy, the one-time treatment involves using CRISPR to switch on the production of an alternate "fetal" hemoglobin protein that prevents sickling.

• It works by cutting out the gene that normally shuts off fetal hemoglobin after birth — allowing it to resume circulating and blocking sickle hemoglobin's damaging effects.

• In trials, over 90% of patients went 1+ years crisis-free after getting their edited stem cells infused back into the body post-chemo.

Why it matters: Now proven viable, expect a deluge of CRISPR treatments leveraging precision DNA editing to overcome conditions long thought untreatable. Let’s hope this moment kickstarts a healthcare revolution.

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SNAPCHAT

📸 Snapchat+ tops $20M revenue

Image source: Snap

The Rundown: Snapchat's paid subscription quietly continued its explosive growth — passing $20M in monthly revenue for the first time in November amid climbing demand for perks like early AI access.

The details:

• Snapchat+ revenue jumped 23% month-over-month to over $31M before commissions, its second-biggest increase ever.

• The app now boasts over 5 million subscribers globally, with the top markets for spending including the U.S., UK, France, and Australia.

• Features like expanded access to the ‘My AI’ chatbot and ‘Dreams’ AI selfies, along with new visual filters, continue to attract fresh sign-ups.

The relevance: While Snapchat may have fallen out of favor with older social media users, there looks to still be serious demand from the younger demographics. And those younger audiences are showing a surprising willingness to pay for digital life enhancements and new AI features.

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🎞️ Vizard- Transform a single long video into multiple viral clips with ease (link)

🔧 Flux- Hardware-oriented ChatGPT (link)

📘 Ello- An AI-powered reading companion designed to enchant kids with the joy of books (link)

💻 KATA Teams- Enhance your engineering team's productivity with a supportive second screen (link)

💡 Mixo- Launch a startup in seconds with AI (link)

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

🦿 My AskAI- Create your own ChatGPT from your content (link)

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

* = This is sponsored content

SNIPPETS

Apple shut down Beeper Mini, an app designed to integrate iMessage with Android, citing concerns over security and user privacy exploitation.

Elon Musk conducted a poll on X, and following a majority "Yes" vote, controversial conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been reinstated after a five-year ban.

A Bluetooth SIG database listing suggests the imminent launch of the Samsung Galaxy Fit 3 fitness tracker.

Apple is rumored to update its Mac accessories with USB-C ports by the spring of 2024, signaling a further retreat from its Lightning connector.

Ford's upcoming collaboration between its F-150 Lightning pickup and Resideo smart thermostats will demonstrate using the EV's battery for powering home AC when grid rates are high.

The Raspberry Pi OS now includes an easy-to-toggle dark mode, protecting your vision during extended use.

Amazon filed a motion to dismiss the FTC's antitrust lawsuit alleging it uses unfair monopolistic tactics — arguing a lack of evidence the company’s practices actually raised prices or harmed consumers.

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❤️ Rundown review of the day

Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

OpenAI’s former board member Helen Toner is finally speaking out — detailing the events that led up to Sam Altman’s ousting last month.

Her account sheds more light on the juicy drama, revealing a feud over a critical paper prompting a power struggle. Let’s investigate…

In today’s AI rundown:

• Helen Toner speaks on Altman's firing

• Grok begins rolling out to X Premium+ users

• 9 new AI tools to try

• How to get inspired with AI visualizations

• Meta unveils high-fidelity VR avatars

• Inflection’s Pi chatbot comes to Android

• Scientists build cyborg rescue bugs

Read time: 3 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

OPENAI

🚨 Helen Toner speaks on Altman’s firing

Image source: Getty Images

The Rundown: OpenAI board member Helen Toner spoke out about the tense boardroom drama that saw her vote to oust CEO Sam Altman in a new interview with The Wall Street Journal.

The details:

• Toner denies AI safety concerns drove Altman's firing, instead citing eroded trust.

• The two had clashed prior to the firing over a paper she co-authored in October on AI safety, which Altman felt was too critical of OpenAI.

• Altman supposedly tried swaying directors to remove her, with his allies publicly attacking her credentials and priorities.

• Toner said she was surprised by employee loyalty to Altman but that OpenAI's duty isn't to his leadership but its mission of ‘ensuring AGI benefits all humanity’.

Why it matters: The behind-the-scenes drama from one of the wildest company situations in history continues to drip out. These details paint the feud as more of a power struggle than an existential crisis towards uncontrollable AI systems.

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XAI

🚀 Grok begins rolling out to X Premium+ users

Image source: xAI

The Rundown: Elon Musk just announced that xAI’s ChatGPT competitor Grok is officially rolling out to X Premium+ subscribers, unleashing the Twitter-trained uncensored chatbot to the public for the first time.

The details:

• Grok is only rolling out to US-based Premium+ users for now.

• Grok uses real-time data from Twitter/X to source responses, apparently even scraping our post for the latest AI news.

• The edgy chatbot is positioned as an uncensored, ‘anti-woke,’ rebellious alternative to competitors — answering questions that would be avoided or refused by ChatGPT.

• The release comes on the heels of a reported SEC filing that xAI is looking to raise up to $1B in investment.

The relevance: The real-time info access to Twitter/X sets Grok massively apart from the alternatives — but questions remain on how the team at xAI will filter out the disinformation/noise on the platform. More to come…

QUESTION OF THE DAY

TRENDING TOOLS

✨ Gemini- Google's answer to GPT-4 (link)

🤖 GPT Wrapped- ChatGPT year in review recaps your usage in 2023 (link)

💰 Payback- GPT-4 Vision enabled expense tracker (link)

📝 AI Applicant Sorting- Chat-powered assistant to help you review resumes 10x faster (link)

✍ Strut AI- All-in-one AI workspace designed for writers (link)

🚨 Openlayer- Slack or email alerts for when your AI fails (link)

🎬 Animaker AI- The future of AI animations starts here (link)

📆 Vimcal- Calendar app on steroids. Assists users in scheduling and organizing events efficiently (link)

💬 Chatbase- Create a ChatGPT-like chatbot widget for your website (link)

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

AI TRAINING

💡 How to get inspired with AI visualizations

Need some extra motivation or inspiration as we inch closer to the new year?

Here's an incredibly simple yet powerful way to envision and manifest your ideal future self in 2024 — courtesy of Jodie Cook:

Open ChatGPT and type the following prompt:

"Generate an inspirational landscape image depicting my ideal future self from behind, wearing [insert clothing], [insert action like working, relaxing etc.], and situated in [describe ideal location like apartment, office etc.]"

Save the image as your desktop background, using it as inspiration to help visualize your ideal reality!

QUICK HITS

📱Inflection’s Pi chatbot comes to Android

Inflection just announced that its personal AI chatbot Pi is now available for Android users in the Google Play store. The supportive companion was also recently upgraded to Inflection-2, which the company hails as a more capable model with ‘dramatically improved reasoning’.

🕶️ Meta unveils high-fidelity VR avatars

Researchers at Meta just released a new update to its Codec Avatars, using 3D Gaussian Splatting to produce lifelike animated faces with incredible detail. By using this tech, we’ll soon be able to talk to someone seemingly across the table from us, who can be miles away in reality.

🪲 Scientists build cyborg rescue bugs

Is the world ready for AI bugs? Researchers are now creating bio-hybrid robot cockroaches — melding living tissues like muscles into android bodies. These cyborg cockroaches with sensors could soon be ‘the future of earthquake search and rescue’.

💼 New jobs in the world of AI

Principal Software Engineer (Firmware) at Rewind

DevOps Engineer at Fiddler AI

Partner Marketing Lead at Anthropic

Browse all available AI job positions with our job board.

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THAT’S A WRAP

That’s it for today’s news in the world of AI!

If you have anything interesting to share, please reach out to us by sending us a DM on Twitter: @rowancheung & @therundownai

❤️ Rundown review of the day

Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

Coinbase is making moves to update the financial system — rolling out a new feature enabling instant cross-border money transfers via shareable links.

With support for over 170 countries and simple transactions — the crypto giant is putting serious pressure on legacy banking. Let’s dive in…

In today’s tech rundown:

• Coinbase boosts global money transfers

• Drones saving lives with rapid AED deliveries

• 7 new products

• Amazon cancels Venmo payment option

• Threads rolls out ‘tags’ to connect users by topic

• Amazon’s new ‘Digit’ warehouse robot

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

COINBASE

💸 Coinbase boosts global money transfers

Image source: Coinbase

The Rundown: Coinbase just launched a new feature allowing users to instantly send money worldwide just by sharing a link, with no crypto or banking details required.

The details:

• Users can now send cash via messaging apps, email, social media, etc., by creating a shareable Coinbase link, with recipients able to claim funds with a single click.

• It expands access to crypto banking by supporting local payment methods across 170+ countries, crucial for inflation-racked regions.

• A simplified mode also focuses Coinbase Wallet on core send/receive functions to appeal to crypto newbies.

• Coinbase frames the feature as advancing economic freedom and connecting the unbanked, leaning into crypto's global payment promises.

Our thoughts: Hints of crypto's potential as a universal payment rail keep emerging. If tools continue simplifying, fast frictionless money could become reality — with huge appeal for younger populations tired of outdated banking systems.

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ROBOTICS

🚁 Drones saving lives with rapid AED deliveries

Image source: Everdrone

The Rundown: Swedish researchers found that drones equipped with automated external defibrillators (AEDs) arrived over 3 minutes faster than ambulances in most cardiac arrests, successfully saving one patient.

The details:

• Over an 11-month urban trial, drones autonomously carried AEDs to patients 67% of the time before paramedics arrived.

• Even at 3 minutes, every second sooner is crucial for survival odds.

• They covered 194 square kilometers from five bases, directed by dispatchers.

• Bystanders then retrieved and used the lowered devices — and out of 18 cardiac arrests, AEDs revived 1 patient.

• The researchers suggest integrating drones with first-aid apps for other time-sensitive emergencies, such as drug overdoses.

Why it matters: In critical emergencies, every second counts. And while the sample size is low, increasing drone tech could be a perfect candidate for rapid response to life-saving situations.

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💌 Kombai for Email- Email designs to code that works even on Outlook, in a click (link)

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🖋 Frontitude- Craft consistent UX content at scale with the power of AI (link)

⚡️ Notion AI- Your notes, on steroids. Access the limitless power of AI, right inside Notion (link)

🎙️ Wondercraft AI- Turn existing content such as blog posts, into full podcasts (link)

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

SNIPPETS

Amazon removed the ability to directly pay with Venmo just over a year after adding the option in October 2022, providing no reason for nixing the payment method as customers are left with fewer checkout options.

Threads is finally rolling out hashtags globally rebranded as "tags" to help connect people by topics, limited to one per post.

A new Spectre-like flaw, SLAM, affecting Intel, AMD, and Arm CPUs has been discovered, but manufacturers believe it's already been mitigated.

Meta is rolling out default end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for Messenger and Facebook chats and calls, despite opposition from law enforcement agencies.

Android phones can now automatically send medical data like age, blood type, and allergies to first responders during 911 calls.

Amazon introduces Digit, a humanoid robot for warehouse tasks that will eventually cost only $3 per hour to operate.

The iPhone 15 Pro's upcoming iOS 17.2 update will improve telephoto camera focusing and introduce features for Apple's Vision Pro headset.

SPONSOR US

⚡️ Get your product in front of over 75k+ tech enthusiasts

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THAT’S A WRAP

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❤️ Rundown review of the day