Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

Everyone in the AI world is talking about Google’s Gemini — but apparently, Mark Zuckerberg isn’t a big horoscope guy.

Meta just charged ahead with its own updates, including a massive amount of new AI features and upgrades across its suite of social platforms. Let’s dig in…

In today’s AI rundown:

• Meta reveals major AI upgrades

• McDonald's uses AI to aid workers

• 9 new AI tools to try

• How to recreate any image with AI

• AI helps decode whale language

• Alibaba video AI relies on scraped TikTok clips

• Meta releases expressive voice translator demo

Read time: 3 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

META

🚀 Meta reveals major AI upgrades

Image source: Meta

The Rundown: Meta just revealed over 20 new AI-powered features in progress, spanning search, messaging, ads and more — plus upgrades to Meta AI assistant with a standalone image generator, IG Reels discovery, and more.

The details:

• New capabilities on Facebook and Instagram leverage Meta's Emu models to remix group images, edit posts, create marketplace listings, and suggest replies for creators.

• Meta AI gets more helpful responses, search result summaries, Reel recommendations, and more to upgrade users’ in-message experiences.

• Meta also launched its image generator Imagine as a standalone app — with invisible watermarks to increase transparency on AI images.

The relevance: Despite Yesterday being all about Gemini, Meta clearly didn’t get the memo — with a massive drop of features set to infuse AI even more across their social platforms. Zuck and co. continue to ‘just ship it’.

TOGETHER WITH AE STUDIO

🔥 Don’t lose the AI race, hire AE Studio

The Rundown: AE Studio is the key to industry dominance, securing AI talent from Harvard, Stanford, and MIT to streamline operations.

What AE Studio will do for you:

• Turbocharge your business, save hundreds of hours, and WIN!

• Have AE build custom your custom software and AI solutions.

• Hire AE to pinpoint where and why you should be building NOW!

Stop waiting and start winning by scheduling your FREE strategy session with AE Studio today to take control of your future in the AI race. Book now!

MCDONALDS

🍔 McDonald's uses AI to aid workers

Image source: Getty Images

The Rundown: McDonald's is leveraging Google's generative AI tools to build digital upgrades — including an ‘Ask Pickles’ chatbot that provides restaurant employees guidance on equipment cleaning and maintenance.

The details:

• The ‘Ask Pickles’ chatbot will train on manuals and data from McDonald's locations to instantly answer worker questions.

• The chatbot is part of a broader tech overhaul using Google Cloud's edge computing to enable data gathering on everything from fryers to supply chains.

• McDonald’s already uses AI for ordering at 100 drive-thus, with plans to expand its usage.

• The massive amount of data from over 50,000 restaurants will be used to train AI models to continue optimizing systems and experiences.

Why it matters: AI thrives on large amounts of data — something that McDonald’s has no shortage of at its army of locations. With a reported over 40% of the company’s sales coming from digital channels, the fast-food giant is wisely doubling down on its tech infrastructure.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

TRENDING TOOLS

🤖 Deepgram- Introducing Aura, a powerful text-to-speech (TTS) API built for real-time conversations. Be the first to try Aura by joining the waitlist (link)*

🚀 Streak AI- The CRM co-pilot for teams in Gmail (link)

💽 TableFlow- Open-source CSV importer, alternative to Flatfile (link)

🦾 Kommunicate GenAI- Easily deploy generative AI bots on any platform (link)

🔍 Stey.ai- Using AI to analyze your user behavior replays (link)

💬 CopilotKit- Build in-app AI chatbots and AI-powered text areas (link)

📝 Never Jobless- Maximize your interview chances with AI-powered LinkedIn messaging (link)

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

🦾 Browse AI- Train a robot in 2 minutes to extract and monitor data from any website (link)

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

* = This is sponsored content

AI TRAINING

🎨 How to recreate any image with AI

Want to create your own cartoon avatar or an oil painting of a real image? It’s never been easier with the ability to upload images in DALLE-3. Follow the steps below to recreate any image in the style you want:

Analyze the photo: Upload the image and ask ChatGPT to describe it in detail.

Recreate it: Prompt DALL-E to generate a new version based on the previous description. You can ask for various styles or edits in any way you’d like — for the example below, we created an anime version of an uploaded Taylor Swift image.

Upscale resolution: After getting a generation you like, use AI photo enhancers like KREA or Magnific to sharpen details and boost quality.

With the power to upload, remake, remix, and enhance images, DALL-E turns inspirational photos into springboards for entirely new creations. Let your imagination run wild!

QUICK HITS

🐳 AI helps decode whale language

Are we about to be able to communicate with animals? Analysis aided by AI just revealed that sperm whale clicks contain recurrent vowel-like patterns and diphthongs — whale equivalents to human speech sounds. The research showcases AI’s promise in potentially cracking animal language mysteries.

🎥 Alibaba video AI relies on scraped TikTok clips

Alibaba researchers' new "Animate Anyone” AI clones TikTok dances — but is coming under fire for being trained on a dataset scraping popular TikTok creators without consent. The situation adds yet another case to the growing list of copyright and usage complaints surrounding AI training data.

🗣️ Meta releases expressive voice translator demo

Meta just released a demo of its ‘SeamlessExpressive’ model, which enables speech translation across languages while maintaining key elements like vocal style, tone, and expressions. Try it out with your own voice here.

💼 New jobs in the world of AI

Trust and Safety Analyst at Anthropic

Site Reliability Engineer at Hugging Face

Customer Success 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.

Is Apple losing its luster? After a quiet, slumping year of sales, the tech giant is reportedly plotting a major set of releases for early 2024.

But will the updates be enough to get consumers to open their wallets? Let’s investigate…

In today’s tech rundown:

• Apple preps iPad and Mac upgrades to boost sales

• Giant CO2 battery aims to slash emissions

• 9 new products

• AMD introduces new AI chips to compete with NVIDIA

• Scientists develop new device for insulin delivery

• 23andMe updates ToS, new class action waiver

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

APPLE

🍎 Apple preps iPad and Mac upgrades to boost sales

Image source: Bloomberg

The Rundown: After an unprecedented lull in iPad releases, Apple is reportedly (paywall article) readying major iPad and Mac updates for early 2024 — featuring new sizes, displays, processors, and more — to help reinvigorate declining sales.

The details:

• New models incoming allegedly include a 12.9" iPad Air joining the 10.9" version, an iPad Pro with OLED displays, an M3 MacBook Air, and OS software updates.

• The refreshes target the slumping Mac and iPad business, now accounting for just 15% of Apple's revenue.

• The company saw iPad sales drop 10% and Mac sales plunge 34% last quarter.

• Other 2024 Apple device upgrades in the works range from the Vision VR/AR headset to blood pressure tracking Apple Watch models, new iPhone sizes, and updated AirPods.

The relevance: After no iPad updates for an entire year, it’s unsurprising to see a massive push coming in 2024. As the iPads inch towards near-Macbook capabilities, does one product line risk cannibalizing the other in the process?

TOGETHER WITH IMAGINE AI LIVE ‘24

⚡️ Transform your business with AI

The Rundown: The pace of AI is relentless, even for the most informed individuals. Opportunities for transformative solutions that can revolutionize business are emerging at an unprecedented speed.

Mark your calendar for a one-of-a-kind experience at the first cross-industry AI enterprise summit, March 27-28, at the new Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

Join like-minded AI leaders, thinkers, and disruptors in a collaborative quest to redefine business and the future of work with AI.

Secure your spot now.

ENERGY TECH

🔋 Giant CO2 battery aims to slash emissions

Image source: Energy Dome

The Rundown: An Italian startup just built a first-of-its-kind battery using carbon dioxide instead of lithium to store renewable energy — with big implications for costs and sustainability.

The details:

• Energy Dome's CO2 battery works by compressing CO2 gas into liquid to store energy, then converting it back to gas to generate electricity.

• Using CO2 instead of air allows 10x smaller facilities, with the system cutting costs in half versus lithium-ion batteries by utilizing steel.

• After a successful pilot plant, Energy Dome secured €140 million to build a large-scale CO2 battery plant in Sardinia.

Why it matters: Using CO2 to cut… CO2 may sound odd, but Energy Dome's closed-loop battery touts dramatic space and cost edges over lithium. If scalable, these savings could drive mass adoption to slash emissions.

NEW PRODUCTS

🤖 Deepgram- Introducing Aura, a powerful text-to-speech (TTS) API built for real-time conversations. Be the first to try Aura by joining the waitlist (link)*

🕸 Toofan- Next-gen AI web design studio (link)

🎨 Visual Electric- The first image generator designed for creatives (link)

🎧 PodMixt- Get personalized audio summaries of your favorite podcasts (link)

🤖 Competely- AI-powered competitive analysis in minutes (link)

🎥 MagicAnimate- A model framework to transform images to dynamic videos (link)

🧠 Humata- Ask questions and chat with any file instantly using AI (link)

🔥 PromptPal- Share & discover the best AI prompts (link)

👾 Dante- Custom GPT chatbots trained on your data (link)

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

* = This is sponsored content

SNIPPETS

Google provides a recovery process for Drive for desktop users to retrieve files lost due to a sync issue.

AMD introduces MI300 chips for more efficient AI training, rivaling Nvidia.

Meta is adding new AI capabilities to Meta AI like "reimagine" for iterative image generation in chats and Reels integration, with over 20 new trial upgrades underway.

Researchers have developed DNA nanobots capable of exponential self-replication, potentially leading to in-body drug manufacturing applications.

Scientists have developed an implantable device (SHEATH) that could revolutionize insulin delivery for Type 1 diabetes.

Apple releases new MLX frameworks, hinting at potential expansion into generative AI applications, including text, image, and video generation.

23andMe updates its terms of service, including a class-action waiver, following a data breach, giving users 30 days to opt-out.

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.

Today’s news comes in an hour late — due to Google’s EMERGENCY press briefing, giving us just a few moments to update everything before sending.

However, it did not disappoint, with Google announcing GPT-4’s biggest competitor yet — Google Gemini. Let’s get to the rundown.

In today’s AI rundown:

• Google DeepMind reveals Gemini

• IBM and Meta lead 50+ groups in AI Alliance

• Microsoft boosts Copilot with new AI capabilities

• 9 new AI tools to try

• How to level up your job search with AI

• McKinsey: AI could unlock $340B for Wall Street

• Musk's xAI startup chases $1B

• Google DeepMind breaks ChatGPT (for research)

Read time: 4 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

GOOGLE DEEPMIND

✨ Google DeepMind reveals Gemini

Image source: Google DeepMind

The Rundown: Google DeepMind just revealed THREE versions of their most capable multimodal AI yet — Google Gemini (aka GPT-4’s biggest competitor).

The details:

• Gemini comes in three sizes — Ultra for complex tasks, Pro for scaling across a range of tasks, and Nano for efficient on-device tasks.

• Gemini Ultra’s performance beats current state-of-the-art results in 30 of 32 benchmarks used in LLM research & development.

• With a score of 90%, Gemini Ultra is the FIRST AI model to outperform human experts on the MMLU benchmark.

• Gemini has next-generation capabilities such as sophisticated reasoning, multimodality, and advanced coding.

• Google also announced Cloud TPU v5p, their most powerful TPU system to date, which Gemini is running off of.

• Gemini Pro will be in Google products (Gmail, YouTube, Docs, and more) through Bard starting today.

• Bard is now available in English in more than 170 countries here.

• Gemini Ultra will be rolling out early next year.

• Gemini will also be available directly on-device in Pixel 8, using Gemini Nano.

Why it matters: Google’s long-anticipated ‘ChatGPT killer‘ is finally here — with 3 unique models for enhanced flexibility. While we still have to wait to test the true power of ✨Gemini Ultra✨, at least we can try Gemini Pro in Bard, which is now the best free chatbot on the market (based on benchmarks).

TOGETHER WITH OPEN LAYER

📈 Ship your AI product with confidence

The Rundown: Tired of constantly checking for faults in your AI model? Get real-time alerts when things go sideways with Openlayer.

Openlayer lets you:

• Automate testing, evaluation, and observability

• Monitor models, manage prompts, and detect production errors

• Build AI products like traditional software

Get started with one line of code today.

IBM & META

🤝 IBM and Meta create the AI Alliance

Image source: IBM

The Rundown: Meta, IBM, and over 50 other companies, universities, and organizations just announced the formation of the ‘AI Alliance,’ with the mission of advancing open and responsible AI innovation.

The details:

• The AI Alliance aims to foster collaboration on AI safety, share open-source models and tools, boost hardware, and more.

• Others joining Meta and IBM include Stability AI, Intel, Oracle, Hugging Face, Dell, and Sony — with OpenAI noticeably absent.

• Initial projects target advancing trust & security tools, creating an open catalog of vetted resources, and advancing foundation models.

Why it matters: This push for open-source AI from some of the biggest names in the space is a massive step towards making the tech accessible to all — and alliances like this lay the groundwork for progress through collaboration.

MICROSOFT

🚀 Microsoft boosts Copilot with new AI capabilities

Image source: Microsoft

The Rundown: Marking Copilot's first anniversary, Microsoft just revealed a slate of powerful upgrades to the AI assistant, including GPT-4 Turbo integration, improved DALL-E image generation, and new features like Code Interpreter.

The details:

• GPT-4 Turbo will enable Copilot to tackle more complex, longer prompts across use cases like search, writing, and coding.

• An updated DALL-E model provides higher quality, more accurate images.

• Upcoming capabilities include multimodal Search to combine text and imagery, Deep Search for optimized queries, and tools like math/data analysis.

The relevance: Microsoft’s blog says this year “will be remembered as the moment that we, as individuals, began to harness the power of AI in our daily lives.” And with its dominance in the legacy business sector, Microsoft is uniquely positioned to truly bring that power to the people.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

TRENDING TOOLS

🔎 Notion Q&A- A search bar for your second brain - ask, explore, and let Notion Assistant be your key to seamless productivity (link)*

🔮 Spellar AI- AI-powered speaking co-pilot is ready to help you with communication (link)

🤖 Respell- Automate knowledge work using AI workflows and agents (link)

📷 Magnific AI- Advanced AI tech to achieve insanely high-res upscaling (link)

⏱️ ddle.dev- Instant 1-minute walkthrough for your website that you can share with everyone (link)

🤏 Amazon Q- Boost your workforce productivity with generative AI (link)

🎦 PPTX.ai- Generate slides from uploaded docs or a simple description within seconds (link)

🖥️ Super- Create a website from your Notion database in minutes (link)

💌 HoppyCoppy- Generate better emails and newsletters in seconds with AI (link)

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

* = This is sponsored content

AI TRAINING

💼 How to level up your job search with AI

On the hunt for a new job or just looking to improve your resume or LinkedIn profile? Let ChatGPT be an expert recruiter to get more attention from prospective employers:

No Resume: If you don’t have a resume, try this prompt to get one started. Make sure to provide ChatGPT with relevant details, and replace bracketed areas with your own background:

Prompt "I am a [marketer] with [7] years experience in [content creation]. Write a resume tailored for [a marketing manager role] highlighting my relevant qualifications."

Upgrade existing resume: Upload an image of your resume/LinkedIn profile to ChatGPT. If you have a specific job you are applying to, include the description/details to tailor outputs directly to the specific role.

Prompt: “I am a [marketer] applying for [job title] at [company]. Attached is my current resume, and a job description of the role. You are an expert hiring manager/recruiter — please provide detailed feedback on my resume, optimizing it for the role provided.”

QUICK HITS

💥 McKinsey: AI could unlock $340B for Wall Street

Consultancy McKinsey estimates (paywalled article) that generative AI tools could boost bank profits up to 15% or $340 billion annually via increased productivity. McKinsey sees automation transforming up to 70% of tasks as tools like ChatGPT spark an explosion in AI demand.

🤑 Musk's xAI startup chases $1B

Elon Musk's AI firm xAI is reportedly aiming to raise $1 billion in fresh funding — on top of $135 million banked already, according to an SEC filing. The cash injection comes as xAI inches closer to pushing Grok, the company’s ‘rebellious’ rival to ChatGPT.

💔 Google DeepMind breaks ChatGPT (for research)

Researchers at Google DeepMind just put out a new paper detailing their (research-driven) attack on rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT, finding that forcing the model to repeat a word forever causes it to leak training data. OpenAI seems to have since patched the attack, with ChatGPT now refusing the request.

💼 New jobs in the world of AI

Forward Deployed Engineer at Anthropic

Technical Investigator, Intel & Investigations at OpenAI

Founding Decentralized ML Research Engineer at Hugging Face

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.

Is Tesla putting too much confidence in flawed tech? That’s what claims from a former software engineer suggest.

The Tesla whistleblower is sounding the alarm that the autonomous driving systems may not be road-ready. Let’s dig deeper….

In today’s tech rundown:

• Ex-Tesla engineer blows whistle on "unsafe" tech

• Scientists engineer mess-free Christmas trees

• 8 new products

• Grand Theft Auto VI trailer breaks records

• 23andMe breach expands to 6.9M customers

• Bitcoin surges as ETF speculation continues

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

TESLA

🚘 Ex-Tesla engineer blows whistle on "unsafe" tech

Image source: BBC

The Rundown: A former Tesla software engineer turned whistleblower is warning that the company's autopilot and self-driving capabilities aren't yet reliable enough for public roads.

The details:

• Lukasz Krupski leaked internal data about customer issues like sudden braking to media, claiming his concerns were ignored internally at Tesla.

• He argues that both the hardware and software backing products like autopilot ‘aren't ready,’ calling drivers "experiments”.

• German newspaper Handelsblatt published the leaked Tesla files, with regulators reportedly now investigating.

• Krupski’s comments cast doubt on Elon Musk's boasts that Tesla has the "best real-world AI," though the firm disputes accounts of flaws.

The relevance: While the company basks in the glow of its hyped Cybertruck demo, Krupski’s claims highlight a major problem lurking — with major safety issues potentially derailing the progress made towards more mainstream autonomous vehicles.

SPONSORED BY ADPATIGO

Auto Insurance: Overpriced!

Just because you have to renew your auto insurance every 6 months does not mean you have to overpay!

The sad truth: 50% of U.S. drivers overpay for their auto insurance.

There are 3 SIMPLE steps to solve the problem:

Step 1) Visit our page on this

Step 2) Enter your Zip Code, fill out a 1-page form

Step 3) Review Your Lowest Auto Insurance Rates – It Only Takes a Minute

You will really enjoy the benefits of this simple process; you no longer have to be in the 50% that overpays!

GENETIC TECH

🎄 Scientists engineer mess-free Christmas trees

Image source: NC State

The Rundown: NC State researchers just bred a ‘Super Christmas Tree’ — testing 30,000 Fraser firs and choosing the best genetics to breed a taller, shapelier standard that barely sheds needles for a cleaner holiday.

The details:

• Fraser firs make up over 98% of Christmas trees grown in North Carolina — but shedding needles creates messy cleanup.

• NC State launched a decade-long quest for the best genetics, planting the top 25 firs with ideal traits into an orchard.

• With optimized genetics controlling needle retention, the gene-edited trees are expected to lose only 1-2% of needles.

• Lead researchers expect the tidier trees to save money for growers and delight customers — but the long growth cycle means a long wait before the engineered firs actually hit the market.

Our thoughts: While everyone likes a good Christmas tree, the needle cleanup is a pain point most can live without. Bring on the super Christmas trees — preferably without a decade's wait.

NEW PRODUCTS

🤖 Notion Q&A- A search bar for your second brain - ask, explore, and let Notion Assistant be your key to seamless productivity (link)*

🗄️ SuperDuperDB- Open-source framework for integrating AI with databases (link)

🧳 Swifty- Simplify business travel with your AI assistant (link)

💧 Watermark Remover by Magic Studio- Remove watermarks using AI in seconds (link)

🧩 Overwatch Data- AI-powered analysis of live news, social media and dark web feeds (link)

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

🧪 Quizgecko- AI online test and quiz maker (link)

📽 Fliki- Video creation made 10x simpler & faster with AI (link)

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

* = This is sponsored content

SNIPPETS

Grand Theft Auto VI’s trailer has already garnered 85 million YouTube views, breaking MrBeast's record for the most views of a video within 24 hours, despite being leaked a day early on X.

Bitcoin has surged over 150% in 2023, trading near $44K, as investors speculate that regulators may soon approve the first spot BTC exchange-traded fund allowing mainstream ownership.

Microsoft will let consumers pay for Windows 10 security updates for the first time once support ends in 2025, rather than extending support or forcing an OS upgrade.

23andMe now estimates its recent breach exposed personal information of about 6.9 million customers, drastically revising its initial estimate of just 14,000 accounts.

Looking Glass unveiled the $300 Looking Glass Go via Kickstarter, its first pocket-sized foldable volumetric display that shows 3D images.

Discord overhauled its mobile app with new navigation tabs like Messages and Notifications, reply features, and various performance upgrades.

Tesla code for its software update suggests new navigation features like speed camera warnings, construction avoidance routing, and upgraded driver monitoring to boost safety.

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.

Major sparks are flying in AI video — with Runway and Getty Images dropping a new partnership that could reshape video content creation across industries.

Will this collaboration be the catalyst that brings the transformative tech into the mainstream media? Let’s dive deeper…

In today’s AI rundown:

• Runway and Getty Images team up on AI video

• DeepMind creates AI that can learns from humans

• 10 new AI tools to try

• How to animate anything with AI

• AstraZeneca taps AI for cancer drug hunt

• Europe’s OpenAI competitor Mistral valued at $2B+

• OpenAI juiced investor return potential

Read time: 3 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

RUNWAY ML

🎥 Runway and Getty Images team up on AI video

Image source: Runway

The Rundown: AI video startup Runway ML just announced a partnership with stock media giant Getty Images to develop a powerful new generative model (not-so-creatively named Runway & Getty Images Model, or RGM).

The details:

• RGM will allow companies like Hollywood studios and ad agencies to fine-tune the model with their own data to create customized, high-quality video content.

• The partnership combines Runway's cutting-edge AI for realistic video generation with Getty's vast image library and distribution network.

• The news comes as Runway faces a lawsuit from artists, alleging the models were trained on their content without consent.

Why it matters: This collab shows serious potential to reshape workflows with AI in major industries. While the use of AI has been a hot-button issue, moves like this open the floodgates for mass adoption of the tech.

TOGETHER WITH OCTOML

🔥 Learn to leverage GenAI like the e-commerce visionaries

The Rundown: Learn from e-commerce pros on how you can leverage GenAI to shave off hours of design and production time in your own business.

They’ll share how you can:

• Create highly customized product assets at scale

• Generate and iterate new product design concepts quickly

• Mix multiple GenAI models to create powerful workflows

Register for the OctoML FREE live event on December 12th at 11 am PT, and get free credits to try OctoAI!

GOOGLE DEEPMIND

🧠 DeepMind creates AI that can learn from humans

Image source: Google DeepMind

The Rundown: Researchers from Google DeepMind just developed a new way for AI agents to acquire knowledge from human demonstrations in real-time — allowing for "cultural transmission" without needing large datasets.

The details:

• The agents can learn from humans in a rich 3D simulation by observing movements and reproducing behaviors.

• The system uses deep reinforcement learning combined with memory, attention mechanisms, and automatic curriculum learning to achieve strong performance.

• Tests show the AI can generalize across tasks, recall demos when the expert is gone, and closely match human trajectories with goals.

Why it matters: Cultural transmission in AI enables feedback loops that can massively amplify learning over time. This method is a stepping stone towards systems that accumulate knowledge over generations, just like humans.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

TRENDING TOOLS

📊 Danelfin- AI-powered stock-picking tool with up to a 94% win rate (link)*

📱 D-ID Creative Reality- Animate any face, anytime, anywhere, right from your phone (link)

📚 Papermark AI- Open-source AI document assistant (link)

💡 PromptForge- Prompt extension for ChatGPT, Bard & Claude (link)

💕 Flurry AI- Enhance your dating profile with AI feedback (link)

🎓 Learniverse- AI-powered personal learning revolution (link)

🎥 Shorts Generator- From idea to viral video in minutes (link)

➕ PlusVector- Generate custom vector illustrations with AI (link)

👩‍🏫 guidde- Magically create stunning video documentation with AI (link)

⭕️ Circleback- Never take notes again with AI-driven meeting notes (link)

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

* = This is sponsored content

AI TRAINING

🎬 How to animate anything with AI

There’s a new AI model going viral over the last few days — unlocking a wild new technique for animating characters, images, and… everything in between.

Follow the guide below to try out a similar demo yourself:

Step 1: Head to the MagicAnimate demo on HuggingFace.

Step 2: Upload the subject you’d like to animate — most of the example motion sequences are full-body vertical, so keep that in mind when generating or selecting your reference image.

Step 3: Hit animate, and wait! This demo might take a bit longer than others, especially with so many users testing it out right now.

We’re about to enter a world where anyone can create and transform anything — limited only by what they can imagine…

QUICK HITS

💊 AstraZeneca taps AI for cancer drug hunt

Pharma giant AstraZeneca just inked a deal worth up to $247M with U.S. AI biotech company Absci to design a new antibody cancer therapy. Absci's protein-analyzing AI speeds up discovery success — with the partnership hoping to turbocharge the development of life-saving drugs.

💰 OpenAI competitor Mistral valued at $2B+

French AI startup Mistral is reportedly closing a mega $488M round from backers like a16z to value the firm at around $2B. Quickly emerging as a European counterweight to US giants, Mistral's giant war chest will fuel its mission to offer a scaled-down, efficient alternative for AI's costly compute.

📈 OpenAI juiced investor return potential

A new (paywall) article from The Economist reveals that OpenAI originally capped investor profits at 100x but recently tweaked the limit, which is now set to rise 20% annually from 2025. The change suggests OpenAI knows its goal of AGI could eventually yield massive financial upside for backers.

💼 New jobs in the world of AI

Member of Technical Staff, Data Pipelines at Cohere

Senior Corporate Counsel at OpenAI

Sales Development Representative - Inbound at Synthesia

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.

KISS is guaranteeing that the show will go on forever… As digital avatars.

The legendary rock band just pivoted to virtual versions of themselves that can keep touring without aging a day — opening up a whole new world for music. Let’s explore…

In today’s tech rundown:

• KISS goes fully virtual with lifelike avatars

• Bluebird feathers inspire longer-lasting batteries

• 8 new products

• Google releases major spam-filter upgrade

• Spotify lays off 17% of workforce

• TikTok expands global partnership with Ticketmaster

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

MUSIC TECH

🤘 KISS goes fully virtual with lifelike avatars

Image source: KISS

The Rundown: At their final live show, rock legends KISS passed the torch to digital avatar versions of themselves created by Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic — which will continue ‘touring’ in a new digital era for the band.

The details:

• The band's avatars made a surprise debut at the end of KISS's final show on their "End of Road" tour, performing before a stunned crowd.

• These avatars kick off a new chapter where KISS pivots to virtual shows, aiming to continue performing for years to come.

• The hyperrealistic avatars were created through a partnership between KISS, entertainment firm Pophouse, and VFX studio ILM.

• The tech was originally developed for Abba and used for the band’s ‘Voyage’ show — which uses data captured from performances.

The relevance: KISS is future-proofing itself so the music never dies — in an innovative way built for the digital age. The avatars are a great example of a major artist taking advantage of new tech — and surely won’t be the last act to go down the digital route.

Check out the band’s digital avatar announcement here.

TOGETHER WITH SUPERHUMAN AI

📧 The fastest email experience ever made

The Rundown: Superhuman’s new AI email features save teams from Harvard, Netflix, Spotify, Notion, and more over 10 million hours every single year.

The details:

• Auto summarizes 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

Click to join today and unlock 1 month free!

SUSTAINABILITY TECH

🐦 Bluebird feathers inspire longer-lasting batteries

Image source: TheNextWeb

The Rundown: Researchers at ETH Zurich just developed a synthetic material that replicates the unique network found in bluebird feathers, saying the material could boost tech such as battery life and water filtration.

The details:

• Bluebird feathers contain nanoscale channels that give them their signature blue color without pigments.

• The new material is made by swelling, then cooling a silicone rubber in oil, creating the small channels ideal for transporting lithium ions.

• The material has the potential to improve batteries by enabling better ion flow, increasing capacity, and battery health over time.

Our thoughts: Nature continues to school humans when it comes to elegant, efficient designs. If we finally solve the problem of terrible battery life — we may have some blue, feathered friends to thank.

NEW PRODUCTS

📊 Danelfin- AI-powered stock-picking tool with up to a 94% win rate (link)*

🔖 FastCut- Create engaging captions for your short-form video with AI (link)

🤖 Botsheets- Autonomous lead-generating chatbots (link)

🎧 LLMs for Podcasters- Simplifying content workflows for podcasters (link)

✍️ Scribe- Transforms your written content into engaging videos (link)

🎓 Learniverse- AI-powered personal learning revolution (link)

📝 PDF AI- Chat with any document (link)

🎓 Monic AI- Learn anything faster with AI (link)

🔩 Bolt AI- ChatGPT app for Mac (link)

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

* = This is sponsored content

SNIPPETS

Google released RETVec, a major spam-filtering upgrade for Gmail that improves understanding of manipulated text to better catch illegible messages.

Spotify is cutting around 1,500 jobs, about 17% of its workforce, in its third round of layoffs in 2022 amid rising costs.

Meta will reportedly disconnect Messenger and Instagram chat integration in mid-December without explaining why, potentially aiming to avoid consequences under the EU's Digital Markets Act.

Swedish fintech firm Klarna just froze hiring beyond engineering roles, with its CEO citing AI productivity gains from tools like ChatGPT requiring fewer staff over time.

TikTok has expanded its Ticketmaster partnership beyond the U.S., now letting verified artists in over 20 countries embed ticket links so users can purchase directly within videos and music clips.

A UK court just ruled Getty Images' copyright lawsuit against Stability AI over claims it used Getty's images to train Stable Diffusion can proceed to trial rather than being dismissed.

Fitness tracking app Strava launched in-app messaging, letting users send private individual and group chats to coordinate meetups or share advice.

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.

The hyped launch of Google’s multimodal ChatGPT competitor just got pushed to 2024 — facing another setback as Google challenges OpenAI.

With Google’s AI future riding on Gemini — can the model live up to the massive expectations? Let’s dive in…

In today’s AI rundown:

• Google postpones launch of GPT-4 rival Gemini

• OpenAI’s $51M chip deal with Altman-backed startup

• 9 new AI tools to try

• How (and how not to) use AI for scientific research

• Amazon's Q suffering hallucinations, privacy issues

• OpenAI pushes back GPT store debut to 2024

• UberEat’s AI images go viral

Read time: 3 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

GOOGLE

🛑 Google postpones launch of GPT-4 rival Gemini

Image source: Google

The Rundown: Google just delayed the rollout of its multimodal ChatGPT competitor Gemini until January — after identifying deficiencies in handling non-English languages.

The details:

• Google teased the new model at its I/O conference in May, with the launch initially planned for December.

• With rumors of massive training data including YouTube transcripts, Gemini has reportedly reached capabilities of GPT-4 in some areas.

• Struggles with non-English languages were a primary cause for delay.

• Google CEO Sundar Pichai has hinted that Gemini will be the first in a series of next-gen models planned for launch in 2024.

Why it matters: With massive stakes riding on Gemini, a month's delay is likely meaningless for Google in the long run. However, persistent issues at OpenAI’s competitors show that catching the market leader is a lot easier said than done.

TOGETHER WITH AE STUDIO

🔥 Don’t lose the AI race, hire AE Studio

The Rundown: AE Studio is the key to industry dominance, securing AI talent from Harvard, Stanford, and MIT to streamline operations.

What AE Studio will do for you:

• Turbocharge your business, save hundreds of hours, and WIN!

• Have AE build custom your custom software and AI solutions

• Hire AE to pinpoint where and why you should be building NOW!

Stop waiting and start winning by scheduling your FREE strategy session with AE Studio today to take control of your future in the AI race. Book now!

OPENAI

💾 OpenAI’s $51M chip deal with Altman-backed startup

Image source: Rain NeuroMorphics

The Rundown: OpenAI reportedly agreed to buy $51 million worth of AI chips in 2019 from Rain NeuroMorphics — a startup CEO Sam Altman previously invested over $1M in personally.

The details:

• Rain is developing brain-inspired NPUs for edge devices, touting massive efficiency gains over GPUs for AI workloads.

• The 2019 agreement predated OpenAI's reliance on Microsoft's cloud infrastructure.

• Rain was in the news last week, with the U.S. forcing Prosperity7, a Saudi venture capital firm, to sell its shares in the company over national security concerns.

• The company has claimed its NPUs will offer 100x more computing power and 10,000x energy efficiency than traditional GPUs.

The relevance: Given the Saudi-related scrutiny, Altman’s deal and investment in Rain will likely raise some eyebrows. But the promise of NPUs (if the claims are accurate) could deliver huge upgrades in the AI chip market.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

TRENDING TOOLS

🤖 Dubbing AI- Change your voice in real-time with AI (link)

💘 Rizzpad- The first build-in AI toolkit for flirting on any dating app (link)

🛒 iMean Shopping- Your AI shopping co-pilot for finding the best deals & prices (link)

📊 Plus AI Google Analytics Reports- AI-powered presentations with your Google Analytics data (link)

📄 FastCut- Create engaging captions for your short-form video with AI (link)

📝 Dictation- Voice memos with accurate AI transcriptions (link)

🎥 Descript- A powerful all-in-one video and podcast editing tool using AI (link)

🧠 Decktopus- An AI-powered presentation generator (link)

😃 Aragon- Turn your selfies into professional headshots (link)

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

AI TRAINING

🧪 How (and how not to) use AI for scientific research

A fascinating new article from Nature interviewed several scientists on how they are using AI in their fields

Here’s how several of the leading researchers leverage ChatGPT responsibly:

Fix health biases, don't amplify them — Dr. Marzyeh Ghassemi, MIT

• Uses ChatGPT to simplify medical content for general public

• But warns deploying AI naively in healthcare could worsen inequities

• Goal should be improving care, not just quick fixes for efficiency

Use it for structure over unreliable content — Dr. Mushtaq Bilal

• Prompts ChatGPT for outlines to spark research idea directions

• But does not trust actual autogenerated content due to unpredictability

Customize it as a teaching aid, not a replacement — Dr. Siddharth Kankaria, EPFL Switzerland

• Generated science communication prompts for students

• Focused on audience targeting and storytelling skills

• Embraced use while fostering critical thinking on limitations

Read the full article here.

QUICK HITS

😵‍💫 Amazon's Q suffering hallucinations, privacy issues

Just days after its launch, internal docs reportedly show staffers warning of "severe hallucinations" and confidential data leaks by Q, Amazon’s new enterprise AI assistant. Amazon has denied any verified issues, but is investigating the feedback.

⏮️ OpenAI pushes back GPT store debut to 2024

OpenAI is postponing its planned launch of its GPT Store until early next year, the company announced in an email to users. The delay follows OpenAI's chaotic executive shakeup, with the release mentioning that “a few unexpected things” have been keeping them busy. Quite the understatement!

🍔 UberEat’s AI images go viral

UberEats appears to be using AI-generated photos on its platform — with restaurants apparently unaware of the situation. The images went viral for some comical mistakes — including confusing a ‘pizza pie’ with an actual pie dessert and generating a fake Ranch dressing brand.

💼 New jobs in the world of AI

UX Designer at Robust Intelligence

Founding Decentralized ML Research Engineer at Hugging Face

Senior FP&A Analyst 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.

Jeff Bezos just waved the white flag in a long space race grudge against Elon Musk — with Amazon turning to SpaceX to deploy its internet satellites.

Is the drama over, or is this billionaire rivalry about to go interstellar? Let’s investigate…

In today’s tech rundown:

• Amazon turns to SpaceX for satellite launches

• Subsea habitats pave way for humans to live underwater

• 8 new products

• Zoom releases a new app for Apple TV

• Fortnite and Lego reveal "survival crafting"

• 23andMe says hackers accessed files

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

AMAZON

🛰️ Amazon turns to SpaceX for satellite launches

Image source: Fortune

The Rundown: Amazon just contracted SpaceX, a major competitor, to launch some of its Project Kuiper internet satellites starting in 2025 — in an effort to help meet an FCC deadline.

The details:

• The contract covers 3 Falcon 9 rocket launches for Amazon's satellites, with Amazon needing over 1,600 Kuiper satellites in orbit by mid-2026 to comply with license requirements.

• The partnership comes despite a long-running rivalry between SpaceX's Elon Musk and Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

• A September lawsuit alleged that Amazon snubbed SpaceX in its search for launch providers, favoring Bezos-founded Blue Origin.

Why it matters: In a billionaire tech feud made for TV, it couldn’t have been an easy decision for Bezos to swallow his pride and turn to SpaceX for Amazon’s launch needs. But for now, the space race runs through Elon.

TOGETHER WITH VANTA

Your SOC 2 Compliance Checklist from Vanta

Are you building a business? Achieving SOC 2 compliance can help you win bigger deals, enter new markets and deepen trust with your customers — but it can also cost you real time and money.

Vanta automates up to 90% of the work for SOC 2 (along with other in-demand frameworks), getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months. Save up to 400 hours and 85% of associated costs.

Download the free checklist to learn more about the SOC 2 compliance process and the road ahead. 

AQUATIC TECH

🐟 Subsea habitats pave way for humans to live underwater

Image source: Deep

The Rundown: A company called Deep is planning to deploy crew members to live in underwater habitats starting in 2026 — kicking off a potentially continuous human presence below the ocean surface.

The details:

• Six ‘aquanauts’ will inhabit pressurized habitats called ‘Sentinels’, which sit on the seafloor at depths of 200m.

• The habitats have life support for 28 days and will facilitate science and exploration — enabling access impossible with normal diving.

• Made from aerospace-grade materials, the configurable habitats will have living quarters, labs, a moon pool, and more.

• Deep wants to establish the ocean equivalent of the International Space Station.

The relevance: As climate change threatens marine ecosystems, exploring the deep ocean frontier is crucial — especially given how little humanity knows about the depths that cover the majority of our planet.

NEW PRODUCTS

💡 IdeaNamer.co- Convert your idea into a startup (link)

📚 Gruntly- Your personal information curator (link)

📰 Papper- Blending handwritten warmth with digital precision (link)

👨‍🏭 Human or AI?- A social game to identify if an image is real human or AI-generated (link)

🍳 Flavorish- Taking the guesswork out of cooking, with AI (link)

🎬 HeyGen- Create videos from text in minutes with AI-generated avatars and voices (link)

📣 Followr- Automated scheduling, AI content creation & advanced analytics for social (link)

🗣 ChatFast- Custom GPT chatbot from your data (link)

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

SNIPPETS

Zoom has released a new app for Apple TV that allows users to conduct Zoom meetings using their iPhone or iPad as a webcam.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson ruled out further investments in the struggling space tourism company, saying his business empire no longer has deep enough pockets after the pandemic.

Quantum computers face inherent limitations due to the fundamental trade-off between the precision and resolution of the clocks used in their quantum operations.

Apple is parting ways with Goldman Sachs, its financial partner for the Apple Card, due to various challenges and losses, and is considering Chase as a potential new partner for its credit card services.

Recent studies indicate plants may absorb 20% more CO2 than previously estimated, highlighting their greater importance in combating climate change.

Fortnite and Lego revealed a new "survival crafting" game experience coming Dec. 7 as part of their partnership focusing on family-friendly metaverse spaces.

23andMe says hackers accessed files on ancestry and health info for around 14,000 users in a recent breach, plus a "significant number" of additional customer files.

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