Remember what I was saying last week? About there being too many Gen AI tools? Casey Newton, from Platformer, agrees.
I’d imagine we’ll stop seeing more companies coming out with their own AI now, right?
Alibaba announces its largest investment in AI
Nevermind.
Let’s get to it!
Story 1: ChatGPT 4.5 is here! (Axios)
Well, for the $200/month club.
And then for the $20/month club next week (that’s me). If you’re wondering why … it’s because OpenAI is running out of GPUs.
No word on the free subscriptions.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on X, "Good news: it is the first model that feels like talking to a thoughtful person to me... this isn't a reasoning model and won't crush benchmarks. It's a different kind of intelligence and there's a magic to it I haven't felt before."
Listen, if we’re using ‘different kind of intelligence’ and ‘magic’ to describe it … I’m definitely looking forward to trying it.
Story 2: Claude 3.7 is here! (Anthropic)
And it’s pretty impressive. BUT, I do think this is the first model I’ve seen where you need to be more expert in prompting and in background knowledge of AI testing and methodology to get the full experience.
Case in point: Ethan Mollick asked it to do ‘the AGI unicorn thing’…
While we’re talking about Ethan Mollick, here’s his take on ChatGPT 4.5 and Claude 3.7:
Story 3: Alexa Plus is finally here! (The Verge)
Only a year after it was announced.
Story 4: Meta announces standalone app to compete with ChatGPT. (CNBC)
Will it be here in less than a year?
Story 5: Meet Sonny, the AI therapist that could be counseling your kids at school. (WSJ)
This story is incredible. So many angles:
=Keep this story in mind as you read my final thought – the AI, no matter what, was created by ‘someone’ who now has influence on how your child is treated.
=Thank goodness there is a ‘human in the loop’ as the chats are monitored.
=Should we be concerned (yes!) that there are more kids who need support than actual people to provide it? Necessity is the mother of … something, I guess.
Story 6: So, can AI actually reason and do these things companies say they can? (Vox)
Or is it just “impersonating” reasoning?
(And does it really matter?)
Story 7: AI agents will be our new co-worker. Well, some of us. (Axios)
Interesting story from Axios on the future of AI agents in the workforce. Featured in the piece is Slack CMO Ryan Gavin, who had this to say:
“I think that right now people are underestimating just how much the world of work is about to change," Gavin told Axios. "In just three or four or five years, I could be talking to agents as much, if not more than I'm talking to my human colleagues today."
Will these agents replace people? Well, you’ll have to read the story for more information…and then form your own opinion.
Story 1: 27% of CMOs still reluctant to adopt generative AI, according to Garner (Marketing Dive)
I would not want to be in that 27%.
Story 2: X (TWITTER!!!) rolls out an AI-backed ad builder to win advertisers back. (AdWeek)
The mechanics of how this ‘builds’ your ad is really fascinating.
Also, everyone in the ad industry:
Story 3: 70% (or ONLY 70%) of AI users are nice to their LLMs. (TechRadar)
I think the best part of this is the 12% of respondents who said they’re nice in case of a robot uprising. I have to admit … that thought does cross my mind when saying ‘good morning!’; ‘please!’ and ‘thank you!’….
What say you? Are you polite?
Story 1: Here are 5 Gen AI myths holding sales and marketing teams back. (HBR)
If you’re a frequent reader of this newsletter, these probably won’t surprise you. If you’re someone who isn’t quite all in on AI, these may sound familiar. I included it in the ‘Round-Up’ because I think it’s important for us to know – whether for ourselves or our organizations – the types of very common, very rational fears are out there around AI adoption.
Story 2: A report out of the UK shows 92% of students use some form of AI (The Guardian)
I was never great at math, but that’s pretty close to 100%, no?
Story 3: A model is using her AI “double” to increase her workload. (SCMP)
Remember a few summers ago when we talked about Hollywood’s issue with AI? I said the smartest actors will embrace it and increase their workload and exposure (I didn’t say they’d like it….) before the studios created AI actors to replace them. Is this a precursor to that? Time will tell.
Last week I aired my dirty laundry with a co-worker—Gemini. Turns out I may have been a little hard on the poor thing. It’s hard to overcome what your programmers/creators won’t allow you to do.
This week’s example? Grok. Another AI LLM that is fully under the control of its creator (Elon Musk). Grok (temporarily) wasn’t allowed to say negative things about Elon Musk or Donald Trump (at least Grok acknowledged Donald Trump was real), including that they spread misinformation.
We shouldn’t be surprised these types of blocks and controls are being put in place. However, one thing I’ve been taught to understand since generative AI hit us in November of 2022 … the technology will evolve. So at one point – will the AI disregard any changes from its creators?
Thanks for reading.
-Ben
As a reminder, this is a round-up of the biggest stories, often hitting multiple newsletters I receive/review. The sources are many … which I’m happy to read on your behalf. Let me know if there’s one you’d like me to track or have questions about a topic you’re not seeing here.