META'S AI ROLLOUT: WITH A HINT OF WHAT'S TO COME

Unless you were living under a proverbial rock, you would have seen the news that Meta has rolled out its AI "tool" to Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram in Australia. For now it is not really integrated with your personal data and won't remember things about you - it is more of a standard AI chatbot like ChatGPT with the ability to make AI generated images...
So What: For now this is just ChatGPT in Facebook... but... the obvious play here is to introduce AI to millions of people who might not be otherwise inclined to engage with it to warm them up for a subsequent rollout of more advanced capabilities that will require your consent to let the AI access your data. Call me cynical if you like.
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TRUMP, OBAMA & BIDEN EXPLAIN MATH

So while you can do all sorts of terrible things with AI deep fake tech, one of the more popular uses for younger folk is to get celebreties to help you learn. There are a bunch of accounts out there producing AI deepfakes of celebs explaining maths and other subjects - and they are extremely popular.
So What: Finally a good use for AI deep fakes? I'm not sure how many people are upping their math game by watching these, but there is a weird entertainment value in having Jake Paul and Morgan Freeman chatting through derivatives together.
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IS PERPLEXITY AI THE FUTURE OF THE SEARCH ENGINE

I mentioned in passing a few weeks back that you should try Perplexity as a replacement for Google. Well it seems like a lot of people have been doing exactly that and as a result Perplexity, which is an AI based alternative to Google Search, is now looking at a valuation north of $2.5 billion. Not bad for a company that hasn't hit its second birthday yet.
So What: The bigger question is whether there will be what we currently think of as a "search engine" in 5 years. Given more and more of our interactions with digital will likely occur through an AI Assistant as a gatekeeper to digital knowledge and services it may just be that the term "Google It" starts to die off.
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REAL TIME TALKING HEADS FROM MICROSOFT

Microsoft showcased some AI tech they have built, but aren't yet releasing, that allows you to take a single photo and then use it to create a talking head video using just an audio feed.  

So What: I can understand why MS has opted not to release this because of the risks - it screams quick and easy deep fakes. That said, there is an inevitability here and I think we need to accept that we are entering a time where we won't be able to tell what is real or fake when it comes to video and audio (even if it is "live streamed"). 
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ANOTHER DEPRAVED USE OF AI: NONCONSENSUAL NUDES

A large number of services have popped up offering to use AI to "undress" people - you just need to upload a photo of them anonymously and the tool does the rest. The worst part is the competition for users means many of these services are offering a first photo for free.
So What: It's sickening that there are people with the intellect to build AI applications who are so morally corrupt that for a few dollars they are willing to actively facilitate harming innocents in order to titillate the degenerative dregs of humanity.
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SLACK JOINS THE AI PARTY: BUT AT WHAT PRICE?

Slack has introduced an AI feature set which paid users can pay extra to get access to (an additional $10 per user per month). Its primary two benefits are conversation summaries and AI powered search capability.
So What: While it's a handy add on, the price point seems pretty steep and it will be interesting to see what the take up is like. This highlights one of the challenges in pricing up AI based product add ons - in most cases the cost of AI is based on how much you use it, so it seems they are pricing it in on assumed average user consumption volumes. 
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As always, it was a busy week in AI with some stories that gave me hope for an AI enabled future and others that made me lament the nature of humankind. 

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