📈 How are companies using AI?

​​➜ Did AI Just Ruin a Nostalgic Christmas Memory? Coca-Cola’s recent AI-generated ad hit a major snag after critics pointed out its controversial use of artificial intelligence. The ad, intended to highlight the brand's creative prowess, sparked a debate over the ethical and artistic boundaries of AI in advertising. Was this a clever marketing move or a step too far? Either way, it’s raising eyebrows across the internet.
Forbes

➜ AI, Take The Wheel. AI has (provenly) become the engine behind Alibaba's explosive growth in retail and cloud services. The tech giant is leaning heavily into AI, from personalized shopping experiences to cutting-edge logistics, all designed to supercharge its businesses. With AI at the wheel, are we going to see Alibaba go for even more rapid expansion?
PYMNTS

➜ Introducing, Our New Personal Shopper. Perplexity AI is merging the worlds of search and shopping with an innovative new platform that lets users not only find information but also directly buy products. The new service offers an easy, AI-powered search-to-purchase experience – turning curiosity into transactions with just a few clicks.
The Verge

➜ Let’s Go Live to Our AI Avatar With Latest from the Sidelines. ESPN is launching an AI avatar to host its popular SEC Nation college football show. The move represents a bold step into the future of broadcasting, where AI can replicate human-like hosts, offering an engaging experience for viewers while optimizing production costs. Hot or not?
Mashable

➜ What’s Mine is Yours, What’s Yours is AI’s. HarperCollins is navigating the tricky terrain of AI by offering authors the chance to license their books for AI training. This move aims to balance the increasing use of AI in literature with respect for authorial rights, sparking important conversations about intellectual property and the future of publishing.
The Verge

➜ Musk Says: Microsoft + OpenAI = Unfair Dominance. Elon Musk filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI. He was one of the founders of the impactful nonprofit back in the day, but ever since OpenAI transformed into a highly profitable company, Musk got sensitive about the business. He also believes that its partnership with Microsoft has created unfair market dominance. Nickel for your thoughts. 

NYT

💡 What are the nerds up to?

➜ Energy-Efficient Alternatives to GPUs. Vishal Sarin has worked in the chip industry for over a decade to come up with an alternative to energy-hungry GPUs. He launched Sagence AI that produces analog chips. Yes, analog. Digital chips require hundreds of components to perform certain calculations that analog chips can achieve with just a few modules. Sarin sees Sagence’s chips complementing – not replacing – digital chips. 

TechCrunch

➜ SuperAnnotate: THE AI Data Platform. They’re not the only ones (think Scale AI, Weka or Dataloop) but they’re certainly gaining momentum – SuperAnnotate just raised $36 million in a Series B round led by Socium Ventures which makes a total of over $53 million in capital. The company helps users create and keep track of large AI training datasets. 

Yahoo Finance

➜ Photorealistic AI-Generated Granny to Combat Scammers. You’re going to love this one. British telecom company Virgin Media O2 introduced Daisy, an “AI granny” created expressly to waste scammers’ time. Daisy gathers information for law enforcement and publicly exposes the scammers’ ways. See the whole ad by O2.

Forbes

➜ Ben Affleck on AI: Hollywood Is Not Out Of The Game. Speaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha 2024 investor summit, Affleck has voiced his support for AI but said that it cannot possibly replace human beings making films: “Movies will be one of the last things, if everything gets replaced, to be replaced by AI.” Read the longer story – I believe the Argo director might be right. 

Independent

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