Chaos & Amazement #2409 Apple’s Project Titan, Mistral’s French AI, and Spotify’s Song Psychic
Explore this week's Chaos & Amazement newsletter for a captivating journey through tech news and wonders, with a hint of mystique from Spotify's Song Psychic. 🌀🎵
Tech News
Apple cancels Titan, the Apple Car project after a decade-long, multi-billion effort to rival Tesla. Instead, shifting gears to AI projects, leaving 2,000 employees at the crossroads. Tough call after a decade-long effort. https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-27/apple-cancels-work-on-electric-car-shifts-team-to-generative-ai
Apple once considered fitness rings, smart glasses, & AI-powered AirPods, but isn't developing them now. Strategy is also about saying "no" to focus on what matters most! https://bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-02-25/apple-ponders-making-new-wearables-ai-glasses-airpods-with-cameras-smart-ring-lt1kb7cd
Mistral AI challenges OpenAI with its latest model and chatbot release, backed by former Google and Meta AI researchers and a new partnership with Microsoft. mistral.ai
Mistral, a startup from Paris, quickly made a name for itself in AI by getting lots of investment and teaming up with big players like Microsoft. Now it's a major player in the AI world, even being compared to big names like OpenAI. https://www.axios.com/2024/02/29/mistral-french-ai-startup-microsoft
Microsoft's new Copilot for Finance streamlines Excel tasks and boosts efficiency for finance professionals. With natural language prompts and demos showcasing its potential, it's set to revolutionize tasks like collections and reconciliations. https://cnbc.com/2024/02/29/microsoft-introduces-copilot-ai-chatbot-for-finance-workers.html
Human-generated content is the new gold for AI companies! A recent example? Tumblr & WordPress are close to deals with OpenAI. Users are outraged as private posts scraped for AI training. https://www.404media.co/tumblr-and-wordpress-to-sell-users-data-to-train-ai-tools/
48% of news websites are blocking OpenAI’s crawler. reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
Fresh AI
Alibaba's EMO AI turns images into animated actors and singers. This week they demonstrated its capabilities by having the lady generated by Sora, OpenAI’s text-to-video software, singing a Dua Lipa song.
From my blog
20 Years on LinkedIn! https://bnox.be/2024/03/20-years-on-linkedin.html
Dune: Part Two and the Annoying Fetus https://bnox.be/2024/03/dune-part-two-and-annoying-foetus.html
Weird and Wonderful
Wikipedia has a free travel guide Wiki Voyage , with instructions about transport, food, sleep and lists about sightseeing spots. https://en.wikivoyage.org/
Explore Spotify's intriguing new feature, Song Psychic: ask a question, get melodies with the answers. From matters of love to career choices, let Spotify guide you with its unique musical responses. Available for both free and Premium users globally. songpsychic.byspotify.com