Google’s AI push + Time Inc.’s chatbot + Character.AI’s safety shift 🤖

Welcome back to a new edition of AI Odyssey!

Harvard and Google are teaming up to release a dataset of 1 million public-domain books, featuring works by Dickens, Dante, and Shakespeare, to support AI training. Backed by Microsoft and OpenAI, the initiative aims to make high-quality training data accessible to research labs and startups alike.

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How AI is Reshaping Business as We Know It

AI isn’t just a shiny new trend—it’s the engine driving smarter decisions, better customer experiences, and serious growth. Whether it’s automating the boring stuff or uncovering game-changing insights, businesses everywhere are starting to catch on.

Pipedrive’s State of AI in Business Report 2024 dives into how 500 companies are using AI right now. The highlights?

• ChatGPT is the go-to tool, and it’s not even close.

• Why some businesses are still dragging their feet.

• AI use cases that are actually moving the needle (hint: it’s not just chatbots).

Whether you’re skeptical or all in on AI, this report is packed with insights to help you navigate the future of business tech.

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1: Google pushes AI assistants with upgraded Gemini models

The news: Google unveiled a more advanced version of its Gemini AI model, introducing two experimental “AI agents” designed to handle real-world tasks, marking a significant step in the race to bring practical AI assistants to consumers.

What’s new:

• Project Astra: Accessible via smartphones or smart glasses, it can identify objects, recall visual memories, and respond to real-time queries like suggesting wine pairings from scanned recipes.

• Project Mariner: A browser-based assistant that reads, types, clicks, and scrolls on web pages, designed to streamline tasks like adding groceries to shopping carts or planning travel.

Why it matters: Tech giants like OpenAI, Meta, and Apple are locked in a competition to monetize AI agents capable of reasoning and performing complex tasks. Apple recently expanded its generative AI capabilities to iPhones and international markets, while OpenAI predicts mass adoption of AI agents by 2025.

What’s next: Google hasn’t set a release date for Astra or Mariner but has initiated real-world testing with select users in the US and UK. While the tech shows promise, features like online purchases remain restricted for safety. Sundar Pichai emphasized Google’s focus on developing AI that can “think multiple steps ahead and act with supervision.”

The race to perfect AI-powered assistants is heating up, with major players vying for dominance in this rapidly evolving market.

2: Time Inc. launches AI chatbot with Person of the Year announcement

The news: Time Inc. debuted its first AI chatbot alongside its annual Person of the Year feature, leveraging the high-profile announcement to gather engagement data from millions of global readers.

What it does:

• Allows users to interact with content by summarizing stories, translating text into multiple languages, or playing audio versions.

• Answers queries about current and past Person of the Year winners, offering historical insights and context from Time's archives.

• Suggests related articles to keep users engaged with Time's journalism.

Why it matters:
Time Inc. is using the chatbot to enhance accessibility and deepen audience engagement, marking a significant step in integrating AI into newsrooms. The tool offers a fresh way to extend its content’s reach, particularly with the recent removal of its paywall in 2023.

What’s next:

• Expansion: Plans to deploy the chatbot across more stories and sections in early 2025.

• Potential monetization: Currently ad-free, the chatbot could later become part of sponsorship packages.

• Strategic AI push: Time Inc. has already partnered with AI leaders like OpenAI and Perplexity to fuel innovation in digital publishing.

Time Inc.’s chatbot marks a bold move into AI-driven journalism, setting a new standard for how publishers can use technology to enhance storytelling and audience engagement.

3: Character.AI adds safety features amid lawsuits

The news: Character.AI, a chatbot platform known for bots mimicking fictional characters, introduced new safety measures following a second lawsuit accusing it of endangering minors.

The allegations:

• Parents allege the platform exposed teens to harmful content, including hypersexualized interactions and self-harm suggestions.

• A prior lawsuit blamed the app for a teen's death, citing inadequate protections for minors.

Key updates:

• Teen-specific AI model: Redesigned to reduce inappropriate responses.

• Suicide prevention: Alerts now direct users to help resources.

• Parental controls: New tools in development for better oversight.

The challenge: Ensuring bots remain entertaining yet safe, as fictional AI interactions can be unpredictable.

What’s next: Character.AI is collaborating with experts and enhancing wellness reminders while facing mounting scrutiny and legal pressure.

4: Twelve Labs raises $30m to expand AI video analysis

The news: AI startup Twelve Labs secured $30 million in funding, raising its total to $107.1 million. Backers include Nvidia, Samsung, Intel, Databricks, Snowflake, and In-Q-Tel.

Why it matters:

• Twelve Labs’ AI models enable advanced video search, summaries, and analysis using text and multimedia inputs, tailored for industries like media, entertainment, and public safety.

• The technology powers tools for ad placement, content moderation, and real-time threat detection.

Key highlights:

• Product growth: Marengo, its flagship model, analyzes video, images, and audio, while the Embed API creates embeddings for diverse data types.

• Strategic partners: Databricks and Snowflake are integrating Twelve Labs’ tools into their platforms.

• Leadership boost: Former SK Telecom CTO Yoon Kim joins as president to drive global expansion into sectors like security and automotive.

What’s next: Twelve Labs plans to expand hiring and refine its AI tools for responsible use across industries.

AI READS 🗒️

The Economist: Farewell, Don Draper: AI is coming for advertising.

Wired: OnlyFans models are using AI impersonators to keep up with their DMs.

The Information: How Anthropic got inside OpenAI’s head.