Hello everyone!

Welcome to AI Odyssey — your go-to weekly summary of must-know developments in the realm of artificial intelligence.

Today's highlights include:

• Is Google's free search coming to an end? The cost of AI upgrades.

• Apple’s AI that can 'see' and understand screen context.

• 🥰 Wholesome: AI shows people with cancer a glimpse into their lost future.

  💣Latest AI hits you can’t miss.

  AI-generated Villains, but in Ghibli Style!

  AI tools to try: Best of Y combinator’s Winter Batch’24.

Is Google's free search ending? AI upgrade may cost you.

Google has always made search free and only supported by advertising.

But it’s no secret that AI chatbots like ChatGPT can directly answer questions in a conversational way. 

So now Google is considering charging for new "premium" features powered by generative AI for its core search engine product. 

What’s this new proposal about?

• The regular Google search we're all used to would still be free. 

• But if you want to get those conversational AI-generated summaries and more detailed answers, you'd have to pay for it through one of Google's subscription services.

• The move comes as AI chatbots are making traditional search links and ads less relevant.

Google has been slowly rolling out an "experimental" AI-powered search service since last year that generates AI-powered summaries. 

However, serving these AI results is more costly due to high computing demands.

Final words: No final decision has been made, and Google may still choose to integrate some AI-powered search features into its free product over time. 

But charging for premium AI enhancements would be a first for Google's core search offering.

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Apple researchers develop AI that can 'see' and understand screen context

When you want to ask your voice assistant a question about something you're looking at. Maybe it's "What's the name of that app icon?" or "Who is that person in this photo?"

Well, until now, those types of contextual, visual references have been really tough for AI assistants to understand. But Apple's researchers may have cracked the code with this new system they've developed called ReALM.

Here’s the lowdown:

• ReALM leverages large language models to convert the complex task of reference resolution (understanding references to visual elements on a screen) into a language modeling problem.

• ReALM also takes into account the full conversational context around your references. It can follow along with ambiguous phrases like "it" or "that one" based on what was previously discussed.

• The Apple researchers showed it can even outperform the latest GPT models like GPT-4 on this task.

The goal here is to finally enable that seamless, hands-free experience we've been promised with voice assistants. 

With ReALM, you could naturally refer to whatever is on your screen, without having to awkwardly spell things out each time.

Of course, we'll have to see if and how Apple decides to implement this into Siri or their other products. 👀

🥰 Wholesome AI moment: AI show people with cancer a glimpse into their lost future

A powerful new exhibition called the "Gallery of Hope" exhibition at London's Saatchi Gallery, features AI-generated photos of 10 people living with incurable secondary breast cancer. 

It’s giving 10 of those individuals a poignant glimpse into the future memories they dream of but may never get to live out, created by photographer Jillian Edelstein using AI.

While heartbreaking, many found inspiration in the images and a motivation to keep fighting. 

At the end of the day, the "Gallery of Hope" is an incredibly moving exhibition that uses technology's imagination to create a lasting, defining memory for people who may be robbed of creating new memories in the years ahead. 

💣 Latest AI hits you can’t miss

• DALL-E now lets you edit images in ChatGPT. (Link)

• Brave is launching its AI assistant on iPhone and iPad. (Link)

• EU and US set to announce joint working on AI safety, standards & R&D. (Link)

• Nicki Minaj, Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and other musicians sign letter against irresponsible AI. (Link)

• Hailo lands $120 million to keep battling Nvidia as most AI chip startups struggle. (Link)

• Beyoncé’s new album ‘Cowboy Carter’ is a statement against AI music. (Link)

• ChatGPT no longer requires an account — but there’s a catch. You won’t be able to save or share chats, use custom instructions. (Link)

• Texas researchers use AI to create Alzheimer’s drug at UT Austin. (Link)

AI art to sip your coffee with…

Prompt: Villains, but in Ghibli Style!

Voldemort, Darth Vader, and MORE here. 

AI tools to try:

Today, we’re featuring the AI startups that stood out the most in Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 batch.

• 🏠 Hazel: Use AI to automate the government contracting discovery, drafting, and compliance process. 

• 👩‍⚕️ Andy AI: AI-powered scribe, capturing and transcribing the spoken details of a patient visit and generating electronic health records.

• 🌍Precip: AI-powered weather forecasting platform

• 💑Maia: AI-powered guidance for couples to build stronger relationships

• 📅Datacurve: “Expert-quality” data for training generative AI models. 

🎶TikTok of the week:

@brandnat

AI is actually just 1000 workers in India 😅 I feel a meme coming out soon... but this is the reality right now of expectations of AI that ... See more

That’s a wrap! We’ll see you again on Monday with the best of AI. 🍧