This week has been a whirlwind in the AI landscape. From Tesla’s Cybertruck and Robovan unveiling to Meta’s chatbot expansion and Zoom’s new AI assistant, the advancements are relentless. Google’s AI, however, took center stage, contributing to Nobel Prize-winning research. Let’s delve into these and other significant AI developments.
Google AI helped researchers win two Nobel Prizes this week.
Google AI Contributes to Two Nobel Prizes
The 2024 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Physics recognized researchers with strong Google affiliations. Former Google researcher Geoffrey Hinton received the Physics prize for his foundational work in machine learning, a cornerstone of the current AI revolution. DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis was awarded the Chemistry prize for his groundbreaking work on decoding protein structures.
The Nobel prize.
Despite the accolades, some within the scientific community questioned the categorization of Hinton’s work as physics, highlighting the ongoing debate about the intersection of AI and traditional scientific disciplines.
Adobe Fights Back Against AI-Generated Art
With AI-generated content proliferating online, Adobe is taking steps to empower artists. Their upcoming Content Authenticity web app, slated for beta release in early 2025, aims to certify human-created art. This system combines digital fingerprinting, watermarking, and cryptographic metadata to verify the origin of images, videos, and audio, providing a robust defense against misattribution.
A Macbook sits on a desk with Adobe Lightroom opened on screen.
Meta’s Chatbot Expands to UK and Brazil
Meta’s AI chatbot is expanding its reach, becoming available to Facebook and Instagram users in the UK and Brazil, as well as on Meta’s smart glasses. This versatile chatbot can generate text and images, with its training data now including information gathered from smart glasses users.
A Meta Connect 2022 screenshot showing Mark Zuckerberg avatar.
Google Releases Imagen 3 with Restrictions
Google’s latest image generation model, Imagen 3, boasts enhanced photorealism and fewer artifacts. While freely available, there’s a catch: free-tier users can only generate images of non-human subjects. Generating images of people requires a subscription to the premium Gemini Advanced tier.
An image of a black cat generated by Imagen 3.
Zoom Unveils Customizable AI Companion
Zoom’s evolution continues with the introduction of its AI Companion, a digital assistant designed to enhance productivity across its platform. This tool automates tasks like meeting transcription, agenda setting, and report summarization. Customization based on company-specific data is available for a premium fee.
Someone using the Dell Inspiron 14 on their laptop to take a video call.
Amazon Introduces AI Shopping Guides
Following Google’s lead, Amazon is implementing AI-powered summaries for over 100 product categories. These guides offer key insights and crucial information alongside product listings, potentially transforming the online shopping experience.
Amazon Prime Exclusive Phones.
This week’s AI news underscores the rapid pace of innovation and the increasing integration of AI into everyday life, from scientific research to online shopping.
