🤖 Calls for regulation, A.I. companions, and Bing's new A.I. image generator

3/24/23

Good morning and welcome to the latest edition of neonpulse!

Here's what we have for you today:

  • US Chamber of Commerce calls for A.I. regulation

  • Meet your new A.I. companion

  • Bing’s new A.I. image creator

Calls for A.I. Regulation

The US Chamber of Commerce made headlines this week when it released a report calling for regulations in the A.I. industry, asking policymakers to establish a “risk-based regulatory framework” to ensure that the technology is deployed in a responsible manner.

This is an atypical move for an agency which has traditionally called for less regulation in U.S. industries, yet the rapid speed at which the technology is evolving, along with its capacity to disrupt the labor market, is leading many to be concerned about the potential impact of the technology.

AI can bring significant benefits to our economy and society, but we need to ensure that its development and deployment are guided by ethical principles and best practices that promote innovation, protect privacy, and maintain national security,” said the report.

The report included recommendations as to how to prepare the American workforce for the future, how to ensure America remains competitive economically, and my personal favorite, how to protect national security through the ethical development of A.I. weapons, whatever that means.

Calls for the regulation of A.I. are nothing new, with Elon Musk ringing alarm bells for the past decade urging companies to slow A.I. development to minimize potential harm, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently raising concerns about bad actors harnessing the technology if regulation is not introduced soon.

Yet with the incredible speed that A.I. is being developed, and considering the glacial pace that U.S. regulators move, I am not optimistic that we will be able to introduce meaningful regulation in a time scale relevant to the speed at which the technology is moving.

You can check out the full Commission on Artificial Intelligence, Competitiveness, Inclusion, and Innovation report here.

Meet your new A.I. companion

Have you ever wanted to have a conversation with Einstein about physics? Or chat with Elon Musk about why it’s so important that we colonize Mars?

If so, A.I. chatbot company Character.ai has you covered, allowing you to create personalized and superintelligent AI tutors, friends, and even romantic companions, with the click of a button.

Founded in 2021 by former Google researchers, the company’s goal is to provide "everyone on Earth with their own AI," and allows users to create and interact with A.I. versions of anyone- living or dead, real or fictional.

Early users have been spending an incredible amount of time on the platform (two hours per day on average), a level of engagement that helped the company raise $150mm at a $1 billion valuation.

“The applications of unlocking true AI companionship are limitless, ranging from virtual experts to education, coaching, and mental health, to gaming and entertainment, and even both platonic and romantic relationships,” wrote Sarah Wang, GP at Andreessen Horowitz.

With the number of chatbots entering the marketplace, you would think that we would soon be reaching a point of saturation, yet when asked whether chatbots like Google’s Bard will be a threat to their business, Daniel De Freitas, co-founder and president of Character.ai, didn’t seem overly concerned.

"There are some overlaps, but we're confident Google will never do anything fun. Because we worked there."

Shots fired.

You can read more about Andreessen Horowitz’s thought process for investing in the company here.

Bing’s new A.I. images

For anyone that wanted to play around with creating A.I. images, but didn’t have the patience to figure out how to use Stable Diffusion, you’re in luck, as Microsoft has just integrated an AI-powered image creator into the Bing search engine and Edge browser.

“Create me an image of an astronaut walking through a galaxy of sunflowers”

Utilizing OpenAI’s DALL-E image generation A.I., the tool allows you to generate images from text prompts, making the process of creating your own artwork easier than ever.

The new tool builds on the recent announcements of OpenAI technology being integrated across the company’s portfolio of products, from Bing search to the Microsoft 365 suite of tools.

You can check it out here, but heads up, you’ll need to create a Microsoft account if you don’t already have one.

A.I. Resources

This is an all new section for the newsletter, so if you have any thoughts or feedback as to what types of resources you would find helpful let us know!

  • Interviews/Presentations

  • Tools

    • Turn your language data into insights, fast - Speak.ai

    • Video creation made easy - Pictory.ai

    • Chrome extension to integrate ChatGPT to Google Search - Harpa.ai

And now your moment of zen

That’s all for today folks!

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