Welcome back to AIHQ Insider! 

Every week in AI is an adventure, you never know what’s going to happen. There’s always something newer, better, or completely unexpected. So for the unexpected this week - we saw a flame-throwing robotic dog made available to the public. Yes, for the right price, you too can be the proud new owner of one.

Today’s Topics:

• Flame-throwing Dogs On the Loose

• Perplexity Secures $63M

• Microsoft & Talking Heads Collab

• Prompt of the Day

• Catching Meta’s AI Vision

• Adobe’s AI Sparks Creativity

• POLL: What 1 chore would AI do for you?

🔥 Throwflame’s Fire Breathing Canine

If this isn’t one of the coolest headlines you’ve read in a minute…well, then I want to meet your friends. Imagine a robotic dog equipped with something a bit more intense than a bark. Meet Throwflame, a fully robotic dog that has a flame-thrower strapped to its back, and is available to the public for purchase. Designed for both practical and entertainment applications, Throwflame is capturing attention worldwide. Let’s dive in and discuss why it might be the hottest (pun) new gadget on the market.

Key features:

• Throwflame is built on a quadruped robot platform, similar to Boston Dynamics’ which allows for mobility across various terrains while enabling fire deployment from a safe distance.

• The robot comes with an advanced navigation system including GPS and obstacle detection sensors, ensuring it can move around safely and efficiently on all kinds of terrain.

• Despite what you may think, safety is actually a top priority for Throwflame. The dog includes multiple fail-safes, such as emergency shut-off capabilities and heat-resistant materials, to prevent accidents and ensure the user’s safety.

• Throwflame is available for purchase directly from its manufacturer's website, starting at just below $10k (not bad for a flame-throwing robotic dog). The craziest part is these are on backorder already!

Why it's Important:

Throwflame is a good example of the evolving interface between robotics and AI pushing the boundaries of what they can do. Beyond that, there are also many practical applications for this robotic dog such as melting snow, controlled agricultural burns, clearing land of vegetation, or even in firefighting training where controlled burns are required.

💰 Perplexity Secures the Bag

If you haven’t heard of Perplexity AI, well, just think of it as Google’s newer cooler cousin that uses AI. Gone are the days of “Googling it,” now, it’s “Perplexing it?” Perplexity is another San Francisco-based startup that is focusing on developing a conversational AI search engine. This past week, they were able to secure $63 million in Series B funding which now doubles the company's valuation to over $1 billion. This funding round was led by some of the biggest investors and CEOs in tech like Daniel Gross, Stanley Druckenmiller, Garry Tan (Y Combinator CEO), and Dylan Field (Figma CEO). Some previous investors who also joined this round of funding were: Jeff Bezos and Nvidia. Here’s what you need to know.

Key takeaways:

• Perplexity aims to challenge some of the older more established search engines (nice way of calling out Google) with its more conversational AI approach.

• The investment will primarily drive Perplexity AI's global growth strategies but will also support further development of its product.

• The company also announced a new enterprise-focused offering, Perplexity AI Enterprise Pro which which is a B2B offering that provides enterprise-grade security, privacy, and productivity features.

• This investment highlights the significant interest and confidence in Perplexity AI's potential from industry leaders.

Why it's important:

This substantial funding is a major step forward for Perplexity and that will accelerate the growth of the search engine market. The company's strong backing and ambitious goals suggest that it could become a significant player in the future of how we search or maybe “Perplex” things.

🗣 Microsoft & Talking Heads Collab

Microsoft's VASA-1 is all the talk these days. With VASA, you can make anyone a talking head...but not like the band. VASA is an AI model that specializes in generating realistic talking faces. Just upload an image and an audio clip, and within seconds VASA, can create a video of that person speaking the provided audio. You may have seen a video going around of Mona Lisa rapping - that was done with VASA. This technology is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in video synthesis and deepfakes. In case you’re wondering like I was, VASA stands for Visual Affective Skill Acquisition.

Key insights:

• VASA produces highly realistic movements with the corresponding audio it’s given and also captures a wide range of facial expressions and subtle nuances, which makes them seem incredibly lifelike.

• The model includes realistic and natural head movements, enhancing the believability of the generated avatars.

• Users have control over various aspects of the generated video, such as gaze direction, perceived distance, and emotional expression, allowing for customization according to specific needs or scenarios.

• VASA currently supports the generation of 512x512 resolution videos at up to 40fps which makes it a great option for real-time applications.

Why it's important:

Beyond creating these lifelike avatars there is also a potential application for this tool in VR, video games, and online communication platforms as well. VASA has the potential to transform video creation, virtual conferencing, the entertainment industry, and more. This technology marks a significant step forward in the development of AI capable of generating realistic and expressive human-like content.

👨‍💻 PROMPT OF THE DAY:

Improve my email

Help me write an email to [person's name] about [topic]. I want to sound professional, but also friendly and approachable. My main goal is to [insert goal]. Be sure to suggest a good subject line that will get the viewer to open my email. Also, be sure to include a good opening line and and closing line.

👓 Meta’s Smart Glasses Get an Upgrade

Another week and another major announcement from Meta. This time, Meta announced its latest update in wearable tech, the Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses. Designed in collaboration with Ray-Ban, they offer some of their most iconic frames embedded with numerous smart features. The idea behind this new version of their glasses is aimed at enhancing connectivity without having to pull out your smartphone (yay less screen time).

Key features:

• These glasses have two built-in cameras for capturing photos and videos as well as an open-ear speaker for audio playback, and a microphone setup that supports voice commands - just say “Hey Meta” to activate.

• They also pair with a new Meta View app, enabling users to share their captured content directly to their social media accounts including Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

• Additionally, Meta has placed a very strong emphasis on privacy with a physical switch to turn off the camera and microphone as well as an LED light to indicate to others when the camera is recording.

Why it's important:

With this update, Meta is introducing multimodal AI (something that we’ve been hearing more about lately) by combining video, audio, and text all at the same time. Meta uses the following example: Say you’re traveling and trying to read a menu in French; the glasses can use their built-in camera and Meta AI to translate the text it’s seeing and read it back aloud. This update could redefine how we interact with the outside world and our smart devices, making technology even more integrated into our daily lives.

✨Adobe’s AI Sparks Creativity

Adobe is changing the game again recently unveiled its new AI model - Firefly, making another notch in its already impressive suite of creative tools. Firefly is designed to assist professionals across various industries by automating previously complex processes. This model leverages Adobe's deep understanding and knowledge of the creative industry to offer features that are highly functional and will save users thousands of hours. Right now, this product is only available in the Photoshop desktop beta version. You can watch it in action here!

Key features:

• The new updates introduce more AI-driven tools such as 'AI Spot Healing' and 'Content-Aware Fill', which allow users to edit images extremely accurately and with less manual effort (remember how long it used to take to cut out a single image or is that just me?). These tools use advanced algorithms to understand the context of the visual elements, making edits cleaner and more natural.

• They also added a new collaborative feature that enables teams to work together on projects in real time. Users can now share their projects, exchange feedback, and make changes that are instantly visible to everyone on their team - similarly to how you can exchange feedback in Google Workspace or MS 365.

• Adobe has also optimized Photoshop to utilize cloud computing better which results in faster loading times and an overall smoother user experience.

Why it's important:

By using AI, Adobe is not only enhancing the capabilities of digital tools but also empowering creators to achieve more with less effort. This update highlights Adobe’s commitment to leading the digital arts industry into a new era of AI-enhanced creativity, which will undoubtedly have a great impact on productivity and creative processes.

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Until next time!

Justin