🌍 AI Search Engines: A Trend or a Trap?

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Hello Team,

Are AI search engines the future or just hype? We explore this question and the environmental costs of AI, despite the industry's secrecy. How do we move forward sustainably? Plus, we examine if Virtual Reality will become a reality with cutting-edge technology.

This is what we have today…

• The Rise of Virtual Reality (VR) in the Age of AI.

• AI Environmental Costs are extremely high, soaring, and secret.

• AI Search Engines: A Trend or a Trap?

Our Sections:

• ❓Quiz of the Day

• 📰 News and Trends

• 💰 Follow the Money

• 🧰 AI Tools of the Day (Coaching)

❓Quiz of the Day

What does 'AR' stand for in technology?

• A) Artificial Reality

• B) Augmented Reality

• C) Advanced Robotics

• D) Automatic Response

Please give us your answer in the comments below.

The correct answer will be given in the next newsletter - Last Week’s Quiz correct answer: “C”

Leave a comment

📰 AI News and Trends

• ChatGPT cut-off knowledge has been extended to December 2023 to compete with Gemini. (OpenAI)

• Google's Gemma AI open model offers lightweight text generation solutions for developers, with safety tools, aiming to tap into an enterprise market while mitigating misuse risks (Google)

• Amazon AGI team says their AI is showing “Emergent Abilities.” (TheByte)

• ‘Soaring’ over hills or ‘playing’ with puppies, study finds seniors enjoy virtual reality (AP)

• Researchers increasingly view tech as having human-like qualities (NS)

• Adobe Acrobat adds generative AI to ‘easily chat with documents’ (TheVerge)

🌐 Other Tech news

• Tech giant Rivals join forces against China (FT)

• Mind-reading devices are revealing the brain’s secrets (Nature)

• Facial Recognition: Coming Soon to an Airport Near You and all events. (NYT)

• YouTube dominates TV streaming in US, per Nielsen’s latest report (TC)

• Apple has a warning: Don’t put your iPhone in rice if it gets wet (FT)

• A Global Police Operation Just Took Down the Notorious LockBit Ransomware Gang (Wired)

The Rise of Virtual Reality (VR) in the Age of AI

The concept of a "Metaverse" – a 3D internet – is becoming closer to reality. Advances in AI, such as OpenAI's Sora, are capable of generating remarkably realistic virtual worlds. While Sora has limitations, it demonstrates the potential for AI to create captivating and immersive virtual experiences indistinguishable from real life.

AI's Role in VR

• Generative AI: Systems like Sora push the boundary of immersive VR experiences through photorealistic renderings. Future iterations will likely address inconsistencies for even more convincing virtual environments.

• The Need for Speed: To make VR truly seamless, models need to render virtual worlds in real time. Hardware breakthroughs like Groq's specialized chips offer remarkable speed-ups in AI processing, opening the door for truly interactive and real-time VR.

The Future of VR

The article suggests we're closer than ever to a VR revolution. These trends point to what the future holds:

• 5 Years: Real-time AI-generated VR environments might become the norm. Hardware specializing in AI, like Groq, will make computation more efficient, allowing higher-quality VR experiences. Rendering is the name of the game here.

• 10 Years: VR hardware, potentially spearheaded by Apple or Meta, could mature, offering lightweight and immersive headsets that replace traditional screens.

• 20 Years: The lines between reality and the Metaverse might be heavily blurred. AI-generated virtual worlds may become so lifelike that people spend a significant portion of their time in them.

Important Considerations

While this VR revolution might be exciting, there are crucial areas to consider:

• Accuracy vs. Realism: AI-generated VR could raise questions about truth. While virtual worlds may look real, they might not accurately model real-world physics.

• Ethical Implications: Issues like deepfakes and the potential for highly addictive virtual worlds pose ethical dilemmas.

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AI Environmental Costs are extremely high, soaring, and secret.

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, acknowledges the impending energy crisis in the AI industry, with generative AI systems projected to escalate power consumption, sparking discussions on environmental impacts. AI companies’ reliance on nuclear fusion as a solution faces skepticism, while concerns mount over the industry's surging energy and water demands.

Legislators have responded by introducing the US's Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act of 2024, aiming to establish standards and reporting frameworks. Urgent action, including sustainable practices, transparent reporting, and legislative measures, is essential to mitigate AI's ecological footprint as the development of this technology is in its infancy.

💰 Follow The Money

• $7.3B raised by Anthropic in the past year on $8 million monthly revenue.

• $102M obtained by Recogni, a San Jose, CA-based AI-based computing company.

• $7.5M garnered by EngineEars, a CA-based music tech startup.

• $4M Secured by UnityAI, a Nashville, Tenn.-based healthcare technology startup.

• $16.2M acquired by AZmed, a Paris, France-based MedTech startup providing AI-powered radiology software.

📰 Publications I am currently reading and recommending:

• BookBub - We help millions of readers save up to 95% on bestselling ebooks. Join for free and get incredible ebook deals, straight to your inbox.

• 1-Minute Question - Based on Neuroscience Science Practices to rewire your brain for success.

• How Brands Win - Distills the strategies behind great brands. And gives you actionable insights for your business.

AI Search Engines: A Trend or a Trap?

Tech giants and startups alike are integrating AI into search engines, aiming to revolutionize how we find information online with AI-generated results and chatbots. I have personally been playing with the Arc Browser which promises AI search capabilities. The design is great, but the AI search is not very impressive as of yet.

Skepticism and Hype: Critics argue the rush toward AI search is more about following a trend than addressing a real need, likening it to the cryptocurrency craze. Concerns arise over the web's future and the actual benefits of AI-driven searches.

Challenges and Concerns: Early implementations, like Bing's GPT-4, show limitations in accuracy and raise questions about content validity and the impact on content creators. The pursuit of AI-driven convenience might undermine the integrity and economic foundation of the web.

Future Outlook: The industry faces a choice: either improve AI search to genuinely benefit users and creators or continue current search engine flaws in an AI-wrapped format. The goal should be ensuring AI enhances rather than detracts from the online experience.

Lots of companies and startups are rushing to deploy AI capabilities in everything they can think of while compromising valuable results to monetize the trend.

🧰 AI Tools of the Day

Coaching

• Wave AI - Expert-designed and tailored coaching, empowered by AI.

• Sports Sparks - Sports coaching and knowledge enhancement, personalized.

• Medoo - Intelligent coaching software that powers prized aha! moments, helping you increase your coachee retention, engagement, and throughput.

• IX Coach - Chat with your AI coach anytime.