Today in AI

• Today’s big story

• News roundup

• AI research changing the world

• The AI tool we’re loving

• This week on the podcast

What’s happening in AI right now

From film studios to audiobooks, AI reimagines creative industries

The entertainment and media landscape is undergoing a profound transformation as artificial intelligence technologies permeate every aspect of content creation and consumption.

Hollywood meets Silicon Valley

Oscar-nominated film studio XTR made waves by acquiring AI animation studio Late Night Labs, forming a new holding company called Asteria Film Co. This merger represents a significant step towards integrating AI deeply into the filmmaking process. While XTR brings its critically acclaimed documentary expertise, Late Night Labs contributes proprietary AI technology aimed at enhancing creative capabilities.

The formation of Asteria Film Co. signals a potential sea change in how mainstream film and television content is produced. However, the company is quick to emphasize its commitment to responsible AI use, positioning the technology as a tool to augment rather than replace human creativity.

AI takes the mic

In the world of audiobooks, Amazon's Audible is pushing boundaries with a new beta program for AI-generated voice clones. This initiative allows narrators to create AI versions of their voices, potentially revolutionizing audiobook production. While the program aims to expand Audible's catalog and offer new opportunities for narrators, it also raises concerns about the future of human narration in the industry at the same time.

Audible's approach attempts to balance innovation with preservation of the human element. Narrators retain control over project selection and can edit AI-generated content. Additionally, AI-narrated audiobooks will be clearly labeled, allowing consumers to make informed choices. With 40,000 Audible titles already using fully synthetic voices, this program represents a significant escalation in AI's role in audiobook production.

Democratizing creative tools

The tension between AI's potential to democratize creative processes and its threat to traditional roles is further exemplified by Husslup's launch of Greenlight Studio. This initiative uses AI to help freelancers create and sell content, offering tools like "Full Script Assessment" for comprehensive script analysis. Husslup's platform, with its network of nearly 15,000 freelancers, aims to challenge traditional power structures in the entertainment industry.

Greenlight Studio's AI-driven smart content marketplace for project discovery and plans for an "Elevator Pitch Coach" tool highlight the multifaceted ways AI is being integrated into the creative process. By offering community ownership opportunities, Husslup is also experimenting with new business models that could reshape how creative professionals engage with technology platforms.

The new creative director?

The integration of AI into brand management is another frontier where technology is reshaping creative industries. A recent Harvard Business Review article highlights how companies are leveraging AI to craft brand stories, align products with positioning, and manage customer relationships.

The Nike-Obvious collaboration, which resulted in a successful limited edition sneaker, exemplifies AI's potential in product design and innovation. This case study demonstrates how AI can be a powerful tool for augmenting human creativity when applied thoughtfully.

News roundup

The top stories in AI today.

FUTURE OF WORK

Jobs are changing — are you?

• AI Tools Boost Productivity but Raise Questions About Human Skill Erosion

• ‘Nature’ Publishes New Guidelines for Use of LLMs in Scientific Research

• HBR: How AI Is Powering Brand Management

• Agentic AI Automates Business Decisions: What You Need to Know

• AI Is Reshaping Job Applications — Unfortunately They All Look The Same

GADGETS

Computers, phones, wearables & other AI gizmos

• Apple Watch AI Upgrade Could Redefine Wearable Tech

• Apple Delays Key AI Features for iPhone Ahead of Glowtime Event

• AI Enthusiast Builds 192GB VRAM Server for Llama-3.1 in Basement

• The Best New Smart Home Tech Unveiled at IFA 2024

• AI-Powered Custom Emojis May Come to iPhones in December

• Deal Alert: Acer Swift 14 AI Copilot+ PC Now $200 Off

MODELS

Deployment, research, training, infrastructure

• AI Model Sparks Fraud Allegations as Benchmark Claims Unravel

• IBM Launches TinyTimeMixer, an AI Model for Time Series Forecasting

• Google Just Dropped 3 New Experimental Gemini AI Models

• Try The ‘Self-Ask’ Technique Next Time You Have a Complicated Task for AI Chatbots

• Capx AI Launches 8B-Parameter Multimodal Vision Model

Entertainment

Content creation, books, movies, TV & music

• Husslup Launches Greenlight Studio, an AI That Assists Entertainment Freelancers

• Audible Launches Program for Narrators to Create AI-Generated Voices

• Oscar-Nominated XTR Acquires AI Animation Studio

• AI Art Fight! Matteo Wong Challenges Ted Chiang’s Assertion That AI Can’t Make Art

• BBC Sounds Tests AI-Generated Subtitles to Boost Accessibility

AI research changing the world

The latest breakthroughs and most pivotal papers — broken down in language anyone can understand.

Google Research Unveils Chain-of-Thought Prompting

Imagine an AI that doesn't just respond with quick, isolated answers, but one that reasons through problems step by step, much like a human would. This is the vision brought closer to reality by Google Research's latest findings. The team has developed a method called "chain-of-thought prompting," which significantly enhances the reasoning capabilities of large language models. This breakthrough is not just a technical marvel; it has substantial implications for how we might interact with AI in the future, potentially transforming various sectors, including education, healthcare, and business.

The research demonstrates that when large language models, such as PaLM 540B, are given a sequence of reasoning steps (a chain of thought), their performance on complex tasks improves dramatically. For instance, using just eight chain-of-thought exemplars, PaLM 540B achieved state-of-the-art accuracy on the GSM8K math word problems benchmark, outperforming models that had been fine-tuned on the task. This is particularly noteworthy since the approach doesn't require extensive datasets for training, meaning a single model can tackle a variety of tasks while retaining its versatility.

The AI tool we’re loving right now

The best way to get AI literate? Try the tools!

BigVu

There’s no way around it — being a content creator, influencer or business leader these days requires publishing high-quality video content. That’s why BigVu is such a powerful tool. BigVu uses the power of AI to allow you traverse the entire lifecycle of video creation and publishing with some very cool features:

• Eye contact correction

• Subtitle & caption generation

• Video-to-text transcription

• Script generation

• Teleprompter

• AI voice changing & cloning

• Background music generator

• Post Scheduler

• Landing page generator

• And much more

The best part? CO/AI subscribers get access to a special discount when they sign up using the link below. Use our promo code MEHFIN63 at checkout to receive $20 off when you subscribe.

Want to learn how to use BigVu? Check out our tutorial here.

This week on the podcast

Can’t get enough of our newsletter? Check out our podcast Future-Proof.

Get more with a Pro account

Paid members get access to discounts on AI tools, expert-written tutorials and deep industry data and leaderboards.