The fake AI video of Elon Musk which was used to solicit investment is a classic example of bad use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) video technology by bad actors. Sadly, this has also raised concerns about what can be done to harm people’s reputation. Lately, I’ve been impressed by the same technology if put into good use. One great example in this regard has been shared by the founder of the LinkedIN platform, Reid Hoffman, who has also been an investor in OpenAI (creator of ChatGPT). He has been experimenting with positive uses of AI. At some point he co-wrote a book with the assistance o ..read more

Gen Z is sick of smartphones—and big brands are starting to catch on. For the past several years, “dumbphones”—’90s-inspired phones with pared-back features—have gradually gained traction. Plenty of smaller manufacturers offer their own versions of dumbphones, and the trend has even recently inspired a subgenre on YouTube dedicated to helping viewers convert their smartphones into DIY dumbphones. While cautious parents and technophiles have already caught on to dumbphones, it looks like the trend is now hitting the mainstream. In an unexpected collaboration revealed last week, beer brand Hei ..read more

Tesla’s humanoid robot is still in the lab, but it may be ready to sell as soon as the end of next year, chief executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday. Several companies have been betting on humanoid robots to meet potential labor shortages and perform repetitive tasks that could be dangerous or tedious in industries such as logistics, warehousing, retail and manufacturing. Musk told investors on a conference call that he guessed the Tesla robot, called Optimus, would be able to perform tasks in the factory by the end of this year. Humanoid robots have been in development for several years by Ja ..read more

Ever since Open AI started the AI race by launching ChatGPT, every other tech company has been trying to catch up. Although leading tech companies have some form of AI capability very few are able to get users to adopt their technology. Some have used their existing products convert current users into new users of their AI technology but even that has not yielded desired results. The latest tech company to capture the attention of users is Meta (formerly Facebook). Last week Meta launched Meta AI with built-in Llama 3. This move by Meta is significant for a couple of reasons. One is that Met ..read more

Imagine a company inundated with tasks yet making no progress because it needs to secure and verify information from specific documents. Instead of dedicating the day to fulfilling these tasks, the staff experience sluggish turnaround times as they wait for documents to arrive or, worse, find themselves unable to retrieve them entirely. This scenario highlights a common challenge that The Records Company, a pioneering record-retrieval and management firm in the US, aims to address. The company recognizes that inefficient record retrieval in today’s data-driven business can severely hinder su ..read more

There’s a movement against smartphones. Initially it focused on how smartphones are killing productivity, now it’s turning its focus on the impact on kids. The movement is gathering momentum to an extent that one media entity has reported that in the United Kingdom there’s speculation that the government is considering a ban of smartphones for kids under 16. It goes on to say that there’s even a poll which found out that most parents would back a ban on children under 16 having smartphones in the UK. The publication indicates that the survey for the charity Parentkind found 58% of parents of ..read more

When Dove launched its “Evolution” commercial in 2006, it went viral almost immediately. The spot showed a time-lapsed inside look at how an image goes from photograph to beauty ad—and all the digital manipulation in between. It was one of the first truly viral ads of the digital era, and a perfect extension of the brand’s then-2-year-old “Campaign for Real Beauty.” This week, the Unilever-owned brand marked the 20th anniversary of “Real Beauty” by making another, updated statement on digital manipulation. “The Code” highlights the negative impact of AI tools on the definition of beauty and ..read more

Reviews for Humane’s wearable Ai Pin are finally in—and they are, to put it lightly, very bad. Not that we’re surprised. Before the pin officially debuted last November, Fast Company’s global design editor, Mark Wilson, got a close-up demo of the product. His take? The Ai Pin was destined to disappoint. “It appears Humane hasn’t unlocked the potential of AI of today, let alone tomorrow, nor has it fundamentally solved any significant problems we have with technology,” Wilson wrote for Fast Company. “It’s just moved them two feet, from your pocket to your shirt.” Indeed, the reviews have said ..read more

Leading global digital power and product solution vendor, Huawei has launched its innovative Fusionsolar Residential Luna 2.0 solar solution to the South African market. The product can be utilized in smaller scenarios i.e. residential, Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME), and business. The solution, which comes in different scopes, 10 kW with 5 kWh battery capacity per module, expandible to 30 kWh, is an important step in the technological advancement of energy storage systems in South Africa. Given the country’s frequent power outages and unstable electricity supply, solar PV and en ..read more

Google has launched its own design of a CPU, based on the ARM architecture. The new chip, called Axion, will reside in the Google Cloud. Companies will pay to run their computing jobs on the new chips, which will reside in large data centers around the world. Google said the Axion chips are more efficient than other ARM-based chips. The Axion chips deliver up to 30% better performance and 60% better energy efficiency than competing ARM-based chips, the company said in a blog post. The company said it plans to power its YouTube advertising sales business using the new ARM-based chips. Axion m ..read more