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Weeknotes 221; Mundane AI that matter

By Iskander Smit in weeknotes —
Weeknotes 221; Mundane AI that matter
"Mundane AI that matter", acc MidJourney

Hi all! As mentioned last week I am moving the newsletter to a new tool as the former one (Revue) is discontinued from next week, and all data will be lost. I am now extra very happy to have been very consistent in copying the content of my newsletter to my blog. So I have been considering a couple of tools as new email engine, like Emailoctupus, Beehiiv, and Buttondown, and even just using my WordPress blog as email-tool too. In the end I choose for Ghost however. Mainly as it has the best way to make nice bookmarks previews in the email, what is the main part of this weekly newsletter of course.  It is not as good as Revue was for that goal, it misses part of the workflow. But for now it seems to work nicely. Welcome to Ghost!

So I imported the subscription list and so you have received this newsletter via Ghost now at the usual time. I will send out another short one via Revue in case this one ends up in a spam folder. So in case you did not receive this one in your mailbox, you might check your spam folder (or else subscribe :-) )...

So long for the practical stuff. My first week of 2023 was dedicated to working on Structural. We moved to our first dedicated office in Amsterdam West, as mentioned last week, we are settling and occupying the walls by mapping out our language and plans for tooling. I also wrote some 2023 outlooks (see below) and caught up with Wilbert and Marco (as OG Behavior Design AMS team :) ).

2023 predictions

As said, I did my own outlook for 2023 just like every year: Is 2023 prompting new tech relations in AI bubbles?
I am not the only one, of course, still, some predictions are coming in. This week I noticed some: robotics, micromobility, on breakthrough technologies, and exponential things.

Always present in these outlooks: GPT-3, or variations. And as every week now a lot of tools are dropping. It felt like the start of the AppStore back in 2008...
Some of the AI news of this week is about ChatGPT in your IDE, its impact on note-making - the end of organizing, having a conversation with the (famous) deaths, writing malware, just search different, filling spreadsheets, and many many more... And Apple is finally introducing its mixed reality headset is the rumor now.

Events for the coming week (still slow I think in the new year):

News update: the core of this newsletter: what were the interesting news articles? There was CES still, of course, with lots of new (TV) screens, strange cars (see below), and the introduction of Matter in everything. The Verge has a nice overview. Or listen to the podcast of Stacey Higginbotham to catch up on all that Matter...

Microsoft’s new AI can simulate anyone’s voice with 3 seconds of audio
Text-to-speech model can preserve speaker’s emotional tone and acoustic environment.
Ars TechnicaBenj Edwards
SYNTHETIC LIFE - Should we be anxious about these possibilities or hope for a personal assistant that impersonates us... 
AI and the Big Five
Given the success of existing companies with new epochs, the most obvious place to start when thinking about the impact of AI is with the big five: Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.
Stratechery by Ben ThompsonBen Thompson
MUNDANE AI - "Right now text is the universal interface, because text has been the foundation of information transfer since the invention of writing; humans, though, are visual creatures, and the availability of AI for both the creation and interpretation of images could fundamentally transform what it means to convey information in ways that are impossible to predict."
Deep learning algorithm can hear alcohol in voice
New deep learning tech that detects aberrant alcohol-related behaviour by voice
La Trobe UniversityCCarthy
HYPER SENSING - Microsoft can start deals with cafes...
Microsoft plans to use ChatGPT in Bing. Here’s why it could be a threat to Google.
Language models could transform the ways we engage with search engines.
Freethink MediaStephen Johnson
FIGHT FOR SEARCH - Microsoft is an investor in OpenAI the maker of ChatGPT, so it makes a lot of sense they plan to enhance their current products with it. Like search. 
Nvidia’s robot simulator now includes human characters too
CES 2023: Nvidia unveils improvements to its robotics simulation toolkit -- including the ability to test how robots react to humans.
ZDNETDanny Palmer
IMPERSONATIONS - "This allows simulated worlds to be based upon physically accurate sensor models, minimizing the differences between the simulation and the real environment, to ensure the robots are as accurately trained as possible."
Apple Music is using AI to make karaoke tracks
Apple Music Sing uses AI to turn popular songs into sing-alongs.
Freethink MediaB. David Zarley
MUNDANE AI - More and more useful AI applications pop up....
Autonomous driving’s future: Convenient and connected
By 2035, autonomous driving could create $300 billion to $400 billion in revenue. New research reveals what’s needed to win in the fast-changing passenger car market.
McKinsey & CompanyJohannes Deichmann
AUTONOMOUS - It is more than a technology, it is a new marketplace; in-car sales touchpoint while being a passenger behind the wheel...
Mercedes announces major autonomous driving update at CES
Mercedes announced a slate of new software updates coming to vehicles in 2023, notably including new autonomous driving features in the U.S.
TESLARATIWilliam Johnson
AUTONOMOUS - Slowly but steadily level 3 is approaching...
WEB3 - A thread that is as long (or longer) as an article... 
There wasn’t a single bank robbery in Denmark last year | CNN Business
The number of bank robberies in Denmark fell to zero last year, as beefed-up security and reduced use of cash in the Nordic country make holdups less lucrative.
CNNHanna Ziady
DIGITAL LIFE - The benefits of fully virtual economies...
Is AI sentient and is it even useful to ask?
Posted on Monday 9 Jan 2023. 1,902 words, 16 links. By Matt Webb.
Interconnected, a blog by Matt Webb
SENTIENCE - Interesting to compare this exploration of consciousness in NYT.
The oven won’t talk to the fridge: ‘smart’ homes struggle
Tech firms have spent years hawking the idea of a connected home filled with “smart” devices that help smooth daily domestic lives -- and this year’s CES gadget show in Las Vegas is no different.
YahooJulie JAMMOT
MATTER - The introduction of Matter at CES was a thing. It also triggers new questions; or mainly...
AI legal assistant will help defendant fight a speeding case in court
In February, an AI from DoNotPay is set to tell a defendant exactly what to say and when during an entire court case. It is likely to be the first ever case defended by an artificial intelligence
New Scientist#author.fullName}
HELPFUL AI - More and more personal helpers of different types.
The End of Moore’s Law?
As chips are getting smaller, prices are going up
EveryAnna-Sofia Lesiv
MORE MORE MORE - Is this not a returning question? 
interview: BMW’s color-changing i vision dee digital concept car at CES 2023
debuting in full-color at CES 2023, the BMW i vision dee concept electric car can change tone in seconds using E Ink.
designboom | architecture & design magazinetim spears I designboom
BLUSHING CAR - Most shared from CES, so in honor of that event and to close...
AFBF Signs Right to Repair Memorandum of Understanding with John Deere
The American Farm Bureau Federation and John Deere signed a memorandum of understanding today that ensures farmers’ and ranchers’ right to repair their own farm equipment. The MOU, signed at the 2023 AFBF Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is the culmination of several years of discussions between…
Credit: iStockPhoto
RIGHT TO REPAIR - New regulations are needed when product and services become connected and locked in...

Paper for the week

More than ever the concept of co-performance is relevant with all the sophisticated intelligence tooling. I mentioned this concept in my 2023 outlook, but I don't think I ever shared it in this section...

This paper introduces the notion of co-performance, with the aim to offer Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers and practitioners a new perspective on the role of artificial agency in everyday life, from automated systems to autonomous devices. In contrast to 'smartness,' which focuses on a supposed autonomy of artifacts, co-performance considers artifacts as capable of learning and performing next to people.

Lenneke Kuijer and Elisa Giaccardi. 2018. Co-performance: Conceptualizing the Role of Artificial Agency in the Design of Everyday Life. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '18). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Paper 125, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173699

Have a great next week!