AI News of August 2023

Gather around to check out the hottest AI news of August so that you can ace AI marketing.

Meta hops on the AI-Chatbot trend with a twist, YouTube beta stage AI-generated video summaries raises questions, and former OpenAI executives launch Claude 2, a conversational AI. Scroll down to keep up with the fast-growing AI landscape.

Meta to Get On Top of AI-Chatbot Trend, Some Futurists are Concerned

AI chatbots are nothing new, but Meta is prepared to come up with a twist: chatbots with unique personas. Have an intriguing chat with artificial Abraham Lincoln or get travel recommendations from a cool surfer. Yet it is not always fun and games.

Meta’s AI Chatbots with Distinctive Personas

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, gears up for an innovative step with its new AI chatbots. According to a report by Financial Times, the company is getting ready to launch AI-powered chatbots. And to our surprise, each will supposedly have distinctive personalities.

Expected to debut in September, the new feature will include both Facebook and Instagram.

The upcoming launch of these AI chatbots is more of a calculated endeavor to reactivate user engagement rather than a coincidence. Especially when Meta’s Twitter (or X) like platform Threads is facing user retention challenges.

Innovative Step to Boost User Engagement

This well-planned move on AI innovation is an indicator that Meta is really getting into AI technologies. Considering the big AI-leap of tech giants such as Apple and Microsoft, Meta’s agenda must be full with AI related innovations and, as it seems, they are already on track.

Meta has also made their AI language model Llama 2’s code open for others to use. Which is a great attempt to help make AI safer and more secure.

This “determination” to make AI more safe and secure coincides with Meta’s strategic restructuring. A significant workforce streamlining within the company resulted in the departure of over 21,000 employees.

The dividends of the restructuring are already evident, as Meta reports a notable 11% year-over-year surge in revenue. Thus successfully rebounding from its initial quarterly revenue dip.

Controversies Surrounding AI-Driven Chatbots

There are controversial opinions surrounding AI-driven chatbots still. As in the example of tech giant Snapchat, the launch of its AI-driven chatbot “My AI” was greeted with a spectrum of reactions.

My AI can engage in daily conversations, provide math tutoring, and much more. Yet there are questions regarding restrictions, data security, and younger users’ interactions with mature content.

The innovation sure has sparked excitement, yet concerns arise about potential societal issues. Several experts predict that people may start to form deeper connections with AI than with other humans. Accordingly this may lead to narcissism and other communicative challenges in daily human interactions. As stressed by futurist Theo Priestley, this could possibly result in a mental health crisis.

Meta refrained from commenting officially on their reported AI-driven chatbot efforts yet. It is expected that they will provide further insights on their chatbot and other AI-related endeavors if there are any in their Connect developer event in September.

YouTube Explores AI-Generated Video Summaries: A New Era for Content?

YouTube is testing a new AI feature which automatically generates concise summaries for videos. These AI-generated summaries’ aim is to help viewers quickly understand the content and context of a video. The platform hopes this will help viewers with their decision on what to watch.

The current testing period does not involve all types of video content being carried out on specific English-language videos and is accessible to a limited audience. The summaries are set to appear on both YouTube’s search and watch pages.

However, as stated by YouTube also, these summaries are no substitute for video descriptions written by video creators themselves. This testing period will be assessing the effectiveness of the AI feature to convey a video’s essence.

Impact on Content and Rankings Uncertain

Several AI-powered tools for summarizing YouTube videos, such as Clipnote.ai, Skipit.ai, and Scrivvy, already exist. Yet some creators still are doubtful. Will the summaries be accurate, will the future work well especially for longer videos, and will editing be allowed or to what extent are just some of the many questions.

A Reddit user shared their experience with Clipnote.ai saying it didn’t make sense, it just copied the first part of the video description.

Hopefully the uncertainties that will arise with the new feature soon will fade away. Questions arise regarding creators’ control over AI summaries, if they will be able to edit or to what extent they will be able to do so is unclear.

Challenges and Adaptation for Creators

Additionally, potential effects on video rankings, and the accuracy of the summaries themselves are uncertain. There is a chance the ambiguity of the outcomes will push creators to adapt their content strategies accordingly so that they can increase engagement and views.

YouTube’s experimentation with AI-generated video summaries is not the only new feature set to be launched. In fact it is a part of YouTube’s broader efforts to enhance user experience and engagement through innovative features as AI-generated quizzes for educational content and an AI-powered dubbing tool.

YouTube parent Google has also introduced additional AI tools, such as an AI-assisted note-taking app and AI-generated backgrounds for Google Meet video calls.

As YouTube explores further the potential of AI-generated summaries and AI technologies, it would be to your advantage as a digital marketer to closely monitor these developments. Since these developments will forever change digital marketing landscape.

Anthropic Unveils Claude 2: A Game-Changer in Conversational AI Landscape

The artificial intelligence realm is hit with a significant move from Anthropic. The company has introduced its latest version AI chatbot, Claude 2.

Two siblings, Daniela and Dario Amodei, who are former OpenAI research executives founded Anthropic. The idea behind their venture was ignites with their concerns regarding OpenAI’s commercial direction.

Balancing Innovation and Ethical Concerns

Growing interest in AI technologies are nothing new yet are expected to continue, and this of course allures investments. Anthropic is currently backed by a substantial investment of $750 million and is valued at an impressive $4.1 billion. With this impressive resource Anthropic could reshape conversational AI.

Anthropic’s earlier AI model Claude 1.3 is upgraded and introduced as the latest version Claude 2. This launch bears many advancements and improvements. The company is known for its unwavering dedication to innovation and AI safety. Which has led them to the launch of Claude 2 with expectadly safer features. Currently operating as a public benefit corporation, Anthropic combines profit and social responsibility. They call themselves an AI safety and research company.

Claude 2’s Advanced Capabilities

Claude 2 stands out with its unique ability to generate code from written instructions and process large volumes of text for comprehensive analysis. This places Claude 2 on par with OpenAI’s ChatGPT models, marking a significant development in the quest for more advanced AI technology.

Many are concerned with the bias and safety issues of AI models. Anthropic is focused on exactly fixing that. Still it is noteworthy that Claude 2 also generates fictional content and is reported to have generated biased content, which was a concern also related to ChatGPT.

Anthropic’s AI models have undergone rigorous testing by businesses like Slack, Notion, and Quora, leading to heightened anticipation. There is an extensive waitlist, comprising over 350,000 individuals eager to access Claude’s application programming interface and consumer-oriented features. So the widespread excitement surrounding this groundbreaking technology cannot be missed.

While Claude 2’s initial availability is limited to users in the U.S. and U.K., Anthropic has strategic plans to expand its reach in the near future, in response to the growing demand for sophisticated conversational AI tools.

Ethical considerations and the broader implications of AI-human interactions are still central to the AI discourse even after Claude 2 enters the AI landscape. The evolving relationship between AI and humanity needs a close watch in terms of risks even though it ushers in a new era of possibilities.