Goodbye, human developers?

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✨ Today in the Metaproof Daily

❗ AI to wipe out human developers in 5 years: Stability AI chief

📊 Tech investment: Comcast accelerates AI startups, metaverse adoption slows

🤝 EU and Japan join forces on AI and chip dev’t

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AI to wipe out human developers in 5 years: Stability AI chief [Link]

Amid concerns around AI’s rapidly growing capabilities, Stability AI founder and CEO Emad Mostaque proclaims there will no longer be programmers in 5 years’ time.

Speaking at a podcast, Mostaque cites GitHub data noting that 41% of all code today is AI-generated, adding that in 3 months they overtook Bitcoin and Ethereum in Github and became popular there as a testament to AI’s growing popularity over crypto.

The tech exec, however, sings a different tune when it comes to job security concerns, envisioning AI as a tool for enhancing human potential rather than replacing it. "Humans are humans. Bring them the information that creates the most value, and you will change the world," he says.

With decentralizing AI as a key to its strategy, Stability AI is the maker of Stable Diffusion, a wildly popular open-source image generator. Seeking to build the foundations for a “society OS,” the company has expanded to building models for protein folding, language models, and audio-visual data processing.

Tech investment: Comcast accelerates AI startups, metaverse adoption slows

Comcast commits to investing in several LIFT Labs AI developers to tap into generative AI writing and video tools, with 8 startups already securing a proof of concept, pilot, or commercial deal with Comcast NBCUniversal.

The accelerator will use AI tech to create new videos, avatars, and animations, with 5 of the participants working to create content and interactive experiences for users. Charisma.ai, for instance, is developing tech toward interactive narratives and experiences with AI characters, working “to hyper-personalize the narratives to each individual in real time.”

The metaverse, meanwhile, continues to flop, according to a new Gartner paper that finds businesses aren’t in a rush to adopt the virtual worlds.

2 things appear to deter metaverse adoption:

• VR use cases in non-gaming environments are failing to live up to customer expectations when it comes to scale

• Immersive meetings utilizing avatars aren’t compelling enough to create sustainable metaverse experiences

Early adopters of metaverses, on the other hand, “most frequently” aim to “improve productivity or customer engagement or address marketing, brand and sales challenges."

EU and Japan join forces on AI and chip dev’t [Link]

In a bid to reduce reliance on China in certain tech areas, the European Union (EU) is forging closer ties with Japan.

EU Commissioner Thierry Breton emphasizes that AI will be a focal point of discussions during his meeting with the Japanese government on how they can “organize our digital space, including AI based on our shared value."

Key objectives of the EU and Japan collaboration focused on AI and chips, deemed key tech for the future:

• Create a digital space based on shared values, with a focus on quantum and high-performance computing. This collaboration with Asian countries possessing strong tech sectors supports the EU's plan to "de-risk" from China, as opposed to the US's decoupling strategy.

• Collaborate in the semiconductor sector, which is vital to many industries including automotive and smartphones, and essential for AI training.

• Enhance their tech capabilities and bolster global competitiveness.

Has Samsung’s AI moment arrived? [Link]

Samsung Electronics aims to capitalize on the AI wave, leveraging its world's largest memory chip business and semiconductor foundries. It has invested $7.4B in its chip business in Q1, with a focus on the AI industry.

Foreign investors have bought $8B worth of Samsung shares this year, showing keen interest in the company's AI prospects. However, skeptics question whether the company can replicate its success in smartphones and TVs in the generative AI field.

Samsung plans to compete with leading chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), yet it appears to face a significant revenue gap. Samsung's memory chip business remains crucial in the AI server market, boasting a dominant 45% share in the global DRAM market.

The competition remains fierce, with rivals like SK Hynix holding a significant share of the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market.

Quick Hits

🎮 Gaming

• Meta Quest 3 comes armed with the same pancake lenses as the Quest Pro, providing tastier eye candy than its pricey counterpart. (Link)

• It turns out that Minecraft makes more money on Switch than on Xbox, with Nintendo's family-friendly image a great seller for it. (Link)

• My Pet Hooligan - currently in alpha and offering cheeky lore, fun guns, and great movement - could rival Fortnite. (Link)

• 10 metaverse gaming trends that offer safety to gamers. (Link)

• The Gulf War Game Boy - claimed to be damaged in a bombing during Operation Desert Storm - is no longer there at the flagship Nintendo Store at Rockefeller Center. (Link)

• “Major gaming and digital technology businesses are making significant investments in the creation of customized metaverses, [partly due to] the enormous marketing possibilities,” says a Fact.MR analyst. (Link)

🕶 Fashion

• Will AI further body inclusivity or perpetuate existing problems in fashion? (Link)

• Korean tech giant Naver is positioning its metaverse platform Zepeto as an online destination for brands looking to reach Gen Z. (Link)

• Barcelona-based academy Footwearology rolls out an online course dedicated to AI for footwear. (Link)

• Forget tricks for millennials and Gen Z consumers: Here’s what your brand should know about Gen Alpha. (Link)

• Digital fashion-savvy Nike x Martine Rose features a player’s suit jacket, a pair of trousers, a trench, and a shirt designed for female soccer players and based on British tailoring codes. (Link)

• Over in Thailand, Thai Sock uses digital tech called FastReactPlan to meet growing demand. (Link)

🏀 Sports

• Chatbots in NFL stadiums: Exploring the future of fan interaction and how AI chatbots enhance the overall game-day experience for fans. (Link)

• How French sports tech startup Fair Vision is tapping into AI for sports analysis and to democratize sports. (Link)

• American Songwriter asks ChatGPT to write a universal sports anthem that’s “just as effective on the fifty-yard line as it is on the ice rink.” (Link)

• Fans get a taste of immersive replays at IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. (Link)

• The revenue of fantasy gaming platforms from Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches rose 24% from a year earlier to 28B+ rupees ($342M), with over 61M+ users involved. (Link)

🎥 Media & Entertainment

• Meta is launching its new app to rival Twitter and says it will go live on Thursday. (Link)

• Google Chrome rolls out Privacy Sandbox pop-up to 3B users worldwide. (Link)

• Will.i.am hails AI tech as the “new renaissance” in music. (Link)

• Think not of virtual land and virtual shopfronts: Might the metaverse be incorrectly defined, thus thought dead? (Link)

• Dolly Parton doesn’t want to become an AI hologram after she dies: “I’ve left a great body of work behind.” (Link)

• Pixar uses AI in Elemental to bring fire to life. (Link)

• Black-owned social media app Spill attracts new users after Elon Musk announces Twitter restrictions. (Link)

🖼 Art

• AI art generator Midjourney 5.2 gets upgraded, now promising improved user experience. (Link)

• Wandering: Digital Art in Historical Spacetime, a digital exhibition at Hunan Museum, highlights China’s traditional culture. (Link)

• France’s La Monnaie de Paris, the world’s oldest operational coin mint, opens doors to a new NFT exhibit in Paris. (Link)

• Someone inscribes a fully on-chain music engine onto Bitcoin using recursion. (Link)

• At the 3rd MEGA International Creative Media Festival, 6 experts discuss industrial opportunities in the metaverse. (Link)

🤖 AI

• The UN convenes to map out the frontiers of AI and harness its potential to empower humanity. (Link)

• AI breaks ancient language barriers and quickly translates into English, including ancient Cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs. (Link)

• Japan is leaning toward softer rules governing the use of AI than the EU. (Link)

• Google's updated privacy policy suggests it will utilize public internet data to train its AI models. (Link)

• China’s biggest AI conference kicks off; Qualcomm is the sole US sponsor amid escalating tech rivalry. (Link)

• Data scientists describe the arduous AI-powered task of getting Amazon's Alexa to speak in an Irish lilt. (Link)

• Full-body AI scans shape the future of preventive medicine. (Link)

💸 Funding & Partnerships

• Anthropic, an OpenAI competitor founded by ex-employees, raises $450M in Series C funding. (Link)

• Islamic Coin secures $200M funding from ABO Digital. (Link)

• AI video startup Runway raises $141M in funding. (Link)

• Startale Labs enters into an alliance with Sony Network Communications, securing a seed funding of $3.5M. (Link)

• ShopZetu secures $1M in pre-seed funding. (Link)

• Telecom giant Vodafone enters the NFT space with Cardano partnership. (Link)

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All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

📈 If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse 📈

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