Google scrapes all data for AI

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✨ Today in the Metaproof Daily

📁 For Google, all your data is fair game for its AI

🧵 Metaverse-challenged Meta launches Threads

🇰🇷 Memory chips fuel South Korea’s bid in AI race

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For Google, all your data is fair game for its AI [Link]

Over the past weekend, Google rolled out the latest update to its privacy policy, essentially saying it reserves the right to scrape all public internet data to build its AI tools.

The new policy states:

“Google uses information to improve our services and to develop new products, features and technologies that benefit our users and the public. For example, we use publicly available information to help train Google’s AI models and build products and features like Google Translate, Bard, and Cloud AI capabilities.”

For some, a few things make the new policy quite ominous:

• The policy has been updated to say “AI models” where it previously noted “for language models.” It also added Bard and Cloud AI, when it formerly only mentioned Google Translate for data collection.

• The new policy can potentially back up Google’s move to collect old human-generated content, such as old blog posts, to retain a feel for how human text and speech is developed as well as distributed.

• It remains unclear whether scraping vast portions of the internet to fuel companies’ robot habits is legal, with the courts of the future potentially wrestling with copyright issues.

The mass development of AI in today’s heated race for supremacy in the novel tech is surrounded by issues around privacy, disinformation, and plagiarism, to name a few.

Metaverse-challenged Meta launches Threads [Link]

Meta’s Threads app - an apparent alternative to Twitter - debuts a day earlier than expected amid growing dissatisfaction around Elon Musk’s social media platform.

Threads lets users post and repost messages as well as reply to fellow users, along with letting Instagram users follow the same accounts on the platform to augment following.

Saying “the world needs this kind of friendly community,” Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg bares the vision to “take the best parts of Instagram and create a new experience for text, ideas and discussing what's on your mind."

Threads, however, is hardly the only Twitter rival that exists today; there’s Bluesky, which remains in testing phase via the invite-only beta, as well as Mastodon, Post.News, and Hive.

The launch comes on the heels of Meta’s embattled metaverse plans and increasing attention to AI as part of the intensifying race for dominance in the controversial AI space.

OpenAI turns off ChatGPT web browsing feature amid user abuse [Link]

Just a week after its launch on the iOS app, OpenAI has deactivated the Browse with Bing web-browsing feature in ChatGPT due to concerns about content display. The feature occasionally bypassed paywalls and privacy settings, prompting OpenAI to take action.

During its availability, the Browse feature was exclusively accessible to ChatGPT Plus members under the GPT-4 model, utilizing a Bing-based search engine for web browsing. Users quickly discovered a workaround to access paywalled content by requesting the full text of a URL from ChatGPT.

OpenAI acknowledges the need to rectify the situation and has temporarily disabled the browsing functionality. The team is actively working on a solution to reinstate the feature while upholding the rights of content owners.

While an exact timeline for its return has not been provided, OpenAI has assured users that efforts are underway to bring back the browsing feature soon.

Memory chips fuel South Korea’s bid in AI race [Link]

South Korea’s technology minister, in an interview with CNBC, asserts the country’s plan to “emerge as a prominent player in rapidly growing and promising areas such as AI semiconductors.”

In this mission to participate and emerge victorious in the global AI chip race, the Asian nation is backed by its dominant position in the memory chip market, where Samsung Electronics and SK hynix hold nearly 70% of the overall share.

This is key to its success as large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT require high-performance memory chips, enabling generative AI models to remember details from past conversations and user preferences leading to human-like responses.

Improbable mounts MLB virtual ballpark [Link]

Improbable has developed a virtual ballpark for MLB's All-Star Celebrity Softball Game, providing fans with an authentic baseball experience on MLB.com.

The physical game is happening on July 8, while the virtual event takes place on Improbable's M2 platform, accommodating up to 20,000 fans for interactive participation, said to be driven by advanced tech like 3D audio and lifelike crowd interactions.

This collaboration marks MLB's entry into the metaverse, demonstrating its commitment to digital tech for enhanced fan engagement.

Quick Hits

🎮 Gaming

• From automating game dev’s most tedious aspects to instantly conjuring characters, Ubisoft, Roblox, and Blizzard are tapping AI to create next-gen games. (Link)

• Animoca Brands forms a strategic alliance with Farcana, creator of an upcoming team arena shooter game, for powered-up character abilities and an esports-focused Bitcoin reward system. (Link)

• So who owns it? Generative AI in games might be creating a copyright crisis. (Link)

• P2E game Lord of Dragons taps web3 provider BlockchainSpace to equip gaming guilds with tools and resources for their metaverse growth. (Link)

• Realistic graphics: As violence in games becomes more lifelike, what does that mean for how we interact with digital worlds? (Link)

🕶 Fashion

• Get your hands on Fenty Beauty’s Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer on Roblox via the new Fenty Beauty + Fenty Skin Experience. (Link)

• The AI-powered YouCam Makeup app is your next personalized digital fashion stylist. (Link)

• Crypto’s next top model doesn’t exist. (Link)

• Fast Sneaks Project is 1-of-1 collectible sneakers authenticated by optical AI tech and features contemporary artist Brendan Murphy’s distinct artistic formula. (Link)

• What could be the secret sauce to building your brand presence in the metaverse? (Link)

• Fashion designer Kay Kwok’s worlds are immersive and frightening, yet confoundingly enticing and even inviting. And never one-dimensional. (Link)

🏀 Sports

• The Premier League leverages AR to enhance its sports broadcasting for viewers at home. (Link)

• The Virtuagym AI Coach creates tailored workouts for users based on their specific requirements, inputted via a chat interface. (Link)

• In India, DAZN is building a super app for converged sports experiences. (Link)

• Golf simulators, along with other virtual sporting experiences, have grown in popularity in recent years thanks in part to new tech. (Link)

• SBC Summit Barcelona, set to take place on Sept 19-21, will include the return of the Sports Betting Zone. (Link)

🎥 Media & Entertainment

• Voice actors call out AI as imitations spread in erotic Skyrim mods: "I do not give consent." (Link)

• Hollywood legend Steve McQueen is honored as “King of Cool” in a new NFT collection. (Link)

• The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) rolls out core principles for the application of AI in entertainment. (Link)

• Twitter silently removes the login requirement for viewing tweets. (Link)

• Afrobeats artist Fireboy DML steps into the metaverse with footwear label Clarks via Beyond Worlds. (Link)

• A New Jersey judge is under investigation for lip-syncing lyrics about murder and drugs on TikTok. (Link)

🖼 Art

• London’s Wellcome collection explores the notion of beauty with a new exhibition called The Cult of Beauty. (Link)

• Midjourney drops another AI art game changer. (Link)

• Hip Hop Til Infinity opens on July 26 in New York City’s Hall des Lumières, Manhattan’s most prominent venue for custom-designed immersive art experiences. (Link)

• Black artists and experts issue new warnings about AI’s bias against Black people. (Link)

• Tezos generative art platform fxhash adds Ethereum, marking its evolution into a multichain model. (Link)

🤖 AI

• Miami Mayor Suarez AI chatbot launches for his presidential campaign. (Link)

• ChatGPT-maker OpenAI says it is doubling down on preventing AI from “going rogue.” (Link)

• South Yorkshire scientists harness the power of bee brains to improve AI systems and devices. (Link)

• Law firms are recruiting more AI experts as clients demand “more for less.” (Link)

• Mastercard weaponizes AI against real-time payment scams. (Link)

• Machine learning aids in spotting skin cancer. (Link)

• The FBI warns of using AI deepfakes as part of sextortion schemes. (Link)

💸 Funding & Partnerships

• ML accelerator start-up Celestial AI raises $100M funding for optical interconnect platform. (Link)

• Good Capital launches a $50M fund to back AI-focused startups. (Link)

• Coca Cola Serbia partners with Solana-based NFT marketplace SolSea. (Link)

• AI-backed blockchain data startup Web3Go raises $4M in a seed round. (Link)

• Kassel-based Twinsity secures $2.7M (€2.5M) from EIC Accelerator to upscale AI-based infrastructure inspection. (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.

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