GPT-4 now available and more powerful

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💥 API makes GPT-4 now generally available, more potent

💪 Meta’s Threads could fortify the metaverse

🏳️ Sega steps back from blockchain gaming

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API makes GPT-4 now generally available, more potent [Link]

ChatGPT maker OpenAI - envisioning “a future where chat-based models can support any use case” - announces the general availability of GPT-4, its latest text-generating model, via its API. This enables all OpenAI API developers to access GPT-4, given they have “a history of successful payments.”

Why this matters: GPT-4 maintains unprecedented power over its predecessor, the GPT-3.5, including generating text (including code) and accepting image and text inputs. It also performs at a “human level.”

API, bridging 2 software programs and allowing information to pass between them, lets developers create new software applying the power of GPT-4 in relevant contexts, lending more powerful interactions for consumers.

This, however, hardly heralds perfection, as GPT-4 can still commit reasoning errors and potentially introduce security vulnerabilities into generated code.

Half a year since ChatGPT exploded into the scene and since GPT-4’s unveiling in March, the generative AI has only grown bigger, with Anthropic expanding the context window for its flagship AI model Claude and tech giants launching their own models to rival ChatGPT.

Meta’s Threads could fortify the metaverse [Link]

With 30M+ signups on the 1st 24 hours alone, brands are taking notice of Meta’s Threads app, which has mounted a serious campaign to rival the Elon Musk-owned Twitter.

Threads can be a smart metaverse play given the following:

• The text-based app mimics Twitter’s look and vibe while unloading pesky features such as caps on the number of viewable posts. Some experts, too, point to Twitter’s decision to limit the number of tweets by subscription model, affecting advertising relationships.

• Meta specializes in online advertising and commerce, unlike Twitter contenders such as Mastodon, Post.News, and Bluesky, which are also vying for the same attention and wooing the same user base.

• Brands are drawn to Threads’ immediate traction, such as metaverse-savvy L’Oréal Paris already staking their claims on it.

Why Threads is of potential great consequence: The new app appears to reflect Meta’s bid for decentralized social media - dubbed as Fediverse, a portmanteau of “federation” and “universe” and which is deemed a key component of web3 like the metaverse is.

Sega steps back from blockchain gaming [Link]

Prominent gaming studio Sega Corp. has chosen to safeguard its content by denying its major franchises to external blockchain gaming ventures and halting its own blockchain game production.

Due to the digital currency market downturn, the company will allow external partners to use its lesser-known characters for NFTs, despite initial criticism from gamers regarding the environmental impact of crypto tech.

Sega's Co-Chief Operating Officer Shuji Utsumi has expressed dissatisfaction with P2E games and uncertainty about the company's exploration of web3, a shift in strategy that reflects a broader trend in cooling enthusiasm for web3.

Sega, however, appears to support some blockchain games with lesser-known franchises and remains open to future involvement in blockchain as it matures, demonstrating adaptability.

AI's dual potential: Fast-track extreme weather forecasting, drive care home companionship

Meteorologists and government agencies are leveraging AI to improve weather forecasting and warnings due to climate change-induced extreme weather events, as seen in two new Nature studies:

• Pangu-Weather has shown good results in forecasting global weather patterns, offering quicker predictions than traditional methods and outperforming other models in predicting the path of a tropical cyclone in the Pacific. It can augment existing forecasting systems and strengthen their accuracy by leveraging AI tech.

• NowcastNet, a deep-learning model, ranked 1st in 71% of tests against similar systems, proving superiority in predicting extreme rainfall. This tool can be beneficial in climate change risk prevention and emergency preparedness, potentially saving lives and aiding resource allocation with its ability to forecast up to 3 hours ahead.

In the realm of AI healthcare, social robot Nadine offers potential in caring for the sick and elderly.

Constant availability and relatability make robots like Nadine potentially valuable assets in healthcare, boasting GPT-3-driven abilities such as conversational skills.

Quick Hits

🎮 Gaming

• A popular casual gaming pick, digital pool games leap into the NFT world with Eyeball Pool. (Link)

• Traditional game publishers are looking to web3 tech more than ever before, empowering players with greater control and ownership of their gaming experiences. (Link)

• Deepdub Go - a new AI-powered audio-video localization and creation platform aimed at indie game studios, advertising agencies, online learning platforms, and content creators - lets users dub in 65 languages. (Link)

• A new Roblox game inspires tweens, teens, and their families to explore the Western Cape in Africa this winter. (Link)

• Web3 platform MYTH introduces Infinite Redeemers, unique entities that generate Spellbound assets for enhanced game mechanics and empowered players. (Link)

🕶 Fashion

• French beauty brand L’Occitane builds its virtual store in a digital Provence with a little help from virtual store developer Emperia. (Link)

• Ambush’s Yoon Ahn, highly active in web3 has a Ledger collab due out in the early fall, a cold wallet for storing digital assets and crypto. (Link)

• The Vibrant Fashion District Festival in East London celebrates fashion, sustainability, innovation, and community, uniting conscious brands and digital fashion biz. (Link)

• Syky’s year-long mentorship program involves top industry voices as mentors, including Calvin Klein CMO Jonathan Bottomley, Syky founder Alice Delahunt, and Red DAO co-founder Megan Kaspar. (Link)

• Beyond K beauty: Amorepacific’s fight for global dominance is hounded by more players and a foray in the increasingly competitive digital space. (Link)

🏀 Sports

• English soccer association Premier League unleashes an AR scavenger hunt timed to its 1st-ever US-hosted Summer Series tournament. (Link)

• Online trolls tend to attack following defeat in sports matches - and now AI and new tech are out to combat the online abuse of athletes. (Link)

• Highest-paid NCAA female athlete Olivia Dunne fights for female NIL deals in her male-dominated field. (Link)

• UK companies are developing training accessories that professional footballers can use within the metaverse. (Link)

• The latest iteration of the $35B industry, the PGA Tour 2K23 is well-equipped with real-life players and golf courses from around the world; thus plenty of golfers have registered their visuals through tech, be it their face scans or their golf swing. (Link)

🎥 Media & Entertainment

• G/O Media, which owns outlets like The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, and The Onion, announces its experimentation with AI tools. (Link)

• Bad blood? FTX's former CEO withdraws from a $100M sponsorship of Taylor Swift's tour after she inked the deal. (Link)

• Dverso launches the open alpha version of Italy’s leading web3 metaverse. (Link)

• Kakao Entertainment launches AI brand Helix: What’s in store with the Asian entertainment powerhouse’s new venture? (Link)

• Metaverse fandom spaces are still populating, but is the trend built to last? (Link)

• Twitter warns it could sue Meta over “copycat” Threads app. (Link)

🖼 Art

• Digital collectibles platform and Gary Vee-backed Candy Digital and Palm NFT join forces to create a platform delegating the digital ownership of arts. (Link)

• MESH Art Fair in Decentraland celebrates virtual world creativity via a showcase of 40 artists’ works in the metaverse. (Link)

• SeaArt AI unveils AI painting tools, offering users free generation of at most 240 pictures 60x a day for a limited time. (Link)

• Is the metaverse dreamland or dystopia? (Link)

• Auctions fuel growth for fine art NFTs even amid general recession, says Abridged co-founder and COO Anjali Young. (Link)

• Reviving the spirit of Steve McQueen: NFT collection celebrates racing and coolness. (Link)

🤖 AI

• Air Force colonel says it took AI 10 minutes to complete a task that can take humans days. (Link)

• Mozilla pauses blunder-prone AI chatbot. (Link)

• Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says he wants Airbnb to be the “ultimate AI concierge” that will match the user to the perfect property. (Link)

• AI points toward drugs that could fight aging. (Link)

• How to pump up productivity and creativity using ChatGPT. (Link)

• Here are 50+ skill sets to look for in federal AI workers. (Link)

• YouTube launches AI-generated quizzes to test users’ knowledge on subjects of interest. (Link)

💸 Funding & Partnerships

• DigitalOcean acquires New York-based cloud computing startup Paperspace for $111M in cash. (Link)

• Tomb Raider games group Embracer raises $182M in share issue. (Link)

• New York City-based Alfie Health raises $2.1M for AI-powered weight loss platform. (Link)

• Yum Brands inks AI-driven customer data partnership with Treasure Data to create a single view of customers across multiple brands. (Link)

• AI-powered Numarics secures $11.2M (€10.2M) funding for DACH region expansion. (Link)

• Tokyo-based Telexistence raises $170M (¥23B) in Series B round. (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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