Table of Contents

• This Week

• Business Use Cases

• Things to Pay Attention to

This Week

Bottom Line Up Front

• Chrome is getting its biggest upgrade ever with new Google AI features to improve browsing, including Gemini in Chrome which can clarify complex information and handle tedious tasks.

• Gemini in Chrome will have agentic capabilities to perform tasks like booking haircuts and ordering groceries, and can work across multiple tabs to help with tasks like travel planning.

• Chrome's AI features also include AI-powered search from the address bar, enhanced security features to block scams and manage notifications, and the ability to change compromised passwords easily with a single click.

Business Use Cases

Why is this important

• China's Cyberspace Administration has banned domestic tech companies from buying Nvidia AI chips.

• The ban includes stopping tests and orders of Nvidia's RTX Pro 6000D server, affecting companies like ByteDance and Alibaba.

• Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang expressed disappointment but patience, stating the company will continue to support the Chinese government and companies as they wish.

Why is this important

• Consumer spending is a huge part of GDP, and companies like Google charge a percentage of all spend because they're charging per click

• The rise of AI-powered commerce may lead to changes in the way affiliate marketing works, with a potential shift towards more direct and personalized transactions.

• There are opportunities for new companies to emerge as big winners in the space of AI-driven commerce, with potential for specialized subsegments and hyper-optimized companies to thrive, such as chatbot companies like Chatbt, which will have a role in commerce.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Chris Brunt, director of AI, digital and revenue generation at Jacobs Media, notes that AI technologies are rapidly altering broadcast workflows, with a significant increase in adoption among broadcasters over the past 18 months.

• The most commonly used AI tools by broadcasters include ChatGPT for text generation, ElevenLabs for audio, and Waymark for video ad generation, with many using these tools to generate advertisements, scripts, and other content.

• Brunt expects the next wave of AI to focus on hyper-personalized content, where AI curates individualized experiences based on user data, such as social media profiles and listening habits, to create tailored podcasts and other media.

Bottom Line Up Front

• The current window of opportunity for starting new companies will last around 3 years, during which the next hundreds of great companies will get started.

• AI can completely change what companies can do, especially with its ability to thrive on unstructured data.

• Founders should be ambitious and take advantage of the current window of opportunity, which may only last for a few years, to create the next great companies.

Bottom Line Up Front

• The rise of generative AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic is challenging the dominance of Big Tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google, and may drive them to acquire Hollywood companies with large content libraries.

• The pressure to catch up with AI development may lead to Big Tech firms partnering with or acquiring Hollywood companies, especially as Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal are spinning off their linear cable channels, making them more attractive as acquisition targets.

• The increasing use of AI in Hollywood will require creators to understand new copyright protection laws and strategies, including documenting AI-generated content and understanding usage terms and restrictions, as AI firms seek to license large databases of content for training and development.

Things to Pay Attention to

Bottom Line Up Front

• Microsoft is building the world's most powerful AI datacenter, called Fairwater, in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, with an initial investment of $3.3 billion.

• The company is committing an additional $4 billion to build a second datacenter of similar size, bringing the total investment in Wisconsin to over $7 billion.

• The datacenter will create new jobs and opportunities for Wisconsinites, including union construction roles, careers in operations and IT, and training programs through Wisconsin's first Datacenter Academy at Gateway Technical College.

Bottom Line Up Front

• By 2050, education is expected to change drastically with AI integration, making current methods seem old-fashioned, according to Howard Gardner.

• Gardner envisions a future where students learn the basics and then work with teacher-coaches to explore ideas and professions, rendering the traditional 10-15 year schooling model unnecessary.

• Anthea Roberts suggests that the next generation will need to learn to orchestrate teams of AIs, requiring strong faculties in engagement, and that AI may displace some cognitive aspects of mind, but not aspects of respect and ethics.Former Army AI leader tapped as Pentagon’s next CDAO

Bottom Line Up Front

• The field of robotics has experienced a silent revolution in the last 3 years, with advancements in general-purpose humanoid consumer robots, especially in areas like sorting packages, folding clothes, and working in factories.

• Humanoid robots are becoming increasingly capable, with examples like Helix, a robot by Figure, that can perform household chores like loading laundry into a washing machine, and Tesla's Optimus platform, which can perform tasks like sorting blocks and taking out the trash.

• The development of humanoid robots is driven by the potential of a $38 billion market by 2035, and the integration of generative AI systems, which enables robots to see, recognize, and understand objects and environments better than before.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Whitney Houston's original vocals are being used in a new AI-powered concert tour, "The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration", which features her vocals isolated with the help of AI and performed alongside a live orchestra.

• The technology used to reconstruct her voice sets a new bar for posthumous shows, and is made possible by AI music production company Moises, which specializes in stem separation.

• The tour, which has been endorsed by the Estate of Whitney E. Houston, promises to deliver a new level of clarity and fidelity to Houston's classic songs, such as "Higher Love" and "I Will Always Love You".