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These New AI Bots Will Do Just About Anything for You

Also: Japanese chipmaker Kioxia aims to list in October amid AI boom

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AI KATANA
August 25, 2024

Morning!

In today’s newsletter, we explore the rapid advancements in autonomous bots, highlighting their growing capability to manage complex human tasks like travel planning and financial decisions. Singapore’s educational initiative will provide AI training to 4,500 students by 2025, aligning with the nation’s AI workforce strategy. Google strengthens its AI leadership by appointing Noam Shazeer, former Character.AI founder, as co-lead of its Gemini project, underscoring its commitment to AI innovation. We also look at Kioxia’s planned IPO, set to capitalize on the AI-driven demand for semiconductors, and Perplexity’s new vision for AI search advertising. Plus, updates on AI job opportunities, tools, and significant venture capital investments in Europe round out today’s insights.

Sliced:

  • 🤖 These New AI Bots Will Do Just About Anything for You

  • 👩🏻‍🎓 Estimated 4,500 students in Singapore to receive free AI training by end-2025

  • 🧑🏻 Google appoints former Character.AI founder as co-lead of its AI models

  • 🇯🇵 Japanese chipmaker Kioxia aims to list in October amid AI boom

  • 🔎 Perplexity’s pitch deck offers advertisers a new vision for AI search

The latest advancements in AI are ushering in a new era of autonomous bots capable of handling a wide array of tasks typically managed by humans, with minimal human intervention. These AI agents can perform tasks such as booking flights, managing travel plans, and even handling complex financial decisions. Companies like Priceline and Imbue are developing AI assistants that can automate travel arrangements, while startups like Loman AI are deploying AI receptionists to manage restaurant bookings and customer interactions. Additionally, AI is making inroads in the financial sector, with platforms like Finley AI offering real-time, tailored investment advice. The dating world is also seeing AI innovation, as apps like Grindr plan to introduce AI-powered wingmen to assist users in finding and organizing dates. Retail is not left behind, with AI bots set to revolutionize the shopping experience by handling everything from browsing to purchasing, potentially in a fully automated manner. These developments highlight a future where AI-driven bots could become integral to everyday life, performing tasks more efficiently and effectively than ever before.

By the end of 2025, an estimated 4,500 students and adult learners in Singapore will receive free training in AI and other technology-related fields, thanks to a collaboration between IBM, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic, and the training provider Junior Achievement. This initiative is part of IBM’s broader global effort to equip 30 million people with digital skills by 2030 through its SkillsBuild platform, which offers over 1,000 tech-related courses. The courses, which cover topics like AI, data science, and cybersecurity, will be integrated into the curricula of the participating institutions and used to enhance students’ job-readiness by providing IBM certifications. This move aligns with Singapore’s national AI strategy to significantly increase its AI talent pool, ensuring that the workforce is prepared for the evolving demands of the digital economy.

Google has appointed Noam Shazeer, the former founder of Character.AI and a longtime Google researcher, as the co-lead of its main AI project, Gemini. Shazeer will work alongside Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals in this role, focusing on the development of AI models under DeepMind, Google’s AI division. The Gemini models are being integrated into various Google products, including Search and Pixel smartphones. This appointment comes after Google re-acquired Shazeer from Character.AI, a startup he founded in 2021, for which Google reportedly paid billions. Shazeer has a long history with Google, having first joined the company in 2000 and contributing to a pivotal 2017 research paper that played a significant role in the current AI boom.

Japanese chipmaker Kioxia Holdings plans to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October 2024, aiming for a market capitalization exceeding $10 billion, which would make it Japan’s largest IPO of the year. The company, a major player in the global NAND flash memory market, is capitalizing on the soaring demand for semiconductors driven by the AI boom. Kioxia, which became independent from Toshiba in 2018, is looking to leverage the IPO proceeds to expand its capacity to meet this rising demand. The listing comes after an earlier attempt to go public in 2020 was postponed due to market uncertainty. Kioxia’s strong financial performance, including a record net profit for the April to June 2024 quarter, reflects the recovery in demand for memory chips used in smartphones and PCs, further bolstered by the growth of AI data centers.

Perplexity, an AI search startup, is preparing to integrate advertising into its platform by the fourth quarter of 2024, as revealed in a new pitch deck aimed at potential advertisers. The company plans to embed ads directly within users’ search queries and answers, offering brands opportunities to “reach, educate and spark curiosity” at key moments. The pitch deck highlights Perplexity’s affluent and engaged user base, aiming to target CPMs exceeding $50. The platform will initially focus on over a dozen advertising categories, including technology, health, travel, and finance. Unlike traditional search engines, Perplexity emphasizes a more conversational AI-driven approach, promising not to rank sponsored content differently from organic results. Additionally, the deck outlines features for brand safety and detailed metrics for advertisers, such as query volumes and click-through rates. This move marks Perplexity’s effort to compete with major players like Google, offering a distinct vision for AI-powered search advertising.

🧑🏽‍💻 AI Jobs

🛠️ AI tools updates

Google has introduced new Gemini AI features for its Workspace customers, designed to enhance email drafting by offering options like “Polish,” “Shorten,” “Formalize,” and “Elaborate.” These tools allow users to refine and perfect their emails, whether they need to make a message more formal or condense lengthy content. Available on both web and mobile platforms, these features are part of the Gemini Business, Enterprise, and Education add-ons, automatically activated for those subscribers. While these tools aim to streamline professional communication, there has been some public backlash against AI-generated content in more personal contexts, as seen in a recent Google ad that drew criticism for using AI to craft a child’s letter, raising concerns about the loss of authenticity.

💵 Venture Capital updates

Despite the challenging venture capital environment, AI startups in Europe have continued to attract significant investments in 2024, with over 1,700 funding rounds reported so far. The region has seen 14 investments valued at $100 million or more, with Mistral AI leading the pack, raising over $1 billion this year. Major deals include Wayve’s $1.05 billion round for its autonomous driving technology and Helsing’s $484 million to enhance AI defense capabilities. Other notable investments include Poolside’s $400 million for developer tools and DeepL’s $320 million for AI-based translation services. Paris has emerged as a central hub for AI development in Europe, particularly in the field of generative AI, while the diversity of funded startups highlights the broad application of AI across industries, from defense to health tech.

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