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Meta is creating chatbots with different personalities
Aug 2, 2023
Made with Midjourney. Prompt: ‘robots with different expressions on their faces --ar 16:9 --v 5.2’
⚡ Today’s Highlights
📰 News: Meta is creating chatbots with different personalities
💰 Funding: Neon, Chemify, Akkio, Likeminded, Aulos Bioscience, 1Bstories, LawCatch Inc., and Stackless Data
🦾 Tools: Transform your productivity with this AI-supercharged time management tool!
📰 Today's Top Stories
(6 min read) (Source: Financial Times)
TLDR: Meta plans to launch AI-powered chatbots known as "personas" with different personalities to enhance user engagement and provide search functionality and recommendations.
Some chatbots are designed to emulate historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, while others may take on personas such as a surfer providing travel advice.
The introduction of these chatbots is scheduled for September, aiming to attract and retain users amidst competition from platforms like TikTok and capitalize on the AI hype in Silicon Valley.
Chatbots could gather substantial user data, potentially aiding Meta in targeting users with more relevant content and advertisements, raising privacy and manipulation concerns.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisions AI "agents" that act as assistants, coaches, and customer service support, along with an exploration of chatbots in the metaverse. Meta has invested in generative AI and released the Llama 2 language model to power the chatbots.
The Big Picture: By embodying different personalities and unique capabilities, these virtual agents could revolutionize user engagement, bringing a touch of human-like interaction to online experiences. This evolution in online assistance blurs the lines between humans and machines, challenging our perception of AI and shaping a future where intelligent virtual companions may become an integral part of our digital lives. It raises serious concerns about AI safety and how our online privacy will change. As online bots grow more intelligent, it will only get more difficult to tell who is real online and who is not.
(8 min read) (Source: VentureBeat)
TLDR: Over the last year, Fiverr has experienced a significant increase in searches for AI-related skills on its platform, leading to the launch of two new services: Fiverr Business Solutions and Fiverr Neo.
Fiverr Business Solutions consolidates existing offerings, such as Fiverr Enterprise and Fiverr Certified, and introduces Fiverr Pro, tailored for larger customers with complex projects.
On the other hand, Fiverr Neo is a matching service powered by generative AI, leveraging large language models to provide personalized and accurate freelancer recommendations for specific project needs.
As the demand for AI capabilities grows, Fiverr aims to remain a leading platform for creative projects by embracing and integrating generative AI technologies into its services, ensuring a seamless experience for customers seeking specialized freelance talent.
(3 min read) (Source: TechCrunch)
TLDR: YouTube is conducting a test to auto-generate video summaries using AI, providing quick overviews of English-language videos on watch and search pages.
The AI-generated summaries aim to assist viewers in deciding whether a video suits their interests but are not intended to replace creator-written video descriptions.
While AI has the potential to streamline information consumption, the current limitations in generating accurate summaries may require further development before achieving widespread adoption.
(5 min read) (Source: Business Insider)
TLDR: LinkedIn is reportedly working on an AI-powered "coach" to aid users in job searching, applications, and researching company cultures.
The tool, called "LinkedIn Coach," is intended to provide assistance backed by AI and can answer queries such as how it works, details about companies, and company cultures.
By utilizing AI to support users in navigating the job-seeking process, platforms like LinkedIn aim to cater to individuals' personalized needs and revolutionize traditional job application methods. This trend aligns with broader technological advancements shaping the future of work and recruitment strategies.
👀 More Reading:
Using AI to Build Stronger Connections with Customers (Harvard Business Review)
'Open the pod bay door, HAL' — here's how AI became a movie villain (NPR)
First-of-its-kind AI brain implant surgery helped a man regain feeling in his hand (Popular Science)
UK spy agencies want to relax ‘burdensome’ laws on AI data use (The Guardian)
Using AI, scientists bring Neanderthal antibiotics back from extinction (Vox)
💰 Funding News
1. Neon, a serverless PostgreSQL database built for the AI-era, raised a $46M Series B, bringing total funding to $104M.
Neon provides an open-source cloud-native PostgreSQL database operating in a serverless architecture
Round led by Menlo Ventures with participation from Founders Fund, General Catalyst, GGV Capital, Khosla Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, and Databricks Ventures.
Neon's serverless PostgreSQL offering has gained popularity with over 100,000 databases deployed. Partnerships with platforms like Vercel and Replit are driving growth.
Funding is for scaling the engineering team, establishing a go-to-market team, and expanding developer relations efforts.
2. Chemify, a company spunout from Glasgow University, aims to digitize chemistry by using AI to enable the execution of chemical code for drug discovery, chemical synthesis, and materials discovery. They raised a $43M funding round.
Their tech digitizes the entire chemistry stack, from code to molecules and vice versa, making chemical synthesis faster, reproducible, and scalable.
Investment of $34M led by Triatomic Capital, and a $9M investment coming from the UK government's Innovation Accelerators program.
Chemify's approach to computerized chemical design, including AI-driven molecule discovery and efficient manufacturing, sets it apart and addresses the bottleneck of transforming AI-generated molecules into practical reality.
Funding is for further developing and expanding its "chemputer" technology, to accelerate the process of designing, discovering, and synthesizing complex molecules on-demand.
3. Akkio, a no-code platform helping businesses deploy AI fast, raised a $15M Series A, bringing their total funding to $18M.
Their platform helps business analysts leverage AI for tasks like churn reduction, fraud detection, and sales funnel optimization. By automating data cleaning, preparation, and building and deploying ML models, users can improve internal processes, streamline operations, and gain actionable value from their data.
Round led by Bain Capital Ventures and Pandome, Inc.
Funding is for accelerating the commercialization of its platform, aiming to deliver an easy-to-use AI assistant to anyone working with data.
Their vision is to become the go-to tool for making AI accessible and feasible for businesses of all sizes, especially those without dedicated data science resources. to make better data-driven decisions and unlock new insights with AI tech, without the need for in-house data scientists or costly consulting fees.
4. Likeminded, a Berlin-based mental health care company providing AI-driven personalized support for corporate employees, raised a €5.9M Seed round.
Likeminded offers various mental health care formats, including individual sessions, webinars, group sessions, and on-demand content with psychologists.
Round led by Holtzbrinck Digital with existing investor Heartcore Capital.
Jannik von Wallis (Investment Director, Holtzbrinck Digital) commented: “By combining AI-driven recommendation algorithms with scalable but consistently effective support formats, Likeminded brings together what at first glance seems impossible: personalized mental health support at a sustainable cost [for more teams and organizations in the corporate world.]”
Funding is for expanding its business and becoming Europe's premier mental health solutions platform.
5. Aulos Bioscience, an immuno-oncology company building AI-designed antibodies, raised $20M in Series A extension.
Their AI-designed antibodies aim to revolutionize cancer care by killing tumor cells while reducing the side-effects common with most cancer treatments.
Round led by Apple Tree Partners.
Funding is for advancing Aulos’ lead human monoclonal antibody candidate, AU-007, through its initial Phase 2 clinical study in solid tumor cancers.
6. 1Bstories, raised $5.5M in funding to launch its product Vidiofy. Vidofy is a generative AI video tool designed specifically for publishers and brands seeking to enhance engagement with their communities, expand their social following, and create new revenue streams.
With Vidiofy, businesses can effortlessly create hundreds of high-quality videos every month, eliminating barriers traditionally associated with video production, time and manpower.
Investment led by Northstar Group with 47 other venture capital firms and angel investors participating.
Funding is for focusing on product development, expanding its team, and driving widespread adoption of Vidiofy, empowering businesses to create captivating videos at scale.
7. LawCatch, Inc., the developer of BriefCatch legal editing software, raised $3.5M in an oversubscribed Seed round.
BriefCatch 3 offers over 11,000 legal-specific writing suggestions, real-time editing, enhanced natural language processing, and more.
Round led by TIA Ventures with RiverPark Ventures, C2 Ventures, and Wilson Sonsini Investments Co.
Funding is for launching related products, introducing AI-powered features, expanding the team, and establishing a Legal Writing Advisory Board, aiming to elevate legal writing and streamline editing processes for legal professionals.
8. Stackless Data is an AI-enabled end-to-end data platform that simplifies data infrastructure for businesses, eliminating the need to hire data engineers. They raised a undisclosed seed round at a pre-money valuation of $14M.
Round led by Singularity Capital.
Funding is for product development and go-to-market activities
🦾 Cool Tools
Magical's timeOS is an AI-powered Time Operating System. It transforms your traditional calendar into a dynamic workspace accessible everywhere.
Features: Automates meeting planning, generates customized agendas, and provides real-time meeting summaries.
Best for: Project, marketing, sales, and leadership teams looking to optimize communication and streamline meeting management
Humata is a GPT-powered AI assistant for your files that can accelerate research and data analysis. With a chat-style interface, it's like having a knowledgeable colleague at your fingertips.
Features: Summarize technical papers, answer complex questions fast, generate detailed insights for reports, and ensure data privacy with encryption and backups.
Best for: Students looking to conduct technical research and businesses aiming to foster data-driven decision-making, understand legal documents, and create reports fast. It accelerates learning and research for technical documents across use cases and industries.
HuddleUp is an all-in-one Slack app with AI-features built for boosting team engagement and employee experience.
Features: AI-driven pulse check-ins, peer recognition, attrition prediction, and kudos aim to foster camaraderie and strong team bonds. The gamified experiences keep employees engaged, while early warning signals help prevent burnout. They focus on 7 key drivers and 29 unique elements of employee engagement, in an effort to enhance productivity and foster a positive work culture.
Best for: Distributed and remote teams. It empowers HRs and team leaders to gather real-time data points for actionable insights. It's the perfect tool for companies looking to prioritize their employees' well-being and adapt to evolving needs of modern teams.
Lazy is an AI-powered productivity tool that can reshape note-taking, allowing users to capture ideas instantly with one universal shortcut, eliminating context switching.
Features: Use a single universal keyboard shortcut to instantly take smart notes from anywhere. Ask questions on the fly, enrich your notes with answers, and engage in brainstorming sessions. This enables context-awareness and advanced prompts for a smarter workflow.
Best For: Individuals that are overwhelmed by today’s information-overloaded world and businesses looking to boost productivity. Especially great for those struggling to keep focus or for those constantly trying to find easier ways to do complicated things.
Automi AI is a low-code platform for creating generative AI apps.
Features: Access and personalize open-source AI models with shared datasets, limitations, and biases. Combine models to create intelligent AI agents. Compose applications and then easily share them. Composed of four modules - Discovery, Models, Data, and Agents Hub.
Best for: Users and businesses looking to adapt cutting-edge AI models to their specific needs using custom data
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