👀 ChatGPT can now see!

AND: More tech news from Meta and Microsoft

Author

Roni Rahman
December 13, 2024

In partnership with

Greetings! Your latest quick tech update is here:

☀️ On this day: On December 13, 1972, during NASA's Apollo 17 mission, astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt conducted the final extravehicular activity (EVA) on the lunar surface. This mission marked the last time humans have walked on the Moon.

What’s happening:

  • 👀 ChatGPT now “sees” with Advanced Voice Mode and vision

  • 🎥 Meta aims to watermark AI-generated content

  • 📚 Harvard offers 1M books for AI training

  • 📞 Microsoft ends Skype credits and phone numbers

  • 💸 YouTube TV announces $10 price hike

  • + 📊 Daily poll and results

  • + 📈 Trending tools and resources

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Hand-picked news:

👀 ChatGPT now “sees” with Advanced Voice Mode and vision ↗️LINK

  • What: OpenAI has launched Advanced Voice Mode with vision for ChatGPT, enabling real-time video analysis and screen-sharing capabilities. Users subscribed to Plus, Team, or Pro can now interact with ChatGPT by pointing their phones at objects or sharing their screens for explanations and suggestions.

  • Why: This long-awaited feature bridges the gap between voice and visual input, enhancing interactive capabilities. OpenAI delayed the launch several times to ensure readiness, competing with Google’s similar “Project Astra” feature.

  • Impact: While rollout excludes some regions and enterprise users until January, the feature demonstrates ChatGPT’s evolution in multimodal AI. It strengthens OpenAI’s competitive edge, though challenges like hallucinations persist.

🎥 Meta aims to watermark AI-generated content ↗️LINK

  • What: Meta has introduced Video Seal, an open-source tool for imperceptibly watermarking AI-generated videos. It resists edits like compression, blurring, and cropping and can embed hidden messages to trace a video’s origin. This builds on Meta’s other tools, such as Watermark Anything and Audio Seal.

  • Why: Deepfakes have surged, making up 7% of fraud cases globally in 2024. Current watermarking tools lack robustness against video compression or large-scale deployment, issues Video Seal aims to address while fostering industry-wide adoption via a public leaderboard and collaboration initiatives.

  • Impact: While Video Seal could aid in distinguishing real from fake content, its adoption faces hurdles as many already use proprietary solutions. If widely embraced, it could set a standard for AI content authenticity and bolster efforts to combat deepfake fraud.

📚 Harvard offers 1M books for AI training ↗️LINK

  • What: Harvard has released a dataset of nearly one million public domain books, scanned by Google Books, to train AI models. Funded by Microsoft and OpenAI under the Institutional Data Initiative, the collection includes works from Shakespeare, Dickens, and even niche textbooks.

  • Why: AI models need vast amounts of high-quality text to improve performance. As legal disputes over copyrighted material grow, this dataset offers a legally safe, foundational resource. However, its older content lacks the modern context AI companies often seek for differentiation.

  • Impact: The dataset helps address the rising data scarcity in AI development, offering an alternative to legally contentious sources. Yet, its limitations mean companies will still pursue exclusive, up-to-date data to stay competitive in the rapidly evolving AI race.

📞 Microsoft ends Skype credits and phone numbers ↗️LINK

  • What: Microsoft has discontinued Skype Credit and Skype Number, shifting users to subscription-based plans. While existing credits and numbers remain usable, no new purchases are allowed. Subscriptions enable outbound calls but lack a direct replacement for personal Skype phone numbers.

  • Why: The change aligns Skype with modern subscription models, reflecting Microsoft’s declining focus on the platform in favor of Teams. Skype has struggled to compete with newer services like Zoom and WhatsApp, prompting efforts to streamline its offerings.

  • Impact: Users reliant on Skype’s legacy features face limited options as Microsoft emphasizes Teams. This shift may alienate longtime users but reflects a broader strategy to simplify operations and adapt to evolving communication trends.

💸 YouTube TV announces $10 price hike ↗️LINK

  • What: YouTube TV will increase its subscription price from $72.99 to $82.99 per month beginning January 2024. Alphabet attributes the hike to rising content costs and investments in features like unlimited DVR storage and multiview.

  • Why: The service cites inflation and expanding content offerings as reasons for the increase, mirroring industry trends. Hulu+Live TV also raised its price to $82.99 in October. YouTube TV has grown significantly, with 8 million subscribers and projections to surpass Comcast in Pay TV subscribers by 2026.

  • Impact: Subscribers face a 137% price increase since the service's 2017 launch. While Alphabet highlights YouTube TV's growth as a key revenue driver, the hike may challenge its affordability appeal, potentially testing customer loyalty amidst stiff streaming competition.

Today’s Poll:

Watermarking AI Content: Industry Standard or Optional?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Vote and find out about the result tomorrow.

Yesterday’s Poll Result:

AI Outputs Mimicking Games: Creative or Infringing?

  • A) Creative – It showcases new possibilities in content - 19%

  • B) Infringing – It exploits existing intellectual property - 81% 👑

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