October 2023
What's inside

LetzAI update

📝 Recap of the LetzAI soft launch

A lot has happened since our secret release 5-6 weeks ago. And we would like to take this chance to thank you all for your support, but also for the public interest and the positive discussions we had in the meantime 🥰

The platform saw many mentions and articles in local newspapers and online magazines, such as Wort, Tageblatt, and LeQuotidien, just to mention a few. And even an extended report on RTL TV.

Also, Luxembourg has seen the first official Marketing Campaign built around visuals created with LetzAI, by WAIT Agency for WortIMMO.

We are very pleased with how the first few weeks turned out and have great and exciting news waiting for you in Novemeber. So stay tuned 👀

keeping up with AI

✨ Adobe MAX 2023 highlights

Our lead designer, Julie, was at this year's MAX conference that highlighted several Firefly-powered innovations, including Text to Vector Graphics, Generative Match, Generative Color, and Retype in Illustrator, each designed to augment the creative process by handling tedious tasks and sparking new ideas 🤝

The event also unveiled a glimpse into the future with the ‘Adobe Sneaks’ segment, teasing experimental features like the programmable and interactive Project Primrose, and powerful Photoshop additions like Project Stardust for object removal, and Project See Through for eliminating glass reflections. Another notable mention was Project Glyph Ease, creating editable vector character sets from letterform images.

More i​​​​​​mpressions from Julie can be found on her X

Adobe’s MAX 2023 undeniably showcased the power and potential of AI in creative processes, but it also left the community pondering about the balance between embracing AI innovations and safeguarding the unique value of human creativity 🧠

🗣️ Boston Dynamics robot dogs can now talk thanks to ChatGPT

Boston Dynamics has unveiled a new facet of their robotic dog, Spot, demonstrating its ability to 'talk'. By employing OpenAI's ChatGPT API and other open-source large language models, along with a speaker and text-to-speech capabilities, the team at Boston Dynamics enabled Spot to articulate responses and simulate speech through its gripper. Spot draws on a modest script and visual input from its on-board cameras to provide informative responses and even witty remarks, showcasing a range of personas from a fancy butler to a sarcastic commentator 🤡

If you want to see it in action, follow this link here 🐕 

🤓 Additional AI news TL;DR

🤯 Chat GPT now hears, sees and speaks  
Over the last month OpenAI has rolled out new voice and image capabilities in ChatGPT. This also includes the integration of Dall-E 3 image generation directly into conversations.

🎤 ElvenLabs launches translating (AI dubbing) into 20 languages
ElvenLabs announced the launch of AI Dubbing, a dedicated product that translates speech, including long-form content, into more than 20 different languages.

🎥The writers' strike might be over, but the actors' strike is still ongoing
The latest discussion draft of a bipartisan bill, supported by four U.S. senators and aligned with the demands of striking SAG-AFTRA members, aims to safeguard performers and artists from unauthorized AI-generated reproductions of their likeness. Named the No Fakes Act, this potential legislation seeks to establish federal protections against the misappropriation of voice and likeness in audiovisual works, requiring informed consent for the use of digital replicas, thus bolstering support for performers against the exploitative use of generative AI and upholding their rights to their own image and voice.

🌐 New Midjourney BETA website is available 
The new website that Midjourney is working on will bring you better and faster exploration of your (and other people's) creations, image ratings and overall a massively improved user experience. Check it out here if you have a subscription.

🖼️ Midjourney now allows you to further upscale your images
Midjourney now offers even better upscaling up to 4x, BUT the upscalers currently only operate with fast-GPU time.

in other news

🏦 Elon Musk wants to replace banks with X

Elon Musk has ambitious plans for X, aiming to transform it into a comprehensive financial hub handling all aspects of users' financial lives, with expectations to launch these features by the end of 2024. He envisions the platform as a replacement for traditional banking, offering services ranging from money transfers to securities, aiming to outperform PayPal using a strategy he devised two decades ago, while the company works to secure necessary money transmission licenses across the U.S. 💸

 🕹️ Meta launches Quest 3 Mixed-Reality Headset

Meta has officially launched the Quest 3 mixed reality headset. This new model offers significant upgrades from its predecessor, Quest 2, featuring enhanced processing power and a higher resolution. The Quest 3 is thinner and lighter, with a sleek design and "pancake optics" for a sharper display, though it lacks the internal eye-tracking cameras found in the higher-end Quest Pro (discontinued).

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasizes the Quest 3's mixed reality capabilities, blending the physical and digital worlds through advanced hand-tracking and room-mapping technologies. This allows users to interact with virtual objects in their real environment, enhancing gaming, productivity, and entertainment experiences 😎

past newsletters

Check out what you might have missed

In case you missed a newsletter or want to look up articles, blog posts, and news from the past, we created a collection of our newsletters on a neon.link page. You can find all the links and recent content on neon.link/newsletter.