Maintaining Relationships and Streamlining Digital Design with AI
Emerging Tech Roundup — September 8
The Quantious team’s top picks for timely trending news in the tech world.
This week in tech: OpenAI Plugs ChatGPT Into Canva, Zoom Rebrands and Intros New Generative AI Features, California-Based Firm Plans to Build a Sustainable Mega City, Google’s Latest Android Feature Updates Come With a Refreshed Logo, Large AI Language Models Boom with 70 Now Released in China, New App Moments Helps You Maintain Your Personal and Professional Relationships, and WiMi Develops an Assistive Robotic Technology and a Control Approach.
OpenAI Plugs ChatGPT Into Canva to Sharpen Its Competitive Edge in AI
(Decrypt, September 4)
OpenAI has introduced a Canva plugin for its popular chatbot, ChatGPT, to simplify the creation of visuals within the rapidly evolving social marketing space. This integration aims to streamline digital design processes, making it easier for businesses and entrepreneurs to generate logos, banners, and more. Users can access this feature by opening ChatGPT in their browser and navigating to the ‘Plugin Store’ within the plugin section, enabling a more user-friendly and efficient approach to visual content creation.
Zoom Rebrands Existing — and Intros New — Generative AI Features
(Tech Crunch, September 5)
Zoom is rebranding its Zoom IQ as the AI Companion, which utilizes a blend of in-house generative AI and AI models from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. The AI Companion’s influence will extend to various aspects of the Zoom ecosystem, including Zoom Whiteboard, Zoom Team Chat, and Zoom Mail. Zoom will introduce a conversational interface in 2024, allowing users to interact with the AI Companion directly, inquire about previous meetings, chats, and delegate tasks.
California-Based Firm Set to Build a Sustainable Mega City
(Interesting Engineering, September 5)
California Forever is embarking on a project to create a sustainable community, spanning 55,000 acres in Solano County. The project aims to depict Mediterranean-style homes and solar-based agricultural activities, promoting sustainable and eco-friendly living. Their vision is to build walkable, livable, and sustainable towns and cities, with a focus on collaboration with Solano County residents, officials, and stakeholders. The company’s plans even have the potential to include a large solar farm to boost clean energy, along with infrastructure upgrades to provide cleaner water to the region.
Google’s Latest Android Feature Updates Come With a Refreshed Logo
(The Verge, September 5)
Google is launching a series of updates for its mobile apps and services, including improvements to the At a Glance Google Assistant widget, enhancements to the Lookout visual accessibility app, and the addition of Zoom calls to Android Auto. The At a Glance widget will receive a design makeover, providing users with more informative content regarding events, travel, and local weather. Additionally, Google is simplifying the process of uploading passes with barcodes and QR codes in its Wallet app by introducing a photo import feature.
Baidu CEO Says More Than 70 Large AI Language Models Released in China
(Reuters, September 5)
Chinese tech companies have now released over 70 large language models — with companies Baidu, SenseTime, Baichuan Intelligent Technology, Zhipu AI, and MiniMax all receiving regulatory approval to launch their AI chatbots publicly. Baidu recently unveiled its latest Ernie chatbot version in compliance with China’s new AI regulations, while SenseTime’s SenseChat is now accessible to the public. Additionally, Alibaba Cloud is offering its Qwen-7B and Qwen-7B-Chat LLMs for commercial and research purposes.
New App Moments Helps You Maintain Your Personal and Professional Relationships
(Tech Crunch, September 7)
Newly launched iOS app Moments was designed as a personal relationship manager (PRM) to help users maintain meaningful connections, both personal and professional. The app provides guidance, reminders, and to-do lists to assist users in nurturing their important relationships. Additionally, Moments features an AI composer that can assist users in crafting personalized messages and emails tailored to their contacts, addressing the challenge of maintaining genuine connections in the age of social media.
WiMi Developed an Assistive Robotic Technology and a Control Approach Based on Hybrid BCI
(Yahoo Finance, September 5)
WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc. has unveiled an assistive robotic technology and control approach, centered around hybrid Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). This innovative technology integrates components like an eye-tracker, an EEG signal recording device, a webcam, and a robotic arm — empowering users to accurately control the robotic arm’s movement via hybrid gaze BCI. The primary goal of this development is to enhance the robot’s grasping and reaching performance, ultimately enabling more precise and flexible manipulation for automated grasping tasks.
