Tesla Unveils NEW Humanoid 🤖

Read time: 3 mins

Welcome Futurist,

Tesla has unveiled Optimus Gen 2, and it’s clear the next generation humanoid robot has some awesome, new abilities. You gotta see it. Also, Channel 1 just dropped a sneak peek of its AI-powered news network, and the video is mind-blowing. Has the Dawn of AI Journalism begun? We’ve got all the details.

Let’s dive in!

⚡ TODAY’S BREAKDOWN

• Tesla unveils Optimus Gen 2 robot

• Channel 1 teases AI-generated news network

• AI built from human brain cells performs speech recognition

• Essential AI emerges from stealth with $56.5 million in series A funding

• Candidate deploys world's first AI campaign caller

• Five game-changing productivity tools

• AI job opportunities

• Mesmerizing AI art 

🤖 AI x TECH

Tesla Reveals Optimus Gen 2 Robot

Tesla unveiled its second-generation humanoid robot prototype, Optimus. The AI-assisted bot, which uses a trained neural network to perform tasks, now walks 30 percent faster and has improved balance, thanks to being 22 lbs lighter than the first-generation prototype.

In a video posted to X, the Optimus Gen 2 is seen squatting and balancing itself in a gym setting. The bot also demonstrates how to handle an egg, showcasing its “tactile sensing on all fingers.”

Tesla ended the video with a pair of Gen 2 Optimus robots dancing to music and flashing lights.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously mused that the “Optimus stuff is extremely underrated” and predicted demand could one day reach 10 to 20 billion units.

More top stories

• Scientists have developed an AI system made with living human brain cells that are capable of recognizing voices with an accuracy of 78%. 

• Microsoft’s Phi-2, the company’s smallest language model, now outperforms models from Meta or Mistral at specific tasks.

• Meta’s AI announced that its Ray-Ban smart glasses can now recognize objects by using a built-in camera.

• Snapchat+ subscribers now have the ability to create and send custom AI-generated images based on text prompts.

• Anthropic released a new prompt engineering tool called Claude for Sheets, which will allow API users the ability to test prompts within their workflows. 

📈 AI X BUSINESS

AI-Produced News Network Gives Sneak Peek

Channel 1, a "personalized global news network” powered by AI, has released a 22-minute preview of a newscast with AI-generative anchors reporting the news. The startup said it uses AI to create fully personalized and localized news based on "trusted sources" from human journalists worldwide.

The Channel 1 video provides an example of a news report, which includes hyper-realistic video footage, chyrons, and music.

"Channel 1 has developed a unique new way to gauge sentiment," one AI-generated anchor says in the video, "and it leverages our AI's ability to read and analyze data almost instantly. I quickly read the most recent 30,000 tweets posted to X about the Cybertruck, and based on the emojis people have been using, sentiment on the vehicle is indeed very mixed."

Another AI-generated anchor explains in the video, "it's even possible to create footage of events where cameras were not able to capture the action.”

Channel 1 will roll out in all major languages. 

Adam Mosam and Scott Zabielski are behind the startup and already have a distribution agreement with Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. The company plans to introduce a FAST channel in the February and launch a mobile app soon after, according to Deadline. 

More top stories

• Essential AI, founded by a pair of Google researchers who authored research that helped usher in the generative AI era, has emerged from stealth mode with $56.5 million in Series A funding.

• The New York Times has hired an editorial director, Quartz co-founder Zach Seward, to lead the newspaper’s AI initiatives as media outlets race to figure out how the technology will change the face of journalism.

• Durable, an AI website generator startup, has raised $14 million to build bots and other small business tools in the service industry space.

• Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla dismissed the views of so-called AI “doomers,” telling Fortune‘s Brainstorm AI conference in San Francisco that “By far, orders of magnitude, the higher risk to worry about, is China, not sentient AI killing us off.”

🛠️ TOOLS

Fliki: Turn blog articles into videos 

Durable AI: Create website with text and images in under a minute

HoopsAI: Real-time stock market insights and analysis for retail investors

Penny AI: Shopping assistant for price comparison and similar items discovery

tl;dv: Meeting recorder that transcribes and summarizes calls

🌎 AI x POLICY

Candidate Deploys World's First AI Campaign Caller

Pennsylvania congressional candidate Shamaine Daniels is using what is believed to be the world’s first AI-powered caller to speak to voters. Daniels, who is a Democrat challenging Republican Congressman Scott Perry, has already used the AI named Ashley to make thousands of calls over the weekend on behalf of her campaign.

Civox, the political AI technology startup behind Ashley, was cofounded by Ilya Mouzykantskii and Adam Reis in September 2023. Civox used over 20 different open source AI models to develop its AI. 

“The dawn of AI politics is upon us. Civox is thrilled to be the first company in the world to deploy this game-changing voice-based technology, and we’re proud to set the bar high for best practices for this emerging field,” said Mouzykantskii.

Daniels, who is running against six other Democratic candidates to unseat Perry, said Ashley can answer questions about her candidacy and opponent’s policy positions.  

“I think that’s exciting for our democracy,” Daniels said. “I also think this is a great opportunity to demonstrate that this technology can be used in a way that is effective while still being ethical and transparent, and I’m happy to be working with Civox to lead by example on that front.”

More top stories

• The Department of Defense is sounding the alarm in an annual report over the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) rapid integration of AI, prompting experts to warn about a possible AI arms race between the United States and China. 

• The UK Judicial Office issued guidance stating that judges in England and Wales will be permitted to use AI for tasks such as summarizing text, emails, and court case decisions. 

• U.S. government agencies seek to expand their use of AI, but lack the policies required to procure and use the technology, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government will launch an initiative to boost AI computing power to strengthen the country’s agriculture, healthcare, and education sectors. 

🎨 AI X ART

"Your Dreams, Our Style, One Voyage" by Suzan Valois

"Tropical Paradise" by NAKI AI

“The Orb Gallery” by Sprinkle of AI

 💼 JOBS BOARD

AI Solutions Architect @ NVIDIA

Remote │ Full-time │ Mid-Senior level

Product Manager, Generative AI @ HP

Remote │ Full-time │ Mid-Senior level

Senior Software Engineer, AI Infrastructure @ Spot AI

Remote │ Full-time │ Mid-Senior level

👋 SAY HELLO!

That’s it for today’s news in the world of AI!

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