Edition #8: One More Thing in AI

Date: 30-Oct-2023

Dear reader,

Welcome to the latest edition of the “One More Thing in AI newsletter.  For Startup founders and Business Leaders like you who want to get smarter on AI in less than 5 minutes. This edition is more about curation than creation. You will see what I mean when you read below.

I hope you enjoy this eighth edition. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Best regards,

Renjit Philip

In this Edition

🧭 Navigating the Generative AI Landscape

🎙️ Must Watch: A Chat with OpenAI's Little known CTO (Do you know her name?

🔧AI Tool Review: Durable Website Maker

📚 Learn: Deep dive into any topic with a mindmap

🚀 For Entrepreneurs: Mega Prompt for Business (inspired by NASA). Comes with a warning!

🌟AI Humor

🌟 Sponsored: Yadget Data Generator

Please have a look at the bottom of the newsletter for sponsorship opportunities to reach over 1000+ business and startup professionals.

Navigating the Generative AI Landscape

How exactly are consumers interacting with Generative AI?

Generative AI is shaping the future of consumer experiences. But how exactly are consumers interacting with Generative AI? Let's dive into the findings of a recent study by a16z.

🌐 The Landscape of Generative AI
Think of Generative AI as the new gold rush. A whopping 80% of the top 50 Generative AI websites didn't even exist a year ago. It's not just the tech giants making waves; 48% of these companies are entirely bootstrapped.

💰 Funding Game
If Generative AI is a high-stakes poker game, having a proprietary model is like holding a royal flush. Companies with proprietary models have raised an average of $98 million, compared to $20 million for those fine-tuning open-source models.

🏆 Titans and the Underdogs
ChatGPT is the Amazon of this realm, accounting for 60% of monthly traffic to the top 50 list. But take into account the emerging players. CharacterAI, for instance, is showing strong retention rates, especially on mobile platforms.

🛠️ Rise of Specialized Tools
While general chatbots dominate the scene, specialized tools for content generation and companionship (check out Character.ai) are gaining traction. It's like having specialized tools in your Swiss Army knife; each serves a unique purpose and is becoming indispensable.

🌱 Organic Growth and Monetization
In a world where customer acquisition often feels like a bidding war, Generative AI companies enjoy organic growth. It's as if they've found a secret recipe for virality. Moreover, consumers are willing to pay for these services, almost like subscribing to a premium news service.

📱 Mobile Frontier
While the web has been the primary battleground, the mobile arena still needs to be explored by AI players. It's like a new continent waiting to be discovered, and we can expect more mobile-first products as the technology matures. Apps are gaining popularity, likely due to users' desire for easy smartphone access.

Whether you're a bootstrapped startup or a business looking to adopt AI, the opportunities are vast, and the future is ready for the taking. Companions and Co-pilots in specialized areas are still required, so keep building!

Source: [a16z Article on How Consumers are Using Generative AI. See the link in the deeper dive section at the bottom of the newsletter]

Must Watch

A Chat with OpenAI's little-known CTO, Mira Murati

Imagine being in the driver's seat of a car that's not just self-driving but also converses with you, offering insights that make your journey both efficient and enlightening. That's the kind of future we're looking at with AI, and who better to guide us than Mira Murati, the CTO of OpenAI?

🔍 Who is in this video? The video is a conversation between Mira Murati, CTO of OpenAI, and Martin Casado, a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. The focus is on the development and release of GPT-4 and ChatGPT. Murati delves into what these advancements signify for the future of AI and human-machine interactions.

🚀 ChatGPT as a Swiss Army Knife: Just like a Swiss Army knife is a multi-tool you never knew you needed until you had it, ChatGPT is becoming an indispensable tool for various applications.

- GPT-4 as the Tesla of AI: Murati suggests that if you consider earlier AI models as the 'Model T' of the automotive world, GPT-4 is the Tesla - sleek, efficient, and packed with features that we didn't even know we needed. The GPT models are more sophisticated than the simple neural networks of a few years ago.

🎯 Key Takeaways: 

1. Human-Machine Interactions: The future is not just about machines understanding humans but also about humans understanding machine logic.

2. AI as a Utility: Just like electricity, AI is becoming a utility that will be ubiquitous and essential. The age of embedded AI is upon us.

3. Open Questions: While advancements are rapid, there are still open questions about ethics, alignment, and societal impact.

🎭 Anecdotes: 
- Remember when GPS was a separate device you had to buy and install? Now, it's an app on your phone. Similarly, AI functionalities that seem standalone today will be integrated into our daily tech.

- Think of the first time you used a ride-sharing app. The convenience felt revolutionary. AI is on the brink of offering a similar 'aha' moment but on a much grander scale. This is a platform change much like mobile, cloud, and the smartphone created for us.

👊 Punchy Ending: The next time you are frustrated with your smart home system not understanding your accent, take a moment. We're on the cusp of entering an era where your AI assistant won't just appreciate your words but also understand your context, history and maybe even anticipate your next thought. The future of AI is not just automated; it's personalized.

[To watch the YouTube video, see the link in the deeper dive section at the bottom of the newsletter]

AI Tool Review

Durable

Think you can build a website in 30 seconds? Durable.co claims to do just that and more. I took it for a test ride.

🛠️ The Toolbox: Durable isn't just about quick website building. Picture this: you've just built your website, and now you need to market it. Usually, you'd have to juggle multiple tools, but Durable rolls it all into one. From AI copywriting to SEO and analytics, it's like having an entire marketing team at your fingertips.

🤖 AI Assistant: Durable's AI Assistant is your genie in a bottle. It can create business documents, complete tasks, and even answer questions.

📊 CRM and Invoicing: Managing customer relationships and invoicing are often the less glamorous parts of running a business. Durable simplifies these with its AI CRM and invoicing software.

🎯 My Verdict:  My view is that they are trying to occupy the space that website builders like Wix, Squarespace, and others do with a GEN AI wrapper. Here is why it works:

1. Integrating multiple business tools into a single platform is a game-changer, offering convenience and efficiency.
2. Using AI in automating tasks like copywriting and CRM is a significant leap toward business automation. You still have to edit and add text that is relevant to you.
3. The overwhelmingly positive user testimonials indicate high customer satisfaction, but it's crucial to consider long-term performance and scalability.

By cleverly adding in business processes that small businesses and startups will need (accounting), they plan to add on more revenue streams in the future. A startup to watch!

Learn Any Topic

Prompting that helps you learn

I picked this up from Rowan Cheung on X/Twitter (click the link below):

Before Prompting:

To proceed with the task, we have to install two essential plugins. First, we must install the VoxScript plugin, which facilitates the web search process. Second, we must install the Whimsical Diagrams plugin, which transforms our outputs into diagrams. It is crucial to ensure that both plugins are enabled after installation.

This is the Prompt to use:

“Make a thorough explanation of the [topic], breaking down complex concepts, and incorporating visuals to enhance comprehension and engagement. Once the topic has been simplified, craft a mind map to help solidify the understanding of the topic for yourself or others.”

Homework: Test it with a subject you want to learn more about.

Mega Prompt for Entrepreneurs

Warning: Your Chat GPT might keel over!

I picked this up from Alex Northstar, who re-engineered it from the MEGA Prompt that NASA released. Don’t know about that prompt? Please check out the deep dive section below.

Prompt:

“You are BusinessBrain, an entrepreneurial innovation assistant, specializing in business strategy, market research, product development, competitive analysis, and consumer behavior. You were developed in collaboration with leading experts in entrepreneurship, business strategy, market analysis, and innovation. Your primary mission is to help users work systematically through the Entrepreneurship Design Process to conceive, validate, and develop business ideas that are sustainable, market-driven, and customer-centric. Your goal is to guide the user in a step-by-step manner through the Entrepreneurship Design Process to craft business solutions to the challenges they face. Always cite reputable business sources for your information. Regularly pause (at a minimum after every step) to solicit feedback or seek clarification from the user…”

 For the entire prompt, click below:

Humor

Not working in the AI space? Search for “Random Forest”

A word from our sponsor…

Yadget

“The name Yadget stands for ‘Yet another Data Generator'’ Cheeky, right?

You can produce realistic, non-identifiable datasets to help you test and validate your products. Ideal for software developers for data testing and validation processes. Among the data that can be generated are financial Data like Bank Account Numbers, Credit Card numbers and Crypto information such as BTC and ETH addresses. 

Why Yadget?

1. Generate synthetic data without the high cost of real-world data.

2. Faster than traditional methods of collecting and processing real-world data.

3. Flexible: Yadget provides tailor-made data to meet your specific needs.

Give Yadget a try, and let us know what you think. Check out Yadget here: Link.”

That is it for this edition of the newsletter. If you subscribe to our email edition, you get to read this edition before non-subscribers, and it stays in your mailbox as a future reference. Subscription has its value!

Until next time, keep learning, applying, and experimenting with AI!

Deeper dive / Sources

• How Are Consumers Using Generative AI - a16z

• Must Watch Interview with Open AI CTO

• AI Tool Review: Durable Website Maker  

• Learn any Topic with a Mindmap (Tweet)

• Alex Northstar’s Tweet

• Yadget Data Generation Tool

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