Well, it’s a new year, but the game in Silicon Valley remains very much the same. That game, in essence, involves doing anything and everything to convince you—the global consumer—that whatever hair-brained product Bay Area billionaires have cooked up is a must-have. Unfortunately, the tech industry has bet its money on a lot of stupid shit over the last several years—whether it’s fake internet money that requires ungodly amounts of electricity to generate or NFTs or pizza made by a robot or, more recently, a host of automated tools that you never asked for. As you already know, AI is the hottest industry in tech right now, and, in 2024, that industry promises to continue churning out a host of new, sometimes useful, sometimes baffling, often deeply wasteful and stupid products. Whether its an ever escalating war over who can create the coolest chatbot or attempts to popularize music wholly generated by software, or a race to make human physical labor obsolete and thus kill off yet another upwardly mobile middle class strata of work, the tech industry is sure to be blasting on all cylinders this year. Here’s a little look at what’s been happening so far.
OpenAI’s Plan to Give Everyone Custom Chatbots Drops Next Week
The GPT Store, a marketplace of customizable versions of ChatGPT, is launching next week according to an email OpenAI sent to developers on Thursday, first reported by The Information. The GPT Store is part of CEO Sam Altman’s plan to give everyone AI agents that are useful and is OpenAI’s vision for the future. —Maxwell Zeff Read More
Hey Siri, Does ChatGPT Have Code to Replace You in Its New Update?
ChatGPT gained the ability to listen and talk back in September, allowing users to speak with generative AI. Soon, ChatGPT could replace digital assistants like Siri and Google Assistant altogether. —Maxwell Zeff Read More
Researchers Say There’s a 5% Chance That AI Will Cause Human Extinction
A survey of the leading AI scientists says there’s a 5% chance that AI will become uncontrollable and wipe out humanity. In the short term, researchers estimate AI will become significantly more advanced, able to create a Top 40 pop song and write an NYT bestseller before 2030. So at least our AI overlords will entertain us before they kill us. —Maxwell Zeff Read More
In 2024, AI Will Spark an Indie Video Game Renaissance (and Nightmare)
More people are making video games than ever before, but most games are still designed by teams of professionals. There’s a barrier of technical skills that keeps the average person from making their own game, but in 2024, that’s going to change. AI is going to make game development so easy that you’ll be able to pump one out in half an hour and spend the rest of the afternoon playing it with your friends. There’s a flood coming, and in the next 12 months, an AI-driven indie game renaissance will turn the industry on its head. It’s going to fill the market with an unprecedented number of titles, eliminate thousands of jobs, create countless others, and change our relationship with video games forever. —Thomas Germain Read More
Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked 2024 Will Hopefully Reveal the Galaxy S24’s New AI Chatbot
You can always expect that Samsung will do something to improve the camera algorithms. And with the loud and proud “Galaxy AI” promotion in this year’s Unpacked teaser imagery, it’s clear it’s coming for the new family of smartphones. It will be another year of Zoom, as Samsung is expected to debut its new ISOCELL Zoom capabilities on the Galaxy S24. Samsung is still in first place for the farthest-reaching optical zoom on a mainstream smartphone. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is sharper than its predecessor, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Galaxy S24 Ultra improves even further. That Ultra smartphone might also come in titanium, giving the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max an official competitor in the design game. —Florence Ion Read More
Google Wrote a ‘Robot Constitution’ So Its Machines Won’t Kill You… Hopefully
On Thursday, Google announced a new “Robot Constitution” that will govern the AI that runs its upcoming army of intelligent machines. Based on Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics,” these safety instructions are meant to steer the devices’ decision-making process. First among them: “A robot may not injure a human being.” —Thomas Germain Read More
Yes, Some New Windows Keyboards Are Getting a ‘Copilot Key’ to Quick-Access AI
Microsoft’s big early 2024 AI push has PC makers dancing along to the siren song of big tech’s new big obsession. Along with the newly-announced XPS lineup of Dell laptops, there’s one small tidbit of information that isn’t nearly as engrossing but could prove to be Microsoft and the largest PC maker’s push to redefine how folks use their PC with a brand new “Copilot key” on users’ keyboards. —Kyle Barr Read More
Roku Claims New Pro Series 4K TVs Will Optimize Your Settings With AI
Roku doesn’t want you to consider it the “budget” TV brand you find at all-you-can-shop brick-and-mortar stores like Wal-Mart or Target. The company wants a piece of that premium TV pie, even as it already reigns as the top TV streaming platform for the U.S. and Canada. The company has announced its plans to expand its TV offerings by adding three new high-end options later this year. — Florence Ion Read More