Outinfluenced by AI? 💃🤖

👀 TLDR:

In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover TikTok’s big foray into AI with the launch of Symphony. The platform will be offering users, particularly businesses, an AI toolkit for designing content, monetizing ads, and building brand engagement. Lurking within is the Digital Avatar Feature, which businesses can deploy as digital ambassadors that look like real influencers. We also have news and views on the Butterflies app, a potential partnership between Apple and Meta, and big music labels suing AI startups. Our Stat looks at the concerns over “super-efficient” Telegram, and What’s dAppening asks whether Jason Derulo is crypto’s savior. Spoiler: he really, really isn’t.

Our Top Take 🎬

📵🎨 TikTok – Symphony AI Threatens Real-Life Influencers

We’ve reported on just about every big player moving into AI over the last year, but what about TikTok? Well, the platform has just announced Symphony, a full creative AI suite of tools that could redefine content creation on the platform. Auspiciously, TikTok has mostly tailored its pitch toward businesses, although creators can use the tools too. It gives users a Symphony Assistant, i.e., an AI companion to help you from start to finish with content creation, Creative Studio, with design features, editing and translation tools, and an AI-powered ads manager. The standout feature is arguably Symphony Digital Avatars, which the platform claims will revolutionize brand engagement. It cites the example of a Vietnamese airline that created a multi-lingual brand ambassador in avatar form. Should influencers be worried? In a word, yes…. Meanwhile TikTok has its own problems here in the US: The Financial Times reported yesterday that advertisers are now preparing contingency plans as President Biden’s deadline for a sale (or face being banned in the US) draws nearer. #BitterSuiteSymphony Read more here.

📍 Meanwhile at 3Advance

It's 3Advance's 14th Birthday! 🎉 What started with app contests and chili-dogs back in 2010, it has grown to become a fully fledged Digital Product Studio now in 2024. We've come a long way. Over the years, we've faced and embraced new challenges, growing wiser and stronger with each one. Today, we proudly see the world through our unique "3A-colored" lenses, bringing about change that we can't help but be proud of.

A few years ago, we made the decision to cease being simply a “vendor”. A product-focused approach would make us more “partner”. We’re not just developing apps; we’re crafting experiences; we’re building businesses. Our success is intrinsically linked to that of our clients, and as a Digital Product Studio our commitment is to provide far more than just coding skills.

To celebrate our 14th birthday, we're throwing a secret party this week. Want in on the fun? Just “Request Secret Party Invite” 😉. Cheers to 14 incredible years! There’s so much more in store for the rest of this year and beyond. Watch this space! And look out for our pics next week. ✨

🦾 GPT of the Week: KeyMate.ai “Your Second Brain”

This week’s GPT comes from Keymate.ai. Philip Delvecchio, from the founding team sat down with Paul for our most recent podcast episode. Keymate helps you to search the numerous resources and retains the memory of your searches for you to access at will. Check out the podcast to learn more!

🧐 Stat of the Week: 30 Engineers

🔐⚠️ Telegram – Security Concerns as App Makes Super-Efficiency Claim

An intriguing interview with Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov raised eyebrows this week, as the man behind the messaging app with 800 monthly active users said he had only one product manager (himself) and 30 software engineers. Durov boasted this was super-efficiency, but experts claim this is a huge red flag, especially as Telegram does not have default end-to-end encryption. #SuperEfficient Read more here.

🗞️ Other Stories

🕸️ What’s d’Appening

🪙🎤 Crypto – More Celebrities Enter the Meme Coin Fray

Pop star Jason Derulo posted a pic of himself yesterday on X, claiming he was here to “save crypto”. How’s he gonna do that, you ask? Well, he has launched a crypto token called $JASON, which, unsurprisingly, has been called a pump-and-dump scheme. Sigh. Derulo is one of several celebrities – Caitlyn Jenner, Iggy Azalea – who have launched tokens in recent weeks, and they have been dogged by controversy. It’s never been easier to launch a crypto token, but this trend of celebrities cashing in on fans feels wrong. Some in the ‘real’ web3 community have asked for the SEC to investigate. #CelebCrypto Read more here.

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