What's Appening: The Next Step-4 AI 🤖🆕

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👀 TLDR:

In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover the release of GPT-4. It’s OpenAI’s most advanced system yet, and it’s going to make ChatGPT much smarter, more flexible, and a lot harder to trick. Some big names – and some smaller ones (yes, of course 3Advance is already doing it!) have incorporated GPT-4 into their products. Really, ChatGPT should not be underestimated, Generative AI is not a fad. It will revolutionize every industry, including yours. Of course, Apple knows this, and are reportedly working on a secret project to rival ChatGPT. Could it revitalize the dull and inflexible Siri? We also have news of Microsoft’s big push into mobile gaming, potentially throwing down the gauntlet to the app stores of Apple and Google. Our Stat of the Week looks at Apple’s new price points. And What’s dAppening reports on Meta stepping away from NFTs on Facebook and Instagram.

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Takes 🎬️

💪🗣️ GPT-4 – OpenAI Releases Its Most Powerful AI Model Yet

It’s been widely remarked that this new wave of AI technology would be characterized by the acceleration in its evolution and adoption. And so here we are still catching our breath over the wonderful things we can do with ChatGPT, then OpenAI decides to release the more powerful GPT-4. Now, to be clear: GPT-4 is not ChatGPT. A good way to think about it is that GPT-4 is the engine powering ChatGPT’s car. Anyhow, what we now have is a better ‘engine’ compared to GPT-3.5, and in AI that means a faster, smarter, and more astute AI chatbot. OpenAI’s own example of the difference is that GPT-4 passed the Bar exam, placing among the top 10% of test-takers; GPT-3.5 scored in the bottom 10%. The upgrade focuses on many things, but it’s perhaps most interesting that GPT-4 is less likely to be tricked by us mere humans. As such, it is able to think more in the abstract and carry out instructions less literally. Moreover, GPT-4 is also safer than its predecessor by design. OpenAI hurried to build filters on top of GPT-3.5 to stop the tech from being abused (or being abusive), but those filters are built into the core of the current model. Of course, even with GPT-4, ChatGPT is not perfect yet. And we are sure you will see demonstrations of it being tricked into false answers or providing nuclear secrets (we’re kidding, we think). But we are only at the beginning of the awesome use cases that companies can provide with this technology. Indeed, businesses as diverse as payments behemoth Stripe and language-learning app Duolingo, both of which got early access to GPT-4, have already incorporated it into their products and processes. We are doing much the same here at 3Advance HQ, using all the AI tools we can get our hands on to make us a smarter, more efficient business. #AI4TheWin Read more here.

🍏🤖 Apple – Rumors that ChatGPT-Like AI Product Is in the Works

Apple has been using AI and machine learning for years, so it’s not as if it’s been asleep at the wheel as everyone focuses on Microsoft-backed OpenAI. However, as we hinted above, we are at the beginning of an AI revolution for tools and services, so everyone wants to see some evidence of workable ideas and products. Apple hinted as much this week in a report by The New York Times, which claimed it was working on a language-based AI model similar to ChatGPT. Rumored to be under the codename “Bobcat” (nope, us neither), the project is, of course, a closely guarded secret (it is Apple, after all). And yet, what’s most interesting in The Times’ take on the story is its slant that all roads will lead to Siri. The code used behind Siri, as well as other voice assistants like Alexa, is clunky and cumbersome, so it’s never been easy for Apple to update the assistant with basic new features, never mind evolving it into something as nimble and all-knowing as ChatGPT. But now the AI race is on, might Apple choose to rejuvenate its outmoded virtual assistant? People have been saying for years that Siri could – and should – be better. A reimagining via AI might fix that. #HaiSiri Read more here.

📱🎮 Microsoft – Reported Plans to Launch Xbox Mobile Gaming Store in 2024

Now, on the face of it, you might think that news of Microsoft launching a mobile games store next year is a bit of a nothing burger to non-gamers, but there is a little more to it than that. For a start, it is part of Microsoft’s grand plan to start recouping back some of the moolah from the staggering $68.7 billion it paid for Activision Blizzard (that deal is still going through a lot of antitrust issues). Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the mobile gaming store is seen as a chance for someone to put down the challenge to Google and Apple. Gaming represents around 70% of all App Store revenues for Apple, and about 80% for Google. It’s a huge multi-billion-dollar pie, and Microsoft wants to use Activision and Xbox to get a huge slice of it. The latest report suggests the Microsoft Mobile Gaming Store could launch next year. #GamesWars Read more here.

🧐 Stat of the Week: 900 PPs

🍏🛒 Apple – App Store Expands Pricing Options with 900 Price Points

Have you ever wondered why paid-for apps on the App Store cost specific amounts like $0.99 or $4.99 and not round numbers like $1 or $5? Well, that’s down to Apple, which has historically been very inflexible on the number of price points that developers can use on the store. That’s changing, though, as Apple has now upped the number of available PPs to 900 – 10 times as many as before. The lowest PP will be $0.29, with the highest going all the way up to $10K (you’ll need special permission to sell your app at that price). Anyway, this all goes back to a deal struck between Apple and developers back in 2021 after a long class action suit resulted in Apple paying $100 million and promising more flexibility. It’s welcome news, and it’s part of the broader changes to make App Store pricing more flexible both here and abroad. #ApplePricing Read more here.

🕸️ What’s dAppening?

A dApp is a decentralized app. Here’s the latest in web3, NFTs and blockchain apps.

🙋‍♀️🖼️ Meta – Facebook and Instagram to Wind Down Support for NFTs

Less than a year after launching its NFT initiative, Meta has decided to withdraw support for the program on both Facebook and Instagram. It is somewhat surprising. Just look at what Meta said about NFTs in its press release last June: “We believe NFTs have the opportunity to be an essential part of how we form our online identities, access new experiences, and engage with others in the metaverse.” Now, it’s fair to say that Meta creators’ digital collectibles haven’t caught fire in the same way as, for example, Reddit’s. And you might also argue that Facebook and Instagram aren’t the natural fits for the punky, anti-establishment world of NFTs. But many would have assumed that Meta would try to play the long game, given the utility of NFTs for digital identities vis-à-vis the metaverse. Well, it hasn’t, and that seems a little myopic to us. For what it’s worth, the web3 sector has greeted the news with a nonchalant shrug. #MetaOffWithoutYou Read more here.

Meanwhile at 3Advance…

Last week, the 3Advance team had a mix of work and fun activities. Paul traveled to Austin, Texas and attended SXSW to check out the latest in tech, and of course live music! To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Paul, our growing ATX team (that’s soon to eclipse our DC home team!), and some friends gathered in Foxy’s Proper Pub while, his co-owner Darren enjoyed a customary Guinness (just one?) back at the “office”. Back in Washington DC, Jingdi checked out the beautiful cherry blossoms at Tidal Basin. 🌸 ☘️

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