Thursday🌪️ in AI: Amazon's Shopping Guides, Zoom's AI Avatars, Meta's Global Expansion, and a Nobel Win for DeepMind!

Welcome to another exciting edition of our weekly AI roundup! This Thursday, we’re diving into some of the most impactful stories shaping the world of artificial intelligence. From Amazon's innovative AI shopping guides designed to enhance your retail experience to Zoom's new custom AI avatar tool that sparks both intrigue and caution, there’s plenty to unpack. We’ll also explore Meta's expansion of its AI capabilities to six new countries and celebrate the remarkable achievement of DeepMind's Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, who recently won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking work with AlphaFold. Let’s get started!

1. Amazon unveils AI guides to enhance your shopping experience. 🛍️

Amazon has introduced AI Shopping Guides to help customers easily find the right products. Available in the Amazon Shopping app and website, these AI-powered guides provide expert advice on over 100 product types, including TVs, running shoes, and face moisturizers. They offer detailed information on key features, must-know terminology, and trusted brands, all tailored to the shopper's needs. Powered by Amazon’s generative AI, these guides make shopping more intuitive, saving customers time and effort. Explore personalized recommendations and find the perfect fit for your needs with this innovative tool.

Amazon announces AI Shopping Guides, generative AI-powered buying guides that seamlessly bring together product research and relevant products

AI Shopping Guides on over 100 product types and counting save customers time by providing product information and insights alongside refined product recommendations in one convenient guide

Press Center

2. Zoom introduces a custom AI avatar tool, but it may come with some risks. 🤖

Zoom is set to introduce AI avatars, allowing users to create digital versions of themselves for meetings and video updates. By recording an initial video, Zoom's AI will generate an avatar that looks and sounds like you, enabling it to send messages on your behalf. This feature, launching in early 2024 as part of Zoom’s AI Companion add-on, will cost an additional $12 per month. To ensure security, Zoom is implementing advanced authentication, watermarking, and strict usage policies. The new AI integration also connects with third-party apps like Zendesk and Asana, offering enhanced personalization for meeting summaries.

Zoom will let AI avatars talk to your team for you

When will AI avatars get to attend meetings for you?

The Verge

3. Meta AI expands to six new countries, including Brazil and the UK. 🌍

Meta is expanding its AI chatbot, Meta AI, to six new countries, including Brazil, the U.K., and the Philippines, with plans to roll it out gradually in the Middle East and other regions. By the end of the release cycle, Meta AI will support 43 countries and over a dozen languages, including Arabic, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese. Available on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and the Meta.ai website, Meta AI now serves nearly 500 million users. With new features like celebrity voices and image editing, it’s on track to become the world’s most popular AI assistant.

Meta AI launches in 6 countries, including Brazil and the UK | TechCrunch

Meta is bringing its AI chatbot Meta AI to six countries today, including Brazil, the U.K., the Philippines, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Paraguay, Mark

TechCrunchIvan Mehta

4. DeepMind's Demis Hassabis and John Jumper win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for AlphaFold! 🏆

Sir Demis Hassabis and Dr. John Jumper from Google DeepMind were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking work on AlphaFold, an AI system that predicts protein structures from amino acid sequences. AlphaFold has transformed protein structure prediction, a task that was once complex and time-consuming. With its predictions available in the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database, over 2 million scientists in 190 countries can leverage this tool for discoveries in drug design and enzyme development. This recognition highlights AI’s potential to accelerate scientific advancements and improve global health.

Demis Hassabis & John Jumper awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs Sir Demis Hassabis, and Google DeepMind Senior Research Scientist Dr. John Jumper were co-awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The…

Google DeepMind

As we wrap up this week’s exploration of AI advancements, it’s clear that the landscape is evolving at a remarkable pace. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to track these trends and breakthroughs. Embrace the future of AI, and remember—each innovation brings us one step closer to a smarter, more connected world!

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