📰 AI’s Got the Gist

In today’s email:

📰 The Wall Street Journal is testing AI-powered article summaries, so you can get the key points without reading the whole thing. (Don’t worry, humans are still fact-checking!)

📊 IBM's new survey shows a massive gap between AI "Leaders" and "Learners." Spoiler: the leaders are all-in, and it's paying off with a big revenue boost.

👓 Baidu’s 2024 conference was all about AI-powered smart glasses, new text-to-image tech, and more. Sci-fi is officially here!

Curious? Keep on reading!

📰 Wall Street Journal Adds AI TL;DR

According to The Verge, The Wall Street Journal is jumping on the AI train, and testing out article summaries to help readers get the gist faster! Here’s the scoop:

• New “Key Points” Box: – The AI breaks down the main points so you can get the highlights without committing to the whole piece. Look out for the AI-generated “Key Points” box at the top of articles.

• Human Oversee Bot: WSJ isn’t just letting the AI run wild – an editor double-checks the summary to ensure accuracy (no rogue robot rumors here). There’s even a note telling readers that AI had a hand in the summary, and you can click to learn more.

• Seeing What Sticks: According to WSJ’s digital boss Taneth Evans, they test this feature to see if people like it. 

• Not Just WSJ: They’re not the only ones trying this out. USA Today and a few news apps are already doing the “AI key points” thing. 

Still, WSJ gently reminds us that while the AI summaries are handy, sometimes you gotta read the whole article to avoid any hilarious AI mix-ups.

🏃 Are You Leading or Just Playing Catch-Up?

IBM’s latest survey on AI shows there’s a big gap between the “AI rockstars” (the Leaders) and the “still figuring it out” crowd (the Learners). Here’s why the Leaders are winning:

Serious Investment: Leaders are all-in on AI, with 71% putting major money behind it, while most Learners are taking baby steps. And it’s paying off—two-thirds of Leaders are seeing a 25%+ revenue boost.

Everyone’s Aligned: In Leader-land, execs and IT teams are on the same page about AI goals (72% aligned vs. 36% for Learners).

Custom Solutions Only: Leaders don’t just use out-of-the-box AI—they create their own with custom APIs. Plus, 61% of them are confident managing data for AI (versus 11% of Learners).

Bottom line? The Leaders are all-in on strategy, teamwork, and custom solutions, setting the standard for everyone else.

👓 AI for Your Eyes

Baidu just went all out at their 2024 conference with some futuristic gear! The big star? AI-powered smart glasses that do everything but make your morning coffee (for now).

Glasses are made by their brand Xiaodu and can track calories, snap pics, record videos and even chat with Baidu’s Ernie AI assistant—perfect for when you need a pep talk on the go. They’re launching in China next year, aiming to go head-to-head with Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses.

Baidu also rolled out I-RAG, a text-to-image AI that avoids “hallucinations” (AI’s been known to add extra...imaginative touches to its creations). Then there’s Miaoda, a code generator that lets you build software without needing a degree.

Finally, Ernie Bot, which was introduced last year, is still crushing it, handling over 1.5 billion queries a day. It’s now powering family dashboards that remind grandma to take her meds—AI's got her back!

Other cool AI stuff that is trending right now 🔥🔥

💰 With $125 million in fresh funding and a $750 million valuation, Tessl aims to revolutionize software development by creating an AI-native platform to streamline, maintain, and fix code, addressing the complexity of AI-human collaboration in coding. - Read more 

📊 MIT’s graph-based AI model uses advanced generative techniques to uncover hidden connections between fields like biology, music, and art—suggesting innovative materials and revealing unexpected links that could revolutionize interdisciplinary research and design. - Read more

📱 Google has launched a dedicated iOS app for its AI-powered assistant, Gemini, which supports text prompts in 35 languages, and the new Gemini Live feature for conversational AI in 12 languages. - Read more

🧠 Cambridge researchers are harnessing AI to develop new, less harmful treatments for children with brain tumors, aiming to improve survival rates and design virtual trials that tailor therapies to young patients' unique needs. - Read more

📚 AI-powered translation use in literary and nuanced translations has sparked concern, with experts questioning its ability to capture cultural subtleties and the potential loss of human touch in conveying meaning. - Read more