Harry Potter helps AI researchers

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Today we will discuss-

• ⚡Harry Potter helps researchers train GenAI models

• 💘Hinge CEO foresees AI changing online dating

• 📊AI integration to boost PC sales in 2024

• 😱9 amazing AI tools you might not have heard of

All this and more - Let's dive in!

👩‍🍳What’s cooking in the newsroom?

Harry Potter books help researchers experiment with GenAI technology

🧙🏻‍♂️News - After over two decades since J.K. Rowling first introduced Harry Potter to the world, the bestselling books are helping researchers experiment with GenAI technology.

• 🪄How so? In a recent development, Microsoft researchers Mark Russinovich and Ronen Eldan authored a paper titled "Who's Harry Potter?" showcasing a technique for large language models to selectively forget information. Here, researchers used the books to showcase that AI models can be edited to remove knowledge, including characters and plots, without sacrificing their decision-making and analytical abilities, addressing concerns about the use of copyrighted content in the AI industry.

• In another study, researchers from the University of Washington, UC Berkeley, and the Allen Institute for AI introduced Silo, a language model aimed at reducing legal risks by removing data. They found that Silo's performance suffered when trained solely on low-risk text, such as non-copyrighted books or government documents. Using Harry Potter books, the researchers investigated the impact of individual text pieces on the AI system's performance, creating different datastores. When removing the Harry Potter books, the model's accuracy, measured by perplexity, deteriorated.

✨But why are researchers choosing Harry Potter books? Over the past decade, AI studies have increasingly referenced Harry Potter as technologists focus on natural language processing. The series, with its abundance of scenes, dialogues, and emotional moments, has proven particularly relevant for training AI tools in this specific area. 

Additionally, the series' universal familiarity simplifies the evaluation of research results for individuals within the research community.

Hinge founder Justin McLeod says AI will be a game-changer for dating apps

👩‍❤️‍👨News - In a recent interview, Justin McLeod, the founder and CEO of Hinge, said that he believes AI will revolutionize the dating app industry. 

🤗So what are the issues and how can AI help? According to McLeod, burnout is one of the primary issues, with people feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of activity, a crowded pool of profiles, and conversations that tend to stagnate.

In this context, AI would act as a precise matchmaker, streamlining targeted introductions and shifting the focus towards quality over quantity, reducing the number of interactions needed to find the right match.

Here, it's worth mentioning that 54% of respondents from the Tidio survey said they would prefer AI assistance in finding a match based on personalized criteria, while 46% expressed interest in the app analyzing their written bio to connect with someone sharing common interests.

🤔Are there any concerns though? With as many as 77% of women and 66% of men having faced catfishing (being tricked by fake profiles) while dating online, there are concerns that AI-generated photos and text could lead to an increase in scams on the platform. However, McLeod emphasized that the array of detection tools available today, including IP address, phone number, carrier, and device type, would help identify bad actors and bots.

Additionally, given their history, there are concerns about AI models introducing biases in dating apps. Yet, McLeod reassured that properly trained AI models can mitigate biases while still aligning with human preferences.

Analysts project 8% growth in PC sales in 2024, driven by AI upgrades

🖥️News - The slowdown in personal computer sales is expected to turn around next year as consumers show interest in purchasing newer PCs equipped with artificial intelligence features. 

Here, it is worth noting that in 2020, global PC sales saw the highest growth since 2010, fueled by the pandemic-driven shift to remote work and learning, as per market intelligence firm IDC. 

In line with this, Canalys analysts Ben Caddy and Kieren Jessop forecast an 8% growth in the PC market by 2024, driven by customers upgrading pandemic-era PCs with new AI-capable devices.

🤹🏻‍♂️Are there any other factors? According to Canalys, Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025, will make it harder for hundreds of millions of devices to keep running, boosting the sales of newer PCs. 

🔮What does the future hold? Canalys predicts 60% of PCs shipped in 2027 will be AI-capable, as consumers actively seek AI features to enhance productivity and leisure experiences. 

Moreover, while AI-integrated PCs will initially target specific segments of the enterprise market, cost reductions and increased use cases may pave the way for their adoption in a broader market, as pointed out by IDC analysts.

👩🏼‍💻What else is happening?

• AI to cause massive economic deflation in next 25 years, predicts OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla

• Apple's iPhone design chief to quit and work on new AI devices with Jony Ive, Sam Altman

• Beijing launches state-backed AI platform to meet country’s rising demand for computing power

• Concerns raised over AI partnership between U.S. govt. agency and influential think tank

• CIB Egypt selects IBM Artificial Intelligence for the integration of their services

👨🏻‍💻AI life hacks

• AI-powered video editing - Platforms like Runway and Kapwing can automate time-consuming tasks like cutting, resizing, and adding effects. This frees you up to focus on the creative aspects of video production.

• AI design and illustration - Tools like Dall-E 2 and Midjourney can create stunning visuals, even with minimal artistic skill. Use them to design marketing materials, product mockups, or even generate unique artwork to sell.

• Write product descriptions - AI can write compelling product descriptions by analyzing vast datasets and understanding market trends. Through natural language processing, it generates engaging content that highlights key features, benefits, and appeals to target audiences. This streamlines the writing process, ensures consistency, and adapts to evolving consumer preferences, enhancing overall marketing effectiveness.

👩🏼‍🚒Discover mind-blowing AI tools

1. Inspiro - An app that provides daily inspiration and motivation through a vast library of curated quotes from historical figures

2. Medgic - An AI-powered skin analysis tool for fast and accurate results

3. Voxify - A tool that allows users to create realistic voice-overs in multiple languages and accents

4. DatePlanner - A tool that helps users plan personalized and unique dates

5. Softr AI - A tool that generates web applications from a single prompt

6. SocialBook - A tool that uses AI technology to transform ordinary photos into fun cartoons

7. Lyro - Helps businesses and organizations create interactive and immersive presentations

8. Interactive Mathematics - A platform that provides math lessons and an AI-powered math problem solver to help students improve their math skills

9. WellyBox - A tool that helps users track and manage their receipts and invoices

🚂Historic moments

• 1984 - Marvin Minsky and Roger Schank coined the term AI winter at a meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, warning the business community that AI hype would lead to disappointment and the collapse of the industry, which happened three years later.

• 1997 - Sepp Hochreiter and Jürgen Schmidhuber proposed the Long Short-Term Memory recurrent neural network, which could process entire sequences of data such as speech or video.

• 2006 - IBM Watson originated with the initial goal of beating a human on the iconic quiz show Jeopardy! In 2011, the question-answering computer system defeated the show's all-time (human) champion, Ken Jennings.