🚩UN Flags Trillion-Dollar AI Divide

Today we will discuss:

• UN flags $4.8T AI inequality—Most gains go to 100 firms in just a few countries

• Don’t miss this week’s Workflow Wednesday—AI personalization in action with AI-generated Ghibli memes, personalized cold emails with Lemlist, and AI-crafted social media posts using Hootsuite’s OwlyGPT;now available at only $20/month! 

• V7 marks Midjourney’s return—A smarter, more detailed image model that’s built for speed and tuned to your style

• In other AI news today—Amazon’s AI can now buy products for you from other websites, Intel and TSMC reportedly team up on a chipmaking venture sparked by the Trump administration, AI tools agree on Trump’s proposed tariff formula, and new research suggests fingerprints may not be as unique as once believed, challenging over a century of forensic science

• Saved the best for last—10 must-try AI tools

• Featured: Artisan—Meet AVA, your AI BDR; Get qualified meetings on autopilot with intent-driven lead discovery, personalized outreach, and smart follow-ups

$4.8 trillion AI boom concentrated among few nations and firms, UN warns

Key Points 

• UNCTAD projects AI will reach $4.8 trillion by 2033 but says its benefits are highly concentrated.

• 40% of global AI R&D is dominated by just 100 companies, mostly in the US and China.

• Up to 40% of jobs worldwide could be affected by automation without stronger global collaboration and worker upskilling.

☕News - Artificial intelligence is projected to hit a market value of $4.8 trillion by 2033, roughly the size of Germany’s economy, according to a new report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The technology is driving productivity and digital transformation, but the benefits are far from evenly distributed.

🌏Widening gaps between countries & companies - UNCTAD warns that AI’s gains are “highly concentrated,” both geographically and economically. Around 40% of all corporate AI research and development spending is controlled by just 100 firms, primarily based in the US and China. Tech giants like Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft now boast market caps that rival the GDP of the entire African continent.

👷‍♂️Jobs at risk, workers left behind - The agency also flagged the risk of job losses, saying up to 40% of global jobs could be affected by AI-driven automation. That echoes earlier concerns from the IMF and the World Economic Forum, which noted that over 40% of employers are considering downsizing in roles that AI can perform.

🤓The case for inclusive AI - Still, the report points out that AI can also empower workers and create new industries if governments invest in upskilling. To prevent deepening global inequality, UNCTAD urges a stronger voice for the Global South in AI regulation, along with more open-source models and shared infrastructure.

Read the full story here.

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Midjourney drops V7, its first new AI model in a year

Key Points 

• V7 uses a new architecture that improves texture, coherence, and detail in images, especially for hands and objects.

• The update includes Turbo and Relax modes, plus a Draft Mode that generates faster, lower-cost previews.

🤩News - Midjourney has just rolled out V7, its first new AI image model in nearly a year. 

The update, which began rolling out in alpha on Thursday, follows OpenAI’s recent splash with its viral Ghibli-style image generator. While Midjourney’s model isn’t officially tuned for that style, it still produces visually striking results. 

✨What's new? According to CEO David Holz, this version is built on a completely different architecture. It handles text prompts more intelligently and creates images with noticeably better detail, texture, and overall coherence, especially when it comes to tricky areas like hands and complex objects.

V7 is available in two versions: Turbo, which is faster but more expensive to run, and Relax. It also powers a new Draft Mode that lets users generate images at ten times the speed and half the cost of standard mode. While draft images are lower quality, they can be enhanced or re-rendered with a single click.

Notably, features like upscaling and retexturing aren’t live yet but are expected within the next two months. 

▶️Getting started - To access V7, users need to rate about 200 images to create a personalization profile. This helps the model tailor outputs to individual tastes and is now turned on by default.

Read the full story here.