SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back, everybody. Ready for another deep dive?

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Absolutely. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 0:03

All right. Today we're tackling AI.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Specifically, AI going shopping. Oh, wow. Yeah. You guys sent in a ton of articles and news snippets, and AI is not just writing and painting anymore. It's ready to hit the shops, online shops, that is.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Yeah, and this is actually something I'm really excited to dig into. I feel like we're seeing some big changes happening, big developments that could change e-commerce completely.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Aaron Powell For example, one of the articles you sent in talks about perplexity. It's an AI startup launching a shopping agent.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Yeah, it's not just a search bar. It can actually browse websites, it can compare prices from different retailers, and then get this. It can buy stuff for you.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Aaron Powell So it's almost like this is moving beyond just a cool feature. It's really pointing to maybe how we're going to be shopping in the future. Like AI is going to be doing a lot of the work for us.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Aaron Powell Right. So I mean, just imagine instead of spending hours scrolling through pages, we could just like tell our AI what we want and poof, it shows up.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Yeah. And as cool as that sounds, I think we have to ask, you know, what's going to happen to the retailers? How do they adapt when they have all these AI agents making purchasing decisions?

SPEAKER_00 1:11

It makes you think if AI is all about efficiency and data, I mean, wouldn't that like change everything about advertising and how companies market their products?

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Yeah, for sure. Like think about it impulse buys, targeted ads, branding. Those might not work so well when you have an AI making decisions based on, you know, just the data.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

So a small business, for example, that relies on those strategies to stand out online, they might need to totally rethink how they do things.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Absolutely. I mean, this is gonna be disruptive for sure, but it could also be a huge opportunity. I mean, some businesses are gonna struggle, but others are gonna find new ways to use AI to their advantage. It's gonna be really interesting to see how this all shakes out.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

And it's not just perplexity doing this, right? We're seeing the giants like OpenAI and Google, they're jumping into this AI shopping thing too.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Right. And, you know, those guys, they have a ton of resources and they have the expertise. I mean, their AI assistance could be even more powerful. Like, imagine an AI that can, I don't know, book flights, schedule deliveries, handle returns, even recommend gifts for you based on like what you've bought before.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Okay, so that does sound pretty amazing, but a part of me is also a little bit, I don't know, nervous about this. Remember that article about perplexity and web scraping? What if the AI is using like outdated info to buy stuff?

SPEAKER_01 2:31

That's a good point. Yeah, you could have an AI buying something that's out of stock or I don't know, buying up a whole inventory if there's a price mistake. I think accuracy and real-time data, that's going to be key for this to really work.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

And what about our data? I mean, if these AI agents are like learning all about our shopping habits, you know, who controls that information? That seems like a whole other can of worms.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Definitely, yeah. Data privacy, it's a huge issue. I mean, as this technology keeps developing, we need to be asking those tough questions, like who has access to our data and what are they doing with it? It can't just be about convenience. We need to be thinking about responsible and ethical use, you know?

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Aaron Powell For sure. And speaking of ethical questions, one of the articles mentioned open AI. The people who made Chat GPT, they're thinking about adding ads to their AI.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Yeah. Which, I mean, it's kind of controversial, right? Considering they were a nonprofit to begin with. Aaron Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yeah, but AI is expensive, like really expensive. They're spending billions of dollars just this year.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Aaron Powell So how do they balance making money with you know sticking to their original mission? That's a tough one.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yeah. And no one wants their AI to turn into like a walking billboard, right? Yeah. They're gonna have to be really careful if they decide to do this.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Aaron Powell Exactly. Yeah, it makes you wonder how are they gonna balance, you know, staying true to their mission and actually, well, paying the bills.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Aaron Powell It's a tough one for sure. It always is with uh I guess with tech companies. But you know what? Speaking of tough questions, this next one, this next article, it raises some really, really interesting ones. So Google DeepMind, they've created an AI, and this AI can learn by itself like no human training needed.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Wait, a self-learning AI, isn't that like the ultimate goal of artificial intelligence?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

It's a huge step. I mean, it means that this thing can it can adapt, it can improve its own algorithms without us, without humans needing to feed it data or instructions.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Wow. So, okay, what would you even use something like that for? I'm having trouble even imagining it.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Well, I mean, think about it. You could have AI sales assistants that learn your preferences as you go. You could have training simulations that like change in real time based on how you're learning. I mean, you could even have systems that analyze, I don't know, financial markets or predict patterns in scientific research.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

It's kind of incredible, but I don't know, also a little intimidating.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Yeah. I mean, it's natural to feel both of those things, right? AI is advancing so quickly. But remember, this could also help us solve some really big problems that we face as humans.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Aaron Powell That's true. It's like every new thing we learn about AI opens up new possibilities, but also new questions.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Exactly. And Google, they're not just focused on this self-learning thing, they've also come out with two new generative AI models, VO, for video, and Image and 3, which is for images.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

And generative AI is already having a huge impact on creative industries. It seems like Google's like really going all in on this.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Absolutely. I mean, these models could change how we create and consume visual content completely. Like imagine creating realistic videos and images just by typing a few words or even, you know, using your voice.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

This is starting to sound like science fiction, but it's real. Like this is happening right now. And speaking of stuff that sounds like it's straight out of a movie, what about those articles on digital human twins and AI societies in Minecraft?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Right. Those were fascinating. So Stanford, they've built 1,000 digital human twins. They're basically trying to simulate human behavior in a virtual world.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Like a digital town full of AI versions of people. What's the point of that?

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Well, they want to see if they can use these twins to model like how humans behave, how we interact. Like imagine simulating how a disease spreads, or I don't know, testing out different policies or something.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Aaron Powell That's I don't know. It's cool, but also kind of creepy to think that AI could like simulate our lives. What about the Minecraft thing? That one really blew my mind.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Yeah. So they basically let these AI agents loose in the world of Minecraft, and they started forming their own little societies. They built communities, they had hierarchies, they even developed their own ways to communicate.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Hold on. They weren't programmed to do any of that. They just figured it out on their own.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

That's what's so wild about it. It's like maybe AI can do more than just copy us, maybe can actually develop its own kind of social intelligence.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Wow. That's I don't even know what to say. It's pretty amazing, but also a little, I don't know, unsettling. And speaking of amazing things, what about open AI? They're supposed to be making some big announcements, right? Any inside scoop on what those might be?

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Well, their lips are sealed, but there are a lot of rumors flying around. Some people think they might announce um advancements in their text-to-video tech. It's called Sorara, and that would be huge for content creation.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Aaron Powell Text to Video. So like you could write a script and the AI would just make a whole video out of it.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Exactly. I mean it would be like having like a whole movie studio at your disposal. Others are thinking they might announce multimodal capabilities for their um for their O1 model. Basically, it would be able to use different kinds of content like text, images, video, all seamlessly.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Okay. Um maybe you have to like explain that one to me, like I'm five. What does multimodal even mean? And why is it such a big deal?

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Okay, so imagine talking to an AI, and it can not only understand your words, but it can also understand images and videos that you show it. And it can even create its own visuals to respond to you.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

So it's like chat GPT, but on steroids.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Exactly. Multimodal AI could really change how we interact with machines. It'd be more natural, more engaging, you know, more personalized.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

That makes sense. Oh, and you know what else I wanted to ask about? That term I keep hearing context window. I kind of get it, but can you explain it in a way that, you know, anyone can understand?

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Sure. The context window, it basically means how much information the AI can remember at once. So expanding it would mean the AI could remember more from your previous interactions, and that would make its responses more coherent, more nuanced.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

So instead of just reacting to like the last thing you said, it could actually draw on a whole bunch of knowledge from, you know, your entire conversation history.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yeah, exactly. Like imagine talking to someone with a perfect memory, you know? They remember everything you've ever said to them.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Okay. That's impressive, but also, I don't know, a little scary. If it remembers everything, that's a lot of information to keep track of. What about privacy?

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Yeah, you're right. I mean, as these systems get more advanced, we really need to think about how we're going to keep all that data safe and secure.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

It's like we need to find the right balance between, you know, pushing the boundaries of what's possible and making sure we're doing it responsibly.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Exactly. And that's something that keeps coming up over and over again as we explore all these new developments in AI.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

I don't know about you, but it really feels like we're like at this turning point with AI. It's almost like the line between, you know, human and machine intelligence is starting to blur.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Yeah. It's a pretty crazy time to be alive, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

And I mean, we've seen it all today. We talked about AI that can shop for us, AI that can learn by itself, AI that's like creating its own societies and video games.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

And all this is happening right now. Yeah. It's not like some far-off future. It kind of makes you rethink what's possible, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 9:42

It definitely does. I mean, that's what disruptive technology does, I guess. It shakes things up and makes you look at the world in a new way.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Aaron Powell And speaking of new ways of looking at things, I want to go back to that question we asked earlier. Like, how do you see AI fitting into your life?

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Yeah. What do you think about all of this? Are you excited? Are you worried? A little bit of both, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

I mean, it's complicated, right? There's no easy answer.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Right. And that's why it's so important to talk about this stuff, to think about the ethics of it all, especially as AI becomes more and more a part of our everyday lives.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yeah. And I think it's important to remember that at the end of the day, AI is a tool. And like any tool, it can be used for good or for bad.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

That's a really good point. It's up to us to decide how we want to use it.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Right. We have to make sure we're using it responsibly. So as we wrap up this deep dive, I think the biggest takeaway for me is just how much things are changing. We're really entering this whole new era of AI. And it has the potential to, you know, change our world in ways we can't even imagine yet.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

And it's all happening so fast. I mean, what we talked about today, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows what's coming next?

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah. It's exciting for sure, but also a little bit scary. But I think as long as we stay curious and we keep asking the tough questions, you know, and we don't forget about the ethics, we can figure this out. We can make sure AI is a force for good in the world.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Well said. And to our listeners, as you go about your day, think about these things too. How do you see AI changing your life? What are you hoping for? What are your concerns? And what role do you want to play in shaping the future of AI?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Because the future of AI, it's not set in stone. It's something we're all creating together.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

That's a great way to put it. So thanks for joining us on this deep dive into the world of AI. Until next time, stay curious and stay engaged.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

And remember, the possibilities are endless.