AI Wearables, Galaxy AI, Grok, and Liminal Design

Weekly Roundup of AI, Technology, and UX

Kyle Evans

Nov 12, 2023

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Here’s the latest news, resources, and use cases from the world of product, UX, AI and technology. Let’s go:

💹 Online Marketplaces
🕶️ AI Wearables
🤑 JPMorgan
🪐 Galaxy AI
🐦 Grok
🕍 Liminal Design
🕊️ The Vanished Birds

Podcast

Creating Online Marketplaces

In this episode, I interviewed Shirish Nadkarni, a serial entrepreneur and author. We talked about his early experience as a product manager at Microsoft, and his work on the acquisition of Hotmail, which inspired him to eventually start his own company. We discuss the companies Shirish founded, Livemocha and TeamOn Systems, and the lessons he learned from each of those.

We also discussed his latest book, Winner Takes All, and the history of digital marketplaces as well as what we can learn from the largest marketplaces in the world. And how to compete against monopolies and regulate monopolies like TicketMaster and Amazon. You won’t want to miss this amazing discussion.

News and Useful Reads

Humane’s Ai Pin is a $700 Smartphone Alternative You Wear All Day

AI wearables are popping up more and more. I’m excited to see where these go, including the latest announcement from this week. Can they replace smartphones? Can they become devices that know us well enough that we don’t need to interact with them but can predict what we need? We’ll see. For now, check out Humane’s AI Pin:

Humane’s device, called the Ai Pin, can take photos and send texts, uses a laser to project a visual interface onto a person’s palm, and comes with a virtual assistant that can be as sharp as ChatGPT. By always being ready to search the web and communicate, it is supposed to quash dependency on smartphones.

JPMorgan is Working With US Regulators on Generative AI Pilot Projects

Regulated industries, like finance, have to move slower with new technologies. Which is why JPMorgan is working with regulators to use generative AI in its operations. CEO Jamie Dimon has said he believes that AI could bring about a 3.5 work week, though we know companies like JPMorgan will still work their employees 60 hours per week, the employees will just get more work done and the company will make more profit. For the shareholders!

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is working with US regulators and walking them through its first set of generative AI pilot projects to ensure all controls are in place, as the bank attempts to bound ahead of rivals in deploying artificial intelligence in the highly-regulated industry.

Samsung details ‘Galaxy AI’ and a feature that can translate phone calls in real time

As a Galaxy phone aficionado, I’m excited to see these types of AI features. Live translation will be a game changer for the future, so I can’t wait.

Samsung’s live translate feature, which the company is calling “AI Live Translate Call,” will be built into the company’s native phone app. Samsung says “audio and text translations will appear in real-time as you speak” and that the translations will happen on device

Elon Musk Announces Grok, a ‘Rebellious’ AI With Few Guardrails

In typical Elon fashion, he’s gone from calling out the risks of AI to launching an AI product in a few months with few guardrails. It takes on the questions that other AI models aren’t tackling, and potentially hastens the AI apocalypse.

The AI model, called Grok (a name that means “to understand” in tech circles), “is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humor!” reads an announcement on the company’s website. “It will also answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems.”

Liminal design and the corporate sublime

Design is critical, whether in the products we use or the spaces we occupy. So I thought this article was interesting as it discussed liminal spaces and the importance of going beyond transactional design:

Liminal Design, as I see it, is the intentional creation of a separate space and narrative to hold a single experience we cannot have in the ordinary. It’s an “in-between” — or liminal space — because the experience is strung between our mundane reality and the bigger fiction it promises to bring us closer to.