Roadmaps, ChatGPT, Amazon's Monopoly, and The Physics of Time
Weekly Roundup of AI, Technology, and UX
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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:
🗺️ Roadmaps
✍️ Writers’ Strike
👨✈️ ChatGPT
🛒 Amazon’s Monopoly
⏳ Physics of Time
👩💻 Presentation AI
Podcast
Gathering customer feedback and creating a product roadmap is one of the most important parts of product management. So why does it always seem like a struggle? In this episode, Kareem Mayan of Savio and I discuss the importance of validating product features against actual data from customers. And the importance of having all of that information in a single place so we can make good decisions.
News and Useful Reads
The writers’ strike is over; here’s how AI negotiations shook out
The writer’s strike is (thankfully) over, so we’ll be able to get back to the great content that so many talented writers bring us soon. And hopefully they’ll be well compensated for it. But how did the AI portion shake out?
Per the agreement, AI cannot be used to write or rewrite scripts, and AI-generated writing cannot be considered source material, which prevents writers from losing out on writing credits due to AI.
On an individual level, writers can choose to use AI tools if they so desire. However, a company cannot mandate that writers use certain AI tools while working on a production. Studios must also tell writers if they are given any AI-generated materials to incorporate into a work.
OpenAI gives ChatGPT access to the entire internet
OpenAI had a bunch of announcements for ChatGPT this week, including its ability to access the internet (again). So no more messages about the training data being limited to September 2021…
OpenAI just announced on X (formerly Twitter) that ChatGPT “can now browse the internet to provide you with current and authoritative information, complete with direct links to sources,” thanks to an integration with Microsoft’s Bing search engine.
ChatGPT goes multimodal: now supports voice, image uploads
Internet access wasn’t the only news, either:
In a surprise and sudden move, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT will now support both voice prompts from users and their image uploads.
The move will give users the ability to have back-and-forth conversations with ChatGPT – in a way similar to how they talk to Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, or Google Assistant – and ask for the bot to analyze and react to any image they upload, such as translating signage or identifying objects when asked by the user in text accompanying their image upload.
The FTC Sues to Break Up Amazon Over an Economy-Wide "Hidden Tax"
Selling online is really difficult. And Amazon has done some really shady stuff when it comes to online sales to get to be the biggest marketplace in the world. You don’t get to be the biggest without doing really shady shit, right? So it’s good that the government is finally taking notice:
One result of Prime is that Amazon now has an overwhelming monopoly share of online shoppers. And online shoppers aren’t the customer, but the product that Amazon brokers to third-party sellers, who must either pay Amazon what it demands or lose access to the market. As one seller put it, "We have nowhere else to go and Amazon knows it."
Is the Physics of Time Actually Changing?
I think a lot about time, both as a concept and in practical terms. You’re probably the same way. So this article obviously caught my attention, since time continually flies by:
PHILOSOPHERS HAVE LONG told us that time is an illusion; modern physicists agree. That doesn’t add much insight. Illusions are stories the brain creates to make sense of confusing information, the chaos out there and within. This describes nearly everything we think we know. Without time, there’s no way of making a narrative; there’s no way of making a universe.
Useful Tools and Resources
PPTX.ai
We tested several presentation creation tools a few months ago. This is a new one, and it was an interesting one. I’m always on the lookout for new presentation tools since I frequently need to create presentations, and I dread starting with a blank slate.
To test it out, I gave it a prompt for a presentation about ancient Rome, since that was what was on my mind. Overall, it created an okay outline. I would need to have a good understanding of ancient Rome to present on it, since the depth of the presentation wasn’t enough to “wing it.” But it does give a template and framework to start from. Probably not as solid as some other options out there, but it gives you a couple of free presentations, so you can try it out and see for yourself.
