☕️ Spotify Gets Groovy with AI

Spotify starts the week strong with a beta feature for AI-powered playlists to help users find their groove while Microsoft's recently-announced AI division sets up a hub in London, and Canada bets big on the country's AI development. Meanwhile, Google continues rolling out Gemini to more products, and Elon discusses the ever-accelerating pace at which AI is getting smarter. Join us at AI Tangle as we untangle this week's happenings in AI.

Spotify rolls out AI-powered playlists based on user prompts

After gaining traction with its AI DJ feature not long ago, music streaming giant Spotify went big on the hype as the company unveiled its AI-powered playlists in a recent beta test. Aimed to help users find more music that fits their tastes and find new ones, Spotify's AI playlist feature allows users to generate tailor-made playlists in a fun manner that's less hassle.

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What do we know?

Spotify's AI playlist feature leverages large language models to understand user intent and preferences, with users able to edit their playlists with prompts like "more cheerful" or "less rock," and if the user struggles to think of prompts of their own, the built-in AI can provide suggestions. The beta will first solely be available in the U.K. and Australia on Android and iOS - other regions will be expanded upon "in the coming months."

Microsoft's AI division sets up shop in London with Inflection AI and DeepMind scientist at the helm

The latest move in Microsoft's records was ​the establishment of Microsoft AI​ a few weeks prior, a division dedicated solely to advancing AI. To get it up and running, the company has situated a hub in London, fronted by ex-Inflection AI and DeepMind scientist and researcher Jordan Hoffmann, who is just one of many of Inflection AI's talent squad that has joined Microsoft's AI department, according to Inflection AI co-founder Mustafa Suleyman.

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Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveils a whopping $1.8 billion fund for the country's AI industry

The Canadian government has recently announced a $1.8 billion (or C$2.4 billion) package to boost its AI sector, of which $1.47 billion will be funneled into computing capabilities and technological infrastructure to help with the work of AI researchers and start-ups alike in the country's agriculture and healthcare sectors. Justin Trudeau hopes the funds will help fully utilize AI to benefit Canadians to land good-paying jobs and increase the country's productivity.

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Google's Android Studio platform gets a serving of the company's Gemini

Developers on Google's Android Studio platform might be delighted to hear that the company is integrating Gemini Pro, the middle-of-the-pack model in the Gemini family, into the platform. Aimed to serve as a coding assistant, Gemini Pro will be available as part of the code environment to logged-in developers for privacy reasons, states Google, as many see this as Google's attempt at chipping away market share from the well-established GitHub Copilot.

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Elon Musk thinks that human intelligence will be eclipsed by AI already next year

CEO of xAI and Tesla, Elon Musk, had a talk on Monday where he shared his views on X/Twitter spaces that artificial intelligence would be smarter than the most intelligent human, either by next year or 2026. As an advocate for further AI development, Elon added that the biggest hurdle for more advancements is the availability of electricity and advanced chips, citing xAI's difficulties with plans to train Grok-2 and Grok-3 on a ridiculous amount of Nvidia's GPUs.

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Tech apprenticeship unicorn Multiverse acquires Searchlight in push towards AI

The growing trend of AI use in education and work continues as U.K.-based ​Multiverse​ has recently elected to incorporate AI into its on-the-job technology apprenticeships by acquiring Searchlight, a startup centered around building AI-based recruitment and assessment products. Executives at Multiverse state that Searchlight's underlying tech will be used in Multiverse for tailor-made solutions for its clients by diagnosing what skills are needed and where.

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AI security firm TrojAI raises a solid $5.75 million in seed funding

Hailing from Canada, enterprise AI security provider TrojAI came out with an additional $5.75 million after a round of seed founding, led by venture firms like Flying Fish, Techstars, Build Ventures, and more, with most of the funding going towards a new office in Boston and supporting R&D and marketing. The company specializes in securing AI models and applications from risks and attacks, helping organizations comply with benchmarks such as the OWASP AI framework, as well as privacy regulations.

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The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Humanity (4-min read)

CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Demon, weighed in on the AI debate, discussing the impact that it will have on the world and why he thinks that AI could be put on the same pedestal of importance as electricity and the printing press.

The Rise of AI Super Agents (10-min watch)

AI agents seem to be all the rage, and Stanford University has something powerful to show, too - Octopus v2, which beats GPT-4. Wes Roth, an American YouTube channel focused on emerging AI & tech news, dives into the university's papers and what we can expect going forward.