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Google Labs Redesign: 6 Reasons to Check It Out

Emerson Blake
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Google Labs Redesign: 6 Reasons to Check It Out

Google Labs: A Hub for AI Experiments That Can Enhance Your Workflow

When you think of Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology, you might only think of its chatbot Gemini. However, the company has many other generative AI experiments that can help you enhance your workflow, generate music, organize your documents, and more. Although Google hasn’t officially released many of these projects, you can try them out via Google Labs, the company’s platform for testing ideas and products, which just got a redesign.

Redesigned Google Labs Site

The redesigned Google Labs site, unveiled on Tuesday, makes it easier to find and start new experiments. The release aligned with Google’s launch of several new AI experiments on Wednesday, including Project Mariner, Jules, Project Astra, Gemini in Colab, and more.

Perks of Using Google Labs

One of the perks of trying the latest Google Labs experiments is that they are constantly updated to include new features, guaranteeing unique and helpful user experiences. Another major Labs perk is that users can provide feedback, ultimately impacting whether the experiments are deployed and what changes are made before they are released.

Some of the Experiments You Can Start Today

1. AI Overviews in Search

AI Overviews in Search allows you to access AI-infused search results, summarizing the information Google expects will satisfy your query. You can opt into this feature by signing up on the Google Labs site.

2. NotebookLM

NotebookLM is an "AI-first Notebook" that works with the content you input to summarize, explain, and provide key topics and questions you can ask to understand the material better. You can insert a Google Doc, a PDF, Google Slides, and URLs and then ask questions about the content or have NotebookLM auto-generate content from your inputs.

3. MusicFX

MusicFX is an AI-powered tool that allows you to generate songs with just a prompt. You can type in what you’d like to hear and then download or share your masterpiece.

4. Illuminate

Illuminate is a new Google Labs experiment that aims to help you break down research papers into short audio conversations. The AI adjusts the content to your learning preferences so that you can understand the material.

5. GenType

GenType is an AI alphabet generator that uses Imagen 2 to generate AI images for all 26 letters in the English alphabet from a single prompt.

Join the Waitlist for Highly Anticipated Features

Many experiments have waitlists open because of the high demand for some of the most cutting-edge features. If you are interested in trying them out, don’t let this process discourage you, as all you need to do is join a Google account and you lose nothing from waiting.

Conclusion

Google Labs is a hub for AI experiments that can help you enhance your workflow, generate music, organize your documents, and more. With the redesigned site and new experiments, you can start exploring these innovative features today.

FAQs

Q: What is Google Labs?
A: Google Labs is a platform for testing ideas and products that allows users to try out new AI experiments.

Q: How do I access Google Labs?
A: You can access Google Labs by visiting the Google Labs homepage and clicking on the experiment you want to try.

Q: Can I provide feedback on the experiments?
A: Yes, users can provide feedback, which ultimately impacts whether the experiments are deployed and what changes are made before they are released.

Q: Are the experiments available to everyone?
A: While some experiments are available to everyone, others may have waitlists or require a Google account to access.

AI-Related Stocks After Nvidia’s Boom

Parker Lennox
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AI-Related Stocks After Nvidia’s Boom

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Investors Cool on Nvidia as AI Fervour Wanes

Whisper it softly, but is some of the investor fervour around Nvidia cooling just a little? The chipmaker has been a phenomenon, riding the surging demand for its artificial intelligence-empowering chips. The stock has jumped 180 per cent this year, fuelling about a fifth of the S&P 500’s gains in the process.

Slowing Trading Volume and Share Price

But trading volume in Nvidia has slowed in recent months with the average number of shares changing hands down 40 per cent from the first half of the year. And over the past six months, its shares are up just 3 per cent compared with more than 11 per cent for the S&P 500. In the last month, Nvidia shares have actually fallen about 9 per cent.

Experts Weigh In

“There’s a tension between momentum, which is very powerful in the early stages of technology adoption, and valuation,” says Vanguard chief economist Joe Davis, whose team has mapped the impact of tech adoptions since the Industrial Revolution and who warned recently the market may have got ahead of itself given the early stage of AI development. “If I had a longer horizon, I think being a smart investor would be saying, ‘OK, who’s going to utilise the technology? Who’s going to develop the technology?’”

Infrastructure and AI-Enabled Revenues

So far, the companies that have done best in stock market terms are those such as Nvidia, which play a role akin to the sellers of shovels to speculators in a gold rush, facilitating the boom. Investors have also already backed energy utilities, with nuclear providers Vistra and Constellation Energy both in the top 10 S&P 500 performers this year. In a sign of surging demand for power for AI-related uses, Microsoft in September signed a 20-year deal with Constellation that involves the reopening of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.

Conclusion

As investors consider how the developments in AI will play out in 2025, they will need to think carefully about which companies will benefit from the use of AI. While Nvidia and other AI infrastructure companies have done well so far, the next phase of investment may focus on AI-enabled revenues and productivity gains.

FAQs

Q: What is the current state of investor sentiment around Nvidia?
A: Investor sentiment around Nvidia has cooled slightly, with trading volume slowing and share price falling about 9 per cent in the last month.

Q: What are the potential winners in the next phase of AI investment?
A: Potential winners include software and IT services companies that can generate revenue from their AI-enabled products, such as Datadog, MongoDB, and Snowflake.

Q: What is the long-term potential of AI in the stock market?
A: The long-term potential of AI in the stock market is significant, with experts predicting a rally of about 10 per cent in the S&P 500 next year.

NVIDIA NeMo Curator Improvements for Accelerating Data Curation

Jordan Waverly
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NVIDIA NeMo Curator Improvements for Accelerating Data Curation

Introducing NeMo Curator: Unlocking the Power of Generative AI with Image Support

What is NeMo Curator?

NeMo Curator is a powerful tool from NVIDIA that enables developers to process data for training accurate generative AI models. Generative AI models are capable of generating new and original content, such as images, music, and text, based on patterns learned from a dataset. However, generating high-quality content requires large amounts of diverse and well-curated data. NeMo Curator simplifies this process by providing a comprehensive platform for managing and processing data, allowing developers to create more accurate and effective generative AI models.

Image Support

The latest update to NeMo Curator now includes support for images, allowing developers to process visual data for training generative AI models. This feature enables the creation of more realistic and diverse images, which can be used in a wide range of applications, including:

  • Computer vision
  • Graphics design
  • Artistic creation
  • Data augmentation

How Does It Work?

NeMo Curator uses a combination of techniques, including data augmentation, data labeling, and data visualization, to process and enhance image data. This allows developers to:

  • Upload and manage large datasets
  • Apply various transformations and augmentations to the data
  • Visualize and analyze the data to identify patterns and trends
  • Label and annotate the data to improve model accuracy

Benefits

The integration of image support in NeMo Curator offers several benefits, including:

  • Improved model accuracy: By providing more diverse and realistic training data, developers can create more accurate and effective generative AI models.
  • Increased efficiency: NeMo Curator simplifies the data processing and management process, reducing the time and effort required to create and train generative AI models.
  • Enhanced creativity: With access to a wider range of image data, developers can create more complex and sophisticated AI models that can generate more realistic and engaging content.

Conclusion

NeMo Curator is a powerful tool for developers looking to create accurate and effective generative AI models. With the addition of image support, NeMo Curator now provides a comprehensive platform for managing and processing data, enabling the creation of more realistic and diverse images. Whether you’re working on computer vision, graphics design, or artistic projects, NeMo Curator is an essential tool for unlocking the full potential of generative AI.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is NeMo Curator?
A: NeMo Curator is a tool from NVIDIA that enables developers to process data for training accurate generative AI models.

Q: What is generative AI?
A: Generative AI is a type of AI that can generate new and original content, such as images, music, and text, based on patterns learned from a dataset.

Q: What are some use cases for NeMo Curator?
A: NeMo Curator can be used in various applications, including computer vision, graphics design, and artistic creation.

Q: How does NeMo Curator process image data?
A: NeMo Curator uses a combination of techniques, including data augmentation, data labeling, and data visualization, to process and enhance image data.

Streamlining the Holidays with AI Chatbots

Emerson Blake
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Streamlining the Holidays with AI Chatbots

Holiday Planning Made Easier with AI Chatbots: 30 Prompts to Help You Organize Your Holiday Season

Event Hosting

  • Suggest five themes for a small holiday party, such as "cozy winter" or "vintage holiday."
  • Write a formal invitation for an annual holiday dinner party, including the following details: [list of details, such as date, time, location, dress code, and RSVP information].

Holiday Planning and Organization

  • Create a holiday preparation checklist for a family of [size], including features and elements you want to consider, such as gift wrapping, decorating, and cooking.
  • Help me organize a timeline for [holiday] dinner preparations, including foods like [list] and avoiding these foods: [list].
  • Suggest ideas for a holiday party and provide a checklist of tasks to plan and execute on by [date], summarizing what I need to do by number of days before [date] for each task.

Meal Planning and Recipes

  • Plan a fun holiday menu for [count] people, taking into account dietary needs like vegetarian and food allergies.
  • List five holiday desserts with the following characteristics: [list of characteristics].
  • Create a timeline for the following entrées and sides so that they are all ready together: [list of entrées and sides].

Gift Ideas and Shopping

  • Suggest gift ideas for a [age] year old who likes [subject, like science and crafts].
  • Recommend categories, specific products, and search strings I can type into [online store] to search for gifts.
  • Help me brainstorm ideas for holiday gifts I can make from dollar store supplies, asking questions, and guiding me to various suggestions.

Holiday Cards and Letters

  • Write a cheerful holiday message for a family holiday card.
  • Help me write a holiday newsletter summarizing our family’s year, including the following events, accomplishments, and notable thoughts: [your list here].

Holiday Crafts and Activities

  • Provide a list of [count] possible homemade ornaments I can create with [materials, like recycled or a list].
  • Suggest holiday crafts for kids under [age] years old.
  • What are [count] easy DIY decorations I can make in [time period] using [material list, or let the AI suggest materials] for a [theme type, like winter or fireplace or holiday name] theme?

Travel Assistance

  • Plan a [count]-day itinerary for a family of [describe family and ages] visiting [location] during the holiday season.
  • What should I pack for a [duration] trip to a [characteristic of or location of] destination? Please note that I need to include [anything special I must pack].

Budget Management

  • Create a holiday budget plan for gifts, meals, and [type of travel, local, distance, vehicle, etc.] travel with a [currency amount] limit.
  • Suggest affordable gift ideas for a family of [size], including ideas for [count] adults and [count] children aged [ages].
  • Suggest [count] money-saving ideas for holiday decorations.
  • Suggest [count] money-saving ideas that can help me keep my holiday spending down, yet provide a good experience for my family.

Stress Reduction

  • What are some mindfulness techniques to stay calm during the holidays?
  • Give me ten phrases I can use to politely change the subject when [family member] gets all heavy-handed about politics.
  • How can I simplify holiday preparations without losing the festive spirit?

Post-Holiday Wind-Down

  • Suggest [count] ways I can store [type of] holiday decorations to save space.
  • Draft [count] unique thank-you messages I can use to acknowledge gifts received during the holidays.
  • Suggest a post-holiday reset routine, including tips for resetting my diet, budget, and home organization.

Conclusion

These 30 prompts should help you get started on your holiday preparations. Remember to use your own common sense when making decisions and to double-check important information with another source or two.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I use these prompts as is or modify them to fit my needs?
A: Yes, feel free to use the prompts as is or modify them to fit your needs.

Q: Are these prompts only for holiday planning and organization?
A: No, these prompts cover a range of topics related to the holiday season, including event hosting, meal planning, gift ideas, and more.

Q: Can I use these prompts with any AI chatbot?
A: Yes, these prompts should work with most AI chatbots, but be sure to check the specific capabilities of your AI chatbot before using them.

Experiments in Handwriting with a Neural Network

Parker Lennox
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Experiments in Handwriting with a Neural Network

Let’s start with generating new strokes based on your handwriting input

Neural networks are an extremely successful approach to machine learning, but it’s tricky to understand why they behave the way they do. This has sparked a lot of interest and effort around trying to understand and visualize them, which we think is so far just scratching the surface of what is possible.

In this article, we will try to push forward in this direction by taking a generative model of handwriting and visualizing it in a number of ways. The model is quite simple (so as to run well in the browser) so the generated output mostly produces gibberish letters and words (albeit, gibberish that look like real handwriting), but it is still useful for our purposes of exploring visualization techniques.

Looking at the Output of the Model

Our first experiment is the most obvious: when we want to see how well someone has learned a task, we usually ask them to demonstrate it. So, let’s ask our model to write something for us and see how well it does.

Most of the marks are gibberish, but many of them are surprisingly convincing. Some real (or real-ish) words even start to appear. One surprising thing you’ll notice is that the general style of handwriting is more or less consistent within a sample. This is because the type of architecture used for this model (LSTM) has a mechanism for remembering previous strokes. It is therefore able to remember things like how loopy or jerky the handwriting is, or which letter preceeded the current one. (For more on LSTMs and how they can remember, Chris Olah has a good primer [3].)

Examining the Internals of the Model

Our model has 500 cells which act as a sort of memory which it will use as part of its input when deciding what to generate. If we can see what those cells are doing as the model progresses we may be able to gain some intuitive understanding about what the model is doing.

We begin by showing the activation of the cells over time. Each column in the heatmap below represents one line segment of the handwriting. Each row represents one cell of the model and is colored by its activations on that part of the stroke. By inspecting the diagram you may be able to see some patterns in the way certain cells activate for certain types of strokes.

Conclusion

The black box reputation of machine learning models is well deserved, but we believe part of that reputation has been born from the programming context into which they have been locked. The experience of having an easily inspectable model available in the same programming context as the interactive visualization environment (here, javascript) proved to be very productive for prototyping and exploring new ideas for this post.

As we are able to move them more and more into the same programming context that user interface work is done, we believe we will see richer modes of human-ai interactions flourish. This could have a marked impact on debugging and building models, for sure, but also in how the models are used. Machine learning research typically seeks to mimic and substitute humans, and increasingly it’s able to. What seems less explored is using machine learning to augment humans. This sort of complicated human-machine interaction is best explored when the full capabilities of the model are available in the user interface context.

FAQs

Q: What is the purpose of this article?

A: The purpose of this article is to explore ways to visualize a generative model of handwriting and to gain a better understanding of how it works.

Q: What is a generative model of handwriting?

A: A generative model of handwriting is a type of machine learning model that is trained to generate new handwritten text based on a dataset of existing handwritten text.

Q: What is the main goal of this article?

A: The main goal of this article is to demonstrate how to visualize a generative model of handwriting and to provide a deeper understanding of how it works.

Q: What are some of the key findings of this article?

A: Some of the key findings of this article include the ability to visualize the output of the model, the ability to examine the internals of the model, and the potential for machine learning to augment humans in complex tasks.

Q: What are some potential applications of this technology?

A: Some potential applications of this technology include generating handwritten text for use in documents, such as signatures, and for use in art and design.

Joyful AI Christmas in Bangkok

Phil
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Joyful AI Christmas in Bangkok

What is

?

is a fundamental element in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) used to define a paragraph of text. It is one of the most commonly used elements in HTML, and its purpose is to wrap a block of text in a way that makes it readable and distinguishable from other elements on a web page.

HTML Structure

The HTML structure of

is simple:

<p></p>

This structure indicates that the text enclosed within the tags is a paragraph of text. The opening tag <p> signals the start of the paragraph, and the closing tag </p> signals the end of the paragraph.

Attributes

does not have any attributes. However, it can be styled using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) or modified using JavaScript.

Common Uses

is used extensively in web development to define paragraphs of text in various contexts, such as:

  • Body content:

    is used to wrap the main content of a web page, including articles, blog posts, and product descriptions.

  • Footnotes:

    can be used to wrap footnotes or citations in academic or technical writing.

  • Quotations:

    can be used to wrap quotations or block quotes in articles or essays.

Conclusion

In conclusion,

is a fundamental element in HTML used to define a paragraph of text. Its simplicity and versatility make it a crucial part of web development, and its uses are numerous and varied.

FAQs

Q: What is the purpose of

?

A: The purpose of

is to define a paragraph of text in HTML.

Q: Can

be styled?

A: Yes,

can be styled using CSS or modified using JavaScript.

Q: Can

be used for other purposes?

A: Yes,

can be used for other purposes, such as wrapping footnotes, quotations, or block quotes.

Q: Is

an essential element in HTML?

A: Yes,

is an essential element in HTML, and its uses are numerous and varied.

You Can Talk to the AI Hosts of Your NotebookLM Podcast

Emerson Blake
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You Can Talk to the AI Hosts of Your NotebookLM Podcast

Google’s NotebookLM: A Game-Changer in AI Technology

Introducing Interactive Audio Overviews

With the latest updates to Google’s NotebookLM, users can now interact with the AI hosts in Audio Overviews. This feature was previously available only for dynamic conversations, but now users can speak to the hosts and receive personalized responses. For example, users can ask the hosts to explain concepts more clearly or from different sources, making the learning experience more engaging and effective.

How to Access Interactive Mode

To access the new interactive mode, users must create a new Audio Overview and tap the "Interactive mode (BETA)" button. When listening to the overview, users can tap "join" to interrupt the host and participate in the conversation.

New Design and Features

The latest updates to NotebookLM also include a new design intended to make the experience more intuitive. The app is now divided into three areas: "Sources," where users can manage their input; "Chat," where users can discuss with the AI; and "Studio," where users can create new content from their sources.

NotebookLM Plus: A Subscription Plan

Google is also launching a subscription plan called NotebookLM Plus, which offers additional features and benefits. These include access to five times more Audio Overviews, notebooks, and sources per notebook, as well as shared team notebooks with usage analytics and additional privacy and security features. The subscription plan is available for businesses, schools, and universities, and will be available for all users in the Google One AI Premium plan in early 2025.

Conclusion

Google’s NotebookLM has once again pushed the boundaries of AI technology, offering users a more interactive and personalized learning experience. With its new features and subscription plan, NotebookLM is poised to become an essential tool for students, educators, and professionals alike.

FAQs

Q: What is Interactive Mode in Audio Overviews?
A: Interactive Mode allows users to speak to the AI hosts in Audio Overviews and receive personalized responses.

Q: How do I access Interactive Mode?
A: To access Interactive Mode, users must create a new Audio Overview and tap the "Interactive mode (BETA)" button.

Q: What are the benefits of NotebookLM Plus?
A: NotebookLM Plus offers additional features and benefits, including access to more Audio Overviews, notebooks, and sources per notebook, as well as shared team notebooks with usage analytics and additional privacy and security features.

Q: Is NotebookLM Plus available for all users?
A: NotebookLM Plus is currently available for businesses, schools, and universities, and will be available for all users in the Google One AI Premium plan in early 2025.

Google’s Smart Glasses Get Smarter with Gemini AI

Phil
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Google’s Smart Glasses Get Smarter with Gemini AI

Google Revamps Project Astra with AI-Powered Smart Glasses

A New Era of Mixed-Reality Technology

Google Glass may not have been the success that the tech giant had hoped for, but it seems that the company is still convinced that we’re heading towards a future where we’ll want wearable mixed-reality technology. Advances from Meta and Apple have only encouraged Google to push forward, and now the company is putting two of its favorite techs together: smart glasses and AI.

Project Astra: The Future of AI-Powered Glasses

We first got a glimpse of Google’s Project Astra, an always-on AI agent, back in May. Now, the company has shared a new demo of its prototype for a multimodal virtual assistant that would live in your phone – and your glasses – and would be able to see everything you do.

A Small Group of Testers to Begin Testing Project Astra Prototype

At the briefing for the launch of Gemini 2.0, Google revealed that a small group is to begin testing Project Astra prototype Gemini AI glasses as part of its Trusted Tester programme. A group of testers will also test Project Astra on Android phones.

What’s New with Project Astra?

The idea is that having an AI agent in glasses form will help with things like providing directions and language translations in situations where we want to have our hands free. Compared to where things were in May, Google says Astra can now understand more languages, mix languages and understand accents and "uncommon words". It can also understand language at about the latency of human conversation with new native audio understanding and streaming capabilities.

Astra Can Now Access Google Maps, Lens, and Search

Astra can now access Google Maps, Lens, and Search to answer questions, and it now has 10 minutes of in-session memory and can remember previous conversations.

Android XR: A New Operating System for Smart Glasses and Headsets

Meanwhile, Google has announced the launch of a new operating system, Android XR, for both smart glasses and headsets. Available as a preview for developers for now, it supports tools like ARCore, Android Studio, Jetpack Compose, Unity, and OpenXR to allow developers to start building apps and games for upcoming devices.

A New Era for Mixed-Reality Technology

Known as Project Moohan internally, the operating system signals Google’s intention to take on rivals Apple and Meta in the AR and mixed-reality space. Apple’s expensive Vision Pro was hardly destined for mainstream success, but it introduced the concept of spatial computing, which Google appears to have taken pointers from.

Conclusion

Google’s prototype looks much more powerful thanks to its integration of Gemini with various apps and its ability to remember. However, we don’t know what form it will take if it ever reaches the market. We’re told that Android XR is a collaboration with Samsung and Qualcomm, and we’ve also seen a glimpse of what looks to be a Samsung mixed-reality headset. This could mean that it will be Samsung rather than Google itself that launches the first Gemini AI glasses. That makes me wonder if they would be as appealing to the fashion-conscious consumer as the Meta-RayBan offering.

FAQs

Q: What is Google’s new project?
A: Google’s new project is called Project Astra, an always-on AI agent that will live in your phone and glasses.

Q: What is Android XR?
A: Android XR is a new operating system for smart glasses and headsets.

Q: What is the purpose of Project Astra?
A: The purpose of Project Astra is to provide a multimodal virtual assistant that can live in your phone and glasses and provide directions, language translations, and other services.

Q: When will Project Astra be available?
A: No release date has been announced, but a small group of testers will begin testing the prototype soon.

The ChatGPT Killer App

Avery Winslow
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The ChatGPT Killer App

ChatGPT Launched Two Years Ago, But Where is the AI Race Now?

ChatGPT launched roughly two years and two weeks ago. Now, as we near the end of 2024, the AI race is… well, where is it, exactly? It’s more competitive than ever, there’s more money being poured into new models and products than ever, and it’s not at all clear when or even whether we’re going to get products that make it all worthwhile.

The Vergecast Discusses AI News

On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk about a lot of different AI news, all along a single trend line: the tech industry trying desperately to build a killer app for AI. (Ideally, for them, also one that makes money.) The Verge’s Richard Lawler joins us as we discuss Google Gemini 2.0, Project Astra and Project Mariner, and everything else Google is doing to put AI in the products you already use every day. We also talk through the new Android XR announcement, and Google’s renewed commitment to making headsets and smart glasses that work. It’s all an AI story, no matter how you look at it.

Google’s AI Efforts

Google is investing heavily in AI, with a focus on integrating it into its existing products. We discuss Google Gemini 2.0, which aims to make AI-powered search results more personalized and relevant. Project Astra and Project Mariner are also discussed, which involve using AI to improve the performance of Google’s data centers and cloud infrastructure.

Android XR and Smart Glasses

We also talk about the new Android XR announcement, which includes a renewed commitment to making headsets and smart glasses that work with AI. This could potentially enable new use cases for AI, such as augmented reality experiences and voice assistants.

Links to Learn More

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with Google:

Conclusion

The AI race is more competitive than ever, with companies investing heavily in new models and products. While it’s unclear when or if we’ll see products that make it all worthwhile, the tech industry is pushing forward with AI-powered innovations that could change the way we live and work.

FAQs

Q: What is ChatGPT?
A: ChatGPT is a conversational AI model that was launched roughly two years and two weeks ago.

Q: What is the Vergecast?
A: The Vergecast is a podcast that discusses the latest news and trends in technology, including AI.

Q: What are Google Gemini 2.0, Project Astra, and Project Mariner?
A: Google Gemini 2.0 is a project aimed at making AI-powered search results more personalized and relevant. Project Astra and Project Mariner are projects that involve using AI to improve the performance of Google’s data centers and cloud infrastructure.

Q: What is Android XR?
A: Android XR is a new announcement from Google that includes a renewed commitment to making headsets and smart glasses that work with AI.

I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This Before: Pentagram’s AI Website Backlash

Phil
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I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This Before: Pentagram’s AI Website Backlash

What can you tell us about the initial brief?

In short, all the different divisions of the federal government make annual reports, and they go on a website called performance.gov, and the reports are very cumbersome and dense, as if they don’t want ordinary people to really read them. For the average person who just wants to find out what’s going on in the housing industry, they’re illegible. The government wanted to create a more user-friendly website.

Now, in my experience with working with the government, the biggest problem is its own bureaucracy. All these divisions of government and topics needed illustrations, but they would never be capable of making a decision. So if you want to run contemporarily, you kind of have to lock people out, you have to set up a system that is carefully designed and approved and can repeat without interference.

What was behind the decision to use AI for the illustrations?

Firstly, with regard to the structure of Pentagram and the way we were hired, we were not hired to use outside illustrators and photographers. This thing was a design project with a capital D, it was not an illustration project. But we were fortunate, because I had on my team a guy called Bruno Bergallo who’s both a terrific illustrator and designer. 

Bruno had worked with AI before, and he knew Midjourney. These tools couldn’t do our work – they couldn’t create the right images, and Bruno didn’t want to use more than five prompts or you’d be doing it forever. So he made the paintings of our drawings, and he designed an entire style, made with paint and tape. They are originals. He is an illustrator. This was then programmed into the computer, and now we have 1500 illustrations in that style. 

We decided to be transparent and show the website to people because it solves a specific problem. Here, the problem that’s plagued government publishing is the inability to put together a program because of the interference of different people with different ideas. This solved that, which is why we published it. And our clients at OMB are very proud of it. 

Were you surprised by the response on social media?

I don’t care if they don’t like the project or the illustrations. That doesn’t phase me at all. But I don’t like it when they say, ‘you made millions of dollars on this,’ – this was not a really well paying job. And being accused of theft, I really did not like that. I thought that was really stupid, and rather inane. We posted a case study that shows you exactly how we did the thing, it couldn’t have been more honest or open. And while only a small proportion of the comments were negative, some of them were very nasty – they hurt my feelings.

I’ve never seen anything like this happen when we post something – people questioning who got hired to do the illustration or photography, I don’t remember ever having comments like this. I’ve had people not like the work or think it’s crap or whatever, that’s sort of the ordinary. But this was different, and it was the Midjourney thing.

Some of that I have to blame on myself, because the Midjourney thing is a point of sensitivity because a lot of illustrators are afraid they’re going to lose work. But look, I’m married to an illustrator. And nobody’s ripped anybody off more than my husband. And this project didn’t take work away from anybody. There wasn’t a job there. My firm and my team were hired to do this job, we weren’t given budget to hire illustrators. 

Do you think the fear of AI among illustrators is justified?

I really think it’s silly. I have been a graphic designer now for years. I started with rubber cement and exacto knives, and that was my advanced technology. Then all of a sudden there were photostat cameras you could buy and personally make your photostats. And then finally, the computer, which was the worst for illustrators because it invented something called desktop publishing, where companies just stopped buying illustration altogether and used things that already existed. And that was probably the worst version of it. There were few illustrators who pioneered and did their work on computers. And the next thing is AI. 

I mean, this is a progression of life. I like AI because I see it seeping in and being a private little helper. I guess you could say, oh, well, this is going to ruin originality, or people are going to steal, or whatever you say about it and like, I’m sorry, but I don’t think anybody will be more ripped off by any kind of AI than my husband has been by other illustrators. Designers stand on each other’s shoulders. Illustrators do it. You get influenced by somebody, and often that helps your work. From my point of view, AI is another tool, and how it’s used is the responsibility of the designer who is charged with delivering the project and making those kinds of decisions. I’m sorry that the illustration community feels threatened by it, but I think they’ll be fine.

Conclusion

Pentagram’s use of AI for the illustrations on the Federal Government’s performance tracking website has sparked a heated debate on social media. While some have criticized the agency for using generative AI instead of hiring illustrators, Pentagram partner Paula Scher believes that the project is a step forward in solving a specific problem in government publishing. She emphasizes that the AI tool used, Midjourney, was programmed to create illustrations in a specific style, and that the project did not take work away from any illustrators.

FAQs

Q: Why did Pentagram use AI for the illustrations?

A: Pentagram used AI to create illustrations for the Federal Government’s performance tracking website because it was a design project with a capital D, and the agency was not hired to use outside illustrators and photographers.

Q: Was the project well-paying?

A: No, the project was not a well-paying job.

Q: Did the project take work away from illustrators?

A: No, the project did not take work away from any illustrators.

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