OpenAI is working on an AI search engine

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Welcome back, Superhuman

OpenAI just registered a new web address with the word “search” in it — a not-so-subtle hint that it’s getting ready to release its own search engine. And researchers are using AI to help decode whale languages.

Today’s Insights

• OpenAI’s rumored search engine

• How to compare products with ChatGPT

• How AI is decoding whale language

• 5 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• Chart: BYOAI (Bring your own AI to work)

• AI-Generated Images: Aztec-Futurism

AI & TECH NEWS

Everything you need to know today

• Designs on Demand: Meta is rolling out a new feature that will let companies generate customizable ad copy and images with AI.

• Molecular Marvel: DeepMind unveils AlphaFold 3, a new AI model that predicts the structure and interactions of all of life’s molecules.

• Guess Who’s Back: The mysterious gpt2-chatbot has returned to the Chatbot Arena, as speculation grows it might be an early test version of OpenAI’s GPT-5.

• Bright Future: President Biden announced Microsoft is investing $3Bn to convert the site of a failed Foxconn project in Wisconsin into an AI-oriented data hub.

• Silicon Secrecy: Reuters reports that the US government is considering a new regulation that would forbid AI startups from exporting closed-source models into China.

NEXT IN AI

OpenAI is taking on rivals with an AI-powered search engine

For around two decades, Google was content to sip piña coladas at the beach, knowing full well it had total dominance in the search market. A recent lawsuit revealed that around 90% of searches take place on the platform.

But now it’s sitting up from its lounge chair and lifting its sunglasses. Why? Because it just spotted a tsunami gathering strength in the distance. Bloomberg reported that OpenAI is building its own GPT-powered search engine in a bid to challenge the reigning champion.

Here’s how it’ll work: Users will reportedly be able to ask a question, and then receive an answer, complete with cited sources from the internet. In some cases, the new platform may include images. If you want to know how to replace a doorknob, for instance, you’ll be able to see diagrams for each step of the process.

How do I access it? Rumors suggest it could be available as soon as today, but the exact timeline remains a mystery. When the search engine finally launches, you’ll likely be able to try it out via search.chatgpt.com.

What makes it unique? Conventional search engines give you a list of relevant results, but it’s up to you to dig through them to find what you’re looking for. AI search engines reverse-engineer that process by automatically surfacing the piece of information you’re hoping to find.

OpenAI isn’t the only player in town: There are already plenty of AI search engines on the market, even if they’ve yet to catch on with the wider public. Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s own Gemini are worthy contenders. But our favorite might be perplexity.ai, which was built from the ground up to handle search requests. Another rival, Canadian startup Upend, just launched from stealth, boasting search results powered by around 100 LLMs.

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AI AT WORK

How to compare products with ChatGPT

Finding the right item that fits your need can be a headache. You may need to browse several websites and open up a dozen tabs simultaneously to figure out what the best option is.

You can now delegate that to ChatGPT by doing the following:

• Go to the ChatGPT website 

• Ask ChatGPT to compare a specific type of product for you

• You can compare on different criteria, such as price, weight, comfort, rating, and so on

For the example above, I asked ChatGPT to create a table that compares women's running shoes.

AI & THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

AI is helping scientists decode elusive whale chatter

Sperm whales have the biggest brains of any creature in the animal kingdom. And they put their noggins to good use, using morse-code-like clicks to communicate in the dark depths of the ocean. Scientists have been collecting audio recordings of whales for years. But they haven’t been able to figure out the nuances of their language, because whales chat at speeds that no human can keep up with.

That is, until now… Researchers at MIT and the nonprofit Project CETI (a riff on the SETI Institute, the organization that hunts for extraterrestrial life in the universe) fed 9,000 whale recordings into a special AI model, then searched for patterns. Eventually, the model could accurately predict the next sequence in a particular recording — suggesting that whale communication is highly organized.

It’s the first time scientists have documented an animal piecing sounds together to form “meaningful units” — i.e. connecting different syllables together to build words. Just like human language, the meaning of the “words” seems to change depending on rhythm, tempo, and other features.

Certain whale species are highly social, and they travel around as tight-knit family units. When a mother leaves to find food, she’ll first communicate with a family member to make sure they’ll protect her kids from giant squid, killer whales, and other threats. The insights from MIT’s AI experiment add new wrinkles in the debate over how language affects intellect — and prove that humans are far from the only highly intelligent creatures on earth.

PRODUCTIVITY

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CHART

‘Bring your own AI to work’ isn’t just for Gen-Z

Among Gen Z employees who use AI at work, 85% say the tools they use aren’t provided by their employer, according to a new report from Microsoft and LinkedIn. But Gen Z isn’t alone: Around three-quarters of Millennials, Gen X and Boomers say they too bring their own AI tools to work.

But workers often stay quiet about their adoption of new AI technologies. Roughly 53% say they fear that openly using AI in the workplace will signal that they’re replaceable. Meanwhile, 52% say they’re hesitant to admit that they use AI for some of their most important tasks.

AI GENERATED IMAGES

Ancientpunk: Aztec

Prompt: a photo, 20 mm 500T film grain, low angle shot, a mega Mech Aztec dam made of mechanical parts decorated with Aztec mosaics, plants surrounding the architectures, glowing neon displays about Aztec symbols, multiple waterfalls alongside the bridge, depth of the forest, humid, little fog, ambient lights on the dam, immersive. busy Aztec people on the dam

--ar 1:1

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Thanks for reading.

Until next time!

Zain & the Superhuman AI team

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