In today’s newsletter:

• News - 🔍 Google’s Search Ad Empire Faces New AI Rivals

• Productivity - 📝 Capture, Transcribe, and Organize with Wave AI

• Culture - 💘 Grindr's New AI Wingman: Your Future Dating Assistant!

Check out our Meme of the Day at the bottom of the newsletter for your daily dose of AI-powered humor!

📊 ByteDance’s AI Scraper Outpaces Rivals in Data Grab

ByteDance is ramping up its AI development efforts by significantly increasing the data-scraping activity of its bot, Bytespider, which is now gathering web data at a rate 25 times faster than OpenAI’s GPTbot. Despite not adhering to the guidelines set by robots.txt, which tells bots what they can or can't scrape, Bytespider is proving to be a fierce competitor in the race to train advanced AI models, especially in China. This push aligns with ByteDance's broader AI ambitions, as it competes against tech giants like Baidu with its chatbot, Doubao, and plans to build its own AI chips by 2026 in collaboration with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, potentially reducing its reliance on Nvidia's GPUs, which are subject to U.S. export controls.

In addition to boosting its AI-powered services, ByteDance has recently made headlines for its partnership with Huawei in developing a new AI model, though the company has denied these claims. Still, with aggressive data-scraping efforts and an eye on building in-house AI chips, ByteDance is positioning itself to be a dominant player in the AI landscape, both within China and on the global stage.

🗞️ In Other News…

• TikTok, Microsoft, and Oracle are leading a booming data center industry in Johor, Malaysia, transforming the region into a global tech hub with billions in AI-driven investments.

• Microsoft's heavy investment in AI infrastructure and its close ties with OpenAI are facing scrutiny as competition intensifies, impacting its stock performance and raising questions about future returns from its generative AI offerings.

• OpenAI is expanding its office presence by leasing 90,000 square feet in Manhattan’s Puck Building, marking its first office in New York City amid increasing demand for office space from AI companies.

• Meta's new Llama 3.2 3B model enables private, offline AI conversations on smartphones via the PocketPal AI app.

• Cleveland Clinic researchers and IBM developed an AI model to predict drug and gut microbe interactions with pain receptors, potentially leading to new non-addictive pain treatments.

📝 Capture, Transcribe, and Organize with Wave AI

Wave is an AI-powered note-taking app that records, transcribes, and summarizes audio, making it easy to capture and understand conversations on the go. It works in the background, allowing users to focus on discussions while the app handles recording and organizing information.

The app offers features like unlimited recording time, phone call transcription, and intelligent summaries that distill key points. Wave also helps users organize spoken content into lists and notes, with multiple sharing options like text or PDF. It's a practical tool for anyone needing to capture and process audio effectively.

💘 Grindr's New AI Wingman: Your Future Dating Assistant!

Grindr is set to introduce an AI "wingman" by 2027, designed to assist its 14 million users in managing conversations, recommending dating spots, and even finding long-term relationship candidates. This AI agent could eventually handle tasks like making restaurant reservations and engaging in bot-to-bot conversations with other AI wingmen, streamlining the dating process for users. Grindr is currently testing this feature with a small group of users and plans to expand the test group to 10,000 next year.

While AI agents are being developed across various industries, Grindr’s wingman has a unique focus on privacy, especially for users in countries where being LGBTQ+ is illegal or taboo. Grindr partnered with AI company Ex-human to train the model on romantic conversations, even tweaking it to better understand queer community slang. The wingman could also serve as a support tool for users dealing with loneliness or depression, with Grindr ensuring safety measures like preventing conversations on commercial activities or solicitation during its testing phase.

VC Fundraising Rounds

• Frammer AI, a Delhi-based media SaaS platform that helps enterprises turn long-form content into monetizable videos, has raised USD 2 million in a seed round. (10/7/24)

• Nayan Tech, an AI-based startup providing smart city solutions for traffic monitoring, municipal automation, urban infrastructure management, driver behavior monitoring, fleet management, and passenger safety, has raised $2 million in its Pre-Series A funding round. (10/7/24)

• Kando, a data intelligence company supporting the water & public health sector, has raised $10M in its venture funding round. (10/4/24)

• Clout Kitchen, a platform that builds generation digital products with supercharged distribution, has raised $4.45M in its seed funding round. (10/4/24)

• Voyage AI, a company that develops models that improve retrieval quality for search and AI applications, has raised $20M in its Series A funding round. (10/3/24)

Meme of the Day

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