Neo, is that you?

It’s been just over a week since the last edition. If you’re finding this useful, great. It’s not free. We have an unspoken agreement which is to share this newsletter with your friends. Your colleagues. Your kids. Sharing is caring and is what keeps it going from week to week.

This week we’re covering:

• 💸 ChatGPT Fund (updated)

• 🧠 Brain implant receives approval for human testing

• 🎙️ Project Soundstorm - the realest AI conversations you’ve ever heard

• 🎨 Photoshop introduces AI

• 🛠️ Founders Toolbox: 3 tools to help you rule the world

• 📷 A destination you should probably travel to once you leave your screen brought to you by an image that is not AI

Estimated read time: 8-10 minutes

ChatGPT FUND ADDING 1000+ INVESTORS/DAY

Our last edition we covered the ChatGPT Fund where a group is using ChatGPT to test if AI is good at picking stocks - they even allowed the public to invest with them (the group themselves invested 50k). At the time of starting the last newsletter, there was $4.8m from the public, and $7.1m by the time I finished. Now there is a whopping $15m+.

Well, what we all want to know is how have they been doing? The team has gone dark since May 25th, but people are reporting losses so far in the comments:

NEURALINK HUMAN TRIALS APPROVED

What is Neuralink? Think Neo from the Matrix in that chair plugged in… now imagine it was wireless…

You know how a conductor guides an orchestra, bringing all the sounds together to create beautiful music? Well, Neuralink, one of Elon Musk's latest projects, aims to do something similar, but with the signals in your brain.

You've heard of smart homes, right? Where you can tell Alexa to turn on the lights or start the coffee maker. Now, picture something even cooler - what if you could do those things just by thinking about it? That's what Neuralink is trying to make possible.

The company says the device could enable precise control of prosthetic limbs, giving amputees natural motor skills. It could revolutionise treatment for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and spinal cord injuries. It also shows some promise for potential treatment of obesity, autism, depression, schizophrenia and tinnitus.

The folks at Neuralink are saying their device could really benefit mankind. Imagine an amputee being able to control a prosthetic arm or leg as easily as you and I move our own limbs. That's one of the things they're aiming for.

And it doesn't stop there. They're also hoping to shake things up in the medical world by tackling some pretty big challenges. Think Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and spinal cord injuries - Neuralink could be a major player in revolutionizing how we treat these conditions.

They're also looking at how their device could help with a whole range of other issues - from obesity and autism to depression, schizophrenia, and even tinnitus.

PROJECT SOUNDSTORM BY GOOGLE

Last edition we covered Google’s ability to turn ideas into music. This week we’re covering Google SoundStorm. It’s a technology developed by Google that can quickly generate high-quality audio from written transcripts, even mimicking specific speakers' voices given short voice prompts. It's a tool for efficient audio production, capable of creating natural-sounding dialogues based on text input, making it useful for applications like podcasts or audio books

You know those Transformer toys we had as kids? Well, imagine that, but for sound. It takes in these fancy things called 'semantic tokens' from AudioLM and spits out audio. It's like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, but instead of a rabbit, it's audio, and instead of a hat, it's a super complex algorithm​.

Let's say you have a script for a podcast, and you've got voice prompts for each speaker. SoundStorm takes that and gives you high-quality, natural dialogue faster than you can finish your coffee.

PHOTOSHOP’S GENERATIVE AI

Adobe finally releases it’s AI tool. Currently this only exists within the beta version of Photoshop but I’m glad they released it the way they did in order to shut up all the “Photoshop is dead” headline grabbers.

What is it? It is a generative AI tool that can detect subject and environments and essentially fill in the gaps. There are tons of articles and posts on it already so I won’t go too deep in that world but I will showcase one mindblowing example when I was editing my partner’s photo from a recent trip. I didn’t like her shoes.

Original:

Prompt within Photoshop: “replace shoes with steel toe boots.”

Result (and pay attention to the cuffs):

Those cuffs are 👌

Founders’ Toolbox: A Spotlight

Every week, I play with dozens and dozens of new tools and I’ll derive a few that are worthy of your experimentation.

• Krisp - a noise-cancellation desktop application you can use while on video calls and makes your background noiseless thus helping you become a better communicator. I use this when I’m taking meetings in coffee shops.

• Adobe Firefly - It’s finally available to everyone, for free. You might have to sign in.

• Zoo - a free open source webapp where you can generate images using many other free image building AI repo’s (Stable Diffusion, Dall-E, Kadinksy etc..). You can even upload an image and edit via text.

The Renegade Explorer

As some of you may know, I embarked on a backpacking journey across the globe in 2022/2023, and I've been lucky enough to explore some amazing off-the-beaten-path locations along the way. As we all know, life can be overwhelming at times, and it's important to take a break and nurture our sense of curiosity. Each week I feature a breathtaking destination alongside some beautiful photography that will inspire your next adventure.

This week unveils a radiant beacon, a medley of terracotta pagodas and jade gardens perched on a lush hillside, overseeing a tranquil blend of emerald and azure. From the highest pagoda adorned with countless Buddhas, a spectacular panorama unfolds, where the spiritual murmur of timeless relics meets the vibrant hum of urban life.

Pathways, flanked by Buddha sculptures, guide through ornate archways into sacred spaces radiating tranquility. Below a towering statue, koi fish glide in mirrored ponds, sketching tranquil scenes.

This sanctuary yields to a lively market, a tableau of enticing aromas, local chatter, and vibrant colours. The symphony of city life and serene chants creates an enchanting soundtrack to this immersive experience. Here, spirituality, nature, and culture converge, painting a narrative of discovery and enlightenment. Shot with a DJI.

5.3996° N, 100.2736° E