Chief AI Officer — does your company need one?

Welcome back, inquisitive people. Let’s check in full what’s there in AI this week.

What I have for you today:

1. Latest and freshest updates in AI world. Edition №7
2. The best newsletters out there to keep yourself on track in AI.
3. A curated list of free AI courses from Microsoft.
4. Top companies are leaning into a new role: the chief AI officer.

1. In full on the latest developments in AI and their implications. Edition №7.

Ive and Altman’s AI powerhouse.

Former Apple design chief Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have teamed up to create a new AI-powered personal device. The device will not resemble a smartphone, likely taking inspiration from Altman’s previous investment in the Humane AI pin, a wearable AI device without a screen.

The collaboration between a renowned designer and a prominent AI leader suggests a focus on creating an innovative and user-friendly AI-powered product that could set new standards in the field. The potential for this device to revolutionize how individuals interact with AI technology is an exciting prospect for the industry.

AGI in two years, Musk says.

Musk has once again made bold predictions, this time claiming that we will achieve artificial general intelligence by 2026. However, his track record for accurate forecasting is questionable, and experts remain skeptical about the timeline.

Musk’s own AI venture, xAI, is reportedly struggling due to a chip shortage, hampering its efforts to develop a successor to the foul-mouthed, dad joke-generating AI chatbot, Grok. This raises doubts about Musk’s ability to deliver on his ambitious AGI timeline.

The lack of a unified definition of AGI further complicates these predictions. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s claims about using AGI to “benefit all of humanity” have been dismissed by researchers as a publicity stunt. The consensus among experts is that AI will steadily improve, rather than a magical “AGI moment” as Musk suggests.

This ongoing debate highlights the need for realistic and well-grounded assessments of AI progress, rather than sensationalized claims. Businesses and the public must approach these predictions with caution and focus on the practical applications of AI technology as it evolves, rather than chasing the elusive goal of AGI.

Meta Integrates Generative AI into Instagram.

Meta is testing AI chatbots on WhatsApp and experimenting with AI-powered search on Instagram. The Instagram search now allows users to chat with Meta’s AI and discover new content. This suggests Meta is leveraging generative AI to enhance content discovery and engagement. The AI search interface design resembles that of Perplexity AI, highlighting the competitive AI landscape. This integration could help Instagram better compete with TikTok. As Meta develops its generative AI, this move signals its strategic push to provide users with more AI-powered experiences across its platforms.

Google Photos’ AI-Powered Editing.

Google Photos is making its AI-powered editing tools, like Magic Eraser and Photo Unblur, available to all users for free. These advanced features, previously limited to premium plans, will now be accessible to a wider audience.

The introduction of Magic Editor on all Pixel devices further simplifies complex photo edits using generative AI technology. This expansion of AI-driven editing capabilities democratizes professional-level photo enhancement for casual users.

This development is significant for the AI industry and businesses leveraging AI technology. By offering robust editing tools at no additional cost, Google is showcasing the potential of AI to enhance user experiences and drive broader adoption of these technologies.

Llama 3 is coming.

Meta plans to release Llama 3 within the next weeks. This move comes as a response to the widespread success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has turned generative AI into a mainstream phenomenon.

The company aims to power multiple products across its platforms with the enhanced capabilities of Llama 3, which is expected to address the limitations of previous versions. This includes the ability to handle a wider range of questions, including more controversial topics, in a bid to drive broader user adoption.

By bolstering its generative AI offerings, Meta is positioning itself as a strong competitor in the rapidly evolving landscape, challenging the dominance of OpenAI and potentially shaping the future of AI-powered experiences across various industries.

Andrew Ng Joins Amazon’s Board of Directors.

Dr. Andrew Ng, a renowned figure in the AI industry, has joined Amazon’s Board of Directors. Ng currently serves as the Managing General Partner of AI Fund, a venture studio supporting AI startups. He has also founded and led several prominent AI-focused companies, including DeepLearning.AI, Landing AI, and Coursera.

Ng’s extensive experience and expertise in the AI field make him a valuable addition to Amazon’s board. His involvement with the e-commerce giant underscores the growing importance of AI technology in shaping the future of various industries, including e-commerce and logistics.

This move signifies Amazon’s commitment to staying at the forefront of AI innovation and leveraging the insights and guidance of a respected AI thought leader. For the AI industry and businesses leveraging AI, Ng’s appointment to Amazon’s board represents a recognition of the strategic value of integrating AI expertise at the highest levels of corporate decision-making.

One-liners:

• Apple is gearing up to launch its next-generation M4 chip in 2024, which will focus on boosting AI and ML capabilities across its entire Mac lineup.
• Google has expanded its Gemma open LLMs family with new additions like CodeGemma for code tasks and RecurrentGemma for research
• Humane’s AI Pin: despite its promising concept, the current product is unfinished and riddled with issues, making it a poor purchase recommendation at this time.
• AIOS, an LLM-based operating system, aims to address the challenges in integrating and deploying LLM-powered intelligent agents by optimizing resource allocation

I analyzed and bought you best 20 YouTube channels on AI.

• Lex Fridman Podcast by Lex Fridman (Joined in 2006, 3.9M subs) — Lex discusses all things AI & ML with his guests.
• Two Minute Papers by Dr. Károly Zsolnai-Fehér (Joined in 2006, 1.54M subs) — channel breaks down complex AI topics into quick, digestible videos. What a time to be alive!
• Siraj Raval (Joined in 2016, 770K subs) — a technologist on a mission to spread data literacy.
• Matt Wolfe (Joined in 2009, 580k subs) — covers AI, no-code, and futurism, discusses AI news, reviews tools/products, shares future tech thoughts.
• Murtaza’s Workshop — Robotics and AI by Murtaza Hassan (Joined in 2011, 400k subs) — Tutorials regarding Computer Vision, Robotics & AI Projects.
• DeepLearningAI by Andrew Ng (Joined in 2017, 300k subs) — DeepLearning.AI was founded in 2017 by machine learning and education pioneer Andrew Ng to fill a need for world-class AI education.
• AI Explained (Joined in 2023, 250k subs) — Covering the biggest news of the century — the arrival of smarter-than-human AI.
• MattVidPro AI (Joined in 2013, 250k subs) — AI & Technology Focused Youtube Lemonhead.
• The AI Advantage by Igor Pogany (Joined in 2012, 210k subs) — Unlocks your AI superpowers by exploring some possibilities!
• TheAiGrid (Joined 2023, 210k subs) — Your go-to source for all things related to AI: practical applications, ethical considerations, business, etc.
• Liam Ottley (Joined in 2018, 200k subs) — Shares learnings from running his own AI development company and other AI-related experiences.
• All About AI by Kristian Fagerlie (Joined in 2021, 150k subs) — How you can start to use Generative AI to help you with creative or other daily tasks. Channel aims to bring Generative AI to everyone.
• Robert Miles AI Safety by Robert Miles (Joined in 2012, 150k subs) — Videos about Artificial Intelligence Safety Research, for everyone.
• AssemblyAI by Assembly AI (Joined in 2020, 130k subs) — AssemblyAI leverages the latest AI research to continuously improve accuracy and offer production-ready AI models — all with a developer-friendly API.
• AI Jason by Jason Zhou (Joined in 2023, 90k subs) — A product designer sharing interesting AI experiments & products.

Watch some of these to stay ahead of the AI race!

A curated list of free AI courses from Microsoft.

Last week I wrote about Nvidia, today Microsoft has been added to that list.

So, Microsoft course collections (intro to advanced level):

↪︎ Artificial Intelligence for Beginners

• covers Symbolic AI, Neural Networks, Computer Vision, NLP, etc.
• lasts ~12-week, 24 self-paced lesson curriculum
• includes hands-on lessons, quizzes, labs

↪︎ Master the basics of Azure: AI Fundamentals

• covers ML, Computer Vision, NLP, knowledge mining
• includes 5 learning sub-paths
• prepares for certification

↪︎ Create custom Machine Learning models

• covers building ML models using user data
• includes 4 learning sub-paths

↪︎ Using Azure OpenAI Service

• covers GenAI, copilots, language models, Azure OpenAI platform
• lasts ~2h

↪︎ Using AI in your everyday work: GitHub Copilot

• covers ways of app development experience enhancements with GitHub Copilot
• includes 2 series of 17 episodes, one learning sub-path
• advanced course

↪︎ Adopting Copilot for Microsoft 365

• covers benefits of Copilot for Microsoft 365
• lasts ~2.5h

↪︎ Build apps with Azure AI services and Power Virtual Agents

• covers tools for AI-powered apps creation, LLM fine-tuning
• lasts ~8h
• advanced course

Happy learning!

Top companies are leaning into a new role: the chief AI officer.

And your company may need too…

Forbes, Financial Times and Gartner all write about the rise of this trend. It is a hot topic today.

Enterprises are trying to grapple with AI overall dramatic appearance. It is clear AI needs to be integrated in the core strategies.

C-levels are welcoming the newest member, the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) CAIOs are both experts in AI tech and growth visioners. Their major goal is to leverage these skills to steer the org’s AI adoption and architecture, and oversee its governance. Here are examples of the CAIO role at big companies: Yann LeCun, VP & Chief AI Scientist at Meta; Clara Shih, CEO at Salesforce AI; Lan Guan, CAIO at Accenture; etc.

The elevator pitch of CAIO role: The CAIO, or Chief AI Officer, is primarily responsible for shaping and implementing the organisation’s AI strategy.

Main CAIO responsibilities are:

• Crafting an AI vision and strategy that align with the company’s long-term business goals.
• Driving and facilitating AI adoption and integration.
• Building and orchestrating AI Talent.
• Overseeing AI implementation governance, regulations and ethical standards.

How CAIO is different from CTO? Differences are rather clear:

• AI strategy (CAIO) — Technology initiatives (CTO)
• AI strategic integration — Entire technology landscape
• Deep expertise in AI/ML and data — Broad technical knowledge

CAIO are strategically relevant to many industries, including:

• finance — risk assessmewnts, customer service, fraud detection
• healthcare — personalized medicine and patient care, operational automation
• education — tailored tutoring and learning materials
• consumer products — customer experience

Does you company need CAIO? It depends on:

• complexity of the operational processes affected by AI
• scale of AI integration
• strategic importance of AI

For companies heavily investing in AI or those in industries rapidly transformed by AI technologies, appointing a CAIO can be essential for maintaining competitive advantage.

Hey there!

With 15 years of experience in software development, system architecture, and team leadership, I’m passionate now about helping business leaders realise the power of AI.

I usually write for my LinkedIn. Follow me there for actionable guidance on AI, leadership and strategy!

Cheers!