Welcome to The Week in Generative AI, a weekly roundup for marketers from Quad Insights that sums up the latest news surrounding this rapidly evolving technology.
Google pauses Gemini AI’s image generator after producing inaccurate historical images
Google has put its Gemini AI image generator on pause for “a few weeks” after it produced inaccurate historical images, The Verge’s Alex Heath reports. Multiple images produced by the tool were quickly met with public backlash — including renderings of non-white U.S. founding fathers and racially diverse Nazi-era German soldiers — Heath notes, adding that in a memo to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai called the images “completely unacceptable.” Pichai went on to say that teams have been “working around the clock” to fix Gemini’s underlying problems and will “keep at it for however long it takes.”
See also: OpenAI’s ChatGPT also ran into some issues last week, as it seemed to briefly lose its mind and began producing responses that — to put it politely — were unintelligible gibberish, as we noted in last week’s installment of The Week in Generative AI.
Microsoft invests in Paris-based Mistral AI
On Tuesday, Paris-based startup Mistral AI announced the launch of a new large language model (LLM) as well as a partnership with Microsoft, TechCrunch’s Romain Dillet reports. The reasoning powers of Mistral’s new LLM, dubbed Mistral Large, are designed to compete with industry-leading models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude 2, Dillett notes, adding that the partnership entails a €15 million investment (approximately $16.25 million) by Microsoft and a distribution deal that makes Mistral Large available on Azure — the tech giant’s cloud computing platform.
The takeaway: In the midst of rising scrutiny from EU antitrust regulators over its significant investment in OpenAI, Microsoft is pushing even more chips to the center of the AI table, investing in yet another rising AI player.
Adobe announces development of first-of-its-kind generative AI audio creation and editing tool
Adobe this week announced the development of a new generative AI tool that is designed to help people “customize music without any professional audio experience,” The Verge’s Jess Weatherbed reports. Dubbed Project Music GenAI Control, the prototype tool streamlines the audio creation and editing process, allowing users to generate music via text prompts (e.g., “happy dance” or “sad jazz,” as Weatherbed notes) and edit all in one interface. Described as an “early-stage” experiment by Adobe, the tool is not yet available to the public.
What differentiates Adobe’s Project Music GenAI Control from competing tools is that it offers “pixel-level control for music,” Nicholas Bryan, Senior Research Scientist at Adobe Research, said in a statement. “They’re taking it to the level of Photoshop by giving creatives the same kind of deep control to shape, tweak and edit their audio.”
The takeaway: AI-assisted Photoshop-level control of audio promises to be a game-changer in the production of marketing creative.
Venus Williams-backed platform uses AI to make interior design more accessible
On Thursday, Venus Williams announced the launch of a new generative AI platform called Palazzo that helps people “reimagine their spaces” by creating interior design solutions tailored to their preferences. Created by the tennis legend and founder of interior design firm V Starr Interiors in partnership with Palazzo co-founders Raffi Holzer and Edwards Lando, Palazzo is notable for its AI-powered design assistant Vinci. Users share their color, style and other preferences, which Vinci then uses to produce design possibilities for their space — developing a better understanding of users’ style the more it’s used. People can also upload photos of their spaces for even more customized recommendations. With these services, the platform is helping bridge “the gap between design and personalization,” per the Palazzo website, and is aligned with Williams’ stated goal of making interior design more accessible.
The takeaway: AI-assisted personalization is changing the way consumers interact with products and service providers; Palazzo is a platform to watch.
Further reading
AI tools & advancements:
- “Exclusive: NYT plans to debut new generative AI ad tool later this year” (Axios)
- “Brave’s Leo AI assistant is now available to Android users” (TechCrunch)
- “Google Partners with Stack Overflow to Integrate OverflowAPI into Gemini for Enhanced Developer Experience” (Breaking News Network)
- “Apple says it’ll ‘break new ground’ in generative AI — here’s what to expect” (TechRadar)
- “Microsoft introduces generative AI copilot for finance teams” (SiliconANGLE)
- “GoDaddy introduces generative AI tool for small businesses” (Marketing Dive)
- “Xero announces gen AI solution as part of wider AI push” (Accounting Today)
- “Mucinex’s AI-Generated Game Mashes the Mascot” (MediaPost)
AI in the market:
- “What’s the ROI of Generative AI?” (Fast Company)
AI trends:
- “7 Ways Retailers Are Using Generative AI To Provide A Better Shopping Experience” (Forbes)
- “The Race to Build the Best Generative-AI Platform for Fashion Design” (Business of Fashion)
- “Why Citi is rolling out generative AI to all its developers” (American Banker)
- “Generative AI is driving a high rate of job uncertainty for marketers, per Gartner” (Marketing Dive)
