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.
OpenAI announces new safety committee
OpenAI this week announced that it has established a new safety and security committee to be led by CEO Sam Altman along with board chair Bret Taylor and board member Nicole Seligman, CNN’s Brian Fung reports. The committee’s formation follows the exit of OpenAI safety executive Jan Leike, who resigned earlier this month with concerns “that the company had underinvested in AI safety work” and prioritized profit, Fung notes. Per OpenAI’s announcement, the committee will “first evaluate and further develop OpenAI’s processes and safeguards over the next 90 days,” at which time it will share recommendations with the OpenAI board.
Previously: “OpenAI responds to Elon Musk suit,” as we noted in the March 8 edition of this column.
L’Oréal’s AI-powered content lab drives R&D and personalization
L’Oréal’s new beauty content lab CREAITECH is utilizing AI to boost research and development and personalization across brands and products, Consumer Goods Technology’s Liz Dominguez reports. Leveraging technology including large language models and diffusion models, the lab functions as a testing ground for content creation and has already generated 1,000 brand-compliant images across 37 brands, Dominguez notes. Additionally, lab AI models are trained to boost campaign performance “without compromising our principles of responsible AI, which include not using AI-generated lifelike images of the face, body, hair and skin to support or enhance product benefits in our external communication,” L’Oréal Group Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Asmita Dubey told Consumer Goods Technology.
Previously: “Dove pledges to never represent ‘real bodies’ with AI in advertising” (NBC News)
Food Dive explores how Unilever is leveraging AI for its food brands
In an interview with Food Dive’s Christopher Doering, Manfred Aben, Head of Science and Technology for Unilever Nutrition and Ice Cream R&D, discusses how AI is “permeating in all parts of the business,” with applications including the assessment of shelf life, flavor profiles and consumer preferences. The company has been an early adopter of AI in the food industry, with the technology being deployed in the launch of products such as Knorr Zero Salt Cube and Hellmann’s Vegan Mayonnaise, Aben tells Food Dive. Find the full interview here.
Previously: “Hellmann’s launches AI-powered tool to help consumers discover their fridge’s meal potential,” as we noted in the March 29 edition of this column.
Google search’s new AI Overviews offers hilariously bad advice
First, in case you missed it, as part of Google I/O 2024 — the tech giant’s annual developer conference held earlier this month — Google launched AI Overviews, a generative AI–powered summary that appears at the top of search queries. In the time since its launch, AI Overviews has output results that are inaccurate — even to a hilarious degree, Fast Company’s Harry McCracken reports. Examples of “absurd” errors cited by McCracken include recommendations to add Elmer’s glue to pizza (as reported by The Verge’s Kylie Robison) and eating one small rock per day (as reported by CNBC’s Hayden Field) to keep the doctor away. While those types of mistakes are making headlines, McCracken offers that it’s the less eye-popping misses that best highlight AI’s potential to mislead and misinform: “It’s the errors that don’t call attention to their ridiculous selves that could do the most damage to Google Search and everyone who relies on it,” he writes. Read the full story here.
Previously: “Google pauses Gemini AI’s image generator after producing inaccurate historical images,” as we noted in the March 1 edition of this column.
Further reading
AI tools and advancements:
- “Alexa’s Fire TV search has a new AI, but it needs some work” (The Verge)
- “Autobiographer’s app uses AI to help you tell your life story” (TechCrunch)
AI trends:
- “AI Providers Cutting Deals With Publishers Could Lead to More Accuracy in LLMs” (Social Media Today)
AI in the market:
- “Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6 billion to build AI systems for ‘all of humanity’” (Mashable)
- “AI manufacturing startup funding is on a tear as Switzerland’s EthonAI raises $16.5M” (TechCrunch)
AI controversy:
- “AI image misinformation has surged, Google researchers find” (NBC News)
- “An image calling for ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ is going viral. But it seems AI-generated” (The Washington Post)
- “The ugly truth behind ChatGPT: AI is guzzling resources at planet-eating rates” (The Guardian)
- “A national network of local news sites is publishing AI-written articles under fake bylines. Experts are raising alarm” (CNN)
AI trends:
