Good morning ☀️, leader of the next gen.

The future belongs to you. Let’s make conscious leadership the norm and embrace innovation as the driving force for positive change 🌍✨

WHAT’S AT STAKE TODAY ⚡

• Odyssey dropping photorealistic 3D world generator. Matrix builders enter chat! 🌍✨
• OpenAI bringing ChatGPT to landlines. Retro phones get AI upgrade! ☎️🤖
• Perplexity snags Carbon for work file search. AI detective gets file access! 🔍📁
• Databricks CEO says IPO can wait. Smart money stays private! 💰⏳
• Otterly.AI fighting for website visibility. SEO gets an AI champion! 🦦💪
• YouTube testing AI celeb content finder. Digital doppelganger control incoming! 🎭🔍
• EU puzzling over GenAI legal maze. Privacy chiefs scratch their heads! 🇪🇺⚖️
• OpenAI might pay billions to go profit. Nonprofit arm getting golden handshake! 💸🤝
• Anthropic study shows stubborn AI opinions. Robots stick to their guns! 🤖✊

⚡ Latest in AI

AI startup Odyssey’s new tool can generate photorealistic 3D worlds

Odyssey's Explorer tool transforms text into photorealistic 3D environments

The details:

Odyssey, led by self-driving pioneers Oliver Cameron and Jeff Hawke, has launched Explorer, an AI tool that transforms text or images into photorealistic 3D worlds. The tool uses real-world landscapes, captured by Odyssey's custom-built 360-degree camera system.

By leveraging Gaussian splats for volume rendering, Explorer generates interactive scenes like "a Japanese garden" or "city streets" in approximately 10 minutes. Outputs, while promising, currently show low resolution and some artifacts.

Industry adoption is already underway, with studios like Garden Studios in the U.K. testing the tool. However, concerns about AI's impact on creative jobs remain. A study by the Animation Guild suggests 100,000 jobs in film and animation could be disrupted by 2026.

Why it matters: Backed by $27 million from investors including EQT Ventures and GV, Odyssey aims to democratize high-quality 3D content creation. With Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull on its board, Odyssey positions Explorer as a collaborative tool to enhance creativity in industries like gaming, entertainment, and virtual production.

⚡ The companies of the future

OpenAI brings ChatGPT to your landline

ChatGPT expands to phone calls and WhatsApp

The details:

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT access through landline phones and WhatsApp, offering new ways for users to interact with the AI assistant. U.S. users can dial 1-800-CHATGPT for free, 15-minute conversations.

The service mirrors Advanced Voice Mode but lacks visual capabilities. Additionally, the WhatsApp integration allows text-based chats without requiring an account. However, usage is currently limited with daily caps, and features like image analysis and web search remain unavailable.

OpenAI's chief product officer, Kevin Weil, revealed that the service originated from an internal hack week project. Standard carrier fees may apply for calls, but the initiative aims to improve AI accessibility across diverse platforms.

Why it matters: By expanding to landlines and WhatsApp, OpenAI is broadening AI accessibility, making ChatGPT usable even for those without advanced devices or dedicated accounts. This move positions ChatGPT as a more inclusive AI tool.

⚡ MORE AI BITES

Perplexity acquires Carbon to connect AI search to your work files

Perplexity expands AI search with new acquisition

Perplexity has acquired Carbon, a Seattle-based startup specializing in retrieval augmented generation (RAG) technology. This acquisition positions Perplexity to enhance enterprise search capabilities by integrating with tools like Notion, Google Docs, Slack, and more.

By early 2025, Perplexity users will be able to search through workplace files, leveraging Carbon's technology to access external data sources seamlessly. This move solidifies Perplexity's strategy to compete with major players such as OpenAI, Google, and Glean in the enterprise AI search market.

Why it matters: With this acquisition, Perplexity is taking steps to integrate AI-powered search into work environments, enabling faster, smarter access to workplace documents and communication tools. This marks Perplexity's second acquisition after Spellwise, highlighting its focus on becoming a leader in enterprise AI search solutions.

⚡ Insights on AI Today

1. 📊 💭 'It's dumb to IPO this year': Databricks CEO explains why he's waiting to go public.
2. 🔍 💡 AI is burying company websites in search results, but Otterly.AI thinks it can help.
3. 🎥 🎭 YouTube to test a way for creators and celebrities to find AI-generated content using their likeness.
4. 🇪🇺 ⚖️ EU privacy body weighs in on some tricky GenAI lawfulness questions.
5. 💰 🔄 OpenAI may pay its nonprofit arm 'billions of dollars' in conversion to for-profit.
6. 🧠 🛡️ New Anthropic study shows AI really doesn't want to be forced to change its views.

⚡ Trends for the Future

Hauler Hero Brings AI-Powered Innovation to Waste Management

Hauler Hero founders Mark Hoadley and Ben Sikma

The details:

Sometimes innovation comes from spotting outdated technology in unexpected places. For Mark Hoadley and Ben Sikma, that revelation came in the waste management industry, where they discovered software that looked more at home in the era of "Wall Street" movie cell phones than in today's digital age.

After spending four years in sales at ServiceTitan, Hoadley partnered with his brother-in-law Sikma, who was working in waste management M&A, to launch Hauler Hero in 2020. Their mission: to drag waste management software into the 21st century with a comprehensive, cloud-based platform enhanced by AI.

The strategy appears to be paying off. Since its public launch in Q1 2024, the company has acquired over 120 customers across 40 states and grown revenue by 200% in the past year. This success has attracted $10 million in seed funding led by I2BF Ventures, with participation from K5 Global and Somersault Ventures.

Why it matters: In an industry generating over $140 billion annually in the U.S., Hauler Hero is solving critical inefficiencies with AI-powered tools for route planning, customer portals, and billing. With significant early growth and plans for enterprise expansion, the startup aims to redefine waste management workflows.

Do you have a business problem keeping you up at night?

Here’s your chance to get it solved! Share your most staggering challenges with us, and I’ll use the power of AI to find solutions tailored just for you. I’ll feature the answers in one of our upcoming Supercharged issues—let’s tackle it together!

⚡ AI Playground: Code & Craft

🔧 This Week’s Tool: YouWrite 🔧

Overview: YouWrite is an AI-powered writing assistant developed by You.com, designed to help users generate high-quality content effortlessly. Ideal for students, professionals, and content creators, YouWrite assists in drafting emails, essays, articles, and more, enhancing productivity and creativity.

Why Is It Better Than Other Tools?

• Integrated Search and Writing: Combines AI-driven writing assistance with real-time search capabilities, providing up-to-date information and context.
• User-Friendly Interface: Offers an intuitive platform that requires no prior technical expertise, making it accessible to all users.
• Free Access: Provides robust writing assistance without subscription fees, making it a cost-effective solution for quality content creation.

What Does It Do Best?

• Content Generation: Assists in creating well-structured and coherent text for various purposes, including emails, reports, and creative writing.
• Idea Development: Helps brainstorm and expand on ideas, providing suggestions to enhance your writing.
• Editing and Proofreading: Offers grammar and style suggestions to improve the clarity and readability of your content.

Applications:

• Academic Writing: Draft essays, research papers, and study notes with enhanced clarity and coherence.
• Professional Communication: Compose polished emails, reports, and presentations for workplace communication.
• Content Creation: Generate engaging blog posts, social media updates, and marketing copy to captivate your audience.
• Creative Writing: Develop stories, poems, and scripts with AI-driven inspiration and assistance.

Follow This Simple Guide to Get Started with YouWrite:

1. Visit You.com: Navigate to you.com and select the YouWrite feature.
2. Enter Your Prompt: Provide a brief description or topic for the content you wish to create.
3. Generate Content: Let YouWrite produce a draft based on your input, which you can then review and edit as needed.
4. Refine Your Text: Utilize the editing suggestions to enhance grammar, style, and clarity.
5. Finalize and Use: Once satisfied, incorporate the generated content into your projects or communications.

Leverage YouWrite to streamline your writing process, enhance creativity, and produce high-quality content with ease.

📝 Challenge: Use YouWrite to draft a piece of content—be it an email, article, or social media post. Share your creation by replying to this email. At the end of the week, we will select one winner to receive a special prize! Happy writing!