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Synthetic Work
A non-technical newsletter to understand how AI is changing how we work.
Synthetic Work
A non-technical newsletter to understand how AI is changing how we work
SYNTHETIC WORK
Free
Edition Splendid
Edition What Can AI
Do for Me? What's AI Doing for
Companies Like Mine? Speaking &
Consulting
Synthetic Work is a non-technical, free, weekly newsletter written by a former
Fortune 1000 tech executive and Gartner analyst to understand how AI is changing
our jobs and the way we work.
Subscribe
You don't have to be an AI practitioner or a technologist to read Synthetic
Work.
If you are too afraid to ask how artificial intelligence is transforming your
line of work, your industry, our economy, and our society, this newsletter is
for you.
People that read Synthetic Work have a broad range of jobs, from CEOs to
teachers, and work in many different industries:
Synthetic Work is delivered to your inbox every Sunday.
Here's what you missed so far:
FREE EDITION ARCHIVE
* July 22, 2023
Issue #22 - The Dawn of the Virtual YouTuber
What's In It?
* YouTube’s first Culture & Trends Report reveals some numbers about the
interest in virtual creators among the YouTube audience.
* The Screen Actors Guild—American Federation of Television and Radio
Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joins the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in an
unprecedented strike focused on generative AI.
* 8,000 authors have signed a letter asking the leaders of companies
including Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Alphabet to not use their work to
train AI systems without permission or compensation.
* The cost of producing well-written material has fallen 10 thousand fold
over the course of the past year and for the first time in almost 125
years.
* Several large news and magazine publishers are discussing the formation of
a new coalition to address the impact of artificial intelligence on the
industry
* The startup Air shows how salespeople all around the world won't have to
be on the phone anymore going forward. Next step: do not show up at the
office either.
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* Air
* July 16, 2023
Issue #21 - Ready to compete against yourself?
What's In It?
* The new AI models of the week, GPT-4 with Code Interpreter and Claude 2,
have the potential to transform the way we work. Let's see why.
* New York City is now enforcing a law to regulate the use of AI in hiring
processes.
* AI is infiltrating the agenda of the Labour Party in the UK.
* Some artists are not very happy with Adobe and its new generative AI
system Firefly.
* The Boston Consulting Group surveyed nearly 13,000 people in 18 countries
on what they feel about AI.
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* Adobe
* Anthropic
* OpenAI
* July 9, 2023
Issue #20 - £600 and your voice is mine forever
What's In It?
* The Japanese bank Mizuho has decided to give access to generative AI tools
to 45,000 workers.
* The members of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) have agreed on a new
contract, and there’s a provision about AI.
* Voice actors discovering that their voices, and their jobs, are being
replaced by AI.
* GroupM estimates that AI is likely to be involved with at least half of
all advertising revenue by the end of 2023.
* Top UK universities are changing their mind (and their code of conduct)
about the use of generative AI.
* The two Levidow, Levidow & Oberman lawyers who cited fake
ChatGPT-generated legal research in a personal-injury case get fined.
Who's In It?
Other Mentions
* Directors Guild of America
* Levidow Levidow & Oberman
* Mizuho
* July 2, 2023
Issue #19 - Let's collapse some models, there's money to be made
What's In It?
* Students don't feel too reassured about their future in a world powered by
AI. If only they could read Marc Andreessen's blog posts...
* A Stanford professor and a former Google PM make the case that companies
must be much bolder than in the past to avoid mass unemployment due to AI.
* GitHub publishes an interesting update on the adoption of Copilot and
attempts a calculation of the economic impact of AI-powered software
development.
* People working for Amazon Mechanical Turk and cutting corners with AI
might be contributing to a dreadful-sounding phenomenon called "Model
Collapse".
* Outset.ai is the latest startup promising to make research a walk in the
park. What could go wrong?
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* GitHub
* OpenAI
* Outset.ai
Other Mentions
* Amazon
* June 25, 2023
Issue #18 - Mixed Intelligence Couples
What's In It?
* How to think about the information you get from Synthetic Work and what to
do with it.
* Jakob Nielsen, a pioneer of user experience (UX), has opinions on the
generative AI prompt.
* Nikon Peru launches a (very) defensive marketing campaign titled Natural
Intelligence.
* The German tabloid Bilt announced it will cut job positions, replacing
people with AI.
* GitHub reveals that 92% of U.S.-based developers are already using AI
coding tools both in and outside of work.
* Tim Urban sees a future where kids will have one human parent and one AI
parent.
* The CEO of VTech is preparing to launch Teddy bears powered by generative
AI to read bedtime stories.
Who's In It?
Other Mentions
* Bilt
* GitHub
* Nikon
* VTech
* June 18, 2023
Issue #17 - Robopriests
What's In It?
* Accenture announced plans to double its AI staff to 80,000, just three
months after shedding 19,000 jobs in a cost-cutting effort.
* India’s Happiest Minds Technologies is planning to hire 1,300 software
engineers, the IT services firm’s biggest staff growth push ever.
* The Challenger Job Cuts May 2023 Report highlights 3,900 positions
eliminated in the US because of AI.
* St. Paul’s church in the Bavarian town of Fuerth arranged an AI church
service that drew hundreds.
* Somebody working in pediatric cancer diagnostics thinks that the only
sensible thing to do is to use every means possible to enhance the work of
his/her colleagues with GPT-4 to potentially save the lives of children.
* Salesforce decided that the world needs Sales GPT, Service GPT, Marketing
GPT, Commerce GPT, Slack GPT, and many other products with poorly chosen
names.
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
Other Mentions
* Accenture
* Happiest Minds
* Salesforce
* June 11, 2023
Issue #16 - Discover Your True Vocation With AI: The Dog Walker
What's In It?
* For the first time in history, we are voluntarily seeking the help of an
external entity that spoonfeeds us with what to write and, subtly, what to
think. What does it mean?
* Marc Andreessen, the most famous venture capitalist in the world,
patiently explains to us why AI will save the world, including our
jobs—finally a positive outlook!
* Mo Gawdat, the former Chief Business Officer of Google X, the moonshot
factory of Alphabet, emotionally explains to us why AI will destroy our
jobs—finally a negative outlook!
* Gita Gopinath, deputy managing director of the IMF, for the first time,
expresses serious concerns about the impact of AI on jobs.
* Below the ivory towers, a couple of people, replaced by their employers
with ChatGPT, are now seeking jobs as dog walkers and plumbers. But they
are just two. They don't matter.
Who's In It?
* June 1, 2023
Issue #15 - Well, worst case, I'll take a job as cowboy
What's In It?
* It's time for a long exploration of an extreme scenario where AI impacts
all white-collar jobs at once. Sigh.
* Ada Palmer, a professor of history at the University of Chicago, is
positive about the impact of AI on jobs but advocates for strong
government policies.
* David Autor, a professor at MIT, widely regarded as one of the greatest
labor economists in the world, is equally positive about the future of
work in an AI world.
* The latest survey conducted by Pew Research Centers suggests that a lot of
people are talking about something they didn't even try: ChatGPT.
* The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) fires its call center
employees to replace them with AI, then shuts down AI.
* Customers services workers start to feel that employers have not been
entirely upfront with their workers about the ways they are incorporating
generative AI.
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
Other Mentions
* NEDA
* PwC
* Verizon Fios
* May 26, 2023
Issue #14 - My job-hunting AI will get in touch to talk with your recruiting
AI tomorrow
What's In It?
* New York City just passed a law to regulate how AI is used to hire
candidates. Let's just hope it doesn't end up like the EU cookie consent
nightmare.
* It turns out that generative AI to create content that reaches the top of
Google Search in a matter of two days. One every three people around you
will turn into a SEO expert by next week.
* A startup promises to use generative AI to place virtual products in
videos. YouTube will copy this in three...two... Influencers to be rich in
three...two...
* OpenAI GPT-4 sort of passed an official Radiology exam, performing way
better than ChatGPT. Radiologists can still count on their human
creativity for...they'll find something.
* DJs and nerd musicians are using AI to create completely new type of
music. Meanwhile, other people are busy using AI to copy the existing type
of music to get rich.
* UK headteachers are quite concerned about AI and don't want to wait for
the government to issue guidance. Wait until they see how much McKinsey
costs to give them a speedy answer.
* Smart candidates now use AI to generate resumes and cover letters, fooling
HR professionals and hiring managers. Who thought that lying would be so
much fun?
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
* Ryff
* May 21, 2023
Issue #13 - If you create an AGI that destroys humanity, I'll be forced to
revoke your license
What's In It?
* US Senators and OpenAI agree that the US government should be able to
issue a license to train an artificial general intelligence and revoke it
if it destroys humanity. A flawless plan.
* BT announced plans to cut 40,000 and 55,000 jobs by 2030. They feel that
bullish about generative AI.
* SEC Chair warns that the next financial crisis might be caused by
generative AI and not Robinhood disabling the buy button again.
* The CNET overworked journalists don't seem relieved at all that AI has
started writing articles on their behalf.
* Quiz: let's say that your dart is an AI. How many figurines can you hit on
a dartboard depicting 100 professions?
* A psychiatrist starts using ChatGPT to describe patients' mental health.
Now she can make $300 / hour without even saying a word.
* Philosopher Daniel Dennett suggests that our society might be on the verge
of collapse if generative AI is allowed to pose as real people. Everybody
else thought that human trust is overrated.
* You can now rent a synthetic clone of a real woman and pretend she's your
girlfriend. But we are well-mannered people and we don't use forbidden
words to describe the practice.
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
* SavantCare
Other Mentions
* BT
* May 12, 2023
Issue #12 - ChatGPT Sucks at Making Signs
What's In It?
* Ford’s CEO doesn't think he can upskill his entire workforce quick enough:
I don’t think they are going to make it. Ford employees, if you are
reading this: surpriseeeeee!!!
* DeepMind's co-founder thinks there will be a serious number of losers
among white-collar workers because of AI. Like when you don't scratch the
right lottery ticket, but with a lot more effort and a huge debt.
* The American science fiction writer Ted Chiang provokes: AI researchers
are increasing the concentration of wealth to such extreme levels that the
only way to avoid societal collapse is for the government to step in.
* New research uses AI to rephrase human written communication in a more
empathetic way and improve interactions. No more fights for logo placement
on the Nascar slide inside big corporations?
* Stephen Marche is the nth writer using ChatGPT to compose his masterpiece.
Surely, it will be remembered 100 years from now.
* The Writers Guild of America feels like this AI thing is a bit threatening
and goes on strike. The BBC shows them they are right.
* A project to create an unstoppable fashion blogger shows how we'll have
infinite garbage as long as somebody consumes it.
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
Other Mentions
* BBC
* Ford
* May 5, 2023
Issue #11 - The Nutella Threshold
What's In It?
* We now have a Referral Program to read the Splendid Edition of Synthetic
Work for free. Potentially.
* The World Economic Forum published its Future of Jobs Report 2023.
* IBM CEO says “I could easily see 7,800 jobs replaced by AI and automation
over a five-year period.”
* Chegg Inc. share price crashed from $17.60 (close) to $8.80 (low) after
the CEO said that ChatGPT is having an impact on their new customer growth
rate during the earnings call.
* The CEO of TurnItIn says that thanks to AI, in 18 months, he will only
need 20% of the few hundred engineers he’s employing now. And that he’ll
hire them from high school.
* Yuval Noah Harari told The Telegraph that our economic system sees
millions of people as completely useless.
* The godfather of artificial intelligence, Geoffrey Hinton, resigned from a
post at Google he held for more than a decade so that he could openly talk
about the risks of AI without damaging the company.
* New academic research shows that patients prefer the interaction with
ChatGPT to the one with doctors.
* Bing AI can be used to hide our inadequacy on Twitter, LinkedIn, and any
other online community.
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* Microsoft
Other Mentions
* Chegg
* IBM
* TurnItIn
* April 25, 2023
Issue #10 - The Memory of an Elephant
What's In It?
* New research might revolutionize how much AI can remember for every
conversation. And that completely changes the things that we can do with
it.
* Do you have a unique value proposition? If you don't, your audience might
just prefer AI-generated content
* Just Eat is having a great time using automated dismissal technology
* A Fortune company gave its customer service reps generative AI to help
them answer customers' calls. Performance increased noticeably.
* While Drake's music label is busy suing to death his fans, Grimes proposes
her fans to split the profit if they use her voice to make new songs
* People reveal secrets they don’t tell anybody else to their AI
* Why bother with dating apps when the AI can do it for you? Just show up to
the restaurant that GPT-4 has booked for you with the partner of the day.
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Just Eat
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
* April 21, 2023
Issue #9 - If You Have Experience With Technologies Like AGI, You Are
Encouraged To Apply
What's In It?
* A big PR agency in China has stopped hiring because generative AI is more
than enough. Let's see the impact on the image of their clients.
* Independent and employed Chinese artists start to see dramatically fewer
job commissions from gaming studios. They now just have to generate the
image of a dinner, and they'll be fine.
* The UK Trades Union Congress doesn't find this whole AI thing very
amusing.
* New research suggests that observing the AI crushing us in almost every
single activity might help us think out of the box.
* When I grow up, I want to be a Knocker Upper.
* AI startups now require candidates to spend a lifetime learning new
technologies from the second they are invented and then travel back in
time to apply for jobs in the past.
* If you are an AI company and you are marketing the product or the
features, you are missing the point.
* Making up research is now a completely legitimate activity. You don't even
have to pretend anymore that you did the work.
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Bluefocus Intelligent Communications Group
AI Tech Providers
* Impossible Labs
* Weights & Biases
* April 14, 2023
Issue #8 - The Best Funeral of the Year
What's In It?
* Humans have stolen ideas and work from other humans way before generative
AI. Learn when and how, once and for all so you stop this absurd call to
boycott AI art.
* What happens to your economy if are not the United States and all the
businesses in your country get denied access to AI?
* Do you really care if generative AI can't produce high-fidelity content?
Be honest.
* What the new AI-first startups are focused on and what might happen to
them in the future
* How much it costs to compete against OpenAI (on the same grounds)
* Who wants to try and manipulate an emerging Artificial General
Intelligence to destroy humanity and be paid a fortune to do that?
* Surprise! AI-generated answers can manipulate people's opinion
* You won't have to write a single eulogy for the rest of your life. Happy?
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* Anthropic
* Empathy
* OpenAI
* April 7, 2023
Issue #7 - The Human Computer
What's In It?
* Using Google Search is a horrifying experience compared to asking
questions to GPT-4. OpenAI will fix it soon.
* AI-related legal cases are on the rise. There never was a better time to
become a robo-lawyer.
* Critics of the FLI open letter: "You are being ridiculous. It's just
math". So let's hear from somebody that actually knows math.
* Goldman Sachs: "Don't look now, but 300MM jobs need a bit of reskilling."
* Once upon a time, people could be hired to do calculations and their job
title was "Computer."
* The demand for AI skills is raising in every industry of the economy.
Thankfully, you read Synthetic Work.
* When an AI uses emojis to reply to you, it's not cute. It's manipulative.
* Soon, you'll be able to lie more than usual during dates and job
interviews. Happy?
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* Google
* OpenAI
Other Mentions
* Goldman Sachs
* March 31, 2023
Issue #6 - Putting Lipstick on a Pig (at a Wedding)
What's In It?
* Ken Griffin can't wait to turn the Finance industry upside down with GPT-4
* Coca-Cola allegedly explores the new frontier of product placement
* Microsoft couldn't wait a second longer to litter with ads your chats with
its AI
* There is a connection between the invention of spreadsheet and the
transformation of the financial workforce
* Once upon a time, photocopiers were scary
* Is trading the only human interaction that will be algorithmic in future?
* Humans remain equally gullible after 60 years of exposure to AI
* How to start your marriage with a lie in 101 ways
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Coca-Cola
AI Tech Providers
* Joy
* Microsoft
* Midjourney
* OpenAI
Other Mentions
* Capital Management
* Citadel
* Citadel Securities
* Renaissance Technologies
* Two Sigma
* Virtu
* March 24, 2023
Issue #5 - You are not going to use 19 years of Gmail conversations to create
an AI clone of my personality, are you?
What's In It?
* Somebody has a copy of everything you said in the last few years and could
eventually create an AI clone of you
* Non-tech people start to realize that AI can do a better job than their
worst employees
* OpenAI researchers take a look at the job market and say "uh-oh"
* In 1980, the US employed 750,000 typists
* Middle managers and executives: your days are numbered
* When you feel like you are falling in love with AI you should really have
a cold shower
* Anthropic's Claude AI is in charge of the jokes this week
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* JPMorgan Chase & Co.
AI Tech Providers
* Tavus
Other Mentions
* Verizon
* March 17, 2023
Issue #4 - A lot of decapitations would have been avoided if Louis XVI had AI
What's In It?
* People have started automating the production and publishing of YouTube
shorts. I call it "The Perpetual Garbage Generator".
* GPT-4 can now memorize all the infamous details of your life and use them
against you in future conversations
* If you are a telemarketer, a teacher, or a psychologist, I have a scary,
scary chart to show you
* In less than 50 years, we moved from clunky digital cameras to sleek
smartphones that use AI to make up photos
* The Romanian government has started using AI to work way less than any
other politician on Earth
* People using AI for software development are caught smiling like teenagers
in love in front of the screen
* South Park has dedicated an entire episode to ChatGPT and it's glorious
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
* Oscar Health
* Replit
* March 10, 2023
Issue #3 - For Dummies: How to steal your coworkers' promotion with AI
What's In It?
* A dishonest photographer shows us how a coworker might steal your
promotion
* Office workers buying AI services might finally render obsolete the IT
department in big corps
* A science fiction magazine overwhelmed by AI-generated spam submissions
shows us that content curation might become an impossible job
* We used to have to convince people to buy typewriters
* There's a new job called synthetic celebrity and, yes, no human does it
* Musicians initially tried to boycott recorded music (they are all dead
now, don't worry)
* ChatGPT makes the joke of the week in Woody Allen style
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* Superplastic
Other Mentions
* Louvre
* March 3, 2023
Issue #2 - 61% of the office workers admit to having an affair with the AI
inside Excel
What's In It?
* GPT-4 might have enough memory to remember all your shameful secrets and
use them against you in future conversations
* Religious leaders are freaking out
* OpenAI is planting the seeds to guarantee the ubiquity of its AI
* Wealthy businessmen used to record their notes with a machine bigger than
a horse head
* When your mother was saying that the audiobook narrator is not a real job,
she was onto something
* People fall in love with AI easier and faster than in Argentinean
telenovelas
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* Apple
* Descript
* OpenAI
* Replika
* February 24, 2023
Issue #1 - When I grow up, I want to be a Prompt Engineer and Librarian
What's In It?
* Cathie Wood calls AI the assembly line for knowledge workers
* Synthetic text is a much bigger business opportunity than synthetic images
* The AI landscape is already completely different compared to three months
ago
* AutoCAD has saved us a lot of real estate space for lovely cubicles
* You can now make more money than a VP in a medium-sized company with just
two years of experience
* Microsoft is showing the world what happens if we let a psychopathic AI
interact with humans
* I had an incredible idea for an AI-powered dating app
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* Anthropic
* Microsoft
* February 15, 2023
Issue #0
What's In It?
Nothing. There's nothing in this issue. It's just to show you the various
sections of the newsletter. You are not impressed, I know.
Who's In It?
The Splendid Edition is a non-technical, weekly report written by a former
Fortune 1000 tech executive and Gartner analyst on:
* How your industry peers are using AI.
Are you thinking about adopting AI in your organization but don't want to be
a first mover?
Synthetic Work tracks use cases in Education, Farming, Finance, Government,
Health Care, Media & Entertainment, Publishing, Tech, etc.
* How to use AI to perform tasks that matter in your profession.
Learn how to use GPT-4 and similar AI systems to you write presentations,
perform data analysis, compile market research, evaluate pros and cons about
complex decisions, etc.
* How to improve your interaction with the AI.
Discover how to write better prompts for text generation AIs like Bing,
ChatGPT, GPT-4, and image generation AIs like Dall-E, Midjourney, or Stable
Diffusion.
* What are the best AI-powered tools to boost your productivity.
Find out where AI really makes a difference and helps you stay competitive.
Subscribe
The Splendid Edition is for business leaders, decision-makers, and professionals
in every field.
Get the complete picture of how AI is transforming how we work.
Upskill yourself and your workforce.
Turn knowledge into a competitive advantage.
Here's what you missed so far:
SPLENDID EDITION ARCHIVE
* July 22, 2023
Issue #22 - What AI should I wear today?
What's In It?
* The New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has implemented
facial recognition systems in the subway to identify people who are not
paying their fares.
* Eurostar launched the world’s first walk-through biometric corridor to
access its trains.
* G/O Media, publisher of The Onion and Gizmodo, among the others, has begun
publishing AI-generated articles.
* In the What Can AI Do for Me? section, we see how to use GPT-4 Code
Interpreter to ask questions about our website performance that Google
Analytics can't answer without attending a 72 days class.
* In the Prompting section, I recommend what use case is more suitable for
seven AI systems that can be used today.
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Metropolitan Transit Authority
* Eurostar
* G/O Media
AI Tech Providers
* AWAAIT
* Anthropic
* OpenAI
* iProov
* July 16, 2023
Issue #21 - Investigating absurd hypotheses with GPT-4
What's In It?
* In the Prompting section, we discover the ELI5 technique, comparing how
well it works with both OpenaI GPT-4 with Code Interpreter and Anthropic
Claude 2.
* In the What Can AI Do for Me? section, we use the GPT-4 with Code
Interpreter capabilities to analyze two unrelated datasets, overlay one on
top of the other in a single chart, and investigate correlation
hypotheses.
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* Anthropic
* OpenAI
* July 9, 2023
Issue #20 - When you are uncertain about triggering WWIII or not, ask ChatGPT
What's In It?
* Bridgewater Associates reveals how the company is thinking about and using
large language models to formulate investment strategies.
* McCann Worldgroup used AI to make individual signs and menus for owners of
Mexican hot dog and hamburger stands.
* Insilico Medicine started the human trial phase of a lung disease drug
designed by generative AI.
* The US Air Force is testing various large language models, including Scale
AI Donovan.
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* US Air Force
* Bridgewater Associates
* McCann Worldgroup
* Insilico Medicine
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
* Scale AI
* July 2, 2023
Issue #19 - How to turn Visual Studio Code into the ultimate writing tool for
people that don't write a single line of code
What's In It?
* A very long explanation of what extensions, features, and configurations I
used to transform a tool for software developers, Visual Studio Code, into
the ultimate tool for writing long-form English content pieces like the
Synthetic Work newsletter.
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* Anthropic
* GitHub
* Google
* OpenAI
* Sourcegraph
* June 25, 2023
Issue #18 - How to roll with the punches
What's In It?
* IKEA revealed that it has used AI to handle 47% of customers’ queries to
their call centers since 2021.
* Marvel used generative AI to create the opening credit sequence of the new
TV Series Secret Invasion.
* More than 200 game studios are already using AI to create new games
according to a new survey published by the VC firm A16Z.
* In the What Can AI Do for Me? section, we learn how to use GPT-4 as a
coach to learn how to face criticism.
* In the The Tools of the Trade section, we discover LM Studio, an
invaluable tool to test open access AI models
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* IKEA
* Marvel Studios
* June 18, 2023
Issue #17 - How to prompt to buy a burger
What's In It?
* White Castle has started using generative AI to replace drive-thru
employees.
* Chegg articulates how it plans to use GPT-4 to deliver personalized
tutoring to its customers.
* Netflix unveiled how they are using AI to create more engaging trailers
for the shows and movies in their catalog.
* In the Prompting section, we explore two techniques: Ask for Variants and
Choose the Best Variant.
* In The Tools of the Trade section, we discover how Vivaldi browser can let
you use Bing Chat without downloading Microsoft Edge.
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* White Castle
* Chegg
* Netflix
* June 11, 2023
Issue #16 - The Devil’s Advocate
What's In It?
* McKinsey and Company has allowed almost 15,000 employees in its workforce
to use ChatGPT and other AI tools.
* The Financial Times embraces generative AI with a new editorial policy
while CNET has to rectify theirs.
* BuzzFeed is now using AI to power a second section of its website,
dedicated to recipe generation. The CEO believes that "over the next few
years, generative AI will replace the majority of static content."
* Blackstone is using AI to help the employees of its portfolio companies to
reduce the health costs associated with diabetes.
* In the Prompting section, we review a technique I call The Devil’s
Advocate to help you make better decisions.
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* McKinsey & Company
* Financial Times
* BuzzFeed
* Blackstone
* June 4, 2023
Issue #15 - I'd like to buy 4K AI experts, thank you
What's In It?
* Wells Fargo is using large language models to help determine what
information clients must report to regulators and how they can improve
their business processes.
* Carvana used generative AI to produce 1.3 million personalized video ads
for its customers to celebrate 10 years in business.
* Deutsche Bank is using AI to scan the portfolios of its clients and
suggest new investments.
* Amazon is using computer vision AI models to screen items for damage
before orders are shipped to customers.
* JP Morgan Chase is preparing to launch a generative AI service like GPT-4
to offer investment advice to its clients.
* In the What Can AI Do for Me section, let's see how GPT-4 can help us
fully document a corporate procedure as mortally boring as opening a bank
account.
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Wells Fargo
* Carvana
* Deutsche Bank
* Amazon
* JPMorgan Chase & Co.
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
* May 26, 2023
Issue #14 - How to prepare what could be the best presentation of your life
with GPT-4
What's In It?
* How to write a presentation with GPT-4 using many of the techniques in the
How to Prompt section of Synthetic Work
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
* May 21, 2023
Issue #13 - Hey, great news, you potentially are a problem gambler
What's In It?
* KPMG has started using a customized version of ChatGPT that finds the
right experts to pitch for a proposal within a 10,000-people database.
* The US Air Force is testing if artificial intelligence can fly F-16
fighter jets.
* Flutter Entertainment and Entain use AI to identify the so-called problem
gambling.
* New Balance is using AI for footwear design.
* The Wildlife Conservation Society is using AI to design routes with the
highest chances of finding poacher traps for park rangers in Cambodia.
* In the Prompting section, we make a breakthrough as we discover how AI can
help solve the You don’t know what you don’t know problem.
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* KPMG
* US Air Force
* Flutter Entertainment
* Entain
* New Balance
* Wildlife Conservation Society
AI Tech Providers
* Microsoft
* Mindway AI
* OpenAI
* Runway AI
* May 12, 2023
Issue #12 - And You Thought That Horoscopes Couldn't Be Any Worse
What's In It?
* MakeMyTrip is rolling out an AI voice assistant to help customers book
flights and hotels
* Wendy’s is starting to use GPT-4 to take customers’ orders for their
drive-through service
* Citadel Securities confirms that the market maker has completed the
negotiation phase with OpenAI
* Takeda Pharmaceutical is completing the trial tests for a new psoriasis
drug designed by AI in six months
* Ingenio has started using OpenAI models to generate articles about
astrology.
* In the Prompting section, we explore how much you can achieve with a good
prompt and when that is not good enough anymore
* In the Tools of the Trade section we explore the glorious MacGPT
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* MakeMyTrip
* Wendy's
* Citadel Securities
* Takeda Pharmaceutical
* Ingenio
AI Tech Providers
* Google
* Microsoft
* Nimbus Therapeutics
* OpenAI
* May 5, 2023
Issue #11 - Personalized Ads and Personalized Tutors
What's In It?
* Khan Academy roped in OpenAI's GPT-4 to create Khanmigo, an AI tutor who
never had to endure school lunches.
* UC San Diego Health & UW Health deployed AI to draft patient responses;
Doctors: "Our new favorite colleague doesn't even need coffee breaks!"
* WPP spiced up ad campaigns with AI, because who wouldn't want a virtual
Shah Rukh Khan selling chocolates?
* VentureBeat is rolling out AI-assisted articles, giving reporters a new
non-human entity to blame for typos.
* King (the maker of Candy Crush) utilizes AI for game testing, because
apparently, humans alone couldn't get enough of crushing candies.
* GrammarlyGO is our Tool of the Trade for the week.
* The Step-by-step reasoning is our Prompting technique of the week.
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Khan Academy
* WPP
* UC San Diego Health
* UW Health
* VentureBeat
* King
AI Tech Providers
* Epic
* Grammarly
* OpenAI
* April 28, 2023
Issue #10 - The Fed Whisperer
What's In It?
* Coca-Cola formally announces that it doesn't give a crap about the legal
issues surrounding generative AI and it's using it like there's no
tomorrow
* Walmart is using AI to automate the tedious negotiation with suppliers.
No, you can't do the same with your significant other. Yet.
* Somehow, JPMorgan Chase & Co is trying to decode the language used in Fed
meetings to find signals to trade. Politicians next?
* Three powerful techniques to reduce the number of tokens (and your bill)
in the interaction with GPT-4: The Power of No, Memory Consolidation, and
Alien Language Translation
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Coca-Cola
* JPMorgan Chase & Co.
* Walmart
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
* Pactum
* April 21, 2023
Issue #9 - The Tools of the Trade
What's In It?
* HSBC launches a new AI-powered index. It looks a lot like the old one,
let's hope the performance is better.
* Aberhart Farms has been testing drones for weeding for years. Probably
because it's very fun.
* 88Nine Radio Milwaukee is using AI to power an experimental radio station.
The human radio host still doesn't suspect anything.
* How to use The Annoying Curious Child prompting technique to get more
detailed outputs from GPT-4
* My favourite teleprompter app and why AI makes it stand apart from an
ocean of terrible alternatives
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Aberhart Farms
* Radio Milwaukee
* HSBC
AI Tech Providers
* AWS
* ElevenLabs
* Norton Five
* OpenAI
* Precision AI
* Super Hi-Fi
* April 14, 2023
Issue #8 - The Harbinger of Change
What's In It?
* We have a new section dedicated to using GPT-4 to get your job done (with
real-world examples!)
* How to write a better product pitch to lure in vain industry analysts
* How to dodge useless meetings without giving away that you are totally
lying
* How to write a market report at a microscopic fraction of what analysis
firms would charge you
* How to write a blog post for a product announcement better than Google
(OK, here the bar is very low)
* How to lay off your employees with the style of a king
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
* April 7, 2023
Issue #7 - How Not to Do Product Reviews
What's In It?
* The ten AI-first products I use on daily basis
* How to compare the AI models from A12 Labs, Anthropic, Cohere, Eleuther
AI, Google, Meta, OpenAI, etc.
* How I use GPT-4 Plus to do things I am crap at (and how it feels like
being in an Iron Man movie)
* What's the job-to-be-done of a chatbot/assistant? And where do people feel
more natural to find it?
* How I used Perplexity AI to do things I am not crap at, but I don't have
time to do
* Do we need bigger AI models or better prompt engineering skills?
* What does it mean for an AI company to compete against OpenAI? And for how
long is it sustainable?
* How much money will you be happy to pay for GPT-22?
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
* Perplexity AI
* March 31, 2023
Issue #6 - I Know That This Steak Doesn't Exist
What's In It?
* Generative AI is turning people that don't know how to code into coders,
and software engineers into software engineers with 1000x the attitude
* GPT-4 is no longer your copilot, it is now your captain as it builds the
app your worked 3 weeks on in just 30 minutes
* Developers are already thinking about new programming languages designed
to work with large language models
* It turns out that the AI can be pushed to role-play as an expert, explain
its reasoning, and/or self-plan to massively improve the generated output
* It also turns out that the AI can create imaginary worlds that follow
rigid rules: like when it pretends to be a Linux terminal
* It also turns out that you can use AI to automatically correct bugs in
your mediocre code, creating a "self-healing" program
* Meanwhile, somebody managed to replace the brain of Siri with GPT-3 and
the answers you get, finally, don't cause you fits of anger
* The next step, as shown by Meta AI, is an AI that can learn what's the
best API to call to achieve the goal indicated in your prompt
* The next-next step is replacing all legacy backends like databases with a
large language model.
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* GitHub
* Meta
* OpenAI
* Replit
* Scale AI
* March 24, 2023
Issue #5 - The Perpetual Garbage Generator
What's In It?
* How a guy with WordPress and a GPT-4 subscription can generate infinite
content
* BuzzFeed has started using AI in January to generate content
* Before them, CNET Money has silently started publishing ChatGPT-generated
content (full of inaccuracies that nobody bothered to fact-check)
* An AI makes it easy to paraphrase other AIs to not get caught by other AIs
* The publisher of the UK Daily Mirror wants to play the automated content
publishing game, too
* The publisher of Sports Illustrated has been way faster than them
* It really doesn't look bright for mediocre journalists, but they will
fight back. Yes. By demanding a subsidy
* And by using AI to make you pay even harder for the AI-generated content
that is inspired by your conversations on social media
* LinkedIn launches "collaborative articles" where AI does a tiny bit and
you, the user, do the rest (their role in all of this is profiting, in
case you are wondering)
* Every publishing platform and channel will be saturated with AI-generated
content. It already started
* And it's so severe that organizations like AP, Nature, Elsevier, and The
Committee on Publication Ethics, had to create anti-AI policies
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* BuzzFeed
* CNET
* LinkedIn
* Arena Group Holdings
AI Tech Providers
* Jasper
* Microsoft
* OpenAI
* QuillBot
* Uncanny Automator
* WordPress
Other Mentions
* Associated Press
* Bankrate
* CreditCards.com
* Elsevier
* Nature
* News Corp
* Reach
* Reddit
* The New York Times
* March 17, 2023
Issue #4 - Medical AI to open new hospital in the metaverse to assist (human)
ex doctors affected by severe depression
What's In It?
* Why not use Stable Diffusion to generate the image of a tooth growing in a
person’s brain, so young doctors learn how disgusting their profession can
be?
* OK. Let's just generate chest X-rays for edge use cases. Somebody has a
lovely AI model for you to download
* Somebody else is analyzing the voice of patients to spot signs of anxiety
* Google Med-PaLM 2 consistently performs at an “expert” doctor level on
medical exam questions
* DeepMind predicts the 3D structures of the over 200 million known proteins
to boost drug discovery
* Microsoft wants to play, too, and fine-tunes BioGPT on 15M PubMed
abstracts
* Stability AI launches yet another satellite organization: MedARC
* Meanwhile, in Hungary, AI spots 22 undiagnosed cases of breast cancer
* In the US, another AI is used to identify atrial fibrillation, diabetic
retinopathy, and sepsis
* The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says
"party is over"
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Bács-Kiskun County Hospital
* Cano Health
* Cigna
* MaMMa Klinika
* Mayo Clinic
* Sinai Hospital
AI Tech Providers
* Bayesian Health
* DeepMind
* Ellipsis Health
* Google
* Kheiron
* MedARC
* Microsoft
* March 10, 2023
Issue #3 - I will edit and humanize your AI content
What's In It?
* "Prompt Engineer" is now a profession, and it pays more than yours
* "Fact-checker" is now a profession, too, but it pays absolutely nothing.
Discuss.
* One-third of business leaders interviewed (in a questionable survey) say
that the adoption of ChatGPT will definitely lead to layoffs by end of
2023
* Consensus is that people mastering AI will displace people not mastering
AI
* Which leads to students having a crisis about what to study next and if
it's worth it
* Even famous developers have their spider senses tingling
* Meanwhile, recruiters have started a despicable thing called automated
video interviews
* So, for your next job, you might end up being interviewed by Morgan
Freeman (it's not a good thing)
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Publicis Le Pont
* Allen & Overy
* Mishcon de Reya
AI Tech Providers
* Cammio
* Curious Thing
* Fiverr
* HireVue
* Humanly
* Modern Hire
* Spark Hire
* Stability AI
* Willo
* myInterview
Other Mentions
* Boston Children Hospital
* Raona
* March 3, 2023
Issue #2 - Law firms' morale at an all-time high now that they can use AI to
generate evil plans to charge customers more money
What's In It?
* DoNotPay successfully uses AI to automatically negotiate a bill discount
with a human customer service rep
* They also try to use ChatGPT in a US Supreme Court case. It turns out it's
not safe for your health.
* Top UK law firm starts using Harvey AI to assist 3,500 lawyers with
mergers & acquisitions. No big deal.
* Meanwhile, another top UK law firm has started hiring "prompt engineers"
* Robin AI uses AI (duh) to help lawyers generate drafts and review legal
contracts
* Academics test large language models to work both as lobbyists and
fiduciaries.
* Two courts in Colombia used ChatGPT to reach a verdict. It's ok to have a
bad feeling about this
* AI is good at translating. What if it starts translating legalese for the
average citizen?
Who's In It?
AI Adopters
* Allen & Overy
* Mishcon de Reya
AI Tech Providers
* Anthropic
* DoNotPay
* Harvey AI
* Robin AI
* February 24, 2023
Issue #1 - Burn the books, ban AI. Screwed teachers: Middle Ages are so sexy.
What's In It?
* It took just two months for 3,600 students in the third most prestigious
university in the world to start cheating with AI.
* ChatGPT passes top exams designed for humans with (almost) flying colours
* Meanwhile, tuition and college textbooks prices have skyrocketed in the
last 22 years
* Of course, schools start banning ChatGPT across the world
* Unfortunately for them, watermarking is useless
* Rather than having a knee-jerk reaction, some teachers incorporate ChatGPT
in their classes
* Thankfully, Seth Godin weighs in with his usual wisdom
Who's In It?
AI Tech Providers
* OpenAI
Other Mentions
* Appalachian State University
* George Washington University
* McGill University
* Rutgers University
* Stanford University
* February 15, 2023
Issue #0
What's In It?
Nothing. There's nothing in this issue. It's just to show you the various
sections of the newsletter. You are not impressed, I know.
Who's In It?
Synthetic Work is building a set of tools to show you how AI can boost your
productivity and help you stay competitive.
For example, you can use GPT-4 to:
Get comfortable with people criticising your ideas
AI can credibly simulate the criticism you would receive when sharing your
thoughts with a group and it won't be intimidated by your VP or C-level title.
To learn how to do this, let's pitch and defend a new product idea for the
company.
Write an exceptional presentation
The value of AI is in improving your narrative, not in automating the
arrangement of your bullet points!
To learn how to do this, let's prepare a presentation on how new technologies
have impacted jobs and the economy in history.
Take a better decision
AI can give you that contrarian opinion about your options that you need to
rethink your perspective.
To learn how to do this, let's decide if we should partner with that dangerous
incumbent player.
Detail and document a corporate procedure
Even a tedious job like this becomes effortless when the AI asks you the right
questions.
To learn how to do this, let's document how to open a corporate bank account.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your use case is not covered yet? No problem.
How to Prompt is a library of techniques to interact better with your AI and get
the most out of it.
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© 2023 Synthetic Work. All rights reserved.
Founded by Alessandro Perilli in 2023.
Published by Unstable Reality.
© 2023 Synthetic Work • Built with GeneratePress