AI assistants to make us spend more moolah. 

Robots powered by LLMs interacting with humans in the workplace. 

And some new secret large language models dropping in the wild. 

Sheesh. 

This week’s AI developments could throw some monkey wrenches into the long-term AI landscape. 

• Google's bots are giving office tours.

• OpenAI's plotting a path to superhuman intelligence, minus the humans.

• Amazon's unleashing an AI shopping frenzy right before Prime Day.

• And there's a whiff of strawberries in the air – but not the kind you eat.

Let's dive into the AI chaos that was this week and get you prepped to still drive biz forward in this glass case of emotion. 

Buckle up, Baxter. 

Let’s get it. 

Google DeepMind's latest: office robots powered by Gemini 1.5 Pro. 

They're not just wandering. They're leading.

The secret sauce? MINT.

(Not the ice cream. But for real, why is Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream so polarizing?)

Google Deepmind’s MINT stands for Multimodal Instruction Navigation with Demonstration Tours.

Fancy name, simple concept.

Show the bot around once, it remembers forever.

These metal colleagues are following whiteboard instructions and playing tour guide with a 90% success rate across 50+ human interactions, according to Google.

Impressive.

Prolly higher than that round of new humans? 

The team’s paper's title is a mouthful: "Mobility VLA, multimodal instruction navigation with long context VLMs and topical graphs." But the results speak for themselves.

What it means:

This isn't just a cool tech demo. It's a glimpse into the future of workplace automation when robotics meets LLMs.

Or, at least it could be. 

This development signals a shift in how we think about office logistics and productivity. These robots could streamline operations in various industries – from warehouses to hospitals.

But it's not about replacing human workers. It's about augmentation.

Think of these robots as tireless assistants, handling repetitive tasks and freeing up humans for more complex, creative work.

Our take?

This tech could be a game-changer for operational efficiency. But it also raises questions about workforce adaptation.

Smart companies will start planning now for this AI-augmented future.

We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again — we still see LLM-powered bots going somewhat mainstream in 2024. 

OpenAI's got a plan.

Five levels to take AI from chatbots to AGI world-runners.

If you’re kinda new to the whole concept of Artificial General Intelligence, don’t worry. It’s both kinda scary and kinda exciting.

But essentially, OpenAI, Meta and others are now openly working toward a future of AGI.

It’s basically when out-of-the-box AI becomes smarter than humans at just about every day-to-day task.

Bloomberg released OpenAI’s 5 step plan toward AGI, which we detailed here:

We're at Level 1, according to Bloomberg’s reporting.

Chatbots.

Basic stuff.

But, OpenAI claims we're knocking on Level 2's door. Hold onto your hats.

What it means:

This isn't just another tech roadmap.

It's a strategic planning tool for the future of how we’ll all be working. (Like it or not, we’ll all be interfacing with AI/AGI agents one day.)

Each level represents new opportunities and challenges.

• Level 2 AI could revolutionize data analysis, customer service, and problem-solving.

• By Level 4, we might see AI-driven innovation disrupting entire industries.

Our take?

This roadmap is your cheat sheet for the AI revolution.

Smart executives will use this framework to anticipate changes in their industry.

Ignore it at your peril.

Amazon's not playing.

 300+ new AI features. That's not a typo. (Just a looooooota AI features y’all.) 

The crown jewel? 

AWS Bedrock users can now fine-tune Claude 3 Haiku. Anthropic's latest brainchild, tailored to your needs.

That’s pretty huge news. 

But wait, there's more.

Meet Rufus. Your new AI shopping assistant inside of Amazon’s shopping here in the U.S. Just in time for Prime Day. 

Coincidence? Not a chance.

(Risky? Prolly. Lolz) 

AWS VP Matt Wood boasts they've launched more than twice the combined total of other large cloud providers. Bold claim, big implications.

What it means:

This is a wake-up call.

Amazon's AI push isn't just about e-commerce. It's reshaping cloud computing, customer service, and the entire digital landscape.

The ability to fine-tune models like Claude 3 is a game-changer.

It means companies can create hyper-specialized AI solutions.

Think customer service bots that truly understand your brand voice or analysis tools that speak your industry's language.

Rufus represents the future of personalized shopping experiences. For retailers, the message is clear: adapt or risk being left behind.

Gonna be guarding our wallets this Prime Day until Rufus is fine tuned though. 

OpenAI's got a secret, according to Reuters reports.

Codename: Strawberry.

The goal?

Supercharge AI reasoning.

We're talking deep, independent research. Multi-step problem solving while better understanding human context with improved reasoning.

The works.

It might be the next evolution of the mysterious "Q-Star" project. Remember that drama? 

This could be bigger, as it’s reportedly the next step in OpenAI’s big LLM roadmap.

The project involves a specialized post-training process. It's about enhancing AI performance after initial training on large datasets.

What it means:

Project Strawberry could redefine what's possible with AI.

Imagine AI systems that can:

• Conduct comprehensive market research autonomously

• Develop complex strategies with minimal human input

• Innovate solutions to long-standing industry problems

This could be the next big leap in AI capabilities.

It's not just about processing power – it's about reasoning and problem-solving at a human-like level. (Yeah, to climb up that ‘5 Levels to AGI chart’ above, OpenAI needs something more capable than GPT-5 or GPT-Next.)

The implications are profound.

From R&D to strategic planning, AI could become a true partner in decision-making processes and extend beyond the current ‘AI chatbot’ persona.

But it also raises important questions.

As AI reasoning capabilities grow, how do we ensure alignment with organizational goals and ethics?

What's the right balance between AI-driven and human-driven decision making?

Forward-thinking executives should start considering these questions now. The winners of tomorrow’s AI landscape are planning for the future today.

New AI models from Google, OpenAI and others have been spotted in the wild.

OpenAI's "GPT Mini" and Google's "Eureka chatbot" are playing in the Chatbot Arena, when you go into battle mode.

Our team uncovered these new models over the weekend.

Right now, you can’t select the models and test them. You can only do a blind arena battle, vote for the winner, and then see who the entrants were. 

It's like AI Fight Club. Two models enter, one leaves victorious. Users vote, not knowing which is which.

This under-the-radar model testing isn't new, though, as this is how OpenAI ultimately tested and tuned its GPT-4o model. 

What it means: 

Wanna get a first-hand taste of tomorrow’s models?

Go get your battle on. (Again, it might be a timely process, as you’ll have to magically generate the models.) 

Are we just guinea pigs for big companies like OpenAI, Google and others to rate their next big models before they release them? Kinda. 

But, if you wanna get ahead of the AI curve that is seemingly impossible to keep up, spending a few hours a week in the Chatbot arena is a great start. 

Welp, feel dizzy yet? 

The AI advancements this week were faster and furiouser than Vin Diesel and a neon dragster, but that’s what we’re here for.