Technology

Apple is joining the race to find an AI icon that makes sense

Published

3 months ago

June 15, 2024

IAM

This week was an exciting one for the AI community, as Apple joined Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and others in a long-running competition to find an icon that even remotely suggests AI to users. And like everyone else, Apple threw down the gauntlet.

Apple intelligence is represented by a circular shape composed of seven loops. Or possibly it is a circle with a crooked infinity symbol inside? No, it’s New Siri from Apple Intelligence. Or possibly it’s New Siri when your phone lights up around the edges? Yes.

The thing is, nobody knows what artificial intelligence looks like and even what it should seem like. It does every part but looks like nothing. However, it needs to be represented in user interfaces so that people know they’re interacting with a machine learning model and not only an easy search, submit, or whatever.

While approaches to stigmatizing this supposedly all-seeing, all-knowing, all-acting intelligence vary, they’ve coalesced around the idea that an artificial intelligence avatar must be non-threatening, abstract, but relatively easy and non-anthropomorphic. (They seem to have rejected my suggestion that these models at all times speak in rhyme.)

Early icons of artificial intelligence were sometimes little robots, wizard hats or magic wands: novelties. But the implications of the former are inhumanity, rigidity and limitation – robots know nothing, usually are not personal to you, perform predetermined, automated tasks. And magic wands and the like suggest irrational invention, inexplicable, mysterious – perhaps advantageous for an image generator or creative soundboard, but not for the sorts of actual, credible answers these firms want you to consider that A.I. ensure.

Company logo design is generally an odd mixture of strong vision, industrial necessity, and compromise made by committee. The effects of those influences could be seen in the logos featured here.

The strongest vision is, for higher or for worse, the black dot of OpenAI. The cold, featureless hole into which you drop your query is a bit like a wishing well or Echo’s cave.

Image credits: OpenAI/Microsoft

The committee’s best energy was directed towards Microsoft, whose Copilot logo is virtually indescribable.

But notice how 4 of the six (five of the seven, when you count Apple twice and why we shouldn’t) use nice, candy-colored colours: colours that mean nothing but are cheerful and approachable, leaning toward femininity (how such things are considered in design language) and even childish. Soft transitions of pink, purple and turquoise; pastels, not hard colours; 4 are soft, limitless shapes; Embarrassment and Google have sharp edges, but the former suggests an limitless book, while the latter is a pleased, symmetrical star with friendly concavities. Some also animate in use, feeling alive and responsive (and crowd pleasing, so you possibly can’t ignore it – taking a look at you, Meta).

Generally speaking, the intended impression is one among friendliness, openness, and undefined potential – as opposed to points comparable to expertise, efficiency, decisiveness, or creativity, for instance.

Do you think that I’m analyzing an excessive amount of? How many pages do you think that the design development documents for every of those logos contained – greater than or lower than 20 pages? My money can be on the former. Companies are obsessive about these things. (And yet you by some means missed a logo of hate or created an inexplicably sexual atmosphere.)

However, the point is not that corporate design teams do what they do, but that nobody has managed to give you a visible concept that clearly says “AI” to the user. At best, these colourful shapes convey a negative idea: that this interface is an email, a search engine, a notes app.

Email logos are sometimes related to an envelope because (after all) it is email, each conceptually and practically. A more general “send” message icon is indicated, sometimes split, like a paper plane, indicating a document in motion. The settings use a gear or key, suggesting tinkering with the engine or machine. These concepts apply across languages and (to some extent) generations.

Not every icon may refer so clearly to its corresponding function. For example, how do you indicate “download” when the word varies from culture to culture? In France they charge a telécharge, which makes sense, but doesn’t really mean “collecting”. However, we have now reached the arrow pointing down, sometimes touching the surface. Load. The same goes for cloud computing – we have embraced the cloud although it’s mainly a marketing term meaning “a big data center somewhere.” But what was the alternative? Little data center button?

AI is still recent to consumers, who’re being asked to use it as a substitute of “other things,” which is a really general category that AI product providers are reluctant to define because that would mean there are some things AI can do and a few things it will probably’t do. could be. They usually are not ready to admit it: all fiction is based on the fact that artificial intelligence is able to do every part in theory, and achieving it is only a matter of engineering and computation.

In other words, to paraphrase Steinbeck: every AI considers itself temporarily embarrassed by AGI. (Or I should say, it is considered by the marketing department, because artificial intelligence itself, as a pattern generator, doesn’t take anything into consideration.)

In the meantime, these firms still have to call it what it is and put a “face” on it – though it’s telling and refreshing that nobody has actually chosen a face. But even here they’re acting at the whim of consumers who ignore GPT version numbers as an oddity and like to say ChatGPT; who is unable to establish contact with “Bard”, but agrees to meet “Gemini”, who has proven focus; who’ve never wanted to Bing (and definitely not talk to the thing) but don’t mind having a co-pilot.

Apple, for its part, has taken a shotgun approach: you ask Siri to send a request to Apple Intelligence (two different logos), which takes place in your private cloud (unrelated to iCloud), and possibly even forward your request to ChatGPT (no logo allowed) ), and the best indication that the AI is listening to what you are saying is… swirling colours somewhere or in every single place on the screen.

Until artificial intelligence is defined just a little higher, we will expect the icons and logos that represent it to proceed to be vague, non-threatening, abstract shapes. A colourful, ever-changing blob would not take your job, right?

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com

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MIT Develops Recyclable 3D-Printed Glass Blocks for Construction Applications

Published

2 hours ago

September 19, 2024

IAM

MIT develops recyclable 3D-printed glass blocks for construction

The use of 3D printing has been praised as an alternative choice to traditional construction, promising faster construction times, creative design and fewer construction errors, all while reducing the carbon footprint. New research from MIT points to an interesting latest approach to the concept, involving the usage of 3D-printed glass blocks in the form of a figure eight, which may be connected together like Lego bricks.

The team points to glass’s optical properties and “infinite recyclability” as reasons to pursue the fabric. “As long as it’s not contaminated, you can recycle glass almost infinitely,” says assistant professor of mechanical engineering Kaitlyn Becker.

The team relied on 3D printers designed by Straight line — is itself a spin-off of MIT.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com

Technology

Introducing the Next Wave of Startup Battlefield Judges at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

Published

9 hours ago

September 19, 2024

IAM

Announcing our next wave of Startup Battlefield judges at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

Startup Battlefield 200 is the highlight of every Disrupt, and we will’t wait to search out out which of the 1000’s of startups which have invited us to collaborate can have the probability to pitch to top enterprise capitalists at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. Join us at Moscone West in San Francisco October 28–30 for an epic showdown where everyone can have the probability to make a major impact.

Get insight into what the judges are in search of in a profitable company as they supply detailed feedback on the evaluation criteria. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from their expert insights and discover the key characteristics that result in startup success, only at Disrupt 2024.

We’re excited to introduce our next group of investors who will evaluate startups and dive into each pitch in an in-depth and insightful Q&A session. Stay tuned for more big names coming soon!

Alice Brooks, Partner, Khosla Ventures

Alicja is a partner in Khosla’s ventures interests in sustainability, food, agriculture, and manufacturing/supply chain. She has worked with multiple startups in robotics, IoT, retail, consumer goods, and STEM education, and led mechanical, electrical, and application development teams in the US and Asia. She also founded and managed manufacturing operations in factories in China and Taiwan. Prior to KV, Alice was the founder and CEO of Roominate, a STEM education company that helps girls learn engineering concepts through play.

Mark Crane, Partner, General Catalyst

Mark Crane is a partner at General Catalysta enterprise capital firm that works with founders from seed to endurance to assist them construct corporations that may stand the test of time. Focused on acquiring and investing in later-stage investment opportunities equivalent to AuthZed, Bugcrowd, Resilience, and TravelPerk. Prior to joining General Catalyst, Mark was a vice chairman at Cove Hill Partners in Massachusetts. Prior to that, he was a senior associate at JMI Equity and an associate at North Bridge Growth Equity.

Sofia Dolfe, Partner, Index Ventures

Sofia partners with founders who use their unique perspective and private understanding of the problem to construct corporations that drive behavioral change, powerful network effects, and transform entire industries, from grocery and e-commerce to financial services and healthcare. Sofia can also be one of Index projects‘ gaming leads, working with some of the best gaming corporations in Europe, making a recent generation of iconic gaming titles. He spends most of his time in the Nordics, but works with entrepreneurs across the continent.

Christine Esserman, Partner, Accel

Christine Esserman joined Acceleration in 2017 and focuses on software, web, and mobile technology corporations. Since joining Accel, Christine has helped lead Accel’s investments in Blackpoint Cyber, Linear, Merge, ThreeFlow, Bumble, Remote, Dovetail, Ethos, Guru, and Headway. Prior to joining Accel, Christine worked in product and operations roles at multiple startups. A native of the Bay Area, Christine graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a level in Finance and Operations.

Haomiao Huang, Founding Partner, Matter Venture Partners

Haomiao from Venture Matter Partners is a robotics researcher turned founder turned investor. He is especially obsessed with corporations that bring digital innovation to physical economy enterprises, with a give attention to sectors equivalent to logistics, manufacturing and transportation, and advanced technologies equivalent to robotics and AI. Haomiao spent 4 years investing in hard tech with Wen Hsieh at Kleiner Perkins. He previously founded smart home security startup Kuna, built autonomous cars at Caltech and, as part of his PhD research at Stanford, pioneered the aerodynamics and control of multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles. Kuna was part of the Y Combinator Winter 14 cohort.

Don’t miss it!

The Startup Battlefield winner, who will walk away with a $100,000 money prize, can be announced at Disrupt 2024—the epicenter of startups. Join 10,000 attendees to witness this breakthrough moment and see the next wave of tech innovation.

Register here and secure your spot to witness this epic battle of startups.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com

Technology

India Considers Easing Market Share Caps for UPI Payments Operators

Published

16 hours ago

September 19, 2024

IAM

phonepe UPI being used to accept payments at a road-side sunglasses stall.

The regulator that oversees India’s popular UPI rail payments is considering relaxing a proposed market share cap for operators like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm because it grapples with enforcing the restrictions, two people accustomed to the matter told TechCrunch.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which is regulated by the Indian central bank, is considering increasing the market share that UPI operators can hold to greater than 40%, said two of the people, requesting anonymity because the knowledge is confidential. The regulator had earlier proposed a 30% market share limit to encourage competition within the space.

UPI has change into the most well-liked option to send and receive money in India, with the mechanism processing over 12 billion transactions monthly. Walmart-backed PhonePe has about 48% market share by volume and 50% by value, while Google Pay has 37.3% share by volume.

Once an industry heavyweight, Paytm’s market share has fallen to 7.2% from 11% late last yr amid regulatory challenges.

According to several industry executives, the NPCI’s increase in market share limits is more likely to be a controversial move as many UPI providers were counting on regulatory motion to curb the dominance of PhonePe and Google Pay.

NPCI, which has previously declined to comment on market share, didn’t reply to a request for comment on Thursday.

The regulator originally planned to implement the market share caps in January 2021 but prolonged the deadline to January 1, 2025. The regulator has struggled to seek out a workable option to implement its proposed market share caps.

The stakes are high, especially for PhonePe, India’s Most worthy fintech startup, valued at $12 billion.

Sameer Nigam, co-founder and CEO of PhonePe, said last month that the startup cannot go public “if there is uncertainty on regulatory issues.”

“If you buy a share at Rs 100 and value it assuming we have 48-49% market share, there is uncertainty whether it will come down to 30% and when,” Nigam told a fintech conference last month. “We are reaching out to them (the regulator) whether they can find another way to at least address any concerns they have or tell us what the list of concerns is,” he added.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com