NEWS YOU CAN’T MISS

Tom Hanks vs AI: California Takes on AI Exploitation

The problem

Hollywood star Tom Hanks issued a warning to his fans on Instagram about deepfaked advertisements using his likeness (voice, image) to promote drugs without his consent.

“These ads have been created without my consent, fraudulently and through AI,” the actor said.

California steps up

California is taking significant steps to protect actors and performers from such unauthorized AI replication, including post-mortem.

Proposed legislation:

• Employment contracts must have informed consent for digital replicas.

• Ban on unauthorized AI cloning of actors' voices and likenesses.

• Post-mortem right of publicity extends to digital replicas.

• Generative AI use requires bargaining agreements.

This bill has received support from SAG-AFTRA, the labor union representing over 100,000 media professionals worldwide.

My take: We’re going to see more regulations like these where people rightly want to assert their ownership over their digital replicas to get paid for their use and prevent misuse.

Sources: Fortune

Fido is Using AI to Help Lend $$ in Africa

Fido, a digital lending platform based in Ghana that leverages AI to provide financial services to individuals and small businesses across Africa, just raised Series B $30m in equity and debt financing.

Fido offers instant loans ranging from $20 to $500 for individuals and larger loans for businesses based on their needs and credit scores.

It uses AI models throughout its loan lifecycle, including for:

• Credit Scoring: Fido's AI system assesses creditworthiness using alternative data sources like mobile phone data, allowing them to serve customers without formal financial records.

• Fraud Detection: AI models help identify and prevent fraudulent activities.

• Loan Management: The entire loan process, from application to repayment, is managed using AI technologies.

Fido has experienced significant growth:

• It has served over 1 million customers, with 40% being small businesses.

• It has disbursed more than $500 million in loans across Ghana and Uganda.

• It maintains a low default rate of under 4%, which they attribute to their AI-powered credit scoring system.

Why it matters: AI-powered micro-lending is very important for developing countries. Most people (approx. 45% of the population) in sub-Saharan Africa don't have access to adequate banking services. So, for many of their customers, Fido is the first experience with any kind of financial service.

WOMAN IN TECH

Meet Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox

Celebrating this week's Woman in Tech 🥳: Meet Aicha Evans, the CEO of Zoox, an autonomous vehicle company working on electric ride-hailing services.

Born in Senegal, Evans spent her childhood years in Paris and earned her BS in Computer Engineering from George Washington University in the United States.

Her career journey:

• Over 10 years in engineering management at Rockwell, Conexant, and Skyworks, where she worked on wireless communication technologies.

• She joined Intel in 2006 and rose to Corporate VP and Chief Strategy Officer, driving the company's strategy in 5G, AI, and cloud computing.

In 2019, she became CEO of Zoox and took charge of the company's vision of developing a fleet of zero-emission and autonomous vehicles.

Evans led Zoox to its acquisition by Amazon for $1.3 billion 2020, maintaining it as a stand-alone business and keeping her role as CEO. Zoox, unlike competitors who retrofit existing cars, builds a purpose-built, square vehicle without traditional driver controls.

She has been recognized in:

• Forbes' 50 Over 50 list in 2021

• Business Insider's list of 100 People Transforming Business in the transportation category in 2019

• George Washington University’s Engineering Hall of Fame in 2012

Evans is a refreshing example of an intrapreneur, blending AI innovation with a corporate culture.

She told Fast Company, “I am not a Silicon Valley-like founder,” she says. “I take a lot of risk, and I like disruption, but I grew up through the corporate engine.”

Fun Finds

Would you pay $2000/month for a super AI chatbot?

The Information just leaked that Open AI executives are holding meetings about how much to charge for their super AI chatbot coming next. While ChatGPT costs $20/month, they are apparently considering $2000/month for this one. Gosh, what can it do to command that kind of price? (seems unlikely that this would be the case but made me think...hmmm).

Articles I’ve Been Reading:

Norwegian robotics company 1X released Neo Beta, a humanoid robot designed for home assistance, standing 5.41 feet tall and weighing 66 pounds. Equipped with embodied AI, Neo Beta can perform various domestic tasks and assist individuals with mobility challenges. Currently in testing for research purposes, the robot aims for mass production starting in 2025, with pricing expected to be comparable to an affordable car. (ps. this robot butler looks like a creepy man in a suit, no? See video).

At its "It's Glowtime" event, Apple introduced the iPhone 16 series, featuring the new A18 chip for better performance and battery life, along with a revamped dual-camera system. It brings AI capabilities to the forefront with Apple Intelligence, including features like Visual Intelligence, an AI-powered reverse image search that identifies objects and takes action.

Australia has proposed new AI regulations focusing on human oversight and transparency, introducing ten voluntary guidelines for high-risk AI applications. These guidelines emphasize the need for human control in AI systems and informing users about AI-generated content. The government aims to address concerns over misinformation while aligning with global regulatory efforts, such as those in the European Union.

Also, my fave Podcast episode this week: Andrej Karpathy, a founding team member of OpenAI and former Tesla Autopilot leader, joined tech investors Sarah Guo and Elad Gill on their latest podcast, No Priors (an awesome podcast by the way). The episode covers the future of self-driving cars, Tesla's Optimus robot, the current challenges in AI development, and how AI could be integrated with human cognition.

Spending this week adding the finishing touches on the lessons for my upcoming course, "Generative AI for Business Executives."  

Are you ready to lead in the AI era and future-proof your organization?

Limited spots left—secure yours today!

Until next time!

Ayesha ♥️

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