How One Company Is Using A.I. to Make Custom Emojis
From Apple's Animojis to Bitmoji, the emoji world is beginning to merge technology with self-expression. Mirror A.I.'s Serge Faguet joins Cheddar to discuss his company's keyboard, which uses facial recognition to make custom emoji. He explains the research and development that went into creating the app's software.
The co-founder and CEO also gives his take on the emoji industry's landscape. He says his company has a leg up on Bitmoji, thanks to its facial-recognition software and the ability to make likenesses of friends, in addition to oneself. He says this makes the app inherently more social, which gives it an advantage over competitors.
Finally, we discuss what the future of emoji may hold in store. Faguet says his company is exploring entering the VR and personalized advertising spaces. We also discuss how celebrities are using custom emoji keyboards to market their brands.
Venture capitalists and CEOs are clashing over the future of the internet. Web3 is the tech world's name for a decentralized, blockchain-based internet that runs on cryptocurrency. It was recently the topic of a tweet from Block CEO and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey who wrote that Web3 will not actually be owned by users, and instead be controlled by rich venture capitalists. Dorsey later shared that he was blocked on Twitter by Marc Andreesen, co-founder of VC firm Andreesen Horowitz, which has invested billions of dollars into Web3 and crypto projects. Correspondent for DealBook from the New York Times, Ephrat Livni, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what this could mean for the future of Web3.
Prices at the pump this year reached a seven-year high, and a new forecast from GasBuddy shared with CNN predicts that gas prices will only continue to rise in 2022 and that the national average could even reach $4.00 a gallon; however, analysts at GasBuddy say anything could happen when it comes to gas prices in the future, as the pandemic has made it difficult to make any predictions about the economy. Consumer Energy Alliance federal policy advisor Michael Zehr joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The two tech- billionaires Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey are the latest voices to discuss the new hypothetical internet called Web 3.0. According to the billionaires, the new concept is just a "marketing buzzword" and cannot exist without venture capitalists or large backing. However, advocates of the Web 3.0 believe this decentralized space is the next big thing to help put ownership back into the hands of the people. Senior News Editor at The Verge, Richard Lawler, joined Cheddar to discuss more.