If you wanted to previously find an image that perfectly matched what you saw in your head online, you had to type in a wordy search inquiry. You’d hit send and hope you find the perfect match from the billions of images out there.
Now, that mental snapshot can be crafted in seconds by artificial intelligence and sometimes it’s even better than you could imagine.
“We want to solve a big problem that everyone has, which is roughly half of the searches today are going unanswered,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s consumer chief marketing officer. “But with A.I., we can now start to answer more and more of those questions.”
Microsoft invested $10 billion in Open A.I., the artificial intelligence research laboratory responsible for text-based ChatGPT and image generator DALL-E. It recently combined its powers with its search engine Bing. Not only will it store the searches, it will use third-party apps like Open Table and the breadth of the internet to give you simplified answers. Think of it as the modern version of Ask Jeeves, but it actually works, Mehdi said.
“You can just talk to it like an everyday person, and the A.I. does all the work and comes back with simple answers,” he explained.
When you describe something to Bing through its chat function and ask for an image, it will generate it for you using DALL-E technology in seconds -- even if it’s something that never existed like Baby Yoda sharing a drink with Boba Fett in Mos Eisley.
Or you can ask Bing to come up with reference images to give to a contractor. Mehdi recently queried for pictures of a mid-Century modern-style bar to serve as inspiration for an upcoming house remodeling project.
“It's going to make people in their current jobs that much more productive, that much more effective, than we're seeing that today,” Mehdi said. “Second, it’s going to create a new set of jobs where people can learn how to take advantage of the A.I.”
If what you need can only be described in words, Bing and ChatGPT combine together to give you answers with context. Instead of having to research individual items and draw your own conclusions, it will compile the results for you. It can be especially useful when it comes to travel.
“Travel planning takes multiple weeks, people taking lots of notes, lots of tabs, having to compile it together,” he said. “What you can see here is in one chat session, you can literally just ask multiple questions like we were saying, “Hey, give me a day-by-day itinerary. Tell me about the festivals. What should I wear? What should I know about the customs of coming in?”
At the end of the day, it will save us time.
“We're automating the mundane tasks, the things you don't want us to do so it frees you up to do the really interesting work,” Mehdi said.
As the popularity of Bitcoin and other digital tokens grew this year, more financial institutions and payment apps added ways for customers to trade or make payments using cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, companies like theater chain AMC started accepting major cryptocurrencies for tickets and concessions, and retailers are rumored to be entering the space soon. What does this mean for cryptocurrency's wider adoption — and will 2022 be the year that the average consumer is exposed to digital coin payments on a regular basis? João Almeida, Co-Founder and CTO of OpenNode joins Cheddar News' Crypto Craze: The Year of the Token to discuss.
Bitcoin had a successful 2021: reaching a new high of nearly $70,000, a $1 trillion market cap, and becoming legal tender in El Salvador. Investors also got the chance to invest in three Bitcoin futures-backed ETFs once they were approved. These developments set up the world's best-known digital coin for more success in 2022, but could altcoins like Ethereum, Litecoin, and others move into the top spot or impact Bitcoin's value? Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise Asset Management, joins Cheddar's Crypto Craze: The Year of the Token to discuss his 2022 outlook for Bitcoin, whether we could see an ETF backed by a physical coin, and more.
Coming off a 2021 campaign where the prices of Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies reached unpreceded levels, Bitwise Asset Management CIO Matt Hougan and OpenNode Co-Founder & CTO João Almeida join Cheddar News' Crypto Craze: The Year of the Token to discuss the ways the crypto market can soar even higher in 2022.
Howard Yu, LEGO professor of management and innovation at IMD Business School and author of "Leap: How to Thrive in a World Where Everything Can Be Copied," joined Cheddar to discuss the mania surrounding the concept of the metaverse. He particularly noted how companies in the retailing sector like Nike are leveraging it. "I think metaverse really opens up a window for brands to think about how can they, ongoing-wise, engage with the consumer, engage with the target audience, so their brand continues to stay refreshed in the changing environment," Yu said.
2021 was no walk in the park for the tech sector. However, despite the industry dealing with worldwide chip shortage and supply chain crisis, many companies managed to push innovations forward. All these innovations are also expected to accelerate its coolness in 2022. Editor at Large at CNET Ian Sherr, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
The mobile brokerage app, Tornado, says its the first investing platform that combines next-level tools and resources with hyper-tailored investing news. The more you engage within the app, the more intelligent of an investor you'll be, and the more you'll gain from the experience. 'Learn and earn,' the latest feature of the app serves to do just that, as it pays users to learn how to invest. CEO and co-founder of Tornado, Bernard George, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
