TikTok is opening a "Transparency and Accountability Center" to address skepticism and improve public perception.
Artifact, a new app developed by Instagram co-founders, offers a hyper-personalized newsfeed driven by machine learning, with plans to integrate generative text in the future.
OpenAI's release of ChatGPT (GPT-3.5) as a temporary solution has unexpectedly gained over 30 million users, prompting an AI arms race among competitors.
Deep dives
Artifact: A Personalized Newsfeed Powered by Machine Learning
Artifact is a new app developed by the co-founders of Instagram. It functions as a hyper-personalized newsfeed driven by machine learning. The app collects text-based content from various publishers and uses machine learning to understand user interests and preferences. Over time, Artifact customizes the newsfeed according to the user's preferences, offering a tailored experience. The app also plans to integrate generative text in the future to synthesize events and provide relevant sources. Additionally, Artifact includes social features, such as a social feed and a direct message inbox, enabling users to discuss and connect around news stories. The development team aims to focus on utility first, gradually building a social network around the utility-driven experience.
The Evolution of Artifact and Its Utility-first Approach
Artifact follows a similar evolution trajectory as Instagram and Facebook, starting with a utility-driven focus. The co-founders believe that establishing a strong utility foundation is key before developing a social network component. By prioritizing utility, Artifact ensures that users find value in the app's personalized newsfeed. The social aspect of the app, including discussion and debate around discovered content, will be integrated later to avoid creating filter bubbles. The team aims to create an environment where quality content can go viral, regardless of the author's popularity, and facilitate meaningful discussions around inspiring topics.
The Promise and Challenges of Artifact
Artifact offers a unique approach to news consumption, leveraging machine learning to deliver a personalized newsfeed. The app's ability to understand user interests and tailor content accordingly provides a streamlined browsing experience. However, Artifact faces challenges, particularly in terms of content moderation, bias, and scaling a social network aspect. The team emphasizes the importance of transparency and accountability, striving to address these challenges through ongoing development and updates. Artifact has the potential to revolutionize news consumption and foster engaging discussions, but future iterations will need to address concerns and ensure a balanced and diverse user experience.
Rapid Growth and Accidental Release
In just two months, OpenAI's chat GPT product has gained over 30 million registered users, surpassing Instagram's growth rate. Originally intended as a temporary solution while developing GPT-4, OpenAI released the chatbot, now known as GPT-3.5, to gather feedback and improve their upcoming model. The decision to release the chatbot early has proved successful, but also raised concerns within OpenAI about fast-tracking development and potentially compromising safety.
Challenges and Unforeseen Impact
Chat GPT's unexpected popularity has presented challenges for OpenAI. They have been caught off guard by the level of engagement and the need for addressing issues such as misuse and ethical concerns. Despite reservations from some internally, OpenAI has been working to patch flaws and gain feedback. The success of chat GPT has not only altered OpenAI's trajectory, but it has also prompted an AI race among competitors, raising the importance of careful development and accountability in the advancing field of large language models.
TikTok is opening up a “Transparency and Accountability Center” to try to win over skeptics. Is the company’s strategy working? Then, the origin story of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and how the company kicked off an A.I. arms race.
Plus: A co-founder of Instagram, Kevin Systrom, hopes to make a “TikTok for text.”
On today’s episode:
Kevin Systrom is an entrepreneur and the co-founder of Instagram.
Additional reading:
TikTok is taking a more aggressive approach toward lobbying.
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