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- 🧠 Lightmatter lands massive $154M funding round 💰
🧠 Lightmatter lands massive $154M funding round 💰
PLUS: MyHeritage brings animation to old family photos
Alan Buxbaum & Alex Valaitis
June 01, 2023
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Welcome back to another edition of Big Brain, your primary source for all things AI.
We’re ready to dive headfirst into the world of artificial intelligence, breaking down complex concepts into digestible insights, just for you.
Today's AI spotlights:
Lightmatter lands massive $154M funding round 💰
Can LLMs help Indian citizens have a bigger say in government? 🙋♀️
MyHeritage brings animation to old family photos 📸
💰 LIGHTMATTER LANDS MASSIVE $154M FUNDING ROUND
Lightmatter, the photonic computing startup, is planning to shake up the AI computation scene like a snow globe after Christmas dinner. Their secret sauce?
Chips that perform calculations using light, not silicon. They're a super-efficient answer to AI's current energy guzzling habits.
The problem right now is that AI computations consume power like a teenager consumes pizza. Supercomputers, the main culprits, are about as eco-friendly as a coal-fired power plant.
Lightmatter's solution is, well, light. Their chips use tiny optical waveguides to turn light into calculations, a breakthrough that could be the biggest thing since sliced bread—or at least sliced silicon.
With $154M of fresh funding, Lightmatter is preparing to bring their chips to the party. Don't expect to see them in your laptop anytime soon, though—they're specialized like a Michelin-star chef. But in the world of AI, they're about to make some serious waves.
🙋♀️ CAN LLMS HELP INDIAN CITIZENS HAVE A BIGGER SAY IN GOVERNMENT?
Microsoft is eyeing India...
The tech giant has taken a significant step in the realm of generative AI with their latest offering, Jugalbandi
This AI-driven chatbot aims to simplify the task of navigating information about government programs in India, a country with nearly 22 official languages.
The primary objective is to use AI to break down language barriers. This can help to facilitate citizens' access to information in various sectors.
Jugalbandi seamlessly integrates with WhatsApp, India's most popular communication platform. Right off the bat, this let's them reach 480 million users
The core of Jugalbandi is powered by AI4Bharat's language and learning models.
It works by translating and transcribing user messages, fetching relevant information and delivering it back to the user in their native language. It's basically like having a personalized agent at your disposal!
📸 MYHERATIGE BRINGS ANIMATION TO OLD PHOTOS
It's never been easier for the average person to make their artistic imagination a reality. MyHeritage is taking things to the next level.
The genealogy company is stepping into the world of AI with a new app, Reimagine.
It's not just about scanning those dusty photos from grandma's attic; it's also improving resolution, mending old scratches and - yes - adding animation to still photos.
This isn't totally a new concept. Google had PhotoScan in 2016, but MyHeritage aims to take it up a notch with their broader, AI-powered feature set.
But hold on, there’s some fine print - AI sometimes struggles with light glare, and color restoration might not always be perfect. But it's an impressive start, particularly for those old, faded color photos from the '50s and '60s.
📰 OTHER HEADLINES & STORIES
🛠️ AWESOME AI TOOLS
Siit: AI assistant for employee support
Paige: Rewrite your web presence in a page generated in 30 seconds
Recraft.AI: Vector art generation with AI
Taglayer: No-code customer experiences
💼AI JOBS
🖼️ AI ART PIECE
Funny Dreams — u/BigBobs37
🤖 CHATGPT PROMPT OF THE DAY
ChatGPT is a total bro.
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