128 | 😳👻 They’re here!

In today’s Brainyacts:

1. They’re here!

2. How to derisk hallucination of sources/citations

3. Huge week for leading consumer AI models and other AI-related news

4. Actor’s AI likeness protected and other news you can use

👋 to new subscribers!

To read previous editions, click here.

Lead Memo

😳👻 They’re here! And now you'll live with them forever.

Microsoft Is Here.

This week, tech giants Microsoft and Google have been busy. They're both doubling down on AI, weaving it into the fabric of their main products—think Microsoft's Windows and Google's Search. You know, the ones you like use every minute of your life.

Those that have ignored ChatGPT will be unable to ignore these.

What Microsoft is Up To

Microsoft has been busy adding AI features to its apps all year. Just yesterday, they unveiled a game plan: Meet "Microsoft Copilot." This tool will be your go-to for both work and personal tasks, pulling info from various apps and data sources across your organization and using GPT-4.

Coming soon to Windows 11, Copilot will be right there in your Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Plus, they're adding some cool AI image tech to Bing and other apps like Paint and Photos. All of this aims to make your life easier, from backing up your computer to setting it up anew. And don't worry—your data will stay safe and private (so they say).

Quick Look at Microsoft 365 Copilot/Chat:

• New Copilot features in Outlook, Word, Excel, and more.

• Introducing 365 Chat—find anything you need, from emails to web info.

• Think of 365 Chat as your smart assistant, making your work life easier (no, not Clippy)

For more, check out Microsoft's blog post.

Google is Here Too.

Google isn't sitting still either. They're upgrading their Bard chatbot to be more reliable and accurate. This is key for Google, whose business is all about trustworthy info. They're also adding new AI features for YouTube creators, like "Aloud," which translates videos into different languages at the click of a button.

What You Need to Know

Whether you're skeptical or excited about AI, it's becoming a part of your daily life. Copilot in Outlook alone is a big deal. This isn't just a gimmick—it's advanced tech that can boost your productivity and ease your mental load. For professionals who bill by the hour, this could be a game-changer in reducing those non-billable tasks.

Side Note

Choosing a computer used to be about Mac vs. PC, or iOS vs. Android. But AI is changing the game. It's letting Microsoft and Google rethink what their core products can do. As for Apple? They're still silent on the AI front. We might soon be choosing our computers based on the proprietary AI models and agents in them.

Spotlight

A Game Changer for your Research Workflow

I’ve been digging into OpenAI’s custom instructions and plugins again. I recently refreshed your memory on custom instructions. Today I am combining that with a plugin. Why? I want to show you how to polish your prompting skills by using these techniques in order to generate highly reliable responses – complete with real citations to resources you can click through to.

AI Model Notables

Along with the Big News above . . . .

• OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 integrates with ChatGPT so users don’t have to think of prompts anymore to get great images.

• Anthropic releases a Responsible AI Scaling policy. The basic idea is to require safety, security, and operational standards appropriate to a model’s potential for catastrophic risk, with higher ASL levels requiring increasingly strict demonstrations of safety. 

News You Can Use:

➭ Time to get in the game with your ideas on how generative AI can be used to improve education. I will be submitting my legal education idea. You should give it some time and think through this.

➭ Amazon’s voice assistant gets more human-like with generative AI.

➭ The Authors Guild — led by prominent fiction authors including George R.R. Martin, Jonathan Franzen, and John Grisham — on Tuesday sued OpenAI, accusing the company of engaging “in a systematic course of mass-scale copyright infringement.

➭ Indian actor Anil Kapoor wins court battle over AI use of his likeness.

➭ Intel pitches the 'AI PC' that would allow us to run ChatGPT locally on our laptop.

➭ Pennsylvania state government will prepare to start using AI in its operations.

➭ Massive influxes of refugees and migrants are stressing (and breaking) AI translation tools and some lives of migrants.

➭ Republican presidential contender William Hurd released AI Policy Plan (he is a former Republican member of Congress from Texas, chaired the first AI hearing in Congress in 2018. He also claims credit for writing "the first National Strategy for AI").

Who is the author, Josh Kubicki?

Some of you know me. Others do not. Here is a short intro. I am a lawyer, entrepreneur, and teacher. I have transformed legal practices and built multi-million dollar businesses. Not a theorist, I am an applied researcher and former Chief Strategy Officer, recognized by Fast Company and Bloomberg Law for my unique work. Through this newsletter, I offer you pragmatic insights into leveraging AI to inform and improve your daily life in legal services.