Welcome back!

Sorry for missing your inbox yesterday — today’s email will have you all caught up on the latest in AI.

Today’s focus is on autonomous AI agents, which may be the next big thing in AI. We’ll also take a look at Google’s new image generation capabilities. Let’s dive in.

In today’s Daily Update:

• 🗞️ OpenAI rumored to launch autonomous agents

• 🤖 Generate images with Google’s new AI search feature

• 📸 Ukraine deploys autonomous attack drones

• 🚨 AI Roundup: Four quick hits

Read time: 2 minutes

LATEST NEWS

🗞️ OpenAI rumored to launch autonomous agents

OpenAI is expected to unveil autonomous agents at its first developer conference on Nov. 6. Autonomous agents are AI-powered software that can talk and work with other software to perform tasks on their own.

Example use case:

• An autonomous agent could be instructed to organize an office party.

• The agent could connect with your office email account and calendar app to create an invite list.

• It would then generate an invite card and send it to everyone in the office.

• The agent could also order from a food delivery app, and create a playlist on Spotify to play through your office speakers.

Why it matters: This is just a rumor, so there’s no guarantee that OpenAI even makes this highly anticipated announcement. Meta and Google have demoed autonomous agents before, so there’s reason to believe that these rumors are true. A productized release from OpenAI would be a huge leap for AI technology and a step towards artificial general intelligence (AGI).

AI TOOL OF THE DAY

🤖 Generate images with Google’s new AI search feature

Google just announced that it’s bringing image generation capabilities to Search Generative Experience (SGE), which is Google’s version of AI in search.

Users will now be able to generate up to four images per search with a single text prompt. Google hopes that the new AI feature will help users create the exact image they’re looking for if it doesn’t already exist.

Google will also include watermarks to indicate that an image was generated by AI. Here’s how to use the new feature:

• Go to labs.google.

• Find the Google Search category and click “Get Started.”

• Enable SGE generative AI in Search (note that this is only an option in Chrome).

• Start creating!

SPOTLIGHT

📸 Ukraine deploys autonomous attack drones

Ukraine is reportedly using AI-equipped attack drones that can find and kill targets without human oversight. This marks the drones’ first use on the battlefield.

What you need to know:

• The Saker Scout drone carries up to 3kg of bombs and has autonomous modes for recon and attack.

• Its AI vision system can identify 64 military vehicle types and verify targets before striking without human oversight.

• Ukraine says the autonomous attack function has been used successfully on a small scale.

• Although the drones have raised ethical concerns, there are currently no regulations prohibiting their use.

Why it matters: We’re entering a new era of warfare. Battlefield use of autonomous weapons systems is yet another ethical issue that governments around the world will have to address as they push for AI regulation.

🚨 AI Roundup: Four quick hits

• Embracing AI: 42% of Mac users are using AI apps daily. A survey of Mac app developers shows a similar trend.

• Job Displacement: Stack Overflow lays off over 100 people (28% of staff) as the AI coding boom continues.

• AI-powered Ads: YouTube introduces “Spotlight Moments” advertising package that automatically identifies the most popular videos related to a specific cultural moment (like Halloween).

• Government Support: New York City Mayor Eric Adams releases plan for responsible AI use in NYC government.

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY

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Jack

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