Microsoft turns doodles into masterpieces...

Warning: The AI goodies you are about to snack on are piping hot! Grab your favorite dipping sauce, and let’s dig in. 🔥

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MICROSOFT PAINT GETS AI UPGRADE 🎨

Q: What kind of shoes do artists wear?

A: Sketchers. 👟

What’s new? Microsoft Paint is getting a significant upgrade with the introduction of Cocreator, a new tool powered by “diffusion-based algorithms.”

What does it do? Cocreator can generate images based on text prompts as well as from users’ own doodles within the Paint app. During a demo at its Surface event, Microsoft showcased how Cocreator seamlessly blends user drawings with text prompts to produce images. A notable feature is the “creativity slider,” which lets users adjust the balance between AI-generated content and original art. This integration of text prompts and brush strokes facilitates quicker edits and offers more precise renderings than standalone text-to-image generators, like DALLE-3 and Midjourney. This new update to Microsoft Paint can prove useful for both professional artists and casual users.

AMAZON TO GIVE ALEXA AN AI MAKEOVER 🦾

“Alexa, order me some extra salty French fries!” 🍟

What’s happening? Amazon is set to introduce a revamped version of its decade-old Alexa voice assistant, incorporating advanced generative AI and introducing a monthly subscription fee.

Why? Despite Alexa’s popularity for basic tasks like setting kitchen timers and announcing the weather, Amazon recognizes the need for significant updates to keep pace with advancements in AI. This new offering, separate from the Amazon Prime subscription, aims to enhance Alexa’s conversational capabilities to better compete with innovative AI-powered chatbots from OpenAI and Google. New models like GPT-4o are capable of deep, two-way conversations and real-time translations, which has highlighted the growing gap between Alexa and newer AI technologies. With over 500 million Alexa-enabled devices sold, the stakes are high for Amazon to deliver an AI-enhanced voice assistant that meets modern expectations and justifies its continued investment.

DOJ MAKES FIRST ARREST FOR AI-GENERATED CSAM 🙏

The dark side of AI is no laughing matter. 😔

What’s up? The DOJ made its first arrest related to AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

What was the case? The DOJ says the material was created by a 42-year-old software engineer named Steven Anderegg in Holmen, Wisconsin. A report determined that he used Stable Diffusion 1.5 to create the explicit material, which has fewer ethical safeguards than that of Midjourney or DALL-E 3. After creating these images, Anderegg used them to try to lure minors. He is now being charged with four counts of transferring obscene material to a minor under the age of 16.

Is this significant? The proliferation of AI-generated CSAM has been one of the most devastating consequences of generative AI. Finding a way to accurately track who is responsible for such material and who can be legally punished has been extremely difficult, and this process is only getting harder as generative AI gets better. This arrest, then, should not be looked at as the standard for what will realistically happen to all who create and spread such material, but it serves as an example that using AI for such purposes is not to be tolerated and nonetheless deserves to be punished.

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