The journey towards realizing artificial general intelligence (AGI) is moving forward rapidly, making for an exciting week in AI development.
From Apple’s unveiling of its upcoming Intelligence features to significant progress in AI-generated video technology, here’s a roundup of this week’s major AI headlines.
Apple Intelligence Launches in Beta
This week was significant for Apple’s product lineup, marked by the rollout of iOS 18, WatchOS 11, and MacOS 15. Immediately following these releases, the iPhone 16 and Apple Watch 10 became available for purchase, accompanied by the launch of the 18.1 beta update for the operating systems.
While the beta doesn’t showcase the full range of features anticipated from Apple Intelligence—expectation for the complete version arrives with the official October release—it offers users a glimpse into what the generative AI will soon provide.
However, early observations indicate that Apple Intelligence may require additional fine-tuning before it becomes fully polished for widespread use.
Lionsgate Teams Up with Runway for AI Video Innovation
Despite last summer’s Hollywood writers strike, which was largely in response to concerns about generative AI, Lionsgate has forged ahead, announcing its collaboration with Runway to create and train AI video models.
This partnership will focus on harnessing Lionsgate’s extensive film and TV catalog to develop new opportunities for efficient content creation, raising questions about the implications for the professionals involved in traditional filmmaking.
Snap Launches New Spectacles AR Glasses
In its ongoing efforts to popularize augmented reality (AR) glasses, Snap introduced the fifth generation of its Spectacles. These new spectacles feature a broader field of view and display capabilities akin to “a 100-inch screen viewed from 10 feet away,” along with considerable enhancements to SnapOS and the accompanying mobile app. Additionally, Snap is reportedly collaborating with OpenAI to integrate cloud-supported multimodal AI functionalities into the glasses.
The new glasses weigh 226 grams—over 100 grams heavier than the previous edition—and have a distinctive aesthetic. Currently, they are accessible only to developers with a subscription fee of $99 per month, with no updates on a consumer version yet.
YouTube Enhances Content Creation with AI Tools
To simplify content creation for newcomers and better compete with platforms like TikTok, YouTube launched an array of AI-driven production tools. At the Made on YouTube event this past Wednesday in New York City, Google unveiled its plan to integrate DeepMind’s Veo video generation model into YouTube Studio. This model can create six-second clips in 1080p resolution based on text prompts, presented as a brainstorming tool that aids in topic selection, title generation, thumbnail creation, and scriptwriting.
In combination with Dream Screen, which generates AI-crafted background images, users can create a still background and then animate it with Veo.
Did you know that generating a brief email through a chatbot burns the same amount of energy as three water bottles and 14 LED bulbs running for an hour? Perhaps consider brainstorming some ideas with your own creativity instead of relying on technology.
Runway Introduces Video-to-Video Generation in Gen-3 Alpha
Runway Gen-3 Alpha just leveled up with Video-to-Video! Now you can transform the style of any video using simple text prompts at incredible quality.
10 wild examples of what’s possible: pic.twitter.com/onh12zCzpI
— Min Choi (@minchoi) September 15, 2024
At the start of the week, Runway unveiled a new feature for its Gen-3 Alpha model, allowing users to alter the cinematic style of any video with text inputs. This innovation has excited AI enthusiasts, with demonstrations available on social media. Moreover, Runway launched an API to enable external developers to integrate this video generation model into their own applications and platforms.