❤️ We love this new Google AI feature!

AI-HOI AInauts,

Welcome to the latest issue of your favorite newsletter. We've spent the last few days testing two cool tools that you can use right away. And there's also a bunch of news to keep you up to date.

Here's what we have in store for you:

• 🎙️ NotebookLM - The AI buddy for your notes can now also record podcasts

• ⚡️ Coding for all of us - How we are using Replit Agents

• 📰 AI news quickie - The HAIights from the industry

Here we go!

🎙️ NotebookLM - The ultimate AI buddy for your notes can now also do podcasts

A thousand tabs open, notes scattered everywhere and your desktop cluttered with documents - sounds familiar?

Google brought us the ultimate AI assistant with NotebookLM - perfect for chaotic people like us to turn chaos into a mastermind. You simply throw in your PDFs, notes and websites and everything is structured, analyzed and networked. We ❤️ it!

You can then chat with the content as if it was your personal brainstorming group. Creating summaries, FAQs, tables of contents and learning aids is just as easy as finding sources and sharing your project with others.

In short, it helps you to keep track and explore topics.

The tool itself has been around for a while, but it has recently become more widely available - and has added a new killer feature that we'll talk about in a moment.

Particularly exciting is the massive context window, which ensures high relevance and accuracy: Bye-bye, AI hallucinations! And of course, you can continuously add notes to expand the understanding of your notebook.

Possible use cases for NotebookLM

• Collect notes and use them to brainstorm and generate ideas

• Use learning material as a basis to produce quizzes

• Upload travel documents and use them to create an itinerary

• Upload manuals and use them as an (internal) database for support

• Upload code and have it explained to you

• Pull in a book and get a summary

• ... or upload your own newsletter and have it analyzed, like we did!

So much for the basics - but now it's getting really exciting!

🎧 Podcast about your notebook at the touch of a button

NotebookLM turns dry facts into an ultra-realistic podcast! With one click, you can generate a discussion between two AI hosts who present your topics in a realistic, informative and entertaining way.

On a technical level, it's an impressive blend of many things we' ve seen before - like natural voices and human emotions. But the ideas are also summarized super well and entertainingly enriched with examples and comparisons.

• It's perfect for anyone who enjoys learning or multitasking with audio

• You can adjust the playback speed - turbo or slow-mo

• And of course you can also download the podcast and enjoy it offline

Here is the audio version of this edition:

Our take: NotebookLM is cool, and the podcasts are just 🤯

We are really excited about NotebookLM! It's perfect for anyone who juggles a lot of information. Complex topics become digestible and you see connections you might otherwise have missed.

And the ultra-realistic podcast generator makes learning and understanding information so much easier and more entertaining. Try it out, just click on the "Notebook Guide" menu at the bottom right.

P.S.: We also wanted to translate the podcast with ElevenLabs, but unfortunately this is not possible due to an AI watermark...

⚡️ Coding for all of us - How we are using Replit Agents

You may not have noticed it yet, but in the last two months the world of software development has radically simplified (see also this article).

You can create complex applications directly in the browser using natural language, without having to deal with complicated setups or endless installations.

Sounds magical? Welcome to the era of Replit Agent!

Replit Agent is an AI-powered helper that helps you to turn your ideas into working software faster than ever before. The real magic is not necessarily in the current outputs - they are usable, but still have potential.

But many people are experiencing the fascination of programming for the first time, and new tools like these are changing the way we see and interact with technology.

Advantages and downsides: Where the Replit Agent shines and where it gets stuck

The Replit Agent is ideal for MVPs or proof-of-concept prototypes that run directly in the browser. In fact, anything that is browser-based is a home run for Replit.

The ease of use and accessibility via browser drastically lowers the entry barrier for software development. This makes it possible to implement and validate ideas at lightning speed - and you can also publish your app directly online!

Of course, not all that glitters is gold. Technologically, the environment is still limited and Replit Agents are also less suitable for adapting existing projects or implementing complex applications.

They also tend to get stuck in loops after a while. In addition, the current limit on the number of prompts somewhat restricts longer development sessions.

However, this has not prevented us from testing the whole thing extensively!

Best practices - what we have learned

• Describe the desired app and include links and screenshots to give the agent a good starting point. You can also refer to Github, Magic UI etc. to use code from there.

• It's best to start with a clearly defined, simple prototype that you can then expand on with additional functions. Focus on just one specific customization per request (not "Do this and that!").

• Use speech-to-text for efficient interaction. We love Flow from Wispr for this.

• ChatGPT or Claude are the perfect helpers if you/the agent get stuck somewhere.

• You can develop several apps in different browser windows at the same time. If one agent is still thinking, you can interact with the other(s).

• Use the desktop and mobile apps. You can even work on your apps on the go!

Our take: The future of Replit Agents software development

Replit Agents are more than just another AI tool, as they not only simplify software development but also open up programming to a new user group.

They are currently best suited for prototyping and simple web applications but could fundamentally change the way we develop software.

Sure, they are still in its infancy, but the outputs will very soon become much more complex and useful, supporting an extended tech stack.

Despite some limitations, the potential is enormous. So why wait? Discover what you can build yourself. For $25/month you're in!

📰 AI news quickie - The HAIlights from the industry

If the pace of news keeps up, it's going to be a really hot AI fall! We've put together the most important updates for you - to get you in the mood, here's a really well-made AI clip from KLING.

OpenAI

• The new o1 preview and o1 mini models have taken the crown on the LMsys leaderboard!

• They excel at chess and in many other areas. And now they are also available in Github Co-Pilot!

• OpenAI has massively increased the limits for the new models - Plus users have 50 messages per day with mini, and 50 per week in the preview model.

• But anyone who tries to "jailbreak" the new model is threatened with a ban...

• The OpenAI security board has also been restructured - now without Sam.

• Advanced Voice Mode could receive a broader rollout on September 24. Finally!?

• Apple design legend Jony Ive has confirmed rumors that he is working with OpenAI on a new AI hardware device. Exciting: What will the minds behind the iPhone and ChatGPT come up with?

• OpenAI is also about to close the largest venture capital round of all time: 6.5 billion dollars at a valuation of 150 billion dollars. Will the AI bubble lose some air soon?

• And finally, a look behind the scenes of the OpenAI o1 developers - and a new Sora video, Fun!

Audio & Video

• YouTube introduces new AI updates: More features for Creator, including auto-dubbing in many languages, idea generation and Google Veo for shorts.

• Kling 1.5 has been released and shows impressive video quality in 1080p Full HD - and with Motion Brush even precise motion control is possible. Check out the video above!

• Runway AI Gen-3 has unveiled new video-to-video features - and is launching a partnership with the movie studio Lionsgate.

• The new HeyGen Avatars 3.0 are out and can even mimic your facial expressions.

• Bottomless Videos? The Luma Dream Machine API is already available, Kling API on request and Runway has a waitlist.

• Do you remember the Moshi Audio Chat? The makers have just released it as open source!

• Hume.ai introduces EVI 2 - an AI that talks to you and listens to you.

• Suno AI is busy releasing new features such as covers, exclude styles, ...

• SnapChat introduces an AI video tool for Creator and AR glasses.

• Amazon launches an AI video generator for product ads.

Image

• Google will soon automatically highlight AI-generated images in search results.

• A paper presents Omnigen, which can also draw logical conclusions when generating and processing images.

• Flux in real time: Krea AI can manipulate AI images in real time!

Industry

• What are the dangers of AI? Google and OpenAI "whistleblowers" testify before the US Senate. Maybe we'll have AGI in three years...

• Meta extends the Ray-Ban deal for smart sunglasses by six years.

• California passes eight new AI laws on deepfakes, watermarks and acting. Still pending is the SB 1047 AI Bill, which could make AI companies liable for damages...

• HubSpot goes all in on AI and introduces Breeze Agents and 80+ new AI features at the Inbound Conference. Well played!

• Groq, the makers of the super-fast chip, have signed a deal with Aramco (6th most valuable company in the world) for the world's largest AI data center.

• Apple releases VisionOS 2 for the Vision Pro headset and launches a public beta for Apple Intelligence.

• LinkedIn trains AI models with your data - without asking first! You can unsubscribe here.

New models

• Alibaba publishes over 100 open source models - from text-to-video to image generation.

• Among them is the Qwen 2.5 model, which outperforms all other open source models and can even keep up with the OpenAI models in some areas. Wow!

• GameGen O is a diffusion transformer model that generates dynamic game worlds - the future of gaming graphics.

• Guardrails AI is a new model for fact-checking other AI models. Clever!

We made it! But no need to be sad. The AInauts will be back soon, with new food for thought.

Reto & Fabian from the AInauts

P.S.: Follow us on social media - that motivates us to keep going 😁!
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