AI: AI Synthetic Content is coming. RTZ #495
...building off AI Synthetic Data wave already in motion
I’ve talked at length about the coming AI Compute Data demand from AI Synthetic Data. And hinted at the coming deluge of AI Synthetic Content.
Meta this week had a plethora of AI announcements, from multimodal open source Llama 3.2, to upgraded Ray-ban ‘Smart Glasses’, to upgraded Quest VR headsets, to Zuck’s show-stopping $10,000++ AR glasses (aka ‘Orion’) available in 2027+, and other items. But they something that got relatively less attention': Synthetic Content, Meta Style.
Axios explains in “Meta’s new AI-made posts open a Pandora’s Box”:
“Meta's plan to generate synthetic content tailored to individual users — which attracted little notice this week amid a slew of product announcements — opens a whole new Pandora's box in an AI world already full of them.”
“Why it matters: Generative AI has largely been used to create content at the behest of individual users, but now Facebook's parent company says it will proactively surface AI-generated posts based on users' interests.”
“Driving the news: As part of its slew of announcements on Wednesday at its annual developers conference, Meta said it's "starting to test content imagined for you by Meta AI that will appear in your Facebook and Instagram Feeds."
“Meta said it will generate some images based on a user's interests and others that feature their likeness "so you can be the star of your own story and share your favorites with friends."
“Users will have the option, Meta said, "to take that content in a new direction or swipe to see more content imagined for you in real time."
“People will also be able to opt out of such auto-generated "imagined for you" content, a Meta representative told Axios.”
“Between the lines: The move is a logical next step for Meta, which has increasingly been using the Facebook feed to surface content its algorithm thinks you will like, often instead of posts shared by friends.”
User receptivity to all this remains to be seen. Especially after the novelty factor wears off:
“So far, a lot of the public reaction to AI-generated content in the realm of media and entertainment has not been enthusiastic, particularly outside gaming.”
“Many people — once they get over the amazement that AI can duplicate the sound of a famous voice or generate a few minutes of video — simply lose interest.”
“The bottom line: A future where our feeds will be filled with stuff written by a computer rather than a person is not a foregone conclusion. But it's not far off, either.”
A totally different form of AI driven ‘Synthetic Content’ innovation came last week from Google. It’s under-the radar feature in its NotebookLM AI, where PDFs can be turned into podcasts, is causing a stir. This one may have more bottom up demand if Google moves aggressively to productize it for mainstream users.
As this ZDNet reviewer explains enthusiastically in “Google's hidden AI tool turns your text into stunningly lifelike podcasts - for free. Listen for yourself”:
“I've been studying AI for years, and Google's new AI podcast tool still astonishes me. Seriously, you have to hear this to believe it. But humans will beat the machines in the end. Here's why.”
“I am not at all religious, but when I discovered this tool, I wanted to scream, "This is the devil's work!"
“When I played the audio included below for you to my editor, she slacked back, "WHAT KIND OF SORCERY IS THIS?" I've worked with her for 10 years, during which time we have slacked back and forth just about every day, and that's the first all-caps I've ever seen from her.”
Here’s how Google makes it possible:
“All I did was paste the text of my article about the too-real VR conversion of 2D images to 3D into Google's NotebookLM service and click Generate.”
“Let me be perfectly clear: the "people" in the broadcast are not real. The audio is entirely AI-generated.”
“To fully appreciate the implications of this technology, it's worth spending a few minutes reading my original article and then listening to at least one minute of the six-minute audio track.”
This is ‘magical’ Synthetic Content indeed. Converting prosaic text documents, blog posts, PDFs, into interactive, voice conversations with AI generated ‘personalities’. Much more accessible and truly opening out new markets where there were none before.
Google potentially has a ‘ChatGPT’ on its hands. They need to move fast. Not to mention the industry at large, INCLUDING Substack, where AI: Reset to Zero is created. I for one would be game to introduce AI generated ‘podcasts’ of my posts to be enjoyed as an interactive discussion between AI ‘agent’ voices.
It represents the best of what can be done with technology. AI technology in the case.
And by the way, if any of the AI Synthetic Content above takes off in the mainstream, it will all require EVEN MORE AI GPUs, Infrastructure, Power and massive ‘AI Table Stakes’ investments, than already planned in this AI Tech Wave.
AI generated Synthetic Data, and now Synthetic Content, are now the two additional applications that could drive mainstream AI adoption. Far beyond the OpenAI ChatGPT, AI Reasoning and Agent waves, all powered by LLM AI training and inference, already baked in.
And we’re just getting started with this AI thing. Stay tuned.
(NOTE: The discussions here are for information purposes only, and not meant as investment advice at any time. Thanks for joining us here)