mtf.tv's meet the future NOW, via Kevin Cirilli
Zoom CEO says make room for avatars in meetings… Gen Z says they’re down to date A.I.’s… and Senate says get ready for 2024 election tech threats.
BY KEVIN N. CIRILLI | LinkedIn | Instagram | X: @kevcirilli
THE FUTURE STARTS NOW: GO TO THE BEACH – YOUR A.I. AVATAR WILL TAKE THE MEETING. At least that’s what Zoom CEO Maxwell Zeff told The Verge in a bombshell exclusive interview that just futurized (I’m making that a word) the return to work debate.
– THE BIG IDEA, via The Verge: “Eric really wants you to stop having to attend Zoom meetings yourself. You’ll hear him describe how he thinks one of the big benefits of AI at work will be letting us all create something he calls a ‘digital twin’ — essentially a deepfake avatar of yourself that can go to Zoom meetings on your behalf and even make decisions for you while you spend your time on more important things, like your family.” Full story: here.
– HOW IT PLAYED: GIZMODO: Zoom CEO Wants an AI Avatar to Do Your Job While You’re at the Beach…. BusinessInsider: Get excited for AI clones, Zoom’s CEO says… TechEconomy: The Future of Work: Zoom CEO Envisions AI “Digital Twins” Attending Meetings for You.
– MARKET REACTION: Zoom (ZM) shares closed down -0.20 today at $61.53.
TECH TRANSLATION: Zeff laid down a marker that Zoom is moving to becoming an artificial intelligence first firm – and not just a pandemic baby. But only time will tell whether Zoom will get to meet the future or become akin to Blackberry from the old days when POLITICO ruled the roost…
HELLO, HUMANS AND BOTS. WELCOME TO YOUR DAILY SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR THE FUTURE. The day is number 156 of the year 2024. The planet is Earth. And this is a dispatch from the digital frontier. My name is Kevin Cirilli and I hope my digital twin shares my eclectic taste in music. Back to the future…
WORD ON THE STREET – MICROSOFT, HITACHI PLAN FOR MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR A.I. PARTNERSHIP, via WSJ’s Kimberly Kao: Hitachi and Microsoft announced a multibillion-dollar collaboration to accelerate the adoption of generative artificial intelligence… As part of the three-year partnership, the Japanese conglomerate will integrate Microsoft products including Microsoft Cloud and GitHub Copilot into Lumada, Hitachi’s core digital, software and services business, according to a joint statement by the two companies.” Full story here.
FUTURE LOVERS – GEN Z OPEN TO DATING BOTS. We’ve come a longggggg way from “You’ve Got Mail.” DatingAdvice.com’s Amber Brooks is out with a new survey today about having a fling with an artificial intelligence bot. [Remember: I don’t make the news, I just report it.]
31 percent open to AI in relationships. Notably, 40 percent of Gen Z singles are okay with their future partner having an AI s/o [significant other].
30 percent of millennials see AI partners as cheating, compared to just 15 percent of Gen Z…. but only 17 percent of Gen Z males think AI partners can prevent cheating.
15 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds worry their partner might leave them for an AI bot, compared to just 7 percent of millennials.
Full survey results here.
NOTABLE, via CNBC: Elon Musk ordered Nvidia to ship thousands of AI chips reserved for Tesla to X and xAI.
QUOTABLE, Elon Musk on X: “Tesla went public at $1.5B valuation 14 years ago. Valuation today is over $500B.”
BLAST OFF, via the mothership Bloomberg: SpaceX Gets Starship Launch License, Targets June 6 Flight: “The Federal Aviation Administration granted SpaceX a launch license to move forward with the next test flight, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.”
– LAUNCH THIS WEEK? “SpaceX now plans to launch Starship as early as June 6 from the company’s Starbase launch facility on the southern tip of Texas.”
– REMEMBER: “Starship is key to launching SpaceX’s future satellites and ferrying humans to the moon and, eventually, to Mars.” Bloomy’s Loren Grush with the full story here.
– BACK ON THE STREET, remember… Bloomberg reported last month that Musk’s SpaceX is weighing going public with a $200B valuation. So it’s impossible to price how these launches are impacting the space economy… so far… [Flashback here.]
DECISION DESK HQ ALERT - - > LAWMAKERS WARN OF A.I. THREATS IN 2024 ELECTIONS, via Associated Press: “With five months remaining before the general election, the U.S. might be more vulnerable to foreign disinformation aimed at influencing voters and undermining democracy than it was before the 2020 election, said Sen. Mark Warner, the leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee.” Full story.
SOLAR STORMS – SPACE WEATHER REPORT: Here’s what’s happening in our neck of the galaxy…
SUN STORM GRAZES EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD… spaceweather.com with the report: “As predicted, a coronal mass ejection [CME] grazed Earth's magnetic field on June 3rd (2300 UT). The glancing blow sparked a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm with a brief display of auroras over Wisconsin.” Image here.
– MUST READ, via The Independent’s Anthony Cuthbertson: “Solar storms: From farmers to flights, how space weather is messing everything up: While they caused the recent northern lights spectacular, increasingly powerful sun events could have far-reaching consequences for our infrastructure. Are we about to witness a repeat of the ‘Carrington Event’ which caused chaos over 100 years ago and could pose a bigger danger today.” Full story.
– PRIMER: THE 1859 CARRINGTON EVENT: British astronomer Richard Carrington back in September 1859 was studying the sun. Then WHAM! He sees a sun storm. The next day, all of the telegraph systems were out of whack. And North America had daylight during nighttime. Needless to say: Our tech has come lightyears beyond the tech from 1859 – so if something like that happened today [or in the future] would our systems be able to handle it? How would society – security, economy, politics, schools, culture – react? Full primer via NOAA here.
AIR REPORT:
AIR QUALITY CONCERNS IN CALIFORNIA’S CENTRAL VALLEY AS WILDFIRES CONTINUE. “FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- As fires flare up across the state of California and temperatures rise, there is concern over poor air quality.” Story here.
That’s it’s for tomorrow… have a good tomorrow, today :)
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