Iterate Weekly - Issue 105
This week we're talking about Italy banning ChatGPT, luring employees back to the office with coffee, the water hungry grocery store of the future, AI Drew Carey, and the Movements publication!
Welcome to issue 105 of Iterate Weekly!
Hope you’re all doing well. This is just a friendly reminder that you can always reply directly to these messages or leave a comment on the Substack post. Feedback is highly encouraged and I’m happy to answer any and all questions that come up.
Let’s jump into this week’s stories.
🤖 Tech
Italy bans ChatGPT
While it has seemed like ChatGPT has been the talk of the tech world for months now, there is one corner of the globe where it hasn’t been so well received.
Yep, Italy has banned ChatGPT.
Why would the land of pizza, pasta, and gelato have a problem with the technology? It mostly has to do with privacy. The Italian data protection agency wants to dig a little deeper to learn all it can about ChatGPT’s parent company OpenAI.
The Italians are also concerned about the lack of age verification for the service. Fears about inappropriate generated responses being shown to children is somewhat valid but something tells me that kids are more likely to see objectionable content in almost any other corner of the internet beyond ChatGPT.
The hope is that the ban will be a temporary thing, but we know how easily anything can be delayed when it involves government agencies. OpenAI has 20 days to assuage some of the Italian government’s concerns before they decide if the ban will extend further.
This is certainly worth monitoring as it’s likely to influence other countries to take a closer look at any and all new AI companies amid privacy concerns. But for now, Italians will need to look elsewhere to generate their humorous images or get help writing that essay, or all of the other many things that we’ve become reliant on ChatGPT to help us out with.
🎓 Education/Productivity/Work
Can coffee save office culture?
It’s no secret that office culture has taken a hit since the start of the pandemic. Many employees haven’t returned to full-time office life. And many of the small social activities that we used to take for granted in the office are on life support.
Can coffee be the magic elixir to lure employees back to the office and re-establish social bonds?
Free coffee in the office has always been a perk. It’s maybe even more valuable these days with the inflated costs of everything, including coffee. But today’s employees don’t just want tasteless muck that stews at the bottom of a pot all day. No, if they’re going to make the trek into the office, they want high-end brews. Unique espresso drinks, cold brew, drinks that actually might inspire some conversation and connection.
Coffee consumption seems to be going up despite in-office work remaining less popular. It’s obvious that employees want their caffeine regardless of where they are working from.
Will the coffee meeting continue to live on in the world of remote work?
♻️ Health & Environment
Imagining the grocery store of the future with no water
Water is becoming a more and more valuable resource on our planet. While it’s been an extremely wet winter here in California, we still know the realities of drought all too well.
A design agency has created a conceptual marketplace of the future called The Drop Store that gives a glimpse into a frightening future where water could become one of the most expensive things on our shopping lists.
It’s a fascinating idea that really has us question the sustainability of our typical grocery store order. 35 grams of corn for $129? “Regular” aka dirty water goes for only $1.99 but if you want the “pure” stuff aka clean water, that will set you back $198 for just 15 ML.
We think that prices at the grocery store have been on the rise this year, imagine some of these conceptual prices coming true? Sure, it’s meant to be a provocative artistic display now, but there may be a $129 kernel of truth to these scary futuristic prices if water continues to be a harder to obtain resource.
🛍 Grab Bag
AI Drew Carey
Of all the Hollywood personalities to create an AI version of themself, would you guess that Drew Carey would be first?
It’s true. TV funnyman(?), host of “The Price is Right”, and former star of “The Drew Carey Show” and “Whose Line is it Anyway” has created an AI version of himself to host his radio show.
The SiriusXM show called “Friday Night Freakout” was recently hosted not by Drew, but by an AI representation of himself. What exactly does that mean?
Well Mr. Carey used ChatGPT to write 99% of the show’s script. Apparently, he only made minor edits to jokes to help with the punchlines. Which makes sense. AI technology has come a long way, but humor can still be pretty tough for anyone to master.
Carey then recreated his voice using a tool from ElevenLabs. This trained voice model was able to read the intro and outro segments and queue up songs that were to be played.
And how did it turn out? Hardcore fans of Drew weren’t happy. The gist of the show was still there but it apparently lacked emotion and conviction. Hmm, I guess people really do connect with human voices on the radio. There is a reason that radio DJs haven’t fully been replaced yet.
Pay attention the next time you’re listening to the radio. Be on the lookout for AI voice clones!
💬 Quote of the Week
"If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else."
-Yogi Berra
🎧 Content Recommendation
Movements
I always love to recommend fellow Substack writers. And this week I’m giving a shout out to Adam Feldman’s Movements publication.
If you’re looking for a recap of everything you need to know in the mobility and transportation industries, Movements is the place. We’re talking about things like electric bikes, electric cars, and all sorts of emerging technology in the mobility space.
I highly recommend you give it a read.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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Man, I loved Whose Line Is It Anyway from the Drew Carey era.