💭 AI is Spotify’s love language
Plus the Ive and Altman team-up.
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A lot has been written about how the more music that Spotify streams, the worse it is for the company’s bottom line. Because of this, the Stockholm-based streamer has sought to cut a path in the podcasting space. From signing up Joe Rogan to buying podcasting studios, it has been a valiant effort, even if it hasn’t been entirely successful.
Now though, Spotify is hoping AI can help.
Spotify has announced it will start offering some of its most popular English-language podcasts in other tongues. As the company explains, it is using OpenAI’s voice generation technology to closely match hosts’ intonation, tone, and speech pattern. For listeners, this means they can now pipe select shows from the likes of Dax Shepard, Bill Simmons, and Monica Padman in Spanish, German, and French.
The potential for expanded reach is obvious, so it will be exciting to see where Spotify can take this. And for other audio producers interested in this technology, I told you a couple of days ago about Coqui’s own translation tool, so that could also be a good way of getting onto the trend early.
Former Apple design guru Jony Ive is reportedly looking to team up with OpenAI* CEO Sam Altman. According to sources for The Information*, the duo are talking about developing an AI hardware product. Quite what exactly, we don’t know.
For those that need a refresher, Ive worked on everything from the cube-shaped (and short-lived) Power Mac G4 to the Apple Watch. Plus there was a little device known as the iPhone, of course. Altman also has some form in bringing products to market; Tools for Humanity - a crypto organization that Altman co-founded - makes use of a proprietary eyeball scanner to authenticate Worldcoin users.
While it sounds like we’re a long way from an actual device, it’s worth remembering Ive has designed many non-tech products, so perhaps we’ll see a ChatGPT-infused toaster someday.
Since breaking into the public consciousness in November 2022, ChatGPT has quickly become a byword for AI chatbots. Thanks to this success, OpenAI has found itself somewhat of a money-magnet. Now OpenAI is looking to raise even more cash, which could see its valuation skyrocket.
According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI plans to let employees sell their stock, with the company’s overall worth expected to jolt into the $80 to $90 billion range. For those keeping score, that would roughly triple OpenAI’s valuation from where it was when Microsoft _put a bunch of money _in earlier this year.
Considering investors are seriously chasing AI investments right now, Microsoft’s 49% stake in OpenAI is starting to look like one of its smartest decisions since the roll out of Windows 1.0.
AMD CEO Lisa Su thinks the impact of AI could be “100x more” significant than other culture-bending technologies such as PCs, smartphones, and the internet. Speaking during the Code Conference, Su also suggests generative AI is the “killer app for high performance computing.”
Warner Music Group head Robert Kyncl also made a showing Code, where he suggested AI-generated music is an inevitability. “You have to embrace technology,” said the CEO.
Spotify's AI translates popular podcasts, Ive and Altman's potential AI collaboration, OpenAI's soaring valuation, and AI's massive impact.
