Yon's weekly pulse on the next Internet

Anyone can now make their own GPT; Humane launches Ai Pin (a bet on a post-smartphone world); and Gen-Z beauty brand e.l.f. gamifies social impact via Roblox

Nov 12, 2023

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Open AI made major announcements with one that captured everyones attention - anyone can now make their own GPT with no-code + an App Store coming soon

At its DevDay, Open AI announced new models and developer products, including GPT-4 Turbo with 128K context and lower prices, the new Assistants API, GPT-4 Turbo with Vision, DALL·E 3 API, and more.

My favorite - GPTs, anyone can now create custom versions of ChatGPT that combine instructions, extra knowledge, and any combination of skills. Check out the CEO CoachGPT that I created to help me learn from the world’s best CEOs.

More commentary on this:

OpenAI is letting anyone create their own version of ChatGPT (The Verge)
Personalized A.I. Agents Are Here. Is the World Ready for Them? (New York Times)
Sam Altman's Hidden Message at OpenAI DevDay Keynote (The Algorithmic Bridge)
How OpenAI is building a path toward AI agents (Platformer)
What OpenAI Means for the Entire Tech Sector (David Galbraith)
GPTs, GPTs everywhere, but AGI nowhere (Exponential View)

And let’s not forget that Elon Musk and xAI announced last week Grok, their own answer to the rise of ChatGPT.

Humane launches its Ai Pin, a bold bet (with a $240m investment) on building a consumer device for a post smartphone era.

On my recent Monday show Lisa and I talked about the launch of Humane’s Ai Pin, and this week we finally saw the video demo by the founders. My personal perspective (albeit without playing with the Ai Pin myself) is that the product is a great technical and design accomplishment, combining hardware, software AI, UI and UX into a relatively small device. Mass adoption - to be seen.

Artificial intelligence “can create an experience that allows the computer to essentially take a back seat,” -founder, Imran Chaudhri.

Gen-Z beauty brand e.l.f. is gamifying social impact via Roblox, empowering entrepreneurs and cultural changemakers to bring passion projects to life

Gen-Z beauty brand e.l.f. Cosmetics launched e.l.f. UP! on Roblox - a tycoon experience that champions growth and community, where users create dream businesses that represent causes they care most about. e.l.f. is currently the most popular beauty brand with Gen Z as well as one of the fastest growing beauty brands in the US.

“Our community has been asking for us to be on Roblox,” said Kory Marchisotto, Chief Marketing Officer, e.l.f. Beauty. “It’s part of our journey to disrupt norms, shape culture and connect communities through positivity, inclusivity and accessibility. We did it first on TikTok with e.l.f. Yeah, then on Twitch with e.l.f. You, and e.l.f. UP! on Roblox will be no different. This time we are able to create an experience where our community can follow their entrepreneurial dreams and empower the next generation of changemakers who flourish in these digital economies.”

The launch of e.l.f. UP! coincidently happens on the same day that Roblox published its 2023 Digital Expression, Fashion & Beauty Trends (link). Key highlights:

Over half (56%)of Gen Z say that styling their avatar is more important to them than their physical style
84% of Gen Z say their physical style has been inspired by their avatar’s style
88% of Gen Z say expressing themselves in the metaverse has likely helped them comfortably express themselves IRL

Roblox announced its results for third quarter 2023. The platform continues its consistent growth and reaching an all time high of 70 million Daily Active Users!

With many people including the media this year questioning the emergence of the metaverse or the evolution of the Internet from 2D to 3D, the performance and growth of Roblox is a signal of things to come. The platform rises above the noise and continues to show consistent growth.

Read my full key takeaways which assess what these results could mean for Roblox’s long term potential, looking at it from the lens of a developer on the platform.

AI is about to completely change how you use computers (Bill Gates)
Yuga Labs and Magic Eden's royalty focussed marketplace (Fintech Blueprint)
Metaverse and Generative AI: Envisioning the Future of Human-Computer Interaction (S&P Global)
A warning to Congress about the virtual future (Politico)
Gucci Cosmos Land brings physical heritage to the metaverse (Vogue Business)
Vision Pro led Samsung to reboot VR headset plans. It's now targeting end of 2024 (ZDNET)
China's ByteDance to overhaul VR arm Pico as global demand declines (Reuters)
Snoop Dogg and His Son Are Launching Death Row Games (aHypebeast)
Elon Musk’s Brain Implant Startup Is Ready to Start Surgery (Bloomberg)
Love vs. fame: A framework for social applications (Li’s Newsletter)

Podcasts

This week on Into The Metaverse:

EP.75: We talk about President Biden’s executive order on AI; UK’s AI Safety Summit; Humane launching their AI Pin; Artists vs AI and the economics of LLMs
EP.76: Yon and Dylan discuss the changes in audience composition the Internet has seen in the last decade; how the aging up of an audience will impact the industry, what brands should be focused on when entering these next gen platforms, and much more.