The SEC Newgate AI Weekly

This week has seen a wide range of AI-related news, including significant investments, scientific breakthroughs and unique new uses for Artificial Intelligence. Here are some highlights curated by Brand and Digital Associate Director, Jed Backhouse.

Apple will host its annual iPhone launch event this coming Monday 9 September, at which the tech giant’s new generative AI-powered Apple Intelligence platform is set to make a lot of headlines. As well as a catalyst for iPhone sales, Yahoo! Finance suggests that this “will also be a make-or-break moment for generative AI in the eyes of everyday consumers.” Read more about Apple Intelligence in a recent SEC Newgate AI Weekly.

One story that has divided opinion this week is that of the UK’s first “teacherless” classroom. A private school in London opens its new AI (and VR) driven course for 20 GCSE students in September. Sky’s news report explains that the AI platforms “learn what the student excels in and what they need more help with, and then adapt their lesson plans for the term. Strong topics are moved to the end of term so they can be revised, while weak topics will be tackled more immediately, and each student's lesson plan is bespoke to them.” Refined learning, or a soulless experience? You decide.

The safe-centric AI startup from OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever has taken a big step forward this week, with the news that it has raised $1bn in funding. Safe Superintelligence (SSI) has been in and out of the news over the past few months, establishing its position as a future leader in AI safety – preventing AI from causing harm. Investors in the funding round included top venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. Reuters reported that the company declined to share its valuation, but suggested it could be near $5bn.

In another great example of AI enhancing online experience, the 130-year-old retailer M&S has launched an AI personal style guru to advise shoppers on their outfit choices based on their body shape and style preferences, with the aim to boost online sales. The Guardian aligns the launch of the user-focused AI tool with a 41% jump in profits for M&S last year, as well as the wider increase in online sales (driven mainly by social media marketing and advertising — especially TikTok).

Finally, eyes-emoji-article-of-the-week goes to this BBC report on how an engineer at Wave Sciences may have unearthed some groundbreaking scientific discoveries around how humans discern voices and conversations in noisy environments — and see the AI technology used in court. ‘The cocktail party problem’ refers to a human listening to another, in a room of people talking, and being able to hear and differentiate one voice. Until now, it’s been something technology has been unable to replicate. But when used in a US government case on war crimes, the technology not only worked, but may have also revealed much more about how the human brain works.