Google vs Microsoft (+Startups) - #5

Hey everyone! Welcome to another edition of my newsletter, this time packed with AI-related content.

Yes, another AI post this week, but with all the exciting developments happening, it's almost impossible not to pay attention and reflect on it.

Google lost 8% of its stock value in one day (about USD 100 billion) due to a similar error that Microsoft is experiencing with its Bing chat.

Microsoft is investing heavily in AI, but Google is investing even more. Google plans to invest over USD 300 billion by 2028.

Microsoft wants Google to "come out and dance," alluding to the fact that Google has been resting on its USD 162 billion cash cow of search ads for over a decade.

While all this might seem rushed (and Google's response was), Google has been working on AI products for almost a decade and plans to launch nearly 20 of them between 2023-2024. Additionally, for the long term, you need data to train your AI, and Google's products are used by over 1 billion people every day (versus Microsoft's).

Some bet that Microsoft's effort to enter AI will end up like IBM's Watson, with Google emerging as the winner in the B2C world, while others think the opposite. What do you think?

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But... do we really want the AI race to be all about the ad pie? Currently, Google generates most of its revenue through ads, and Microsoft wants a piece of that pie. But... do we want to use AI just for searches? Will we completely change our habits and eliminate Google search forever?

Yes, I think Google should step out of its comfort zone, but we also need to look beyond and not just think about monetization. And I say this from a marketer's perspective.

Probably those reading this post have advertised on Google Search or understand how it works. They know that an ad is prioritized over an organic post. How would that change if everything became a conversation? Would you want to influence the conversation someone has with Bard or Bing to recommend your brand? And looking at it from the other side... would you like your question's answer to be influenced to make you buy something a brand is paying for? Unless you pay Google or Microsoft explicitly, and your conversation is ad-free.

This is the big problem, at least from my perspective, in this rushed war between tech giants. Google's ad pie is crumbling, and everyone wants a piece of it (which is perfectly valid), but I believe that as human beings, we can create amazing things using AI technology, and startups will play a fundamental role in this. They need to find new ways to add value, solve real problems, test and fail quickly, and we, as consumers, must choose them to understand, provide feedback, help, and support their growth.

🚀 8 Must-See Startups or Tools Leveraging AI

Because I believe we should give more visibility to tools and startups doing an excellent job with AI, here are the ones that have caught my attention over the last few weeks. I think it's our mission, as tech enthusiasts, to use them to understand AI's potential, and in turn, be better-informed consumers when it comes to knowing what to expect from tech giants like Google, Microsoft, or Meta.

• Runway: For content creation and editing, Runway is incredible. From removing video backgrounds, fixing elements, erasing objects from entire scenes, removing noise, etc. If you're a content creator, you must try Runway.

• Looka: Logo, business cards, social media templates, brand kit, etc., all in under 5 minutes. How many times have you had a business idea but didn't progress because you didn't have one of the above? With Looka, you can get everything of high quality and extremely quickly.

• Merlin: Powered by GPT-3's API, Merlin is a browser extension (Chrome and Firefox) that allows you to use typical ChatGPT functionalities by highlighting any text on the web. I see great potential for Google Sheets heavy-users since its formula creator is surprisingly good, and it's convenient to have it in the same tab.

• Mem: Note-taking, calendar, tasks, people, you name it. Mem has it all, powered by AI. I gave it a chance in 2022, and it had some bugs. I've read good reviews lately, so don't forget to check it out.

• BlueWillow: Because we can't just stick with Midjourney or DALL-E, BlueWillow works similarly to the former, where you connect to its Discord server, type a prompt, and it returns AI-generated images. The difference is that it aims to be more user-friendly in the long run (whatever that means), so we'll see how its front-end looks when it leaves beta.

• Copy.AI: Blog posts, ad copy, email subjects, business cases, etc., all written by AI (in English). If you don't want to train GPT-3, I think Copy.AI is an excellent alternative for the average user. It comes with various questions so you don't have to write the prompt yourself, it's more user-friendly, and it already has pre-defined prompts for what a marketer or business owner needs to write to sell online.

• LeiaPix: Converts any image into a moving 3D object. Better to see it to understand it. Upload an image and play with its filters to move the image.

• Kaiber: This is undoubtedly one of the most promising. You can create videos by uploading images and prompts. You can see an example I made here. I'd play around with it, but keep an eye on it for its processing power and what it might be capable of in the future.

BONUS TRACK: Summarize Your WhatsApp Group Conversations

In this tutorial by Hussam Sufán, you can quickly and easily learn how to summarize your WhatsApp group conversations using OpenAI's API. Super useful if you're in many groups or took some time off and suffer from FOMO when returning.

🦉 Quote of the Week

"What you want is to follow and be followed by human beings who care about issues you care about. This thing we make together. This thing is about hearts and minds, not eyeballs." — Austin Kleon, Show Your Work

That's all for today! If you enjoyed this, let me know in the feedback below. If not, tell me as well.

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See you next week!