🍎 Apple Sauce

Time for ‘the sauce’, or an overview, of an AI app we’ve been trying out, that may be useful to you!

Today’s apple: Google Lens.

Note: Yes, I know - 2 Google features back to back?! I am highlighting these because many of us may already have these features on our phones 🙂 

Context: I think it’s safe to say, we, as a society, are fans of search engines. Humans and search engines have been figuring the world out together for roughly 20 years. But in the last couple of years, the potential for figuring stuff out together has expanded a lot. This is because visual search has come into the picture. You can now search what you see! Allow me to illustrate.

This weekend, aside from tinkering with greenhouse images, I attempted to clear out a box of neglected toys. In it, I found this strappy contraption I could not identify.

Some of you will instantly know what this is and others will be quite perplexed, like I was. I pulled out my phone, took this picture, and hit the Google Lens icon in the menu of my Google Photos app.

Behind the scenes, Google’s AI algorithms aimed to identify the object(s) and/or text in my image, analyze the image and compare it to other images across the web, rank their similarity, and then finally display those results on my phone. As you can see below, Google Lens did not provide a clear answer but pointed me in the right direction, and eventually, a trusted human - and fellow Ammi - confirmed that this was a flag football belt.

Value: Some great uses of the app include identifying art on-the-go (street art, sculptures, architecture), translating menus or signs written in an unknown language, or suggesting buying options for something we have come across that we like, but perhaps don’t know where it comes from or what it is.

Pricing: Google Lens is included on the Google app, and the Google Photos app, which are available on both Apple and Android app stores for free. More on Google Lens capabilities and accessibility here.

Data & Privacy: On the data and privacy front, your Google Lens activity is viewable and deletable. We don’t have the time & space to get into the nitty gritty of Google’s Privacy Policy. But I’ll share that if you don't want your Google Lens activity saved to your Google Account, you can turn off Web & App Activity.

Note: Visual search is also available on Apple devices with Apple Visual Lookup, Samsung devices with Samsung Bixby Vision, and Pinterest via Pinterest Lens. I haven’t tested any of these, but if you do and have thoughts, I’d be interested to hear them!

🌱Planting the Seed

Embark on your AI journey by learning about the fundamental concepts and terminology. Let’s demystify AI topics and headlines in language your kid could understand!

Today, I’d like to talk about AI policy. I know we just got things started, so you might wonder why we are jumping into legal matters so soon. That’s exactly why: the sooner, the better!

At least in the United States, lawmakers are just initiating formal discussions with experts on regulating AI. And if there’s anything we’ve learned from Schoolhouse Rock!, it is that the lawmaking process isn’t particularly speedy.

So even though we have a bunch of questions about AI, this is the perfect time to get engaged. It’s a great opportunity to ensure that your questions, cares, and concerns are being addressed as these laws are being developed!

Why does AI need to be regulated?

AI is advancing rapidly and becoming increasingly present in our lives. Advances in AI could help uplift communities and foster innovation, but like humans, AI is flawed. AI can be wrong, AI can be biased, and AI can pose security risks. There may be instances where AI is considered capable of fully replacing a human in a job when it should not be. AI regulation is crucial to ensure the development and use of AI is ethical, safe, and fair. Hopefully, these regulations will protect privacy, prevent bias, and hold people and organizations providing AI technologies accountable.

A quick update on AI regulation in the Europe and the USA

Let’s get right into it. In June, the European Parliament passed the European Union (E.U.) AI Act, which was two years in the making. Experts predict there may still be a few years before the laws are put into practice. Nevertheless, reading through a summary of the act provides great insight into some of the dangers and risks of AI and how governments are trying to combat them with regulations such as banning emotion-recognition AI and placing restrictions on social media recommendation algorithms. You can find the five key takeaways from the E.U. AI Act here.

🛫 Now, let’s make our way across the Atlantic to the United States. 🛬 

Civil service groups, academics, technologists, and everyone in between have been urging the U.S. government to start making big moves on regulating AI. In the summer, U.S. Senate leadership announced a SAFE Innovation framework for AI, and announced a series of nine AI Insight Forums this fall to discuss AI across various contexts such as “Workforce” and “Transparency, explainability, and alignment” with CEOs, civil service leaders, and experts in the tech field.

The first AI Insight Forum was held a couple of weeks ago and the who’s who of the tech world was in attendance. What do you get when you put 65 U.S. Senators and the CEOs of Microsoft, Google, and Meta (Facebook) in a room? Sadly, we don’t really know. The first forum was closed-room, even the press was not allowed in. This drew lots of criticism, and as an Ammi, I have to agree. I would be uncomfortable letting my kids play unattended behind closed doors, with technology relatively much less dangerous, like crayons or slime.

These AI Insight Forums seem like a great opportunity for government leaders and citizens to learn about AI together and foster dialogue between representatives and their constituents on this transformative technology. It would be nice if they were in a more open setting, though.

💡 I happen to know a great greenhouse near San Francisco!

If you are interested in following these forums, the Tech Policy Press has provided a handy dandy US Senate ‘AI Insight Forum’ Tracker here.

🍇Fruitful Harvest

We’ll pluck some of the best AI Prompts, AI-generated images, and overall good stuff from the ammi.ai community and share them here.

Last week’s poll:

Have you used ChatGPT?
Yes: 90%
No: 10%

Last week’s Ammi Q:

What is your go-to recipe to get your kids to eat a healthy dose of vegetables?

Nooriyah from Houston, Texas shared:

Add your veggies of choice when cooking daal (I typically use a little spinach and a few carrots). Blend everything together once daal is cooked, give it a 'tadka' with garlic and jeeru, and serve with rice. Kids will get a power packed meal. What's more? They won't even know it! No crying and complaining while eating!

Notes:
daal = lentils
tadka = heat a couple spoons of ghee, and add aromatics of your choice. Ammi recommends garlic and jeeru, which is cumin. When the flavors are infused in the ghee, pour it over the daal for cozy deliciousness.

Thank you

It’s pretty nerve-wracking to launch a newsletter. But the support from the first cohort of ammi.ai subscribers has been…nourishing. Thanks a million for your early support.

👩‍🌾Cultivating Conversation

Your thoughts are invaluable — whatever they may be! Feedback on anything above? Gen AI prompts or AI Artwork to share? Questions that you’d love to explore with the ammi.ai community? Reply to this email.

Here are some questions from ammi.ai to you:

 🪴 Propagation Poll:

🪴 Propagation Question: What physical tools or app(s) do you use to manage your to-dos? Let me know by replying to this email.