⚡️ Saleforce hiring for Agentforce 🤖 Cursor 🚀 Yum Brands' AI-powered marketing drives growth 💡 5 Stages of AI 🔦Aravind Srinivas CEO @ Perplexity

⚡️ <The Highlights>

Sun. 11.10.24: X is testing a free version of AI chatbot Grok. Social network X has so far limited its AI chatbot Grok (built by Elon Musk’s other company xAI) to its premium, paying users. However, the platform is seemingly preparing to open up the chatbot to free users.

Fri. 11.8.24: OpenAI defeats news outlets' copyright lawsuit over AI training. A New York federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence giant OpenAI that claimed it misused articles from news outlets Raw Story and AlterNet to train its large language models.

Fri. 11.8.24: LightOn to become Europe's first listed GenAI startup with Paris IPO. LightOn provides large language model (LLM) software to businesses and the French government. France is promoting itself as Europe's main hub for artificial intelligence, in a bid to close a long-standing innovation gap with the U.S. and Britain.

Fri. 11.8.24: Salesforce to Hire 1,000 People for AI Product Sales Push. The hiring surge is aimed at capitalizing on “amazing momentum” for the new artificial intelligence product, Chief Executive Marc Benioff said in a message. “Agentforce became available just two weeks ago and we’re already hearing incredible feedback from our customers.” The top seller of customer relations management software, Salesforce pivoted its AI strategy this year to focus on agents — tools that can complete tasks such as customer support or sales development without human supervision. It launched the product, dubbed Agentforce, last month, with initial pricing of about $2 per agent conversation.

Thu. 11.7.24: ByteDance has unveiled an AI system that can transform any photograph into a convincing video performance, complete with subtle expressions and emotional depth that rival real footage. The Chinese technology giant, known for TikTok, designed its “X-Portrait 2” system to make still images mirror scenes from famous movies — with results so realistic they blur the line between authentic and artificial content.

Tue. 11.5.24: Google is opening an AI hub in oil-rich Saudi Arabia. The new AI hub will support research into Arab language AI models and “Saudi-specific AI applications,” according to an announcement from the Saudi Public Investment fund and Google. Aramco, the state-owned petroleum company, says it currently uses AI throughout its operations. At one oil field, the technology has helped boost production by 15%.

Tue. 11.5.24: The Department of Defense has awarded its first generative AI defense contract to Jericho Security, marking a strategic shift in military cybersecurity.

🤖 <One To Watch>

Anysphere's Cursor

There isn’t a shortage of AI-powered coding assistance startups. They include Augment, Codeium, Magic, and Poolside.

However, Cursor has become one of the most popular. Cursor is made by Anysphere, an applied research lab working on automating coding. Their approach is to build the engineer of the future: a human-AI programmer that's an order of magnitude more effective than any one programmer. Cursor is experiencing faster user adoption and growth compared to other coding assistant providers. Most engineers are already using coding assistants like Cursor, and some VCs anticipate that these tools will soon allow startups to hire fewer software developers.

The company was co-founded in 2022 by Michael Truell, Sualeh A. , Arvid Lunnemark, and Aman Sanger while they were students at MIT. Last year, Anysphere graduated from OpenAI’s accelerator program and became its most prominent graduate. The company then raised an $8 million seed round led by OpenAI’s Startup Fund, with participation from former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi.

As reported in TechCrunch, Anysphere has received unsolicited offers valuing the company at as much as $2.5 billion from Benchmark, Index Ventures, and previous investors  Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive, among others, the person said.

🚀 <Getting AI Ready>

Yum Brands says AI-powered marketing is helping drive transactions.

As reported in Marketing Dive, when discussing Q3 earnings, Yum Brands CFO Chris Turner said AI is helping to reduce churn and should be easily scalable across brands.

Yum Brands, the owner of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, is seeing increased marketing performance thanks to new bets on artificial intelligence (AI), executives said when discussing the company’s Q3 earnings results with analysts. 

“This quarter, we successfully launched personalized AI-driven marketing campaigns that, relative to traditional digital marketing campaigns, generated significant increases in consumer engagement, leading to increased purchases and a reduction in consumer churn,” said Yum CFO Chris Turner on the call with investors earlier this week. 

Turner declined to break out specific metrics stemming from Yum’s AI-powered marketing initiatives but offered additional color into how the fast food giant’s “AI factory” operates.

For example, Taco Bell can accrue data from points of sale and digital menu boards in stores, as well as leverage the chain’s popular loyalty program and app. Linking these sources of intel together and enhancing them with AI allows for more personalized promotions and a refined picture of the customer for other marketing purposes. 

Yum has been running AI pilots across its three largest brands in the U.S. and believes these capabilities will be “broadly and easily scalable” while providing an overall stronger return on marketing investment, according to Turner.

“We’ll continue to bring it to life across the brands and across markets as we progress,” Turner said of AI.

Yum! Brands also pointed to the more than 2 million orders through voice AI at its Taco Bell restaurants as an example of how its brands use tech to reach consumers.

“Drive-thru voice AI continues to scale across our network, with many franchisees eager to test this new innovation,” Turner said. “To date, we have processed over 2 million successful orders with the system now in place in over 300 Taco Bell U.S. stores, making Taco Bell the largest QSR voice AI brand in the world.

“For loyalty, Taco Bell is using its connected ecosystem to allow loyalty consumers to identify themselves at the drive-thru and kiosk, enabling personalization of their ordering experience and earning and redeeming of loyalty rewards. This was rolled out to 160 stores in Q3, and we’re encouraged with early results, which clearly show an increase in sign-ups and in daily loyalty transactions, all without an impact to speed of service.”

He also outlined the company’s two-phase digital strategy on the earnings call. The first phase focuses on acquiring, building and scaling proprietary platforms to gain control over their data, streamline innovation, and leverage cost efficiencies through scale. The second phase aims to maximize the value of these platforms by using artificial intelligence (AI) and the company’s extensive data assets.

Separately, Taco Bell is expanding its AI voice technology at drive-thrus in the U.S., aiming to implement the solution in hundreds of stores by the end of 2024. Consumer response has been “very positive” so far, Turner said. Yum, in total, has over 40 AI-driven projects in the works. 

Yum’s AI bullishness comes as Taco Bell continues to outperform the rest of the company’s portfolio. Same-store sales at the Mexican chain rose 4% year over year in Q3 and digital transactions soared 30% year over year, grew more than $8 billion, with a digital mix surpassing 50%.

Leaning into digital will help the brands reach more consumers, who now expect smoother experiences, CEO David Gibbs said, adding, “Our digital capabilities continue to power the business. Our digital capabilities are even a bigger advantage now.”

💡 <The Insight>

Understanding the Five Stages of Artificial Intelligence

There's been a lot of hype around AI, and few people have played a bigger role than Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. Sam Altman and his team have overseen monumental leaps forward in machine learning, generative AI and most recently LLMs that can reason at PhD levels. And this is just the beginning. In his latest essay, Sam Altman predicts that ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) is just a few thousand days away.

So how did we get to this point? Y Combinator's CEO Garry Tan did a recent inteview with Sam Altman for their "How To Build The Future," video series where they discuss the origins of OpenAI, what’s next for the company, and what advice he has for founders navigating this massive platform shift.

However, one of the key things Sam Altman mentions is how close we are to reaching the advanced stages of AI - towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and eventually Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). While there are so many things to consider, both good and bad, I'll look at these stages from a business lens and what some of the general potential benefits could be.

Level 1: Conversational AI

The Current State of AI

At this foundational level, AI systems can engage in natural, human-like conversations. Most existing language models—such as ChatGPT (up to version ChatGPT-4o), Gemini, and Claude—operate here. They are commonly used in customer service and as personal assistants. Potential benefits include:

• Enhanced Customer Engagement: Deploy chatbots to handle customer inquiries promptly.

• Operational Efficiency: Automate routine tasks to free up human resources.

• Cost Reduction: Lower overhead by reducing the need for large support teams.

Level 2: Reasoning AI

Advancement in Problem-Solving

Reasoning AI systems can solve complex problems at a level comparable to a person with a PhD, without external tools. They outperform 50% of humans in their areas of expertise. Notably, OpenAI launched ChatGPT-o1 on September 12, 2024, marking a significant milestone at this level. Potential benefits include:

• Strategic Decision Support: Utilize AI for data analysis and insights.

• Improved Productivity: Delegate complex tasks to AI, allowing staff to focus on strategic initiatives.

• Competitive Advantage: Stay ahead by adopting advanced AI solutions early.

Level 3: Autonomous AI (Agents)

Independent Agent-led Operations

AI agents at this stage can act autonomously over extended periods, making independent decisions and adapting to changing conditions without constant human oversight. They outperform 90% of humans in their specialized tasks. Potential benefits include:

• 24/7 Operations: Achieve continuous productivity by combining human efforts with AI agents.

• Scalability: Handle increased workloads without proportional increases in staff.

• Adaptability: Respond swiftly to market changes with AI-driven decision-making.

Level 4: Innovating AI

Driving Innovation

Innovating AI systems are capable of generating original ideas and solutions, contributing to significant inventions and scientific breakthroughs — such as discovering new medical treatments. They outperform 99% of humans in their expertise areas. Potential benefits include:

• Accelerated R&D: Speeding up innovation cycles and bringing products to market faster.

• Market Leadership: Leading your industry by pioneering new technologies and solutions.

• Intellectual Property Creation: Increasing your portfolio of patents and proprietary technologies.

Level 5: Organizational AI

The Ultimate AI Integration

At this pinnacle level, AI systems can perform all tasks of an entire organization more effectively than human teams. This includes strategic thinking, operational efficiency, and managing complex systems to achieve organizational goals. Potential benefits include:

• Revolutionized Operations: Transform business models with AI at the core.

• Unprecedented Efficiency: Optimize every aspect of operations for maximum output.

• Global Scalability: Expand into new markets rapidly with AI-driven strategies.

The progression through these levels of AI offers transformative potential for businesses. By understanding and strategically integrating each stage, organizations can enhance efficiency, drive innovation, and achieve sustained competitive advantage. Embracing AI is not just about technology adoption—it’s about reshaping your business for the future.

🔦Aravind Srinivas, CEO @ Perplexity

Aravind Srinivas is the CEO of Perplexity, the conversational "answer engine" that provides precise, user-focused answers to queries — with in-line citations. A computer scientist, entrepreneur, and researcher, he co-founded Perplexity in 2022 after leaving his role as a research scientist at OpenAI. Before founding Perplexity, Srinivas had an extensive career in artificial intelligence (AI), with research stints at Google / DeepMind. To date, Perplexity has raised over $100 million from investors including Jeff Bezos, Nat Friedman, Elad Gil, and Susan Wojciki.

Srinivas completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. He later earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, where his research focused on reinforcement learning, contrastive learning for computer vision, and transformers for image generation.

Recognized for his innovative leadership in the AI field, Srinivas was named one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI.

💰 <Capital>

• AI Startup Perplexity to Triple Valuation to $9 Billion in New Funding Round

• Amazon Discussing New Multibillion-Dollar Investment in Anthropic

⏭️ <What's Ahead>

• Nov. 11 - 14: WebSummit in Lisbon, Portugal

• Dec. 3: AI Trailblazers Growth Summit in New York, NY

• Dec. 5: Ad Council Public Service Award Dinner in New York, NY

• Dec. 9-10: Fortune Brainstorm Tech in San Francisco, CA

• Jan. 7 - 10: CES in Las Vegas, NV

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