Translucent by Design

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which showcases its forthcoming software, was tamer than usual in terms of big announcements. Last year, for instance, it launched its artificial intelligence (AI), a promise that has been underwhelming considering what others like Google are doing. Apple stuck to what it is good at this time—design—and announced a translucent material called “Liquid Glass” that will make displays of its devices better, both in utility and look. It has the properties of glass, like refraction and reflection of the elements on the screen, allowing the user a better experience.

Apple described it as being able to adapt to the colour of the content and environment. It added, “This gorgeous new material extends from the smallest elements users interact with every day—like buttons, switches, sliders, text, and media controls—to larger elements, including tab bars and sidebars for navigating apps.”

Another announcement by Apple at WWDC related to additions to its AI offerings. It includes live translation for messages and calls, searching for or querying whatever is on the screen, and for Apple Watch, a text-to-speech model that generates “personalized pep talks using voice data from an Apple Fitness+ trainer”.

Superintelligence

Meta is reported to be working on an AI research lab that would be dedicated to pursuing ‘superintelligence’. This is a hypothetical term for an AI system that exceeds the powers of the human brain. Most AI firms work on artificial general intelligence (AGI), where a machine becomes capable of doing what a human brain can. ‘Superintelligence’ is theorised to be the next step, where a machine goes beyond AGI in capability.

New Snap Glasses

Although many believe smartglasses could one day replace mobile phones as our primary devices, the prospect so far has seemed distant. Snap, whose smartglasses are one of the few that focus on augmented reality (AR) capabilities, has announced that it will launch a new pair of lightweight AR glasses next year. Its CEO Evan Spiegel claims it will be the “most advanced personal computer in the world”, offering a combined view of the digital and physical worlds.

Mistral’s Gambit

While the AI race has so far been dominated by American and Chinese firms, a French startup, Mistral, has thrown its hat in the ring by launching Europe’s first AI reasoning model. Mistral, which aims to democratise AI by making it more accessible through open-source models, has released two variants of the model. Magistral Small is an open-source model, and Magistral Medium is described as a more powerful, enterprise version.

Appleartificial intelligenceChinese firmsMetaOpen AIWorldwide Developers Conference