The daybreak of AI tech: Skynet or helpnet?

At 46, I imagine my era has had the privilege of each experiencing the digital age and witnessing its dawning.

I bear in mind after I went from loading a sport resembling Warcraft with a dozen floppy disks (5¼-inch disks) to changing them with the extra steady, thicker model (3½-inch disks), then, years later, with CDs, and at this time, through wi-fi digital downloads and the cloud.

The identical went for the way we transitioned from tapes to CDs, and now to streaming platforms; from cumbersome VHS tapes to DVDs, and once more to streaming platforms and/or the cloud, and so forth.

The good and the dangerous

The record of technological leaps and bounds over the previous three a long time, in contrast with the a whole bunch of 1000’s of years of human historical past earlier than, is astronomical.

But by far the best of these leaps are people who have occurred and are quickly accelerating as I sort this: synthetic intelligence.

I suppose I have to additionally admit that my era is the one most scarred by the rise of AI, thanks partially to James Cameron’s Terminator (I’m watching you, Skynet) and different films resembling WarGames (and also you, Joshua). 

And actually, I feel a few of these fears stay legitimate and are warranted.

With the contact of a button, Plaud Pro begins to report. (Image: Supplied)

For instance, there’s one AI bot, ChaosGPT, that has been tasked with discovering a solution to destroy humanity, whereas different AI bots have begun creating their very own social media. God is aware of what they focus on in these boards … 

However, a latest headline that ought to give us all sleepless nights is the one about how an AI mannequin named Evo managed to create 16 utterly new viruses.

What will these bots be capable to do a decade from now? Hopefully resolve the issues of overcoming gravity and world starvation, moderately than commanding our militaries (hiya, Skynet). 

I’m digressing as a result of, for all of the apocalyptic indicators, AI has additionally managed to do a variety of good.

A working example is how quickly know-how is advancing by way of {hardware} and software program integration with AI.

AI ears

A primary instance of that is after I occurred upon Plaud Pro and Boya Notra AI.

This occurred when I discovered myself sitting throughout from one in every of PB Tech’s South Island managers on the Koru Lounge at Sydney International Airport, asking him in regards to the prime tech objects available on the market.

Without even flinching, he whipped out a Plaud Pro system from his shirt pocket and handed it to me, explaining that it is heads and shoulders above the rest proper now.

The tiny sq. gadget didn’t appear to be a lot, and earlier than that second, I had by no means heard of it.

The PB Tech wunderkind shortly gave me his finest gross sales pitch and defined the system’s performance.

To say that I used to be amazed can be an understatement. It makes use of a number of microphones and a vibration- or bone-conduction-based name seize to report in-person conversations, cellphone calls, and on-line conferences.

“Boya Notra is equipped with dual premium MEMS microphones, 360 omnidirectional pickup, and advanced AI noise reduction capable of suppressing background interference by up to 30 dB, ensuring crystal-clear audio whether in a meeting, on a phone call, or using Bluetooth earbuds for a podcast or conference,” a Boya spokesperson defined in a press release.

Plaud Pro comes with a leather-based cowl attachment for the again of your cellphone. (Image: Supplied)

The system is linked to AI-powered software program that transcribes conversations intimately, presents summaries, and even structured insights.

While I briefly performed with the Plaud Pro system and have shared it with my colleagues for testing, I’ve spent extra time with the Boya Notra unit. I completely love this system.

As a former radio journalist and producer, and a longtime discipline reporter earlier than becoming a member of BusinessDesk, I can let you know that I wanted this know-how twenty years in the past.

Even earlier than this grand discovery, I needed to depend on my cellphone to both report audio or put it on speakerphone throughout a name, after which use a second system, resembling my PC, to report the dialog.

I then needed to e mail the audio to myself, add it to Otter.AI, and look forward to a transcription that was about 90% correct.

And I’m not even going to say the hours spent in an audio sales space, listening to audio and manually transcribing every sentence years in the past.

All that’s over now.

A plethora of choices

The magic of gadgets resembling Plaud, Boya and Pocket lies not simply within the {hardware}, however within the highly effective AI that brings all of it collectively.

The AI does a variety of heavy lifting, leading to must-have know-how for nearly each sort of enterprise scenario.

“We believe conversation is a form of intelligence,” Nathan Xu, co-founder and CEO of Plaud, stated.

“For the first time, Plaud’s unique ‘Press to highlight’ feature enables humans to signal to AI what matters most in real time, achieving true human-AI alignment so insights remain accurate, actionable, and aligned with your intent.”

For instance, it makes use of OpenAI’s Whisper and superior LLMs to transform speech to textual content, robotically eradicating filler phrases for readability.

I’ve discovered my transcriptions to be 100% correct.

(Image: PB Tech)

“Notra’s integrated AI intelligence platform accurately transcribes audio in over 140 languages and instantly converts conversations into actionable, structured knowledge. 

“Through the companion app, customers can generate concise summaries with 60+ skilled templates, visible thoughts maps, and prioritised to-do lists,” a Boya press release stated.

As you can imagine, this has saved me a lot of time.

These devices attach magnetically to the back of your phone and start recording at the push of a button, switching to whichever setting you prefer (eg, phone call, meeting, etc.). 

It then automatically uploads the recording to your corresponding app, where you have a plethora of options.

You can export the audio in certain formats, transcribe or summarise the audio, and export said transcription in various formats such as Word’s DOCX or PDF.

Again, these are amazing devices and technology. It’s already being used by millions of people in offices, as well as by doctors, students, journalists, lawyers, and so forth.

Apocalyptic warning signs

One downside I discovered between Plaud and Boya is that Plaud comes with a sexy leather magnetic holder for its device, while the Boya goes commando.

I guess it’s a matter of preference, but it does look cool.

The other downside is having to pay a subscription fee for the app if you use more than a few hundred minutes of transcription a month. However, if you do, I’d assume the $30-$50 monthly fee won’t be a problem. 

The Boya Notra in action. (Image: Boya)

So, for all the apocalyptic warning signs of AI – and there are plenty – there are also a lot of great, innovative things being developed daily that make our lives easier by working more efficiently. 

That may result in our jobs being replaced by AI bots soon, but as my favourite comedian, Jimmy Carr, likes to point out, AI is great at performing left-brain analytical functions but not so great at the right-brain creative stuff (have you read an AI-written novel?). 

Well, not yet, at least.

More information on either of these products can be found at PB Tech:

• Plaud Pro: $376
• Boya Notra AI: $257

* My subsequent column will dive into the most recent audio gadgets.