Contrary Research Rundown #21
Explosion in AI products, and new memos on Runway, Retool and more
Research Rundown
This week has been an important milestone for AI, as generative AI has moved closer to mainstream adoption. 2023 has seen a lot of AI-related developments and news so far.
Microsoft has launched the much anticipated new version of its search engine Bing, powered by an upgraded version of the technology that is underpinned by ChatGPT-3 from OpenAI. The company is also launching new AI-enhanced features for its Edge browser, promising that the two will provide a new experience for browsing the web and finding information online.
Google announced their ChatGPT-3 competitor Bard, describing the tool as an “experimental conversational AI service” that will answer users’ queries and participate in conversations. It also announced AI-enhanced features for Google Maps, Search, and Translate. Meta is fast-tracking its efforts to put AI products into customers’ hands and Zuckerberg is directly involved in steering the initiatives. China’s Baidu and Alibaba are working on their own AI chatbots. Quora has opened public access to its new chatbot app, Poe, which lets users ask questions and get answers from a range of AI chatbots.
The world of startups saw a lot of impressive moves this week as well. The video editing startup Runway announced a new offering that will enable people to generate new videos using words and images. Another video editor, Invideo, dropped a product demo for a similar offering. A new startup, Galileo AI, that lets you use natural language to generate user interface design just launched. OpenAI rival Cohere is in talks to raise funding at $6 billion plus valuation. TripActions is incorporating ChatGPT to learn a users’ preferred airlines, hotels and restaurants, and factor those options into a proposed travel itinerary. A Stripe alum launched a new product, a ChatGPT-like assistant that lives on your Mac desktop & integrates into your apps to query documents and write context-rich emails. Version 1 of a new tool called Stable Attribution decodes AI-generated images generated into the most similar examples from the data the model was trained with to help with attribution. The writing tool Lex announced a new feature called AI Write to replace any highlighted text with a high-quality rewritten version with a click. Here’s a generative AI startups database that captures the rapidly growing landscape. In case you missed it, here's our meme on OpenAI.
Ribbon Health offers an API that captures, cleans, and aggregates data on healthcare providers, insurance plans, and costs while continuously improving the data’s accuracy. To learn more, read our full memo here.
Retool is a platform that enables companies to build and manage internal tools and workflows quickly and easily. To learn more, read our full memo here.
Vanta helps companies scale security and automate compliance for the most sought-after standards like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and GDPR. To learn more, read our full memo here.
Algolia is a search-as-a-service platform that enables companies to deliver fast and relevant digital experiences that drive real results. To learn more, read our full memo here.
Runway is a web browser-based, video editing software that allows for real time collaboration and supports a growing suite of generative AI tools. To learn more, read our full memo here.
A guide for SaaS companies on tactics around churn mitigation, sales optimization, cash management, customer prioritization, and more from Craft Ventures.
Hybrid work management startup Scoop launched a new database to make employers’ flexible work policies searchable and help job seekers research employers’ policies in one place.
BNPL companies like Klarna & Affirm are facing challenges like increased regulatory scrutiny, higher default rates, and competition from traditional lenders after years of rapid growth.
Amazon aggregators raised billions over the past few years and are now facing economic headwinds and falling valuations.
Bain Capital Ventures published an interesting analysis of what drives multiples and valuations of public fintech companies after the post-pandemic correction.
Spotify’s Founder & CEO Daniel Elk is involved with a new Stockholm’s based preventive healthcare startup called Neko.
Getty Images has filed a lawsuit against Stability AI, creators of Stable Diffusion, accusing it of infringement of intellectual property. It is the latest volley in the ongoing legal struggle between the creators of AI art generators and rights-holders.
Whatsapp’s business platform is overhauling how it charges businesses for using its offerings to communicate and transact with customers.
SoftBank posted a $5.8 billion quarterly loss on its startup investment fund, Vision Fund.
Job postings for software engineers in San Francisco and San Jose reached a peak in the first half of 2022. New York and DC now have more openings than California.
Forbes’ Alex Konrad sat down with Bill Gates for a wide-ranging chat about his work with AI OpenAI and Microsoft, AI’s potential impact on jobs and in medicine, and more. You can read more about OpenAI here.
Former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor is teaming up with Google AR/VR vet Clay Bavor on a new AI startup.
SpaceX is on the verge of a landmark test of the Starship launch system. It will be a full “static fire” test, during which it will ignite all 33 Raptor 2 engines on the Super Heavy booster at once. Here's our memo on SpaceX.