😸 Meta's new 3D magic trick

PLUS: The new *affordable* iPhone gets AI?

Welcome, humans.

Is it hot out there, or did ChatGPT just absolutely ROAST a guy on Reddit?

"The only thing tighter than those trunks is the grip you're trying to keep on your dignity." Somebody call Guy Fieri, because those burns were FUEGO!

Besides GPTs on savage mode, the other AI trend taking over the internet is recreating hyper-realistic selfies. This thread is pretty interesting: Somebody used the Photo Realistic Image GPT from the GPT store for image generation, and got pretty, pretty, pretty good results:

Here’s the prompt they used:

“Authentic share, slightly blurry, Amateur quality phone photo + Everyday realism, smartphone quality, natural light: Woman taking selfie in living room. Casually dressed, minimal or no makeup. Holding paper with handwritten "r/ChatGPT" clearly visible. Soft natural light from nearby window. Couch and home decor visible in background.”

If you ask us, these realistic photos are getting a little TOO good…

Here’s what you need to know about AI today:

Meta and Oxford researchers unveiled an AI system that turns 2D images into 3D models.
Apple's new iPhone SE may include new AI features.
Meta expanded its UMG deal to address “AI-generated content.”
A new bill could require tech giants to protect whistleblowers and test AI models for security risks.

Advertise in The Neuron here.

Meta has a new 3D image generator, and it could change the way we create everything.

Imagine snapping a pic of anything—a product mockup, a character from your imagination, or even that quirky sculpture in the park—and instantly transforming it into a fully-3D model.

That's the promise of VFusion3D, a new AI system just unveiled by researchers from Meta and the University of Oxford (check the full paper here). It can turn a single image into a fully-3D model you can spin, zoom, and explore in only a few seconds.

The code is open-source (get it here), and there's also a public demo you can try here. Upload your own image (or select from the examples), and click Generate to Download video.

There’s actually a lot of AI tools that offer this type of service today:

Meshy
Spline
Masterpiece Studio
Even Luma AI has a similar model.

The consensus among skeptics (before VFusion3D): “Nothing super impressive/usable right now. Just go to asset stores for now.” We’ll see if VFusion3D changes that.

Here’s what makes VFusion3D so special: It's cracked a problem that's long stumped AI researchers: how to teach machines to understand a 3D world when most of our data is in 2D.

These researchers essentially taught their AI to daydream in 3D, using video AI models to imagine objects from every angle to create more 3D data.

And the results are mind-blowing. In tests, humans overwhelmingly preferred VFusion3D's creations (we’re talking a 90% win rate) over anything else out there.

Here’s what 2D to 3D could enable:

Game developers spinning up entire universes in seconds.
Architects visualizing their wildest designs with a few keystrokes.
VR experiences that can pull any object from our real world into “the metaverse.”

EA is already using similar AI to revolutionize sports game development. In one example, developers uploaded 11,000 headshots of college athletes and created 3D models of them in seconds.

Where’s all this going? If you ask the CEO of Replika (the AI companion startup), it’s going towards “embodied” companions.

She says her company enlisted a “big group of dedicated people” to build VR, AR, and 3D models so you can “see” your AI companions.

And while she says the tech’s “not fully there”, they’re investing in that direction—so you know it’s coming.

FROM OUR PARTNERS

Build your next big AI product idea.

At AE Studio, they’ve done some crazy things. One time, they taught AI to brew beer, and then market it — it sold out.

They want to help you build crazy things, too. But first, you need a crazy idea. Their AI Ideas Generator takes your business problem and gives you a report of AI-powered solutions that can help you address it.

Give it a try for free.

Around the Horn.

Apple’s new iPhone SE (the affordable iPhone) is rumored to be powerful enough to include Apple Intelligence’s AI features.
Meta expanded its music licensing deal with Universal Music Group to protect artists from “unauthorized AI-generated content.”
A new bill that could pass this Thursday in California would force Big Tech to protect whistleblowers, test that their models don’t enable terrorism, and establish a public cloud for AI tools.

Treats To Try.

*Dell's Precision AI-ready workstations powered by NVIDIA RTX™ GPUs are the most efficient way to handle demanding AI workloads without costing a fortune. Check them out for yourself here.
Mindsmith helps instructional designers create interactive eLearning content quickly using AI-powered tools and templates.
Myko Assistant automates tasks like lead generation and company research with a simple email request (you literally email them what you want).
Pin Generator lets you create and schedule a month’s worth of Pinterest content in a few minutes.
Jupitrr AI generates related B-roll visuals for content marketing videos.
Taplio helps you grow your LinkedIn presence by generating content, scheduling posts, and analyzing performance.
Digest aggregates content from various online sources to create personalized daily email newsletters.

*This is sponsored content. Advertise in The Neuron here.

Tuesday Ticker

Here are the results from last week’s poll:

J.S. chose Healthy correction: “the only thing that grows forever is cancer.”
B.H. chose Just a blip: “It's here. Period. Where it goes, nobody knows!”
A.J. chose First sign of bigger troubles: “Stock market has peaked. AI are stocks.”