Gm. I booked an Airbnb in NYC for last weekend, completely oblivious to the new rules coming. The host emailed me mid-stay that I’d be his last client and his new roommate was coming in that night to take my spot. Let’s just say I feel bad for the new dude. That apartment was a straight shoebox.

— Stephen Flanders

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🏠 AI

AI The Whale Translator

Sperm whales are a lot like us. They have families. They build social relationships. And they have their own way of communication in the form of loud clicking noises.

At least that’s what we think, because we don’t speak whale.

But AI might be changing this.

Project CETI

Thanks to the Cetacean Translation Initiative, or Project CETI for short, we now have a chance to know what whales are saying.

The way Project CETI works is simple in theory but difficult in practice. Cables under the water and drones above it collect huge amounts of data of the whale communicating.

Then, AI sifts through this data to search for patterns that could be used to decipher what they are saying.

And it’s already found patterns that experts never noticed before, which very well may play a key part in finally cracking the code of whale language.

More Than Just Whales

This idea of using AI to decipher animal language is being used by scientists for more than just sperm whales.

Scientists are also using it for:

• Dolphins (to match certain sounds with behaviors).

• Naked Mole Rats (to find patterns in the more than 36,000 sounds they make).

• Prairie dogs (more of the same).

Obviously, we have a long way to go before we can chop it up with whales. But we’re also in the very early days of AI.

If AI keeps advancing, then who knows? Maybe one day you will be able to ask your dog what they want for dinner.

The Big Picture: AI truly is useful in ways most people never even think about it.

A Speeding Herd Of Llama 2’s Arrived On OctoAI

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Dive into the blog to see the model performance data, then sign up for OctoAI to get free GPU hours to put our Llama 2’s to the test.

If you can’t run on OpenAI’s closed architecture, or you strategically align with open source, OctoAI has you covered whether your app requires the beefiest Llama 2 70B, the fastest 7B, or the ever-balanced 13B. Whatever your end users or business needs.

🏠 TECH

NYC Banishes Airbnb

Finding a short-term rental in NYC has just become a tiny bit more difficult, as tech Twitter’s X’s favorite city is now enforcing a new law restricting short-term rental platforms like Airbnb.

According to the new laws, Airbnb hosts now have to:

• Register with the Mayor’s office.

• Host no more than two guests at a time.

• Be physically present during the guest’s stay.

Those are pretty tight rules. So tight that Airbnb is calling it a de-facto ban and suing the city.

Whether you want Airbnb to win that lawsuit or not is largely determined by how you see the situation:

• On one side are people who see banning Airbnb as the key to solving the city’s housing crisis, bringing down rental costs, and reducing noise, trash, and danger.

• On the other side are people who believe banning Airbnb is a blow to the people making a living from Airbnb and the city as a whole, as visiting the city now theoretically becomes more challenging.

In any case, NYC is definitely not the first city to lash out against Airbnb:

• Dallas has limited short-term rentals to specific neighborhoods.

• Memphis now requires licenses for short-term rentals.

• San Fran limits hosts to 90 days per year.

• Philly requires hosts to obtain two licenses and a zoning permit.

And they definitely won’t be the last.

The Bottom Line: It’s a great day to be a NYC hotel.

🏃‍♀️ QUICKIES

What else is going on?

• Android got a fresh new logo.

• TikTok is making a big push into messaging.

• Meta is teaming up with LG on its next Quest Pro in an effort to better compete with the Vision Pro.

• Spatial photos could be coming to the iPhone Ultra soon.

Stat: $1.99: The fee to have Amazon deliver to your garage. Damn.

Rabbit hole: What OpenAI Really Wants (Wired)

😂 WACKY AI WEDNESDAY

Someone teleport me here.

🤥 3 LIES & A HEADLINE

News is so weird these days. Three of these headlines are fake stories from The Onion while one is actually true. Can you spot the truth amongst the fakes?

A. Harvard Graduate Raises Over $300M From Angel Investors With Drawing Of Flying Dog

B. Nation’s Scientists Announce Everything Science-Wise Is Regular

C. Nebraska Man Pulled Over For Having Giant Bull Named Howdy Doody Riding Shotgun In His Car

D. Historian Explains That Pepe The Frog Was Originally A Hindu Symbol

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💉 DOPAMINE HIT

@leahpeabobea

Absolutely ideal though #sims4 #sims #gaming #friday #adulting #mid20s

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3 LIES ANSWER

C.