Is this the start of the AI Product Podcast⁉

For those that are new around here, this is weekly newsletter where I highlight new and innovative AI products that are worth exploring.

Hey hey!

Happy Friday! We’re back for another 2024 issue.

In this week’s issue:

• The AI Product Report Hits a Milestone!

• Product of the Week

• The AI Product Report Needs You!

• Other AI Things Happened

• What I’m Reading

AN AI PRODUCT REPORT MILESTONE!

We’ve hit a huge milestone here at the AI Product Report!

Our newsletter just hit the incredible milestone of 5000 subscribers – and let's just say, we're throwing a virtual party to celebrate the awesomeness that is the sum of all of YOU! 🎉🥳 Huge high-fives and a massive thank you to every single subscriber who's made this journey so special. I know I’m still new to most of you, but buckle up because the future of our newsletter is bright and moving up! 🚀 Get ready for more content, new formats as I try a few new ways to deliver you new value, and the occasional wisdom drops. This milestone isn't just about the digits; it's a wild ride fueled by you, and I’ve got a few things in the works to talk to you more often 😉 . Here's to turning up the volume and cranking the excitement dial to 11!

Cheers to you, our rockstar subscribers – you make this adventure one for the books! 🌟✨

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

After testing dozens of new AI products this week. Here’s my top pick.

The AI Product Report Podcast?

Sometimes the act of combining building blocks leads to wonderful instances of user value. In the case of this week's AI-product we see this masterful execution of product design ultimately shine through. We’re talking Wondercraft.ai this week.

In the past year, we’ve seen an explosion of summarizers, paraphrasers, note takers, voice changers, image generators, and many products that followed the classic formula:

“Input→ Single Transformation→ Output”

Where today’s feature differentiates itself is in it’s chaining of most of those previously mentioned solutions into a cohesive whole. Wonder(cast - in my opinion 😛).ai offers a unified toolset for individual creators, enabling them to delve into a new creative medium with ease. It leverages many popularized “solved user problems” by AI in a sequence to drive new value. More specifically we see summarization capabilities, generative text, voice, and some video technology getting used to transform and elevate the creative process that would come from converting articles, a list of topics or other large body of text into a tone-adjustable script. The creation pipeline then extends into letting the user pick an intro /outro tune, a voice for their script’s narration, and even extends to some video editing features (untested by AI PR because paywalls). The platform stands out for its user-friendly interface, making it simple for creators to generate unique content, effortlessly turning ideas into polished, professional outputs.

For the test: I used a basic set of configurations, plugged in last week’s article, and got to work adding in a sentence unrelated to that article, and the outputs were still coherent and well orchestrated.

Check out the results in this short Youtube video _{(Yes,it’s in desktop view, I’m sorry)}

I found myself wide-eyed and chuckling as I heard the sample of “Anna” introducing the AI Product Report Podcast. This definitely sparks joy.

Individual creators, contributors, and even larger teams needing more scale have a fantastic tool with this to reach into a whole new medium with this AV-SaaS solution.

Stepping aside from the immediate wow-factor, let’s take a moment to consider how this solution can impact accessibility. By rendering the narration & “podcast-ification” nearly effortless for this the content producers, the audience of listeners, viewers, and readers with various impairments don’t have to rely on a third-party solution to adapt the content they wish to engage with. These solutions (depending on their implementation) may or may not always jive well with the platforms on which the content is hosted, so having a content supply-side solution is fantastic.

Is this something you'd like me to explore further as a new medium for the newsletter? Let me know here!

IT'S TIME FOR A ROUND OF INTROS, AND YOUR TURN TO STEER THE SHIP!

“With a 4-digit platform comes 4-digit responsibilities”

I promised in my intro a few months ago that I’d get cracking on growing us, and I’m delivering. The year’s first community poll is up and out! Dive into our quick, fun poll and let us know what brings you here, what sparks your interest, and how we can supercharge the newsletter just for you.

Your insights are going to be our secret sauce to making this newsletter not just good, but absolutely fantastic. So, gear up, click the link ⤴, and let your voice lead the way!

Thank you for being the best part of this journey. 💌

OTHER AI THINGS HAPPENED

Some other notable news and product launches from this week

• Phil Strain of Miro discusses how AI transforms the digital accessibility landscape for the better!. Highlighting Danish startup Be My Eyes' use of GPT-4 for aiding the visually impaired, the article covers advancements in AI like large language models and multimodal capabilities, improving accessibility through tools like speech-to-text and enhanced screen-readers, and addressing challenges related to privacy and bias in AI systems. 

• “AI Everything” was the key theme at CES this year, and yes, it’s hitting a point of integration with just about everything from a baby cry translator, mattresses, belts, and mirrors?

• The corporate leaderboard & coaching of FatBrain AI is joining forces with the Genius Group Ltd, a publicly traded education enablement group. This increase in reach (read: purchase) looks to setup Genius group to take a consulting-adjacent bit out of modernizing mid market companies.

• Everyone’s favorite BBQ-ing sneakers are getting an availability upgrade

  

  Yes I do mean these! Photo credits: Sketchers themselves

  Skechers is enhancing its integrated business planning capabilities by integrating artificial intelligence through a collaboration with o9 Solutions, aiming to improve inventory management and meet consumer demands more efficiently.

• A working study has come out to try and wrestle with the  topic of the hour: Will AI come to take everyone's jobs? And so far The shape of current progress is such that global impacts are uneven, thus it's incredibly unlikely that a generalized “everyone” will be outpaced by our machine overlords 😝.

WHAT I'M READING

"Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last." - Samuel Johnson

Solving Product by Etienne Garbugli

Every now and again I like to take a moment to refresh on some fundamentals because on an average day, there's so much going on that very quickly we can lose track of some critical parts of a nuanced profession like Product Management. Once we bring in AI into the fold, it’s quite literally a whole other layer of complexity to manage.

Garbugli offers a cheat sheet disguised as a book keeping the fundamentals close by, and they’re not written in some biblical proscriptive type of way. What makes this book so great is that it’s a book of questions, not answers. The range and depth of what’s discussed is expansive, and it exudes a meticulous design.

I recommend it as a fantastic pocketbook resource for product teams and entrepreneurs that are adapting through the complexities of identifying gaps in their business models, carving out new growth paths, and systematically tackling challenges.

Stay well, and until next week.

-✌🏽 Sam

P.S. Have tips or suggestions for a future issue? Get involved with the Community Poll

P.P.S. Interested in having me give you private feedback about a product that you are building? Send me an email: [email protected]