🖲️Google’s ‘Bard’ Takes on the AI Giants: Can it Outwit ChatGPT and Microsoft? (Issue 004)

In today’s Issue 📥 :

• Google hopes ‘Bard’ will outsmart ChatGPT, and Microsoft in AI.

• How cult.fit is shaking up the fitness sector.

• British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reshuffled his cabinet.

BARD, BARD, BARD

Initial Release: According to a Monday blog post by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Bard will initially be available only to a group of “trusted testers” before being broadly disseminated later this year. Google’s chatbot is designed to explain complex subjects like outer space discoveries in language that even a youngster can grasp.

It also promises that the service will perform more routine jobs, such as providing party planning advice or lunch suggestions based on what food is left in a refrigerator.

Pichai didn’t indicate in his post whether Bard will be able to produce prose in the style of William Shakespeare, the playwright whose name the service is said to be based on.

“Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity,” Pichai wrote.

What else? Microsoft’s decision to increase its previous $1 billion investment in OpenAI in 2019 increased the pressure on Google to demonstrate that it will be able to keep pace in a field of technology that many analysts believe will be as transformative as personal computers, the internet, and smartphones have been in various stages over the last 40 years.

The LamDA Power: For the past six years, Pichai has emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence, with one of the most prominent results appearing in 2021 as part of a system dubbed “Language Model for Dialogue Applications,” or LaMDA, which will support Bard.

Lastly: Google announces investment and partnership with AI startup Anthropic, led by former OpenAI leaders and with a mission on AI safety. The startup has also built its own AI chatbot, Claude.

HOT SIP

How cult. fit is shaking up the fitness sector

It starts somewhere: Cult.fit was launched in 2016 with the goal of disrupting the relatively unorganized fitness market controlled by local gyms, yoga courses, and other offerings. The brand wanted to rebrand “fitness,” which was generally seen as severe, strict, and unfun.

Focused: With their campaigns, Cult.fit attempted to build a new narrative by incorporating eccentricity, humor, and Bollywood. They have focused on establishing digital dialogues by relying heavily on digital media and putting the focus on trainers.

Prachita Pujari, Brand Head of Cult.fit, discussed the evolution of the brand, and how it leveraged Bollywood’s appeal to connect with its target audience.

From Humble Beginnings to Social Media Savvy: The Brand’s Communication Odyssey

Cult.fit started with a focus on offline marketing and functional branding, using hyperlocal marketing. The pandemic caused a shift to online, leveraging social media and establishing a strong presence on YouTube with workout classes and routines. The younger generation uses social media for fitness and the brand uses this to connect with them. During the pandemic, YouTube provided a solution for those unable to physically go to gyms.

When it comes to the brand’s target audience and demographics, Pujari says, “Cult.fit’s communications are targeted specifically at 28 to 35-year-olds. The brand has an equal mix of 50-50 split between males and females. The brand’s communication, marketing, and branding are focused in the top four cities of the country, that is Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Mumbai.”

Cult.fit has a dedicated audience on the video-sharing site despite the pandemic because the brand consistently produces content.

Cult.fit’s Instagram material is a mix of humor, current trends, fitness advice, and motivation, keeping the mood lighter and quirkier on the other end.

SMALL SIPS

To Turkiye: The Modi government is working on sending the fifth C-17 aircraft to Turkiye today with one C-17 already reaching Syria.

Global Markets: Wall Street’s key indices saw significant buying late Tuesday after US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell signaled a less aggressive view on interest rate hikes.

Loser to Winner: Gautam Adani’s net worth increased as his companies’ stocks rose, propelling him back up the world’s billionaire list. He is now the #1 winner on the world’s rich list.

Agri: BharatAgri, an agritech company, raised INR 14 crore ($1.7 million) in an extended Series A funding round led by Capria Ventures, with participation from Omnivore, India Quotient, 021 Capital, Ratnagiri Impex, and Sanjiv Rangrass (former CEO of ITC’s agro sector).

Sid-Kia: Sidharth Malhotra-Kiara Advani Wedding, First Pictures from couple’s wedding in Jaisalmer out.

With CHAI ☕

Ceo: Vedanta picks David Reed as CEO of its Gujarat semiconductor business.

How to: see when you are blind.

Aww: Little son helps dad with his tennis practice.

It’s Interesting: According to historians, Maharana Pratap had a javelin that weighed 81 kg and 72 kg of armor on his chest when he fought in the Haldighati battle on 18 June 1576.

TWEET