When dealing with AI, there is a vast ocean of ideas that can be accomplished and enhanced. Many of the ideas are typical jobs and tasks that would crop up, but there exist some very odd ways of utilizing AI that are unexpected. Through some research, we have found a few of the odder choices for AI usage that have either accomplished amazing feats or are in the process of doing something more.
AI News Anchor
The first of these oddities is an AI that reports the news around the clock. While this may not seem odd, it helps news crews by giving them rest and gives a way to report the news. The oddest part, however, is the method with which the AI is telling the news though. The AI that reports the news is actually modeled after one of their anchors and is on live television.
The Chinese news source National Business Daily revealed a collaboration with AI company Xiaoice in December of last year that they plan on having a news outlet entirely run by AI. The announcement was made after a news anchor with the company announced they were “the virtual twin of the original host. I have been running—reporting the news—undetected for 70 days now,”. The AI is able to make the same facial expressions as the host they are mimicking and was able to accomplish both it and a female anchor’s AI twin in about a week’s time.
This is not the first time an event like this has happened in Chinese news sources. Back in 2018 China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency had its first AI news anchor debut modeled after its presenter Zhang Zhao. AI company Xinhua developed the robot anchor with the Chinese search engine Sogou.com in order to achieve its ability to report the news.
Creating Perfumes
AI has a lot in terms of making sure that certain odors or smells that might be harmful to us are taken care of, but what if the reverse was true. If there were an AI that would detect the best scents for people in contrast to detecting harmful scents, what would it be like? Thankfully, through the efforts of many different fragrances and AI developers, we have an answer.
Through these different sources’ combined efforts they have developed an AI program called Philyra. It is used to find the best combination of odors from a multitude of different factors in order to create a fragrance that would be appealing to those looking to purchase.
Those factors include:
- Formulas
- Raw Materials
- Past Performance Data
- Market Trends
The program filters through millions of different combinations in order to formulate a scent that will please the customer.
For more ways that AI is able to personalize information, this article on how AI is Changing Sales is a great way.
Solving Where’s Waldo
From business to pleasure, puzzles are a great way of passing the time. One of the most well-known puzzles is Where’s Waldo or Where’s Wally in Europe. Finding Waldo has been a challenge that made millions wonder if there is an easier way to find him.
Though humans might have a hard time looking for the red and white-shirted man, an AI has made it a habit of finding him. The AI created by creative agency Redpepper has found Waldo in around 4.45 seconds in a multitude of different puzzles. The developers have accomplished this by uploading 62 different head images and 45 body images of the titular character in order to find similarities within the pages. It is also paired with a robotic arm with a plastic hand attached to it so that the AI can point out where he is on the page.
Making Music
In the music world, there has been a thought that the future’s big hits are created by AI in order to create the most appealing noise while staying relatively the same as other songs that are popular. Though this might not be true, AI ingenuity has made a big impact on music in general by doing most of the heavy lifting.
A great example of this working is through the use of an app called Boomy and its developer Alex Mitchell. Through the app, the user just needs to click on a few buttons to generate a song of their choice. They are able to customize a plethora of aspects of the song, such as the key the music is in or the time signature, and through this, a song is generated. Though it has only come out in 2018, they have confirmed users generating over five million songs with over 100,000 songs uploaded to different streaming sites.
Helping Pollination Efforts
In terms of AI oddities, the use of making sure plants have been pollinated is one of the most important. The fact that we have been losing a large majority of bees at a staggering rate has created the need for an alternate pollination method. That need requires an enormous task force in order to help make sure our plants stay healthy; thankfully, AI has the ability to help alleviate this issue.
For starters, farmers in Australia have started implementing AI to pollinate specific plants based on the recognition of aspects like leaves and fruits in order to correctly pollinate. The robots are being tested on Tomato plants which requires the robots to shake the plants in order to knock pollen off and spread throughout the greenhouses. They travel down the room shaking each. Through this, the farmers would only have to buy replaceable machines instead of irreplaceable bees.
For more ways that AI is working towards a better planet, this article on ways AI is improving environmental sustainability has some great insights.
