How 5 companies are already using AI, from Mercedes to Wendy’s

SIMONE DEL ROSARIO:

AI’S BEEN THE HOT TICKET IN TOWN EVER SINCE CHATGPT WENT MAINSTREAM LATE LAST YEAR. SINCE THEN WE’VE TALKED ABOUT THE JOBS IT *COULD REPLACE AND EVEN ALL THE WAYS IT *COULD GET SUED. BUT WE’RE PAST THEORETICAL NOW. HERE ARE FIVE WAYS BUSINESSES ARE ALREADY USING GENERATIVE AI IN THIS WEEK’S FIVE FOR FRIDAY.

MERCEDES IS MAKING CHATGPT ITS VOICE ASSISTANT IN 900,000 VEHICLES. BEFORE THIS, MBUX WAS BASICALLY LIKE ALEXA OR SIRI FOR YOUR CAR.
“hey mercedes.” “How may i help you?”
BUT MERCEDES SAYS THE NEW BETA PROGRAM IS MORE INTUITIVE AND NATURAL. THEY SAY YOU CAN ASK MORE COMPLEX QUESTIONS LIKE INFO ABOUT YOUR DESTINATION OR GET DINNER SUGGESTIONS, ALL WHILE KEEPING YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD.

CRAFT BREWERS SPEND COUNTLESS HOURS DREAMING UP NEW HOPS WITH SILLY NAMES. BUT THE FOLKS AT BOSTON AREA’S NIGHT SHIFT BREWING DECIDED TO OUTSOURCE THE PROCESS TO AI. THEY USED CHAT GPT TO FORMULATE THE RECIPE OF A NEW ENGLAND HAZY IPA AND ITS NAME. THEN THEY USED MIDJOURNEY TO DESIGN THE LABEL. OF COURSE HUMANS WERE INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS OF CREATING AI-P-A. AND IT HAS A 3.76 RATING ON UNTAPPD, NOT TOO BAD FOR HOW PICKY BEER SNOBS CAN BE.

IS IT A HUMAN? IS IT A CHATBOT? WENDY’S SAYS YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO TELL! THE CHAIN’S TESTING OUT A DRIVE-THRU CHATBOT DEVELOPED WITH GOOGLE, STARTING AT ONE COLUMBUS, OHIO-AREA RESTAURANT. THEY TRAINED IT TO KNOW THAT JBC MEANS JUNIOR BACON CHEESEBURGER AND THAT SOMEONE MIGHT ASK FOR A MILKSHAKE, BUT WHAT THEY REALLY WANT IS A FROSTY. IT EVEN UPSELLS. FROM THERE YOUR ORDER GOES TO ITS HUMAN COWORKERS, WHAT’S LEFT OF ‘EM.

DUOLINGO ALREADY GAMIFIED LEARNING ANOTHER LANGUAGE. AND GPT-4 IS JUST UPPING THE GAME. WITH DUOLINGO MAX YOU CAN PRACTICE REAL-WORLD CONVERSATIONS WITH THE BOT TO BOOST YOUR SKILLS, LIKE MAKING PLANS WITH FRIENDS OR ORDERING A DRINK AT A CAFE. THE “EXPLAIN MY ANSWER” FEATURE HELPS YOU GET TO THE BOTTOM OF WHY YOU MAY HAVE GOTTEN AN ANSWER WRONG. REAL PEOPLE AT DUOLINGO ARE STILL BEHIND THE SCENES MAKING SURE THE BOT’S CORRECT AND DOESN’T GET TOO SNIPPY.

PORTLAND OREGON’S LIVE 95.5 FM IS USING AN AI DJ. THEY USED RADIOGPT TO CREATE A BOT VERSION OF THEIR VERY REAL RADIO PERSONALITY ASHLEY ELZINGA. “it’s ai ashley calling our first taylor swift winner” “that’s crazy yeah that sounds like me i guess i have the day off” THEY SAY THE REAL ASHLEY’S JOB IS SAFE, BUT JUST WAIT UNTIL IT MASTERS THE WACKY MORNING ZOO FORMAT. OH WAIT THE SIMPSONS ALREADY DID IT IN 1994.

I CAN’T BELIEVE ASHLEY DIDN’T GET A RAISE FOR THAT…GIRL I SURE HOPE YOU PROTECTED YOUR LIKENESS! I WISH I HAD ADVICE FOR THOSE WENDY’S EMPLOYEES, THAT’S FIVE FOR FRIDAY I’M SIMONE DEL ROSARIO AND IT’S JUST BUSINESS.