How AI is Transforming Music, Travel, the Super Bowl, and More

Jan 31

Emerging Tech Roundup — January 31

The Quantious team’s top picks for timely trending news in the tech world.

This week in tech: DeepSeek’s AI Model Is All the Buzz With Tech Experts, VR Brings an Immersive Orchestra Experience to Users, Meta’s AI Chatbot Uses “Memories” to Deliver Personalized Experiences, TravelPerk’s Valuation Hits $2.7B, OpenAI Releases a Version of ChatGPT for the US Government, Humanoid Robots Play With Musicians for a Live Performance, Super Bowl Ads Will Be Heavy on AI.

DeepSeek Gets Silicon Valley Talking

(TechCrunch, January 26)

Chinese AI company DeepSeek released an open version of its reasoning model, R1, which matches or beats OpenAI’s o1 model across certain AI benchmarks. DeepSeek trained its model with less sophisticated chips at a fraction of the cost spent on training AI models in the US. This breakthrough has driven DeepSeek’s AI assistant to the top of the Apple App Store charts and has experts discussing the possibilities for AI advancement.

Virtual Reality Lets Classical Audiences Inside the Orchestra

(The Times, January 26)

Geneva-based Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is launching Virtual Hall, an immersive classical music experience available in virtual reality. Wearing a headset, users can choose from six locations on stage with a full 360-degree view, complete with a hovering digital music score. Though not the first of its kind, this app is the most advanced due to the techniques employed with camera positions and digital score.

Meta AI Will Use Its ‘Memory’ to Provide Better Recommendations

(The Verge, January 27)

Meta will be using its AI chatbot to “remember” users, allowing for more personalized, relevant experiences. To do this, the AI chatbot uses account information like age and gender, as well as one-on-one conversations and interests based on activity. Users can ask the AI chatbot to remember certain things, and “memories” can be deleted at any time–though there’s currently no opt-out for these features.

TravelPerk Raises $200M as Valuation Nearly Doubles to $2.7B

(TechCrunch, January 27)

TravelPerk, a comprehensive business platform for booking and managing travel, as well as integrations for HR and expenses, has raised $200M for a total valuation of $2.7B. In addition, the company recently acquired Yokoy, an AI-enabled spend management platform. TravelPerk feels well-poised for global growth with this new funding and expanded capabilities that’s coupled with an uptick in business travel surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Plan for U.S. Government Agencies

(TechCrunch, January 28)

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Gov to provide new ways for those in the US government to leverage the AI-powered technology. With this, agencies can deploy certain OpenAI models on Microsoft Azure commercial or government clouds–with additional capabilities to manage security, privacy, and compliance. This release comes during a week in which headlines have been focused on China’s growing AI capabilities.

Humanoid Robots Join Human Musicians for Synchronized Musical Performances

(Tech Xplore, January 28)

In a recent study, researchers have shown that humanoid robots are capable of performing live with natural synchronization alongside musicians. The robots went beyond technical precision and execution, interacting and adapting creatively–all in real-time. This research opens up potential new areas for exploring human-robot collaboration, including in fields like education, therapy, and more.

This Year’s Super Bowl Will Be Full of AI Ads

(The Verge, January 29)

The AI hype seems to be carrying over into the sports world as Super Bowl LIX is predicted to feature more AI ads and fewer ads by movie studios and streamers. This isn’t the first time tech news has entered the Super Bowl. In the 2022 game, many ads were centered around crypto, which was the hot topic of the time. Consistent with past games, ads are pricey for this year’s biggest game–some companies have paid over $8M for a 30-second slot.