Six Degrees to Innovation & Andrew Weinreich's Social Revolution

Welcome, rebels, visionaries, and trailblazers, to the intersection of AI and creative entrepreneurship. Here, we shart the future, share the tools of innovation, and spotlight the pioneers of a new frontier.

This isn't just a newsletter, it's a manifesto for the new world.
Welcome to the revolution.

Here’s what’s cooking today:

• The man who ignited the social networking revolution

• GPT-4 for everybody, and

• An AI that “talks” ancient text

Let’s get to it!

Six Degrees to Innovation & Andrew Weinreich's Social Revolution

Before you dive in, please note: some of the events in this story have been slightly enhanced for storytelling spice. And, also, we thought 1997 was ages ago, but turns out, it's not as far off in the rearview as my brain made it out to be. Hi, @aweinreich

The year is 1997. The world is on the edge of its seats as the Mars Pathfinder lands, and cinema-goers are flocking to theaters for Titanic. The melody of dial-up internet fills homes across the world as the digital age is just taking its first steps.

In the midst of this global excitement, in a bustling café in New York City, a man named Andrew Weinreich is about to spark a revolution. Observing the world around him, he envisions a future where these everyday connections could leap beyond the physical and into the digital world.

With each sip of his coffee, he's unknowingly brewing an idea that will change how we communicate forever.

The idea was simple but revolutionary – create a virtual space where people can connect with friends, family, colleagues, and even make new connections.

Andy was building the first social media network.

But turning this idea into reality was no easy task. A trained lawyer and a seasoned salesperson, Andy taught himself to code. He grappled with HTML, navigated the intricacies of server-side scripting, and faced countless challenges along the way.

Then, in December 1996, SixDegrees.com went live.

It was unlike anything the world had seen before.

Now, every social media offers you the ability to create profiles, add your friends and family, send messages, and post "bulletin board items."

But for the time, when the internet was still a novelty to many, and we still had to wait for dial-up modems to, well, dial-up, Andy's social media network was mind-blowing.

For the first time, people could maintain their social connections online.

SixDegrees.com was the spark that ignited the social networking revolution. And while the site didn't survive the dot-com bubble, its influence is seen in every social networking site we use today.

Andy saw potential where others saw the ordinary. He wasn't afraid to challenge the status quo and lean on the power of an idea.

It kinda makes you wonder...who will be the next Andrew Weinreich? What amazing human right now is sitting in a bustling coffee place, brewing up the next revolutionary idea that will change everything.

🪄 Reddit user Inner-Reflections gifted the world this scene from Harry Potter as an anime drawing.

🔫 Reddit user skinnyjeangoon recreated John Wick in the style of Wes Anderson.

🎵 @SteveMills shared this music video he created in one afternoon using AI.

☎️ When the telemarketers come calling, who are you gonna call? The Jolly Roger Telephone

And finally, I am an artist by @bright_lightart

Developers in good standing with OpenAI now have access to GPT-4 — Starting today, all current API developers with good payment history can use the GPT-4 API with 8K context. New developers will get access by month's end, with rate limits increasing later based on available computing power. Also, GPT-3.5 Turbo, DALL·E, and Whisper APIs are now ready for general use.

AI-generated tweets might be more convincing than real people — According to a new study, participants found it difficult to discern whether a tweet was written by a human or GPT-3, and were more likely to trust the AI, regardless of the accuracy of the information.

New AI translates 5,000-year-old text in seconds, unlocking a wealth of historical knowledge — The AI, trained on a sample of cuneiform texts, can translate from transliterations of the original texts and directly from cuneiform symbols.

AI is helping researchers identify and analyze some of the world’s oldest art — With an accuracy of 89%, it's helping researchers identify and analyze these millennia-old artworks, opening new doors in archaeological research.

Do you miss the “browse with Bing” feature on ChatGPT? Us too. Here’s a workaround:

5 ChatGPT Plugins to keep you online while “browsing” returns

Web Requests Plugin: Fetches real-time information from the web through GET and POST requests.

Link Reader Plugin: Processes and comprehends content from URLs, including documents and videos.

Code Interpreter Plugin: Executes Python code in a secure environment for problem-solving and data analysis.

Third-Party Plugins: Enables interaction with services like Expedia, Shopify, Slack, and more.

Retrieval Plugin: Accesses document snippets from various data sources using natural language queries.

Holography results from Midjourney

Prompt courtesy of @AIDreamEngine

/imagine: a professional standing beside a holographic [OBJECT] on the table, ultra translucent 3d rendering, intricate details, office atmosphere --s 250

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Until next time!

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