🤗 Grandma Has a New NPC Companion

Hello, fellow nerds 🧙

Apple is in the news, but it’s not for the Siri 2.0 drop we’ve all been waiting for…

Instead, it turns out the US government has hit Apple’s wallet with a giant anti-trust case that’s been 5 years in the making. The Department of Justice, and 16 other states, are targeting Apple's control over iOS app distribution, its 30% commission on most sales through its App Store, and its practices that hinder rival payment solutions, messaging apps, smartwatches, and digital wallets.

This is coming right after Apple already paid a fine totaling $2 billion for the same ordeal in Europe.

Well, any press is good press, right?

Here’s the daily quests in AI to complete today:

• 🤗 Grandma Has a New NPC Companion

• 🐲 Dragon’s Dogma 2 Nails AI

• ✉️ F2P Friday - Save Me, SaneBox!

• ✋ You Can Finally Be a True Luke Skywalker

Grandma Has a New NPC Companion

For over 7 years, places from Japan to NYC have been upgrading Grandma’s setup with an NPC companion at home! We all worry about our loved ones feeling lonely and isolated as they age, right?

At first, we assumed the aging demographic would be scared of technology but this is one area where we’re glad we were wrong.

Come to find out, these smart buddies are helping seniors feel more connected, understood, and engaged.

The potential for an understanding, patient, and compassionate AI companion for dementia, anxious, depressed, and lonely patients is outstanding. Plus, combine the voiceover capabilities of ElevenLabs, robotics of Figure and OpenAI and healthcare training of Linda (the HippocraticAI nurse) for the ultimate companion and Life Alert.

After all, no one wants to actually wear a Life Alert. They have a stigma and they make you feel old. But in the near future, our AI companions like ElliQ could be our Life Alert. Connect the companion to a smartwatch like an Apple Watch or Fitbit which monitors our vitals and never worry about Grandma again.

Did we mention AI companions have even helped with reducing the need for medications? If only we could have a little BB-8 sidekick rolling around.

Now, not everyone is 100% on board with these AI senior sitters. Some worry it could be demeaning, folks might get too attached, and privacy could become an issue. All fair points to consider.

But a pilot program in New York helped hundreds of isolated seniors with an AI companion and loneliness plummeted by 95% while overall health/wellbeing shot up 96%. That's nuts!

Maybe it's worth looking into these AI companions for the elderly… just some food for thought, fam.

Dragon's Dogma 2 Has Finally Delivered AI Party Members That Actually Pull Their Weight

Oh boy, a giant “HELL YEAH, BROTHER” is in order.

Let's be real. Most games out there give us AI companions about as useful as a wet napkin. 

And Dragon's Dogma 2 is sick of wet napkins. 

So here’s what they did… When you load up Dragon’s Dogma you start out building your “pawn”, aka party member, to complement whatever playstyle you’re shooting for. Tank, mage, healer, archer, you name it. Your pawn can be it.

What’s great is that whatever class you choose for your pawn, they’re designed to be "knowledgeable friends who've played before" actively guiding you without cheap UI hand-holding. 

But That’s Just the Tip of the Iceberg
Dragon’s Dogma 2 took leveling up to a whole new level. And not just leveling up in the simplest terms. Pawns actually learn and improve their combat abilities over time based on their experiences questing with you. So, theoretically, that same pawn could have an entirely different set of abilities based on what your playstyle is. 

For example, say you're a mage, rogue, or a tank. Your pawn could learn completely different abilities depending on what class you roll with. 

Is there any other game that’s done this before??

The real kicker is you can fully customize your main pawn and share it online in the "Rift" system to be drafted by other players. Your created pawn then becomes a time-traveling sage carrying knowledge across infinite game worlds.

Imagine a level one player is in an area that your pawn has already experienced. Your pawn could give them advice or a heads-up that something big may be lurking in the shadows. Because, well, it’s technically been there before. 

Our vote is every RPG needs this from here on out. 

Take notes, game devs. Take notes. 

F2P Friday

Where we share an up-and-coming AI freebie to keep an eye on.

Save Me, SaneBox!

Whether you have 50 or 500+ emails waiting to be read, SaneBox is your Inbox Assistant.

Creating rules to wrangle all of the email gets tiring. Save time and your sanity with SaneBox 🤣

Learn how it works in this 2 minute video to help you tackle your inbox, today!

Daily Delight

Just something fun and interesting around the web.

Cosplaying as Luke Skywalker just got so much better.

What’s happening inside the Realm

A list of side quests to explore and more.

• 🙃 Microsoft pulls the rug out from under Inflection AI, and steals 2 founders and close to 70 employees to run their “Microsoft AI” division. In return, Microsoft paid Inflection $650 million to license their AI models and waive any legal claims related to the new hirings.

• 🎵 Suno, the AI app that allows you to create any music possible with a prompt, has released its V3 model. This is coming from a music addict, the tunes it produces are 🔥

• 🏃 Fitbit has a new AI chatbot being released for premium users that’ll allow you to have a conversation with your Fitbit and discover why your sleep sucked.

• 💰️ Reddit raked in the cash today after a very successful IPO. After it’s all said and done, our very own degen central hit a $9.5 billion valuation.

That’s all the quests we have for today. Check back tomorrow for more!

Looking to become a sponsor?

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.