Rapidly gaining popularity in India, an AI-driven cooking gadget is making waves in kitchens across the nation.
In the bustling tech landscape of India, Upliance AI, a pioneering cooking appliance company, has made significant strides since its commercial launch in 2023. The company, founded by IIT Bombay alumni Mahek Mody and Mohit Sharma, gained greater success after being showcased on Shark Tank India in 2024, leading to a 243% increase in sales.
Upliance AI's smart cooking assistant can chop, stir, knead, blend, and heat food, revolutionizing the way Indians cook. The device, released in 2023, is connected to a tablet with AI-powered software containing over 500 recipes and the ability to customize them.
While Upliance AI has experienced notable sales and success, it did not secure investment on Shark Tank India. However, the exposure helped increase its visibility, paving the way for future growth. Since its commercial launch, Upliance AI has acquired over 10,000 customers and has a production capacity of 5,000 units per month.
The upliance device retails for Rs 27,999, with no current software subscription fee but plans to introduce one in the future. The company reported revenues of Rs 1.5 crore in FY24, Rs 6.7 crore in FY25, and aims for Rs 20 crore in FY26. Its fundraising success is significant, having raised Rs 11 crore in 2023 from investors including Draper Associates and Zerodha-backed Rainmatter, and Rs 34 crore in 2024 in a round led by Khosla Ventures.
Meanwhile, in the realm of AI research, Brown University is starting a new institute to develop AI assistants capable of having "trustworthy, sensitive, and context-aware interactions" with humans. The aim is to improve mental health and address the issues of bias and failures that current large language models introduce, potentially leading to dangerous consequences.
Brown's AI research institute received a grant from the US National Science Foundation, in partnership with Intel and Capital One, to boost US competitiveness and align with the White House's "AI Action Plan." The institute aims to develop a safer AI system with analogous capabilities based more on cognitive science and neuroscience compared to the existing LLMs that generate text responses based on prior words or user inputs.
Elsewhere, Writer, a startup, has developed an "Action Agent," a tool that allows employees at big companies to use AI in a limitless way while ensuring they can't do any damage. This tool could be instrumental in preventing employees from automating more than they should or getting around security restrictions.
Stanford University research has warned that current large language models introduce bias and failures that could have "dangerous consequences." This serves as a reminder that while AI technology continues to advance, it is crucial to address the issues of safety and bias to ensure a responsible and beneficial integration of AI in our daily lives.
In the realm of consumer electronics, the development of a 3mm VR display with an incredibly wide field of view, developed by Stanford researchers and published in the Nature Photonics journal, could potentially help create consumer glasses and headsets that people actually want to use. This display optimizes the image with AI to overcome the physics problem of firing photons into eyeballs at close range.
As the world of AI continues to evolve, companies like Upliance AI and research institutions like Brown University are at the forefront of pushing the boundaries of what AI can do, while ensuring a safe and responsible integration of this technology into our lives.
- Upliance AI's smart cooking assistant, a revolutionary device in the food-and-drink sector, is not just a gadget but a significant transformation in India's lifestyle, enabling chopping, stirring, kneading, blending, and heating food.
- In the broader context of technology, Brown University is establishing a new research institute focused on developing AI assistants that can interact with humans in a sensitive and context-aware manner, aiming to improve mental health and mitigate bias issues.
- Meanwhile, in the consumer electronics industry, Stanford researchers have developed a 3mm VR display with a wide field of view, which, if commercialized, could potentially transform conventional VR glasses and headsets, making them more appealing and comfortable for everyday use.
