Google’s magical Illuminate and A/B testing on autopilot
Google’s magical Illuminate and A/B testing on autopilot
Plus: Why iOS 18 could derail your product’s growth, Figma fonts, YouTube’s new brand
Hi product people 👋,
Transcription is now a well-established use case for AI, with companies like Zoom, Microsoft and others all rolling out the ability to transcribe a meeting or conversation and then summarize it in a doc. The problem with transcriptions, though, is that they tend to be pretty dull to read. Similarly, when you upload a PDF to an AI model and ask for a summarization, the output is usually factually correct but hardly compelling.
Google’s new experimental product, Illuminate, may be about to change that.
It's a fascinating new application of AI that automatically transforms documents not just into summaries or transcripts, but into dynamic conversations between two people about the content of the document. All a user needs to do is upload a document and Illuminate turns that single document into an engaging, podcast-like discussion between two hosts.
It’s currently in its early phase and is limited to academic papers and tech research reports for now but this could be incredibly helpful for product teams who want to encourage users (or coworkers) to read important documentation or specific pieces of work in an easier to digest format. Let’s hope Google doesn’t prematurely bin this one as it may have some interesting use cases if it’s given enough time to evolve. You can see it in action here.
Other products worth checking out this week include Keak - a new A/B testing suite that promises to “self-improve” your product’s landing pages. The tool uses generative AI to automatically create new versions of a page based on the data it collects.
Coming up in today’s product briefing:
How iOS 18 might derail your product’s growth tactics
A new workplace AI tool reaches a $4bn+ valuation - with some useful applications for product teams
How AI is impacting the tech job market
A new tool to help you manage pop-up blockers
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Key reads, resources and tools for product teams
New from the Department of Product Substack this week:
Knowledge Series - How to write effective AI prompts for high quality output
When all you’re faced with is an empty dialogue box staring back at you, figuring out how to phrase your AI prompts to get high quality outputs can feel a little overwhelming. In this Knowledge Series, we explore 5 of the most powerful types of prompts and how these can be used at work with leading tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity at work. (Department of Product)
Analysis - What happened when the EU forced Google to remove maps from search results?
An interesting piece of analysis on the impact of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) on consumer behavior, focusing on changes in Google’s search result presentation in the European Union (EU). in January 2024, Google was forced to remove clickable maps in search results. The result was a drop in Google Maps visits - but no discernable uptake in alternative mapping services. A report by Louis-Daniel Pape and Michelangelo Rossi. (CESifo Munich)
Strategy - Why iOS 18 will destroy product referral and growth programs
Soon the world will update to iOS 18, and it will add significant friction for users to invite their friends, hurting the growth prospects of many consumer apps. Why? Andrew Chen explains all. (
)UX - How to use AI for mocking tables and charts when testing prototypes
Prototype testing is at the core user-centered design. But crafting realistic data for prototypes that you plan to test is time-consuming. Especially when the design itself is still evolving, you’re pressed for time, or you are a one-person UX team. Evan Sunwall from NN Group explains how to use AI to make prototyping with data easier. (NN Group)
Case study - Why GitHub won
GitHub won and is now the go to Git tool for most product development teams. Why did they win, though? In this piece, software developer Scott Chacon analyzes why. (Gitbutler)
Tools you can use
Karo - assign your to do list items to friends and colleagues
Consent-o-matic - automatically fill out cookie banners based on your preferences
ExtractAI - quickly extract data from spreadsheets into structured data formats
Interview - Anthropic’s chief product officer on building consumer AI products
Mike was the Co-founder of Instagram, then started newsreader Artificant and is now head of consumer product at Anthropic.
New product features and innovation
Roblox is launching a series of new features aimed at helping developers boost revenues including a new Shopify integration that allows creators to sell physical merchandise. Roblox says its virtual economy has created the equivalent of 18,000 full time workers. The company has also confirmed a new feature that will allow users to generate 3D models from text prompts alone. Watch it in action here.
Audible has unveiled a new feature that will allow users to create replicas of their voices to use in audiobook narrations.
YouTube has officially branded its new generative AI feature “Ask Music”. It lets users create new personalized radio stations using text prompts.
Anthropic has launched a new API management feature called Workspaces that allows companies to manage Claude deployments. For product teams, this means control over things like monthly spending limits and access / user permissions settings.
AI search startup Glean has raised $260 million in funding at a valuation of over $4 billion for its enterprise search product. Glean positions itself as “Work AI for all” by connecting to various different tools and data sources to power now just queries but also generative AI capabilities. For product teams, this includes performing tasks like asking for updates on specific features, automating repetitive work tasks like testing or generating code for specific parts of an application. Co-founded back in 2019 by two ex-Googlers, the valuation and feature set is impressive, but it’s questionable how defensible this moat is now that Microsoft and Google are all in too.
Figma has added an impressive 450 new Google Fonts to its core product and Slides.
📈 Product data and trends to stay informed
The shift to AI at tech companies has meant fewer, more specialized job openings. The AI specialty share of total U.S. tech talent job postings increased to 14.3% in June 2024 from 8.4% in late 2019. The number of companies offering fully remote roles has risen slightly to 15%. Report by CBRE.
OnlyFans now has over 4.1 million creators and 305 million users, both growing at close to 30% year on year, with revenues of $6.6 billion in user payments. The company’s owner pays himself all of the profits as dividends.
New research suggests Google AI overviews are having a significant impact on the visibility of publishers. Overviews now appear on 17% of queries with some articles taking 3 full mobile scrolls until they appear in results. Back in May, previous analysis showed that 24% of results included overviews, suggesting Google is approaching the rollout with caution.
Waymo says its driverless cars resulted in 84% fewer airbag deployment crashes, 73% fewer injury-causing crashes and 48% fewer police-reported crashes. Full report on Waymo driver safety.
Internet speeds in Pakistan have dropped by 40% since the country imposed a Chinese-style firewall.
Apple is spending $30 billion on R&D every year to try to find its next big thing. iPhones still account for 52% of all revenues but the hype around new phone launches is fading.
📅 Upcoming program dates
If you’re looking to level up your technical skills this year, the live Web Technologies program kicks off September 28th.
Set over 4 weeks, you’ll get the chance to work with an instructor and other participants from all over the world to get a deeper understanding of the technical aspects of product development.
The Web Technologies program is designed to help you become more technically confident - not transition into engineering. Admissions close soon.
Other product news in brief
Amazon is planning to invest $10.5 billion in the UK for cloud and AI infrastructure.
Adobe’s chief trust officer, who led the company’s AI rollout, is leaving.
WeTransfer is set to lay off hundreds of staff after Bending Spoons acquisition.
The Weekly Briefing is a product-led perspective of what’s happening in tech - and why it matters to product teams. Paid subscribers also get access to in-depth DoP Deep dive reports to learn from the strategies and new features released by top tech companies, The Knowledge Series for sharpening your tech skills and more.