Once a signifier of luxury or novelty, custom products and services are now within reach of the everyday consumer, thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, algorithm-led platforms, and the COVID-era digitisation boom. Today, everyone wants to be the main character of their brand experience.

Although people are growing more aware of the fact that AI is present in many of our daily activities and interactions, there remain concerns about the ways it might develop. German start-up QuantPi, which raised €2.5 million in October 2022 for its platform, aims to allay these fears.

Stable Diffusion is the latest open-source AI image generator signalling a growing appetite for new kinds of tech-enabled creativity. Offering brands exciting avenues for innovative communications, it also necessitates intentional mitigation against misinformation and technological biases.

Algorithms have become central to discovering new music and products online – but are machine-led recommendations always welcome? Canvas8 spoke to Chiara Longoni, an assistant professor at Boston University, to understand how people’s goals impact their willingness to trust AI.

Anonymous Camera is an iPhone app that enables users to anonymize photos and videos in real-time using artificial intelligence. Journalists are using the app in an effort to preserve protester’s privacy and it’s working to assuage people’s fears when it comes to surveillance.