In this CodeLetter, we discuss the latest developer options for Next.js 13 user interfaces, fundamental court rulings regarding AI copyrighting, third party Reddit apps starting to charge customers, and the startup focused on building AI friends is now valued at $500M.

The Top User Interface Options For Next.js 13 (Component / UI Libraries)

When the App Router behind Next.js 13 was announced (Check it out here), the new client functionality ended up breaking many of the top UI component libraries. This disruption was quickly fixed, introducing several new UI options for Next.js 13 developers. Here are our top 3 picks…

shadcn/ui (link). shadcn/ui is a great pick for developers who are interested in having complete control of their user interface. shadcn/ui achieves complete developer control by allowing devs to add components to their project one by one. From there they can make any modifications to the original shadcn/ui components (This includes styling, how data is handled, interactions, anything). shadcn/ui should be seen as the UI library of the minimalist, which isn’t a bad thing at all.

NextUI (link). NextUI is great for developers who love a solid dark mode, alongside an easy to use theming system to instantly customize any application you’re building. NextUI also puts a design emphasis on beautiful animations, and uses framer-motion in the background to achieve performant animations on the web. NextUI’s large amount of components definitely makes it an attractive option for developers interested in building applications as fast as possible, with minimal custom components.

Radix Themes (link). Radix is already well known for their Radix UI Primitives, allowing developers to build custom styling on top of boilerplate functionality for common UI components such as Dropdowns, Modals, and more. Radix UI Themes introduces a component library which has prebuilt styling for many of the common Radix UI primitives, allowing developers to quickly build accessible and beautiful user interfaces.

Alright, now that you now the best UI / Component libraries… time to get building!

Legal System Making Fundamental Decisions Around AI Copyrighting

The advent of AI generated art through services such as Midjourney and Dalle 2 has brought questions about the legality of selling, copyrighting, and overall use of AI generated images in a business context.

A recent United States District Court hearing changes everything, ruling that AI generated artwork cannot be copyrighted (Source). This ruling includes several different takes from Judge Beryl A. Howell including that “human authorship is a bedrock requirement of copyright.” (Source). This prompts a question gaining attention: How much human involvement is necessary? Could it be argued that inputting a prompt into an AI equals authorship? Future legal decisions will clarify these matters.

The team at CodeLetter is envisioning a future where instead of an arms race for the “best AI system”, we instead see races for getting the best data inputs. The current practices of AI companies are questionable, with many of them using massive amounts public information that they did not explicitly ask permission for. With the development of the legality of AI, we will make sure to keep you up to date.

Narwhal 2 Reddit App Announced, Even After Reddit API Backlash From Community

Reddit has stirred up massive controversy recently, with their announcement of beginning to charge third party apps for the use of the Reddit API. Reddit communities backlashed harshly, with around 9,000 communities “going dark” in support of third party apps (Source).

This has forced large scale third party Reddit applications, such as Narwhal 2, to completely change their approach to giving users access to a personalized Reddit client.

The founder of Narwhal 2 has openly discussed his decisions as a third party app creator, noting that he is ”targeting a $3/month price that will be able to serve most people. Right now, the average Narwhal user uses about 250 requests a day,” (Source). The question now is, will users be willing to pay?

Narwhal 2 has no immediate plans to charge users. CodeLetter is interested in seeing if the Reddit API changes will result in many users migrating back to the official Reddit application.

Make Friends With AI Using Inworld (No, Like Real AI Friends…)

Inworld has quickly become one of the fastest growing companies in AI, and it is hard to say if its $500M valuation is purely just hype at this point (Source).

Inworld allows game developers to easily integrate AI characters with real emotions, memory, authentic goals, emotions, and other attributes to make them as realistic as possible. Inworld has integrations with many of the top game engines, including Unreal Engine, Unity, and even Minecraft.

An interesting use case of Inworld is the integration of lifelike AI characters into educational products. Niantic has utilized Inworld to develop an AI tour guide, enabling individuals to inquire about various aspects of the redwood forest they explore on their tour. LG U+ has introduced AI teachers inside of an application designed to help children learn English (Source).

Inworld introduces many amazing opportunities regarding AI. The CodeLetter team anticipates that AI will play a role in future user interactions, and this is a field we will be watching in anticipation.

Thanks for reading this weeks CodeLetter, same time next week ☮️ . If you enjoy reading CodeLetter, refer a friend by sending them over to thecodeletter.com!

- The Team at CodeLetter