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Issue #12 Sunday, March 8, 2026

Meta Launches Applied AI Engineering Organization

Meta accelerates AI research with new organization

👋 Hey, AI Enthusiast!

Welcome back to Bonita Banana — the AI newsletter that doesn't take itself too seriously!

Here's what we've got today:

  • Meta launches new Applied AI Engineering organization
  • Cox Automotive undergoes AI-first transformation
  • AI contract restrictions threaten US military missions
  • Plurality AI allows users to choose from various AI models
  • Intuit launches AI-powered ERP solution for construction industry
  • 🧠 Banana Tip: Using Plurality AI for text generation

🔴 Breaking News

🚀 Meta Launches Applied AI Engineering Organization

Meta is launching a new Applied AI Engineering organization aimed at accelerating its AI research and model performance, focusing teams on real-world data, feedback, and reinforcement learning workflows. This move is expected to enhance Meta's AI capabilities.

📈 Cox Automotive Undergoes AI-First Transformation

Cox Automotive is steering an “AI-first” transformation across its dealer services and software platforms, embedding agentic AI into workflows to improve sales insights, pricing recommendations, and customer engagement tools.

🚫 AI Contract Restrictions Threaten US Military Missions

A senior Pentagon official said that commercial AI contracts signed under the Biden administration contained sweeping operational restrictions that threatened to paralyze US military missions in real-time.

🛠️ Top AI Tools

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Midjourney is an AI image generator that turns text prompts into stunning artwork.
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Runway is a platform that allows users to create and edit videos using AI.
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ElevenLabs is an AI-powered voice synthesis platform that generates high-quality voice outputs.
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Perplexity is an AI search engine that provides accurate and relevant results.
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Cursor is an AI writing assistant that helps with content creation.
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Llama is an AI model developed by Meta that can process and generate human-like language.

✨ Spotlight

Plurality AI

Plurality AI is a service that allows users to choose from a wide range of AI models, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and LLaMA. This platform enables users to utilize these models for tasks such as text generation, image creation, web search, and more. With Plurality AI, users can upload images, translate, transform, and generate high-quality outputs easily. Check it out

📡 AI Finds

📊 AI in Fintech — AI has reached a decisive inflection point in financial services, with 96% of institutions actively using or planning to implement AI.
🤖 AI and Modernization — AI and modernization are reshaping how financial institutions operate, compete, and earn trust.
📈 AI Contract Restrictions — AI contract restrictions could threaten US military missions, according to a senior Pentagon official.

🤖 Notable AIs

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Replika is a conversational AI companion that can understand and respond to user input.
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Dialogflow is a Google-developed platform for building conversational interfaces.

💻 Open Source Finds

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Ollama is an open-source AI platform for building and deploying machine learning models.
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LocalAI is an open-source platform for building and deploying AI models locally.
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LangChain is an open-source framework for building AI-powered applications.

🧠 Banana Tip

Using Plurality AI for text generation: Try using the prompt "Generate a short story about a character who discovers a hidden world" to create a unique and engaging story.

Stay tuned for more AI news and updates! 🍌

— The Bonita Banana Team