Sometimes I just stop and appreciate the cool things that people are doing online, and getting the list of nominees for web award contests gives me that opportunity.

The Webby Award nominees aren’t out yet, but voting is open for their sister site, the Lovie Awards, which highlights the best European sites, apps and programs.

Here are some of my favorite picks.

AI Quizzes that Highlight Endangered Animals

Is this Amur Leopard an AI image or the real thing?

The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) wanted to draw attention to endangered species, so they created an engaging quiz that lets you decide whether the image is real or AI. Each time you play, you get new animals to identify and learn about.

Anti-Bias AI Tips

I. Love. This. One.

The Dove soap people have long focused on “real beauty” to help women feel more comfortable with their looks without striving for impossible Insta-inspired beauty standards.

With the explosion of AI-generated images on the web, they noticed that AI-generated women were often blonde, fit, sexy and completely unlike us normal folks. So they created an AI Playbook to help us improve prompting so that AI-generated images of females look a little more like real females look.

Watch their quick video overview here, and download the playbook yourself.

I tried the experiment myself. “Create an image of a gorgeous woman” produced this:

But “create an image of a gorgeous women according to Dove Real Beauty Ad” gave me this:

Learn American Sign Language

This one was a little awkward to get right, but I think it’s because my office is too dark. Signs AI uses your camera to teach you different ASL signs. You get points for doing them right. I didn’t get a lot of points.

See Real-Life AI Applications for the Environment

This Google Research game site is made for kids, but it’s interesting for all of us.

You act as a scientist trying to solve the world’s problems, and you can apply real-world AI technologies to find solutions. I played around with it for a few minutes, but I don’t have the patience to watch the setup videos to get to the play part. 😂

Converse with Your Digital Self

This isn’t one you can play with, but it sure is cool.

The Samsung Galaxy Ring tracks your sleep, and this project created a doppelganger of people and then let the people talk with themselves about insights from their sleep cycles.

Watch a Little Old AI Lady Outsmart Scammers

I shared Daisy vs. Scammers with you before because this is so awesome. O2 is a European-based telecommunications company. They created an AI granny that would engage with scammers and waste their time. It’s hilarious.