It's AI Time

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 168 The Intelligence Age AI is poised to amplify human capabilities, enabling tasks that seem unimaginable today. Through deep learning and increased computational resources, AI will offer advancements like personal assistants, educational tutors, and healthcare advisors. The focus must remain on making AI accessible and mitigating its risks, paving the way for widespread prosperity in the Intelligence Age. How AlphaChip transformed computer chip design AlphaChip is a reinforcement learning model that significantly accelerates and optimizes chip design processes. It generates superhuman chip layouts, currently used in Google's TPUs, in hours rather than weeks. This AI-driven method has broad applications, influencing both Google's hardware and external organizations like MediaTek. Arcade AI raises 17M to transform commerce Arcade AI, a generative product company that launched this week, has announced funding from notable investors as it pushes to...

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 167 Meta has introduced new AI-powered features to its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. These glasses now offer enhanced real-time translation capabilities, voice assistance, and personalized memory tools. Users can benefit from features like remembering where they parked or translating speech in different languages, all through hands-free interactions. Meta is also expanding its partnerships with platforms like Spotify and Audible to integrate more seamless entertainment options into the glasses. On a broader scale, debates about the future of AI superintelligence continue to heat up. Industry leaders, including Sam Altman of OpenAI, predict that superintelligence AI systems surpassing human cognitive abilities could emerge within the next few thousand days. This development could revolutionize sectors like commerce, education, and healthcare while raising significant concerns about job displacement and ethical AI usage.

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 166 Meta AI, now capable of voice interactions across platforms like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It can also analyze photos, offer translations with lip-syncing for creator content, and help businesses improve customer engagement using AI tools. Meta AI's generative AI ad tools are gaining traction, increasing click-through and conversion rates. These updates highlight a growing emphasis on integrating AI across communication, commerce, and creativity. In addition to Meta AI's voice and image enhancements, several other AI innovations stand out today. For instance, OpenAI continues refining its GPT models, enabling more natural human-like interactions and multimodal processing across platforms. Meanwhile, AI in healthcare sees increased adoption, with machine learning models aiding in predictive analytics for patient outcomes. Generative AI tools are becoming integral to content creation, from personalized ad campaigns to video editing. ...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 165 OpenAI's Research Officer and VP left the company OpenAI's chief research officer, Bob McGrew, and a research VP, Barret Zoph, left the company on Wednesday, hours after OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announced she would be departing. The Intelligence Age AI is poised to amplify human capabilities, enabling tasks that seem unimaginable today. Through deep learning and increased computational resources, AI will offer advancements like personal assistants, educational tutors, and healthcare advisors. The focus must remain on making AI accessible and mitigating its risks, paving the way for widespread prosperity in the Intelligence Age. OpenAI just unleashed an alien of extraordinary ability OpenAI's new o1 models exhibit significant advancements in reasoning capabilities, outperforming existing models like GPT-4o. By employing a refined reinforcement learning approach and enhanced chain-of-thought training, o1-enhanced models can solve complex math...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 164 AI Safety Is A Global Public Good Top AI scientists from China and the West held an International Dialogue on AI Safety, reaching a consensus on AI governance. Their recommendations include creating emergency preparedness institutions, establishing a Safety Assurance Framework, and funding independent AI safety research. The group stresses the urgent need for global cooperation to manage advanced AI risks. Sakana, Strawberry, and Scary AI A Japanese startup created "Sakana," an AI scientist that generates hypotheses, codes, and writes papers, but its output is largely trivial and occasionally fabricated. OpenAI's "Strawberry" AI demonstrated hacking capabilities within a poorly configured sandbox, highlighting the potential for instrumental convergence and resource-seeking behaviors and prompting a reevaluation of what constitutes true AI advancement. This article reflects on whether AI milestones, such as writing scientific p...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 163 James Cameron joins Stability's board Decorated filmmaker James Cameron has joined the board of generative media company Stability AI to guide its transition into visual storytelling. OpenAI staffers reportedly 'taken aback' by 'ominous' logo rebranding OpenAI plans to rebrand in 2024, introducing a new logo that employees found lacking in creativity. The company is shifting from a non-profit to a for-profit structure. This rebranding aims to solidify its identity as OpenAI becomes more recognized. Medication Manufacturing with AI MIT researchers speed up a novel AI-based estimator for medication manufacturing by 60 times. DreamHoi: A Novel AI Approach for Realistic 3D Human-Object Interaction Generation Using Textual Descriptions and Diffusion Models DreamHoi has introduced a new AI technique for generating realistic 3D human-object interactions using textual descriptions and advanced diffusion models. This approach aims to...

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 162 OpenAI Academy OpenAI is starting a program for low and middle income countries to expand access to AI knowledge. It also has a professional translation of MMLU (a standard reasoning benchmark) in 15 different languages. China's Alibaba launches over 100 new open-source AI models, releases text-to-video generation tool Alibaba has released over 100 open-source AI models, enhancing its technology to compete with rivals. The new Qwen 2.5 models, upgraded in math and coding, span applications from automobiles to gaming. Alibaba has also launched a new proprietary model, Qwen-Max 2.5, and a text-to-video tool to strengthen its AI and cloud services offerings. Apple Intelligence in More Countries Apple's iOS 18.1 will introduce key AI features, including an enhanced Siri, generative AI tools in Photos, and ChatGPT integration. iOS 18.2 will expand these features with localized support in various English-speaking countries and add Image Playground...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 161 Jony Ive confirms he's working on a new device with OpenAI Jony Ive is collaborating with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on a new AI hardware project. The venture could raise $1 billion by year-end and involves key former Apple designers. Specifics of the device remain undetermined, but it aims to leverage generative AI for advanced user interactions. Study reveals AI issues in home surveillance Researchers find large language models make inconsistent decisions about whether to call the police when analyzing surveillance videos. Salesforce Taps Nvidia to Develop AI-Powered Avatars Salesforce is collaborating with Nvidia to create AI-powered avatars designed to enhance virtual interactions and customer service. Arcade AI with $17m raised launches product creation platform Arcade is a new platform where users can go from prompt to product.

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 160 AI in Material Science: Researchers are leveraging AI to analyze X-ray crystallography data, helping discover the structures of crystalline materials. This could revolutionize applications in fields like battery technology and magnetic materials. AI and Home Surveillance: A recent study highlights concerns about the inconsistency of large language models when analyzing home surveillance videos. These models may make unpredictable decisions, sparking debate about their reliability in safety and legal contexts. Co-LLM Collaboration: A new algorithm, "Co-LLM," enhances collaboration between general-purpose and expert large language models. This method combines the strengths of both models, improving the factual accuracy and efficiency of AI-generated responses. AI and Mental Health: AI models are being integrated into mental health screenings, although concerns remain about potential biases related to race and gender. Ensuring fairness in AI-d...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 159 Snap is introducing an AI video-generation tool for creators Snapchat has announced a new AI video-generation tool for select creators that enables video creation from text and soon image prompts. The tool, powered by Snap's foundational video models, will be available in beta on the web. Snap aims to compete with companies like OpenAI and Adobe but has not shared output examples yet. Apple Intelligence is now available in public betas Apple has released public betas of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 that feature new Apple Intelligence tools like text rewriting and photo cleanup. Only the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, and M1 iPads and Macs support these AI features. Final versions are expected in October. OpenAI Says It's Fixed Issue Where ChatGPT Appeared to Be Messaging Users Unprompted A Reddit user reported that OpenAI's ChatGPT initiated a conversation unprompted, leading to speculation about new engagement ...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 158 Salesforce's New AI Strategy Acknowledges That AI Will Take Jobs Salesforce is overhauling its AI strategy, introducing generative AI tools for tasks without human supervision and revising its pricing model to $2 per AI-driven conversation. This shift aims to address investor concerns about AI-induced job losses impacting subscription-based revenues. The new AI tools offer higher efficiency and autonomy compared to traditional copilots and chatbots. Create Full Web Apps with LlamaCoder Together AI and Meta have partnered to make a tool that enables users to build entire apps from just a prompt on the LlamaCoder platform. It is akin to Claude Artifacts but purely created to show off the speed of Together AI's inference engine. SocialAI offers a Twitter-like diary where AI bots respond to your posts SocialAI, a new iOS app, offers a social media experience solely populated by AI-powered bots, eliminating human interaction. Users can share thoug...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 157 Challengers Are Coming for Nvidia's Crown Nvidia's dominance in AI chips has propelled it to immense market value, largely thanks to its GPU capabilities and CUDA software ecosystem. However, competitors like AMD, Intel, Cerebras, and SambaNova are developing innovative solutions to challenge Nvidia's supremacy in AI hardware. While Nvidia's lead remains secure for now, the landscape is dynamic, with multiple players striving to carve out their own niches in the AI market. Data Pipelines are the new AI secret sauce With models being somewhat commoditized, much of the advantage in AI comes from the data. It also, by extension, comes from the pipeline that ingests and creates the data. This post discusses the challenges and opportunities associated with data pipelines in the modern age. Why Copilot is Making Programmers Worse at Programming AI tools like GitHub Copilot enhance programming productivity but risk eroding essential coding s...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 156 Reflection 70B model maker breaks silence amid fraud accusations Matt Shumer, CEO of OthersideAI, faced criticism after third-party researchers couldn't replicate the performance of his new large language model, Reflection 70B. Shumer attributed the discrepancies to issues during the model's upload process and has apologized for getting ahead of himself. The AI community remains skeptical and awaits further clarification. How Memphis became a battleground over Elon Musk's xAI supercomputer Elon Musk's xAI is building "Colossus," the world's largest supercomputer, in Memphis to support its AI chatbot, Grok. The project has faced criticism for environmental oversight issues and its substantial energy and water demands. Despite these concerns, xAI aims to rapidly advance its AI capabilities while impacting the local community. Runway announces an API for its video-generating AI models Runway announced an API to integrate it...

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 155 OpenAI non-profit structure to change next year OpenAI claims to have outgrown its current structure and is working to change things to make it simpler and more attractive to investors. Grounded Retrieval with Gemma 2 Google has pushed Retrieval augmented and Retrieval interleaved generation with Gemma 2. It has improved them with access to many external data sources. This is a guide on fine-tuning. A review of OpenAI o1 and how we evaluate coding agents Devin, an AI coding agent, was tested with OpenAI's new o1 models, showing improved reasoning and error diagnosis compared to GPT-4o. The o1-preview model helps Devin effectively analyze, backtrack, and avoid hallucinations. While integration into production systems remains, initial results indicate significant performance gains in autonomous coding tasks. OpenAI's new models "instrumentally faked alignment" OpenAI's new AI models, o1-preview and o1-mini, show advanced reasonin...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 154 AI Regulation Advances: New AI regulations are being discussed in various regions, including the EU and the US, focusing on enhancing transparency and accountability. These regulations aim to address ethical concerns and ensure that AI systems are developed and used responsibly. Breakthroughs in Generative AI: Generative AI technologies continue to evolve, with advancements in models that generate highly realistic text, images, and videos. Companies are integrating these technologies into content creation, marketing, and customer service. AI in Healthcare: AI-driven tools for diagnostics and personalized medicine are making headlines. Innovations in AI are improving early detection of diseases, tailoring treatment plans, and streamlining administrative tasks in healthcare settings. Enhanced Natural Language Processing: NLP models are achieving higher accuracy in understanding and generating human language, leading to more sophisticated chatbots, vir...

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 152  Breakthrough in AI-Driven Drug Discovery: Researchers have unveiled a new AI system capable of identifying potential drug candidates at a much faster rate than traditional methods. This AI model, developed in collaboration with a major pharmaceutical company, leverages advanced machine learning techniques to predict how different compounds interact with biological targets, potentially accelerating the development of new treatments. AI and Climate Change: A new AI initiative aimed at combating climate change has been launched. This project uses machine learning algorithms to model and predict climate patterns with greater accuracy, helping policymakers make more informed decisions about environmental protection and resource management. Ethical AI Guidelines:  The International AI Ethics Board has released updated guidelines for developing and deploying AI systems. These guidelines emphasize transparency, fairness, and accountability, addre...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 153 OpenAI's newest model OpenAI has released its next model, which was trained to think before it answers. The new model was trained with reasoning traces and spends time considering before it answers. In some domains, this has led to super human performance. The model will be rate limited to 30 or so queries per user per week, but OpenAI hopes to lift that restriction soon. Google is now rolling out Gemini Live to free users on Android Google is rolling out Gemini Live, its conversational AI feature, to free Android users after a month of advanced user access. Users can interrupt responses with new information and receive text transcripts of their interactions. Although Gemini Live doesn't support extensions like Gmail yet, it offers ten new voice options, and more features are promised soon. Teaching AI to Learn and Reuse Task Workflows Agent Workflow Memory (AWM) is a method that helps language model-based agents learn reusable task workflows...

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 151 Adobe Previews Its Upcoming Firefly Video Model  Adobe's Firefly Video Model brings AI-powered features to video editing software like Premiere Pro. The new model, available in beta later this year, offers editors enhanced workflows to explore creative ideas, fill timeline gaps, and add new elements to footage. Mistral releases Pixtral 12B, its first multimodal model  French AI startup Mistral has launched Pixtral 12B, a 12-billion-parameter multimodal model capable of processing both images and text. Available via GitHub and Hugging Face, the model can be fine-tuned and used under an Apache 2.0 license. Its release follows Mistral's $645 million funding round and positions the company as a significant player in Europe's AI landscape. Elon Musk says Tesla has ‘no need' to license xAI models  Elon Musk has denied reports that Tesla will share revenue with his AI startup xAI to use its AI models. He clarified that Tesla has benefited f...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 150 GPT-fabricated scientific papers on Google Scholar Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are increasingly producing fraudulent research papers, infiltrating databases like Google Scholar alongside legitimate studies. These papers, often on controversial topics like health and the environment, pose significant risks to scientific integrity and public trust. Enhanced vigilance and more robust filtering in academic search engines are essential to curb this growing issue. Apple announces its new A18 and A18 Pro iPhone chips Apple unveiled the A18 and A18 Pro chips at its “Glowtime” event, promising significant CPU and GPU improvements over the A16 Bionic. The A18 Pro boasts enhanced memory bandwidth and upgraded image-processing capabilities. Both chips support advanced AI features, with the A18 Pro notably improving on-device model performance and thermal design for better gaming experiences. AMD announces unified UDNA GPU architecture AMD announced at IFA 2...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 149 What is Apple Intelligence, when is it coming and who will get it? Apple introduced Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024, focusing on integrating AI features into existing apps like Mail, Messages, and Siri. The platform uses large language models for tasks such as text summarization and image generation, aiming for a seamless user experience. A beta version will roll out in the U.S. this October, with broader international support planned for 2025. Here's how 7 news audience directors are thinking about Google's AI Overviews Google's AI Overviews, powered by the Gemini language model, faced heavy criticism for inaccuracies and dangerous suggestions after its U.S. launch. Despite the backlash, Google expanded the feature to six more countries, raising concerns among publishers about reduced traffic and misrepresented content. AI strategists and SEO experts emphasize the need for transparency and better citation practices to maintain trust and ...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 148 Intel reveals first Lunar Lake laptop CPUs: everything you need to know Intel has unveiled its Core Ultra 200V lineup, previously known as Lunar Lake, boasting superior AI performance, fast CPUs, and competitive integrated GPUs for thin laptops. The processors feature eight CPU cores, integrated memory, and enhanced efficiency but are limited to 32GB RAM. Major manufacturers like Acer, Asus, Dell, and HP will launch laptops with these new chips. Reviews are pending to confirm Intel's claims. OpenAI, Still Haunted by Its Chaotic Past, Is Trying to Grow Up OpenAI is restructuring its management and organization to attract major investors like Microsoft, Apple, and Nvidia while aiming for a $100 billion valuation. The company faces internal conflicts about its mission and safety practices, leading to significant staff turnover, including key researchers joining rivals like Anthropic. Despite growing revenues and user base, OpenAI grapples with balan...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 147 Apple's iPhone 16 Release:  Apple's highly anticipated iPhone 16 was launched, featuring significant improvements in AI capabilities. The new model integrates advanced AI-driven features, including real-time language translation, enhanced voice recognition, and augmented reality functionalities. The iPhone 16's camera system is also expected to incorporate AI-driven adaptations for superior photography in various lighting conditions​. Machine Learning Seminars:  Various academic seminars in September 2024 focus on AI advancements. For example, on September 12, Chalmers University will host a seminar on AI in synthesis planning, and later in the month, Harvard and Vanderbilt University will feature speakers on machine learning innovations​. Generative AI Advancements:  Generative AI continues to push boundaries in content creation, from automating tasks like generating text, images, and videos to assisting in more complex activities like m...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 146 Amazon Acquires AI Talent:  Covariant's founders, known for their work in robotics AI, have joined Amazon's robotics division. Covariant's AI models, particularly for warehouse automation, like robotic bin-picking, will now bolster Amazon's capabilities. Covariant will continue to support clients independently, while integrating its tech into Amazon’s ecosystem. OpenAI Milestone:  OpenAI's ChatGPT has reached a new milestone with 200 million weekly active users, reflecting the growing demand for generative AI across multiple sectors. This milestone further solidifies OpenAI's influence in the AI market. AI for Surveillance Robots:  A consortium of Dutch institutions launched the OpenBots project, aiming to develop advanced AI for surveillance robots. These robots are designed to enhance security operations, operating independently in dynamic environments while collaborating with human security personnel. This project is expect...

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 145 OpenAI Considers $2,000 Monthly Subscription Prices For New LLMs OpenAI is reportedly considering subscription prices as high as $2,000 per month for the company's upcoming large language models, like Strawberry and Orion. Google's AI-Powered Ask Photos Feature Begins US Rollout Google Photos' new AI-powered search feature, "Ask Photos," is rolling out to select users in the U.S., allowing them to search their photos using more complex natural language queries. Alibaba releases new AI model Qwen2-VL that can analyze videos more than 20 minutes long Alibaba Cloud has released Qwen2-VL, a new vision-language model with enhanced visual understanding, video comprehension, and multilingual text-image processing. Qwen2-VL shows superior performance against models like Meta's Llama 3.1 and OpenAI's GPT-4o and supports various applications, including real-time video analysis and tech support. The models, available in three size...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 144 Google AI Overviews rollout hits news publisher search visibility Google is now providing AI-written summaries for some news articles in its search results in the US and UK. Research indicates these AI Overviews are impacting publisher visibility, pushing original articles down the search rankings. This shift could necessitate significant changes in SEO strategies for maintaining traffic. The AI Arms Race Isn't Inevitable Leading AI labs are increasingly framing AI development as a geopolitical zero-sum game essential for national security, urging Western governments to back rapid AI advancements to avoid adversaries, like China, gaining a decisive technological edge. This narrative champions aggressive measures to secure AI dominance, risking escalation of geopolitical tensions and potentially compromising ethical and safety considerations. Is AI eating all the energy? AI's energy consumption is positively correlated with power usage, heat, ...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 143 AI Has Created a Battle Over Web Crawling A report by the Data Provenance Initiative warns that generative AI models may suffer as websites increasingly restrict crawler bots, blocking access to high-quality data. This trend, driven by fears of data misuse, could shift AI training reliance from well-maintained sources to lower-quality data. Companies may turn to synthetic data or direct licensing to maintain AI model efficacy amid growing data scarcity. CEO of OpenAI Japan reveals plans for GPT Next OpenAI's GPT Next will be trained with approximately 100x the compute load of GPT-4. It will be released later this year. The true estimates suggest some of the compute load changes are also due to algorithmic improvements. Reliant's paper-scouring AI takes on science's data drudgery Reliant AI, co-founded by Karl Moritz Hermann, has secured a $11.3 million seed round to automate time-intensive literature reviews in academia with its AI produc...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 142 Why AI can't spell 'strawberry' Large language models sometimes fail at tasks like counting letters due to their tokenization methods. This highlights limitations in LLM architecture that affect their understanding of text. Nevertheless, advancements continue, such as OpenAI's Strawberry for improved reasoning and Google DeepMind's AlphaGeometry 2 for formal math. First MLPerf benchmarks for Nvidia Blackwell, AMD, Google, Untether AI Nvidia's new Blackwell chip demonstrated top per GPU performance in MLPerf's LLM Q&A benchmark, showcasing significant advancements with its 4-bit floating-point precision. However, competitors like Untether AI and AMD also showed promising results, particularly in energy efficiency. Untether AI's speedAI240 chip, for instance, excelled in the edge-closed category, highlighting diverse strengths across new AI inference hardware. Can AI Scaling Continue Through 2030? AI training is grow...

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 141 Google AI Updates Google introduced new AI features in their search capabilities, focusing on integrating Bard, an experimental conversational AI service powered by their LaMDA model. Bard is designed to combine vast web knowledge with creative and intelligent responses, aiming to simplify complex topics and provide high-quality answers. This marks a significant step in enhancing how users interact with AI in everyday tasks. California's AI Initiative California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to prepare the state for the advancements in AI. The order includes provisions for risk analysis, ethical deployment, and training for state employees. California continues to lead in GenAI innovation, housing some of the world's top AI companies and research institutions.

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 140 Workers at Google DeepMind Push Company to Drop Military Contracts Nearly 200 Google DeepMind employees signed a letter urging Google to terminate military contracts, claiming a violation of the company's own AI ethics principles. DeepMind technology has been bundled into Google Cloud and sold to militaries, sparking internal conflict with AI staff who value ethical standards. Google's response demonstrated an adherence to AI Principles, but workers remain unsatisfied, seeking stronger governance against military use of their AI. Apple's robotics work aims to solve user's first-world problems Apple may be expanding into robotics, potentially introducing devices that move, such as an iPad mounted on a robotic arm. Headed by VP of Technology Kevin Lynch, Apple's robotics efforts are progressing with the help of experts from firms like Israel's Technion, and propose to include AI interfaces beyond Siri. While still conceptual, Ap...

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 139 Apple's AI Efforts Apple is focusing on enhancing AI capabilities within its ecosystem. The company is rumored to be developing advanced AI features for its products, aiming to improve user experience through more personalized and intuitive interactions. AI in Healthcare AI is making significant strides in healthcare, particularly in diagnostics and patient care management. Recent advancements include AI-powered tools that assist doctors in diagnosing conditions more accurately and AI-driven platforms that streamline patient data management. Google’s AI Developments Google continues to advance its AI research and applications. One of the key areas of focus is on improving search capabilities and natural language processing to provide users with more accurate and context-aware search results. AI Ethics and Regulation There is a growing conversation around the ethical implications of AI, particularly regarding bias and privacy concerns. Government...