AI/News
Turning chaos to clarity: Our intelligent curation system analyzes thousands of sources daily — from blogs and social media chatter to podcasts and research hubs — synthesizing essential insights into plain English you can actually use.
Nauto’s AI Cameras Aim to Reduce Distracted Driving Accidents, Saving Lives and Costs
Nauto's AI-powered cameras aim to reduce distracted driving accidents by monitoring both the road and the driver, providing real-time alerts and valuable data for fleet operators. Key features of Nauto's AI cameras: Nauto's dual-facing cameras are designed to enhance driver safety and reduce collisions in commercial fleets: The camera system points both at the road to detect hazards and at the driver to identify signs of drowsiness, distraction, or policy violations such as not wearing a seatbelt or using a cell phone. Real-time alerts are issued to immediately capture the driver's attention when risks are detected, giving them critical extra...
read Jul 23, 2024Empathy, Creativity, and Leadership: Human Skills AI Can’t Replace in the Workplace
The future of work will be shaped by uniquely human skills that AI cannot replicate, according to Jotform CEO Aytekin Tank, who highlights key job functions that are likely to remain the domain of human professionals even as AI adoption increases. Empathy as a critical human skill: Roles that require empathy, such as therapists, social workers, teachers, and healthcare professionals, are unlikely to be replaced by AI: Studies show that while AI can initially provide emotional support, people ultimately prefer empathy from humans and feel less "heard" once they realize the responses are AI-generated. Empathetic professionals offer comfort and reassurance...
read Jul 23, 2024AI Startup Raises $16.5M to Streamline Software for Drones and Robots
A new Boston startup using AI for drones and robots: Code Metal, founded by artificial intelligence researchers from MIT Lincoln Laboratory, has raised $16.5 million to develop AI software for hardware like drones, sensors, and robots. Simplifying software development for diverse hardware: Code Metal is building a translation platform that allows developers to write software in common programming languages and quickly adapt it to run on various hardware chips: The startup aims to automate the translation process, potentially cutting out months or years of delay in getting software to work on specific hardware systems. Part of Code Metal's technology relies...
read Jul 23, 2024How AI Is Creating a Future of More Sustainable and Efficient Agriculture
The AI revolution in agriculture is transforming how farmers interact with their land and crops, promising increased efficiency, sustainability, and yield. AI technologies like precision agriculture, crop monitoring, predictive analytics, and automated farming are making agriculture more manageable, precise, and productive. AI as a companion to the farmer: AI is transforming how farmers interact with their land and crops, with companies like John Deere leading the way with AI tractors and equipment that can plant seeds and apply inputs with high accuracy. Precision agriculture allows farmers to analyze data from soil conditions to weather patterns to make informed decisions. AI...
read Jul 23, 2024Zuckerberg Advocates Open-Source AI, Warns Against Restricting Research Sharing
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg advocated for open-source AI development in an open letter, arguing it is crucial for fostering innovation and preventing the technology from being controlled by a few giant companies. Key points from Zuckerberg's letter: Zuckerberg made a case for the importance of open-source AI development, despite concerns about the technology becoming a national security issue: He believes it is unrealistic to expect a handful of companies to keep their AI technology secret, especially given the history of Silicon Valley being targeted for espionage by countries like China. Zuckerberg stated that governments will likely conclude that supporting open-source...
read Jul 23, 2024Meta Just Released the Biggest and Best Open-Source Model Ever
Meta's release of the largest-ever open-source AI model, Llama 3.1, outperforms rival models like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet on several benchmarks, marking a significant milestone for the AI industry: The 405-billion parameter model was developed at an estimated cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, utilizing over 16,000 of Nvidia's H100 GPUs. Meta is working with more than two dozen major tech companies to help developers deploy their own versions of Llama 3.1, which is claimed to be more cost-effective than proprietary models. The release includes model weights for companies to train and tune Llama 3.1 on custom data,...
read Jul 23, 2024The World’s First Computer-Generated Writing Program Was a Love Letter Generator
In the early 1950s, Alan Turing and Christopher Strachey created the world's first computer-generated writing program, which generated peculiar love letters that allowed the two gay men to express affection vicariously when doing so publicly was criminal. Key Takeaways: Turing and Strachey, who had been friendly since the 1930s, collaborated on several AI experiments in the 1950s, including a computer that could sing songs, one of the world's first computer games, and an algorithm to write gender-neutral love letters. The love letter generator used a template that randomly selected words from a word bank to create original, if quirky, expressions...
read Jul 23, 2024AI Revolution: Hype vs. Reality – Navigating the Obstacles to Transformative Change
The rapid advancement of AI technology has sparked widespread speculation about its potential to revolutionize industries across the board, but a critical analysis suggests that the reality may be more nuanced and gradual than the hype suggests. Grandiose claims and vested interests: The buzz surrounding AI's transformative potential is largely driven by tech giants with a vested interest in promoting an AI-powered future: Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has claimed that AI will be more transformative than fire or electricity, highlighting the hyperbolic nature of some predictions. Forecasts of AI adding trillions of dollars to the global economy and drastically reshaping...
read Jul 23, 2024China’s AI Chatbots are Becoming More Accessible Across the World
China's AI chatbots are becoming more accessible to users worldwide, enabling experimentation and comparison with Western models. Key pathways to access: Chinese AI companies are providing various avenues for users outside China to interact with their large language models (LLMs) and chatbots: Some platforms, such as Doubao, ChatGLM, and DeepSeek, allow direct registration using non-Chinese phone numbers, granting access to a range of AI features like text and image generation. Open-source AI community Hugging Face hosts demos of several Chinese LLMs, including Alibaba's Qwen and Tencent's Hunyuan-DiT, which can be accessed without a Chinese number. Alibaba's ModelScope platform, a Chinese...
read Jul 23, 2024As Major Game Companies Embrace AI, Pushback from Workers Is On the Rise
The video game industry is increasingly turning to generative AI, sparking concerns among workers about job displacement and the degradation of their craft. Key takeaways: The adoption of AI in game development is already well underway, with major studios like Activision Blizzard and Riot Games integrating AI tools into their workflows: Activision Blizzard has approved the internal use of AI tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion for concept art, and has laid off many 2D artists while pushing remaining concept artists to use AI in their work. Riot Games experimented with developing its own AI system in partnership with Vizcom,...
read Jul 23, 2024FTC Probes 8 Companies for AI Surveillance Pricing Practices
The FTC is investigating the use of AI-powered surveillance pricing, which could exploit consumers' personal data to charge them higher prices. Key aspects of surveillance pricing: Surveillance pricing, also known as dynamic, personalized, or optimized pricing, involves offering individual consumers different prices for the same products based on factors like: The device they're shopping on, location, demographic information, credit history, and browsing/shopping history Companies across various sectors are considering implementing or have already implemented surveillance pricing models FTC's inquiry into surveillance pricing practices: The Federal Trade Commission has ordered eight companies that offer AI surveillance pricing products and services to...
read Jul 23, 2024Adobe Just Incorporated More GenAI Features into Illustrator and Photoshop
Adobe introduces new generative AI features to Illustrator and Photoshop, aiming to streamline creative workflows and empower professionals. Key updates in Illustrator: Adobe's latest Firefly Vector AI model powers several new features in Illustrator, now available in public beta: Generative Shape Fill allows users to add detailed, AI-generated vectors to shapes using text prompts. The Text to Pattern beta feature has been improved, enabling the creation of scalable, customized vector patterns for various applications like wallpapers. Style Reference generates outputs that mimic existing styles, helping designers maintain consistency. Additional Illustrator enhancements: Beyond generative AI, this update brings other tools to...
read Jul 23, 2024Toyota and Stanford Have Developed Synchronized AI-Powered Supras
Toyota and Stanford University researchers have developed autonomous race cars capable of performing synchronized drifting, a breakthrough in pushing the boundaries of self-driving technology. Key demonstration of advanced autonomous driving: The two modified Toyota Supra sports cars showcased their AI-powered drifting skills in tandem at the Thunderhill Raceway Park in California: The vehicles were equipped with computers, sensors, and algorithms that combine mathematical models of tires and track with machine learning to master the art of drifting. The cars communicated with each other and calculated optimization problems up to 50 times per second to balance steering, throttle, and braking while...
read Jul 23, 20244 Reasons Why The US Lags Behind China When It Comes to AI Adoption
The mismatch between AI hype and actual adoption rates raises questions about the barriers slowing AI implementation, despite substantial investments. Key factors contributing to the AI adoption gap: Several reasons help explain why AI adoption is lagging behind the hype and investment levels in the U.S.: Employee fears about job displacement are causing resistance to new AI technologies, as workers worry AI could replace their roles. Organizations struggle to quantify the business value and ROI of AI systems, making it difficult to justify the substantial costs of implementation and maintenance. The technological complexity of integrating AI with existing IT infrastructure,...
read Jul 23, 2024Google and NBC Score Big with AI-Enhanced Olympics Coverage in Paris Partnership Deal
Google and NBC are leveraging AI to enhance the viewer experience for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. Key partnership details: Google has struck a deal with NBCUniversal and Team USA to integrate its Gemini AI models into Olympics coverage across TV and online platforms: NBC commentators will demonstrate Google Search's AI Overviews feature during their coverage, sharing quick facts and detailed information about sports, athletes, and Olympic rules. SNL alumna and NBC's "chief superfan commentator," Leslie Jones, will use Google's Gemini AI to explore the Games and learn about new sports in real-time. AI Overviews will also...
read Jul 23, 2024VeriSIM Life Is Using AI to Make Drug Discovery Faster and Cheaper Than Ever
VeriSIM Life, a San Francisco-based company, is using AI to accelerate pharmaceutical research and reduce the high costs and failure rates associated with traditional drug discovery methods. Revolutionizing drug discovery with AI: VeriSIM Life's BIOiSIM platform, which includes the AtlasGEN feature, leverages AI models trained on a massive data lake of compounds and biological datasets to identify promising drug candidates and predict their efficacy: The platform can run over 800 billion scenarios, using techniques like machine learning, generative adversarial networks (GANs), and generative AI to identify optimal molecular structures from a vast search space. VeriSIM Life has created virtual analogs...
read Jul 23, 2024AI Cybersecurity: Navigating the Double-Edged Sword of Opportunity and Risk
The rapid growth of AI presents both opportunities and risks for cybersecurity, requiring urgent action to protect AI systems from being exploited by malicious actors. The double-edged sword of AI in cybersecurity: While AI enhances threat detection and defense mechanisms, it can also be leveraged by attackers, presenting new challenges: The dual-use nature of AI means that as we harness it for protection, we must also safeguard the AI itself from being exploited. There are still gaps in understanding exactly how AI systems work and the potential risks they introduce. Emerging threats and new attack vectors: The integration of AI...
read Jul 23, 2024Video Game Actors Inch Closer to Strike as AI Negotiations Falter
SAG-AFTRA video game performers edge closer to strike as AI negotiations stall: SAG-AFTRA announced that its national board has granted executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland the authority to call a strike if a settlement cannot be reached with video game companies, as negotiations stall over artificial intelligence terms in the Interactive Media Agreement contract. Ongoing negotiations and key issues: The union has been negotiating the contract, which covers about 2,600 voice and motion-capture performers in the video game industry, for nearly a year: The contract expired in November 2022, and in September 2023, more than 30,000 union members...
read Jul 23, 2024As Misinformation Persists, Social Media Companies Are Getting Better At Spotting Deep Fakes
AI-generated deepfakes have not become the widespread misinformation catastrophe experts feared, as media outlets and tech platforms have improved at rapidly detecting and debunking AI-manipulated content. Effective fact-checking responses: Mainstream news organizations and fact-checking websites have demonstrated their ability to quickly identify and refute AI-generated misinformation: In the aftermath of the fictional Trump assassination attempt, numerous reputable media outlets, such as Reuters, The AP, Politico, BBC, and CNN, swiftly published fact checks debunking a doctored image depicting smiling Secret Service agents assisting Trump after the shooting. Fact-checking websites like Factcheck.org, Verify, and Politifact also promptly disproved the manipulated photo using...
read Jul 23, 2024TikTok Lite’s Missing Safeguards Put 1B+ Users at Risk, Study Reveals
TikTok's Lite version, popular in the Global South, lacks important safety features and content labels found in the main app, potentially exposing over 1 billion users to misinformation and inappropriate content. Key differences between TikTok and TikTok Lite: The report by the Mozilla Foundation and AI Forensics highlights several critical safety measures absent in the Lite version: AI-generated content is not labeled in TikTok Lite, unlike the main app, leaving users unaware of potentially deceptive material. Warnings about graphic content or dangerous behavior are missing in the Lite version. Resource hubs with credible information on topics like elections and health...
read Jul 22, 2024UK Researchers Are Using AI to Enhance Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Improve Patient Care
Doctors at Peterborough City Hospital in the UK are trialing an AI-powered diagnostic tool to enhance breast cancer analysis, aiming to improve accuracy and efficiency in diagnosing the disease. Key Details of the Trial: The 12-month trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, involves using AI software developed by Ibex Medical Analytics to support pathologists in analyzing breast cancer biopsies: The AI tool aims to enhance the accuracy of reporting and reduce the time taken to review and report each biopsy, helping to confirm or exclude the presence of breast cancer more quickly. The software runs...
read Jul 22, 2024Sakana’s Latest AI Models Are Recreating Historic Japanese Ukiyo-e Art
The AI startup Sakana AI has released two new image generation models focused on recreating Japan's historic ukiyo-e art style, aiming to spread appreciation for Japanese culture and find applications in education and literature. Bringing ukiyo-e art to the modern era with AI: Sakana AI's new models, Evo-Ukiyoe and Evo-Nishikie, generate images closely resembling the Japanese ukiyo-e art style that flourished between the 17th and 19th centuries: Evo-Ukiyoe is a text-to-image model that generates ukiyo-e style images based on text prompts, even allowing for the inclusion of modern elements like hamburgers or laptops, though results may sometimes deviate from the...
read Jul 22, 2024Luma AI’s Latest Feature Allows Creation of Continuous Loops from Text and Image Prompts
Luma AI's Dream Machine introduces "Loops" for seamless AI-generated videos, potentially transforming digital marketing and creative content production. Key innovation: Endless video sequences without visible cuts or transitions; Luma AI's new "Loops" feature in its Dream Machine platform allows users to create continuous video loops from text descriptions, images, or keyframes, expanding options for engaging audiences while potentially reducing production time and costs. Examples showcased by Luma AI include a spaceship flying through a hyperspace portal and a capybara riding a bicycle in a park, demonstrating the feature's potential. Until now, AI-generated videos often looked choppy or disjointed when played...
read Jul 22, 2024EA’s AI-Generated Avatars of NCAA Athletes Brings New Level of Realism to Gaming
The upcoming "EA Sports College Football 25" is making a major leap by using AI-generated avatars based on real college players, marking a significant milestone for the integration of AI technology in video games: Overcoming logistical challenges through AI: EA Sports utilized AI tools to efficiently create 3D avatars of 11,000 real NCAA Division I football players using their headshots, overcoming the logistical and financial hurdles of scanning thousands of athletes individually. The AI models, while less detailed than those used in the Madden NFL series, provide a more authentic gaming experience compared to the generic players in previous editions...
read