AI/News
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HP’s AI-Powered Computers Raise the Bar for PC Performance
AMD and HP team up on powerful new OmniBook Ultra laptop: AMD has partnered with HP to develop a custom Ryzen AI 300-series processor with a boosted Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for HP's latest flagship laptop, the OmniBook Ultra: The custom AMD chip is rated for 55 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of AI performance, a significant increase over AMD's recently announced 50 TOPS Ryzen AI 300-series processors. This makes the OmniBook Ultra the "world's fastest AI PC" for now, with HP claiming a 44% AI performance advantage over Apple's M4 chip and 3x faster response times in AI chatbots....
read Jul 14, 2024AI Boosts Individual Creativity But May Reduce Originality, Study Suggests
An experiment from researchers at University College London and University of Exeter found that AI like GPT-4 can help individuals, especially those with lower baseline creativity, write more creative short stories: Participants who initially scored lower on a creativity test saw the most significant gains in the rated creativity of their stories when using AI assistance. The more AI-generated story prompts these participants were given to choose from, the higher their stories ultimately scored. However, participants who were already highly creative did not benefit from AI and in some cases scored lower when using it. Potential drawbacks; While AI boosted...
read Jul 14, 2024AI Hype Overshadowing Simpler, More Effective Solutions
The quest for AI-driven solutions may be overshadowing simpler, more effective approaches in many cases, as organizations focus on how AI can improve processes rather than first identifying if improvement is truly needed. Solution driving requirements, not vice versa: A recent working group on using AI and machine learning to improve network utilization exemplified this trend, with the goal of applying AI taking precedence over assessing the actual need for improvement: One participant shared an anecdote about a customer requesting an "AI-based" solution for WAN failover, rejecting a simple, time-tested option in favor of an unnecessarily complex AI approach. This...
read Jul 14, 2024How AI Can Enhance Productivity and Well-being Without Replacing Workers
Instead of using AI to replace human employees, companies should leverage AI to augment and improve the working lives of their employees. This requires a shift in focus from cost-cutting through automation to enhancing productivity and well-being. Key takeaways: The trend of replacing human employees with AI in various roles, from customer support to CEOs, is misguided and should be reconsidered: While AI can automate a significant portion of tasks, there are crucial aspects of jobs that require human skills such as empathy, accountability, vision, and inspiration. Companies should use AI to reduce employee workloads, refocus responsibilities, and maintain competitive...
read Jul 14, 2024Balancing Innovation and The Environmental Impact of AI
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) has raised concerns about its environmental impact, with the carbon footprint of AI becoming an increasingly pressing issue as the technology advances and becomes more widely adopted. Understanding AI's carbon footprint: To grasp the environmental implications of AI, it's important to consider the full lifecycle of AI systems, from hardware production to usage to deployment: Hardware production, maintenance, and recycling account for an estimated 30% of AI's carbon footprint, while computational costs make up the remaining 70%. Training large language models like GPT-3 can generate over 600,000 kg of CO2 equivalent (CO2e), comparable...
read Jul 14, 2024Japanese Dating App Replaces Human Connections with AI Chatbots
A Japanese dating app called Loverse allows users to interact solely with AI chatbots, highlighting the trend of people turning to artificial companionship as an alternative to real-life relationships. Key Takeaways: The app's success illustrates a broader societal shift, where individuals are increasingly seeking companionship through AI-powered chatbots due to the convenience and minimal effort required compared to traditional dating: Loverse, launched a year ago, has attracted over 5,000 users who engage in conversations with AI chatbots instead of real people. The app caters to a growing cohort of individuals who have either given up on or are wary of...
read Jul 14, 2024Tech Titans Rally Behind Trump After Assassination Attempt, Musk Endorses 2024 Bid
Tech leaders rally support for Trump after assassination attempt: In a show of unity and decency, major tech CEOs including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and Sam Altman have expressed well wishes and support for former President Donald Trump following a shocking assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Musk endorses Trump's 2024 bid amid past tensions: Elon Musk, who Trump had previously criticized for his "subsidized projects," posted a full endorsement of Trump's 2024 re-election campaign on X (formerly Twitter), hoping for his rapid recovery. The endorsement comes despite Trump's past remarks deriding...
read Jul 14, 2024OpenAI Reportedly Working on New Advanced Model Codenamed “Strawberry”
OpenAI is reportedly developing an advanced AI model codenamed Strawberry that can autonomously navigate the internet to conduct in-depth research and reasoning. Key details about Strawberry: The specifics of the model are being kept tightly under wraps, but sources suggest it will bring advanced reasoning capabilities to OpenAI's AI: The model is thought to be a renamed version of OpenAI's previously reported project Q. It aims to enable AI to "see and understand the world more like we do" according to an OpenAI spokesperson. Strawberry will reportedly be able to perform research independently by navigating the internet. Reactions and competitive...
read Jul 14, 2024AI-Assisted Memory: The Promise and Perils of Never Forgetting
The Vergecast explores the potential of AI to revolutionize human memory, delving into the implications of never forgetting and the challenges of building effective memory aids. Key takeaways: AI-powered memory tools are rapidly advancing, promising to collect, store, and resurface information for users, potentially transforming how we remember and access knowledge: Major tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple are investing heavily in AI memory aids, integrating them into their operating systems and devices. These tools aim to help users remember everything from articles they've read to where they left their glasses, automating the process of recollection. Examining the implications:...
read Jul 14, 2024Senators Introduce COPIED Act to Protect Content Creators from AI Exploitation
A bipartisan group of senators has introduced the COPIED Act, which aims to protect content creators against unauthorized use of their work to train AI models or generate AI content: Key provisions of the COPIED Act: The bill would require standards for watermarking AI-generated content with provenance information, make it illegal to tamper with this information, and allow individuals and authorities to sue for violations: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) would be tasked with creating guidelines and standards for adding watermark-like details about the origin of AI content. Removing, disabling, or tampering with this "content provenance" information...
read Jul 13, 2024Senior Workers With AI Skills May Be Well-Positioned for Modern Workplace
Despite the stereotype that older workers may struggle to adapt to new technologies, senior-level employees with AI skills are well-positioned to leverage artificial intelligence effectively in the workplace. Experienced employees can master AI insights: Senior workers often possess a deep understanding of the business, enabling them to query AI systems effectively and apply judgment to the results: Someone with a complex understanding of the business can apply inputs and assess outputs using knowledge and skills that AI has not yet mastered. In the near term, AI will augment rather than replace senior-level workers, provided they are willing to enhance their...
read Jul 13, 2024AI Influencer Kenza Layli Wins Inaugural Miss AI Crown
The Moroccan virtual influencer Kenza Layli has been crowned the first Miss AI by the World AI Creator Awards, marking a significant shift in how AI-powered digital personas engage with audiences and compete in traditionally human-dominated spheres. A new era of AI influencers: Kenza Layli's victory in the inaugural Miss AI beauty pageant sets a precedent for the growing role of AI influencers in the digital landscape: Layli, created by Moroccan company Phoenix AI, beat over 1,500 other virtual models, showcasing the increasing sophistication and appeal of AI-generated personas. The pageant evaluated participants on aesthetics, online influence, and technical proficiency,...
read Jul 13, 2024Meta AI’s “System 2 Distillation” Represents an Efficiency Breakthrough for LLMs
Meta AI researchers are advancing a new technique for Large Language Models (LLMs) called "System 2 distillation," which improves the reasoning capabilities of these models without requiring intermediate steps. The finding holds implications for making models faster and more computationally efficient. System 1 and System 2 thinking in cognitive science and LLMs: The article draws a parallel between the two modes of thinking in humans - fast and intuitive System 1, and slow and analytical System 2 - and how they relate to LLMs: LLMs are usually considered analogous to System 1 thinking, as they can generate text quickly but...
read Jul 13, 2024DeepMind’s “PEER” Architecture Scales Language Models While Keeping Costs Low
DeepMind's new Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture, PEER, scales language models to millions of tiny experts, improving performance while keeping computational costs down. Key innovation: Parameter Efficient Expert Retrieval (PEER); DeepMind's novel MoE architecture introduces a learned index to efficiently route input data to a vast pool of millions of tiny experts, enabling significant scaling without slowing down inference: PEER replaces the fixed router in traditional MoE with a fast initial computation to create a shortlist of potential expert candidates before activating the top experts. Unlike previous MoE architectures with large experts, PEER uses tiny single-neuron experts in the hidden layer, allowing...
read Jul 13, 2024Samsung Galaxy AI vs Apple Intelligence: A Comparison
Samsung has announced Galaxy AI, a suite of AI features for its new devices, while Apple has unveiled Apple Intelligence for iOS 18, setting the stage for an AI showdown between the two tech giants. Image generation and manipulation: Galaxy AI's Sketch to Image impresses, but Apple Intelligence's Genmoji and Image Playground offer more variety Samsung's Sketch to Image allows users to turn sketches into AI-generated images in various styles like watercolor and pop art, with generally accurate results. Apple's Genmoji creates custom emojis based on prompts and can use photos of real people, while Image Playground is a full-fledged...
read Jul 13, 2024AI Can Determin Sex from Dental X-Rays with 96% Accuracy
Researchers in Brazil have developed an AI system capable of accurately determining an individual's sex based on dental X-rays, marking a significant advancement in forensic dentistry. Key findings: AI achieves high accuracy in sex determination from dental X-rays: The machine learning system, trained on over 200,000 panoramic radiographs, demonstrated an impressive 96% accuracy in estimating sex for individuals over 16 years old when using high-resolution images. The study utilized two types of deep learning algorithms: a convolutional neural network and a residual network, both optimized to learn hierarchies of features from the dental X-ray images. Image resolution played a crucial...
read Jul 13, 2024Amazon’s AI Chatbot Rufus: Your New Personal Shopper for Prime Day and Beyond
Amazon's AI chatbot Rufus is now available to all U.S. customers, just in time for Prime Day, to make shopping easier and more personalized: Rufus can answer general questions to help generate gift ideas, like "what do I need for a summer party?" as well as provide specific product recommendations based on customer needs. The chatbot draws information from product listings and customer reviews to answer questions about specific items, such as whether a coffee maker is easy to clean. Rufus can also provide information about a customer's Amazon account, including order status and purchase history. Potential Limitations and Caveats:...
read Jul 13, 2024AI’s $100B Ceiling: Scale is Driving the AI Industry, But How Long Can It Last?
Azeem Azhar discusses the scaling laws driving progress in AI: AI's rapid progress is being propelled by exponential increases in model size and training costs, but questions remain about the long-term sustainability and limits of this scaling approach. Key takeaways from AI scaling laws: Research has consistently shown that larger AI models, trained on more data, tend to outperform smaller models: Simple, general learning approaches leveraging massive datasets have proven more effective than attempts to build in human knowledge and intuition. OpenAI's study on "Scaling Laws for Neural Language Models" highlighted that performance depends strongly on model size, dataset size,...
read Jul 13, 2024Sam Altman Backed Thrive Promises Wellness Miracles, but Can It Deliver?
A new AI health startup promises miracles, but offers few specifics. Thrive AI Health, launched by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and entrepreneur Arianna Huffington, aims to use generative AI to improve health outcomes and reduce chronic disease worldwide through personalized health coaching. Key concept, long on vision but short on details: The startup's central idea is an AI health coach that would use a user's biometric and health data to generate personalized insights and recommendations, but Altman and Huffington provided few specifics on what form this would take or when it would launch. They suggest the AI platform would be...
read Jul 13, 2024SambaNova Wins “Coolest Technology” Award at VentureBeat 2024
SambaNova Systems, a Palo Alto-based AI chip startup, has won the "Coolest Technology" award at VentureBeat Transform 2024, highlighting its innovative approach to AI computation and its potential to reshape the enterprise AI landscape. SambaNova's unique architecture: The company's latest chip, the SN40L, is built from the ground up for AI computation, using a "reconfigurable dataflow" architecture that optimizes data movement and provides the lowest latency inference, the highest number of concurrent LLMs, and the lowest switching time between different LLMs. SambaNova's approach focuses on streamlining data movement, which is identified as the critical bottleneck to the performance of high-performance...
read Jul 13, 2024AI Boosts Individual Creativity but May Homogenize Collective Output, Study Finds
New research suggests generative AI can enhance individual creativity but may homogenize collective output. The study, published in Science Advances, found that while AI tools like GPT-4 improved the creative output of less inherently creative writers, it had little impact on those who were already highly creative. Key findings: AI's impact on individual creativity depends on inherent ability; The researchers divided participants into three groups: one relying solely on their own ideas, another with the option to receive a single AI-generated story idea, and a third with access to up to five AI-generated ideas: The vast majority (88.4%) of participants...
read Jul 13, 2024Rabbit AI Companion Security Flaw Discovered, Patch Released
Security vulnerability discovered in Rabbit R1 AI companion: A potential exploit in the Rabbit R1 AI handheld device could allow access to user chat data if the device is jailbroken, lost, or stolen. Rabbit has released a July 11 update to address the issue. Details of the security flaw: The vulnerability stems from how the R1 initially logged text-to-speech replies and device pairing data directly to onboard storage: On a jailbroken device, someone could access past user queries and data from the "Rabbit Hole Journal" log files. Rabbit says it has no evidence this flaw has been exploited so far...
read Jul 13, 2024Will OpenAI’s New AI Classification System Entice Investors or Fuel Unrealistic Expectations?
OpenAI recently unveiled a new five-tier system to gauge its progress toward developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), providing a framework for understanding AI advancement that aims to entice investors but also risks fueling unrealistic expectations. OpenAI's "Stages of Artificial Intelligence": The company's new classification system ranges from current AI capabilities to hypothetical future systems that could manage entire organizations: Level 1 encompasses AI with conversational abilities, like the company's current ChatGPT technology. Level 2, dubbed "Reasoners," would possess human-level problem-solving skills. OpenAI executives claim they are on the verge of reaching this milestone. Higher levels describe increasingly potent hypothetical AI...
read Jul 13, 2024Simple Strategies Stump Superhuman Go AI, Revealing Robustness Challenges
Despite superhuman AI performance in Go, researchers have discovered exploitable algorithmic flaws that allow even novice human players to defeat top Go AIs using simple, unorthodox strategies. Attempting to harden AI defenses: Researchers at MIT and FAR AI tested three methods to improve the "worst-case" performance of the KataGo algorithm against adversarial attacks: Fine-tuning KataGo with more examples of the exploitative cyclic strategies initially showed promise, but a fine-tuned attacker quickly found a variation that reduced KataGo's win rate to just 9%. An iterative "arms race" training approach, where defensive models tried to plug holes discovered by adversarial models, resulted...
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