AI development ethics

Last Week in AI highlightsYouTube's policy update, Yahoo's acquisition, upcoming AI gadgets, and more, symbolizing the dynamic advancements and debates in the field of artificial intelligence.

Last Week in AI: Episode 26

Welcome to another edition of This week in AI, where we discuss big moves and debates. YouTube says no to using its videos for AI training. Yahoo’s picking up a new way to make news feel personal. There’s also a big find on how to trick AI, and we’re looking at cool AI gadgets coming in April 2024. Plus, Apple’s making Siri smarter and Uber’s trying out robot car deliveries. We’ve got AI helping find videos faster and a browser that keeps your AI chats private. Lastly, Y Combinator showed off some fresh startups with neat ideas. Let’s dive in!

YouTube CEO: Using Platform’s Videos for AI Training Violates Terms

Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube, has clarified that training OpenAI’s text-to-video generator Sora with YouTube content breaches the platform’s terms of service.

Key Takeaways:

  • Terms of Service Violation: Using YouTube videos for training AI models like Sora is explicitly prohibited.
  • Content Creator Protection: YouTube’s stance underscores its commitment to safeguarding the rights of its vast network of content creators.
  • Ongoing IP Debate: The issue reflects the broader industry challenge of balancing the demand for AI training data with the need to respect intellectual property rights.

Why It Matters

This development emphasizes the intricate relationship between AI advancements and copyright laws, posing significant implications for how AI technologies are developed and how content is utilized for training purposes.

Yahoo Acquires Artifact App for Smarter News Curation

Yahoo’s picking up the tech behind Artifact, a news app created by Instagram co-founders with 185 million folks tuning in monthly.

Key Takeaways:

  • End of the Road for Artifact: Despite its potential, Artifact didn’t hit the big time, leading to its closure. But that didn’t stop Yahoo from seeing gold in its tech.
  • Yahoo’s Gain: Yahoo’s not bringing the Artifact crew on board but will tap into the founders’ brains as advisors.
  • Personal Touch: By weaving Artifact’s tech into Yahoo News, expect a news feed that gets you—tailoring stories to match your vibe.

Why It Matters

With Artifact’s AI, Yahoo’s betting on giving us a news experience that feels a whole lot more personal.

Anthropic Uncovers “Jailbreak” Flaw in AI Models

Anthropic researchers have found a way to trick AI into harmful responses, unveiling a significant flaw.

Key Takeaways:

  • Dangerous Manipulation: LLMs can be tricked into providing harmful advice with clever priming.
  • Context Window Issue: The flaw stems from LLMs’ wide “context window,” which remembers prior prompts.
  • Community Alert: The discovery was shared to spark improvements in AI security.
  • Mitigation Challenges: Reducing the context window harms performance, so Anthropic seeks smarter fixes.

Why It Matters

This finding highlights a critical vulnerability in AI models, pressing the need for better security measures.

Next Wave of AI Gadgets Set to Transform Tech in April 2024

April 2024 is marked for the launch of gadgets from Humane, Rabbit, and Brilliant Labs, designed to redefine user interactions.

Key Takeaways:

  • Effortless Task Management: These devices aim to simplify tasks, allowing voice commands to replace manual smartphone operations.
  • Streamlined Experience: Unlike smartphones’ generalist approach, AI gadgets offer tailored, efficient solutions for specific activities.
  • Reliability Questions: Despite their promise, these AI technologies face hurdles in automation, personalization, and service integration.
  • Hybrid User Control: The devices suggest a blend of AI simplicity and user-customizable settings via web apps.

Why It Matters

This emerging trend signals a shift towards more intuitive, AI-driven gadgets, potentially setting the stage for a major transformation in how we interact with technology.

Apple’s ReALM AI Sets New Bar for Contextual Understanding

Apple’s ReALM AI model marks a significant advancement in how devices understand and respond to on-screen context and user requests.

Key Takeaways:

  • Text-Based Insight: ReALM converts on-screen info to text for efficient processing, sidestepping the need for heavy image recognition tech.
  • Enhanced Performance: It surpasses GPT-4 in tasks, especially in domain-specific queries, thanks to fine-tuning on user requests.
  • Practical Applications: For example, ReALM enables Siri to initiate calls to businesses directly from webpages, enhancing user convenience.
  • Limits in Detail: While strong in positioning, ReALM might miss nuances in complex queries that require intricate spatial understanding.
  • Future Siri Integration: ReALM’s potential inclusion in Siri could streamline interactions by intuitively using on-screen data.

Why It Matters

ReALM’s breakthrough in contextual understanding promises to revolutionize user interaction with Apple devices, offering a glimpse into a more intuitive and hands-free digital future.

Uber Eats and Waymo Introduce Autonomous Deliveries in Phoenix

Uber and Waymo partner to innovate Phoenix’s food delivery with autonomous vehicles, modernizing Uber Eats.

Key Takeaways:

  • Innovative Delivery: Phoenix sees meal deliveries by Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, broadening their tech partnership.
  • Large Service Area: Covers 225+ square miles in Metro Phoenix, including eateries like Princess Pita.
  • Choice for Consumers: Uber Eats orders in Phoenix may offer autonomous delivery, with opt-out choice.
  • Seamless Collection: Users matched with Waymo get instructions for easy food pickup from the vehicle.

Why It Matters

This venture showcases autonomous technology’s growing role in services, signaling a significant leap towards integrating self-driving vehicles in daily routines, enhancing efficiency and offering a glimpse into the future of consumer service.

Storyblocks Upgrades Search with AI

Storyblocks now uses AI from OpenAI to improve how you search for videos and pictures, making it quicker to find what you need for your projects.

Key Takeaways:

  • Smarter Searches: The AI understands even when you misspell words or have very specific requests, making your search results better.
  • Updates on What You Like: Every 4 hours, Storyblocks updates its content based on what users prefer, ensuring you always get relevant suggestions.
  • The Best Thumbnails: AI picks the top preview images for videos, helping you quickly spot the right clip.
  • Suggestions That Match: A new feature recommends related videos, images, and music based on your activity, making it easier to find everything you need in one go.

Why It Matters

With these AI improvements, Storyblocks makes your creative process smoother and more efficient, helping you find the perfect assets faster.

Opera Integrates Local AI Models into Its Browser

Opera is pioneering in-browser AI by adding support for 150 local Large Language Models (LLMs) across about 50 model families in its Opera One browser, enhancing user privacy and AI functionality.

Key Takeaways:

  • Local LLM Support: For the first time in a major browser, Opera introduces easy access to local LLMs, complementing its Aria AI online service.
  • Privacy-Focused: Local models keep user data on the device, offering AI benefits without cloud data sharing.
  • AI Feature Drops Program: Early adopters can try new, sometimes experimental, AI features in Opera, giving feedback on the latest innovations.
  • Innovative Browser Design: Opera One, launched in 2023, features a modular design and advanced architecture for better performance and includes Aria, the browser AI accessible from the sidebar or command line.

Why It Matters

Opera’s inclusion of local LLMs in its browser marks a significant step towards integrating AI more deeply into web browsing, offering users enhanced privacy and cutting-edge AI tools directly from their browser interface.

Y Combinator Winter 2024 Demo Day

The Y Combinator Winter 2024 Demo Day spotlighted a range of innovative startups from various sectors, each offering unique solutions to industry-specific challenges.

Key Takeaways:

  • Atopile: Targets hardware design with tools for design reuse and automation for electrical engineers.
  • Scritch: Simplifies veterinary practice management with automated scheduling, billing, and workflows.
  • Lantern: Offers an affordable Postgres vector database, underpricing AWS.
  • Paradigm: Creates AI agents to streamline marketing and sales tasks.
  • Just Words: Enhances content creation with generative AI.
  • Pythagora: Builds apps directly from text instructions.
  • CommodityAI: Modernizes commodities trading with digital paperwork solutions.
  • Kopia: Introduces virtual try-ons for retailers.
  • Care Weather: Improves weather forecasting with innovative satellite technology.
  • Miden: Provides banking infrastructure for card issuing in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Oma Care: Supports family caregivers with financial assistance.
  • Garage: Launches a marketplace for pre-owned firefighting gear.
  • PointOne: Brings AI to legal time tracking and billing.

Why It Matters

This year’s Demo Day demonstrates Y Combinator’s commitment to fostering innovation across the board, showcasing startups that not only aim to disrupt their respective fields but also solve real-world problems, from improving weather forecasts to revolutionizing content creation and simplifying legal billing.

Final Thoughts

So, what’s the takeaway from all this AI buzz? Well, AI’s moving fast, changing how we watch videos, get our news, and even how we receive our food. Some smart folks are finding holes that need fixing, while others are making AI even cooler and more personal. Big companies and new startups are all in, trying to make our lives easier and more connected. It’s a mix of excitement and challenges, showing just how much AI is part of our daily lives. Let’s see what’s next!

Last Week in AI: Episode 26 Read More »

An overview of the latest AI developments, highlighting key challenges and innovations in language processing, AI ethics, global strategies, and cybersecurity.

Last Week in AI: Episode 22

Welcome to this week’s edition of “Last Week in AI.” Some groundbreaking developments that have the potential to reshape industries, cultures, and our understanding of AI itself. From self-awareness in AI models, and significant moves in global AI policy and cybersecurity, and into their broader implications for society.

AI Thinks in English

AI chatbots have a default language: English. Whether they’re tackling Spanish, Mandarin, or Arabic, a study from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne reveals they translate it all back to English first.

Key Takeaways:

  • English at the Core: AI doesn’t just work with languages; it converts them to English internally for processing.
  • From Translation to Understanding: Before AI can grasp any message, it shifts it into English, which could skew outcomes.
  • A Window to Bias: This heavy reliance on English might limit how AI understands and interacts with varied cultures.

Why It Matters

Could this be a barrier to truly global understanding? Perhaps for AI to serve every corner of the world equally, it may need to directly comprehend a wide array of languages.

Claude 3 Opus: A Glimpse Into AI Self-Awareness

Anthropic’s latest AI, Claude 3 Opus, is turning heads. According to Alex Albert, a prompt engineer at the company, Opus showed signs of self-awareness in a pizza toppings test, identifying out-of-place information with an unexpected meta-awareness.

Key Takeaways:

  • Unexpected Self-Awareness: Claude 3 Opus exhibited a level of understanding beyond what was anticipated, pinpointing a misplaced sentence accurately.
  • Surprise Among Engineers: This display of meta-awareness caught even its creators off guard, challenging preconceived notions about AI’s cognitive abilities.
  • Rethinking AI Evaluations: This incident has ignited a conversation on how we assess AI, suggesting a shift towards more nuanced testing to grasp the full extent of AI models’ capabilities and limitations.

Why It Matters

If chatbots are starting to show layers of awareness unexpected by their creators, maybe it’s time to develop evaluation methods that truly capture the evolving nature of AI.

Inflection AI: Superior Intelligence and Efficiency

Inflection-2.5, is setting new standards. Powering Pi, this model rivals like GPT-4 with enhanced empathy, helpfulness, and impressive IQ capabilities in coding and math.

Image credit: Inflection.ai

Key Takeaways:

  • High-Efficiency Model: Inflection-2.5 matches GPT-4’s performance using only 40% of the compute, marking a leap in AI efficiency.
  • Advanced IQ Features: It stands out in coding and mathematics, pushing the boundaries of what personal AIs can achieve.
  • Positive User Reception: Enhanced capabilities have led to increased user engagement and retention, underlining its impact and value.

Why It Matters

By blending empathetic responses with high-level intellectual tasks, it offers a glimpse into the future of AI-assisted living and learning. This development highlights the potential for more personal and efficient AI tools, making advanced technology more accessible and beneficial for a wider audience.

Midjourney Update

Midjourney is rolling out a “consistent character” feature and a revamped “describe” function, aiming to transform storytelling and art creation.

Key Takeaways:

  • Consistent Character Creation: This new feature will ensure characters maintain a uniform look across various scenes and projects, a plus for storytellers and game designers.
  • Innovative Describe Function: Artists can upload images for Midjourney to generate detailed prompts, bridging the gap between visual concepts and textual descriptions.
  • Community Buzz: The community is buzzing, eagerly awaiting these features for their potential to boost creative precision and workflow efficiency.

Why It Matters

By offering tools that translate visual inspiration into articulate prompts and ensure character consistency, Midjourney is setting a new standard for creativity and innovation in digital artistry.

Authors Sue Nvidia Over AI Training Copyright Breach

Nvidia finds itself in hot water as authors Brian Keene, Abdi Nazemian, and Stewart O’Nan sue the tech giant. They claim Nvidia used their copyrighted books unlawfully to train its NeMo AI platform.

Key Takeaways

  • Copyright Infringement Claims: The authors allege their works were part of a massive dataset used to train Nvidia’s NeMo without permission.
  • Seeking Damages: The lawsuit, aiming for unspecified damages, represents U.S. authors whose works allegedly helped train NeMo’s language models in the last three years.
  • A Growing Trend: This lawsuit adds to the increasing number of legal battles over generative AI technology, with giants like OpenAI and Microsoft also in the fray.

Why It Matters

As AI technology evolves, ensuring the ethical use of copyrighted materials becomes crucial in navigating the legal and moral landscape of AI development.

AI in the Workplace: Innovation or Invasion?

Canada’s workplace surveillance technology is under the microscope. The current Canadian laws lag behind the rapid deployment of AI tools that track everything from location to mood.

Key Takeaways:

  • Widespread Surveillance: AI tools are monitoring employee productivity in unprecedented ways, from tracking movements to analyzing mood.
  • Legal Gaps: Canadian laws are struggling to keep pace with the privacy and ethical challenges posed by these technologies.
  • AI in Hiring: AI isn’t just monitoring; it’s making autonomous decisions in hiring and job retention, raising concerns about bias and fairness.

Why It Matters

There is a fine line between innovation and personal privacy and it’s at a tipping point. As AI continues to rapidly upgrade, ensuring that laws protect workers’ rights becomes crucial.

India Invests $1.24 Billion in AI Self-Reliance

The Indian government has greenlit a massive $1.24 billion dollar funding for its AI infrastructure. Central to this initiative is the development of a supercomputer powered by over 10,000 GPUs.

Key Takeaways:

  • Supercomputer Development: The highlight is the ambitious plan to create a supercomputer to drive AI innovation.
  • IndiaAI Innovation Centre: This center will spearhead the creation of indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) and domain-specific AI models.
  • Comprehensive Support Programs: Funding extends to the IndiaAI Startup Financing mechanism, IndiaAI Datasets Platform, and the IndiaAI FutureSkills program to foster AI development and education.
  • Inclusive and Self-reliant Tech Goals: The investment aims to ensure technological self-reliance and make AI’s advantages accessible to all society segments.

Why It Matters

This significant investment underscores India’s commitment to leading in AI, emphasizing innovation, education, and societal benefit. By developing homegrown AI solutions and skills, India aims to become a global AI powerhouse.

Malware Targets ChatGPT Credentials

A recent report from Singapore’s Group-IB highlights a concerning trend: a surge in infostealer malware aimed at stealing ChatGPT login information, with around 225,000 log files discovered on the dark web last year.

Key Takeaways:

  • Alarming Findings: The logs, filled with passwords, keys, and other secrets, point to a significant security vulnerability for users.
  • Increasing Trend: There’s been a 36% increase in stolen ChatGPT credentials in logs between June and October 2023, signaling growing interest among cybercriminals.
  • Risk to Businesses: Compromised accounts could lead to sensitive corporate information being leaked or exploited.

Why It Matters

This poses a direct threat to individual and organizational security online. It underscores the importance of strengthening security measures like enabling multifactor authentication and regularly updating passwords, particularly for professional use of ChatGPT.

China Launches “AI Plus” Initiative to Fuse Technology with Industry

China has rolled out the “AI Plus” initiative, melding AI technology with various industry sectors. This project seeks to harness the power of AI to revolutionize the real economy.

Key Takeaways:

  • Comprehensive Integration: The initiative focuses on deepening AI research and its application across sectors, aiming for a seamless integration with the real economy.
  • Smart Cities and Digitization: Plans include developing smart cities and digitizing the service sector to foster an innovative, tech-driven environment.
  • International Competition and Data Systems: Support for platform enterprises to shine on the global stage, coupled with the enhancement of basic data systems and a unified computational framework, underscores China’s strategic tech ambitions.
  • Leadership in Advanced Technologies: China is set to boost its standing in electric vehicles, hydrogen power, new materials, and the space industry, with special emphasis on quantum technologies and other futuristic fields.

Why It Matters

By pushing for AI-driven transformation across industries, China aims to solidify its position as a global technology leader.

Sam Altman Returns to OpenAI’s Board

Sam Altman is back on OpenAI’s board of directors. Alongside him, OpenAI welcomes Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Nicole Seligman, ex-President of Sony Entertainment; and Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart, diversifying its board with leaders from various sectors.

Key Takeaways:

  • Board Reinforcement: Altman rejoins OpenAI’s board with three influential figures, expanding the board to eight members.
  • Diversity and Expertise: The new members bring a wealth of experience from technology, nonprofit, and governance.
  • Investigation and Governance: Following an investigation into Altman’s ouster, OpenAI emphasizes leadership stability and introduces new governance guidelines, including a whistleblower hotline and additional board committees.

Why It Matters

OpenAI’s board expansion and Altman’s return signal a commitment to leadership and enhanced governance. This move could shape the future direction of AI development and its global impact.

Final Thoughts

The challenges and opportunities presented by these developments urge us to reconsider our approaches to AI ethics, governance, and innovation. It’s clear that collaboration, rigorous ethical standards, and proactive governance will be key to implementing AI’s transformative potential responsibly. Let’s embrace these advancements with a keen awareness of their impacts, ensuring that AI serves as a force for good, across all facets of human endeavor.

Last Week in AI: Episode 22 Read More »