Welcome to this week’s roundup of AI news made by humans, for humans.
This week AI attended a Beyoncé concert to look for bad guys.
OpenAI DevDay cheers turned into boos.
And an AI startup attracted investment after making nonconsensual nudes.
Let’s dig in.
Is AI already in control?
AI alarmists paint a bleak picture of a future where AI eventually rules humans. Is the future now? The concept of an ‘algocracy’ and the backstory of how we got here and where we’re heading is fascinating.
AI could likely do a better job than most politicians if it was more transparent and decentralized. What happens if you throw AI and blockchain into the mix and give it a stir?
The increasing role of AI in administering our lives is inevitable. The EU AI Act is trying to make that future less Skynet and more techno-utopia. The OECD just modified its definition of AI to make sure the act covers all the bases.
They may also want to check the Cambridge Dictionary. It just added and tweaked some words related to AI. Its “Word of the Year” was an interesting choice too.
Before they fix future AI problems, maybe they should first solve the issue of underage workers being exploited in the AI and data services industry.
I want one!
Humane released its “AI Pin” and the excitement in the tech community is reminiscent of Steve Jobs showing us the first iPhone. I want one, even though I’m not sure what I’d use it for yet. A purchase price of $699 and $24 a month you say? Take my money!
Maybe astronauts could wear the AI Pin and pretend they’re in Star Trek every time they tap their ‘communicator’. And when they eventually make it to Mars this AI robot could create oxygen on the surface.
AI Pin > Star Trek Communicator 😎#AiPin @Humane pic.twitter.com/8LEkDkXUmE
— Mark Kelly (@markdkelly75) November 11, 2023
The DevDay hangover
After the excitement of OpenAI’s DevDay, we still don’t know when to expect GPT-5. The current situation with the highly anticipated model reveals some challenges.
Bill Gates thinks we’ve hit an AI plateau and that GPT-5 won’t be as big a deal as some hope. Meanwhile, users of GPT-4 Turbo aren’t exactly dishing out 5-star reviews as its performance seems to be less ‘Turbo’ and more ‘meh’.
When everyone rushed off to ChatGPT to try out the new features OpenAI’s servers took some strain. It turns out that this group of hacktivists was the real reason why you couldn’t use the chatbot a few days ago.
The DDoS attack may be over, but OpenAI has put a hold on new ChatGPT Plus signups until it improves its server resources. ‘Please don’t give us your $20 a month. Our computers are stressed out.’
we are pausing new ChatGPT Plus sign-ups for a bit 🙁
the surge in usage post devday has exceeded our capacity and we want to make sure everyone has a great experience.
you can still sign-up to be notified within the app when subs reopen.
— Sam Altman (@sama) November 15, 2023
How do we stop this?
People keep using generative AI to make horrible stuff. This week, a North Carolina man was sentenced to prison for AI-generated child pornography.
Platforms like Civitai are making it easier to get Stable Diffusion to generate exactly the image you’re after. A top venture capital firm is investing in the AI startup even though it’s linked to the making of nonconsensual porn.
Is it possible to make a pencil that only draws nice things? That’s the impossible challenge facing AI regulators.
Entertaining AI
The Hollywood actors’ strike is finally over! Well, maybe. We don’t have the details but there’s a “tentative” agreement in place relating to actors’ jobs and how AI will be used by the studios.
The next time you attend a music concert be sure to smile for the camera. Police in Wales admitted that they used facial recognition on everyone who attended a Beyoncé concert earlier this year.
They say they were looking for pedophiles and terrorists so you shouldn’t complain about your precious privacy being violated. If they have a facial recognition bloopers reel I’d like to see it though.
AI has earned a bad rap for faking artists but it’s also bringing back some of our favorites. Warner Music will use AI to bring Edith Piaf back to life in its biopic of the famous French singer.
Want to try your hand at using AI to make another ‘Drake and the Weeknd’ song and then post it on YouTube? You may want to check out this list of new measures YouTube is putting in place for AI-generated content.
But wait, there’s more!
Nvidia keeps streaking ahead of everyone else in the AI processor race. It set new AI training records in MLPerf benchmarks using a beast of a computer built with more than 10,000 of its H100 chips.
We barely had time to be impressed by that before Nvidia released its new flagship H200 chip which has almost double the processing power of the H100.
And then Nvidia backed it up a little and released some chips with reduced performance that fly just under the radar of US export restrictions so it can keep selling into China.
Sign here to make AI weapons safe
The US says the reason behind its tech export restrictions is that it fears China will use American AI tech against the US in defense applications. This week the US State Department released a proposed set of guardrails for the ‘safe’ use of AI in military applications.
China wasn’t one of the 31 Countries that signed the military AI pledge and there were a few other interesting names missing from the list of signatories.
Other groups unlikely to sign the pledge are the terrorists that are using AI to further their causes. A new report reveals how generative AI is being harnessed by terrorists.
It’s not going to get better anytime soon. Google’s cybersecurity forecast predicts AI is going to be a big enabler for criminals in 2024.
Cloudy with a chance of job change
Will the machine uprising happen next week? AI can’t (won’t) say. But it can tell us if there will be nice weather for the robot revolution. Google’s GraphCast model predicts weather better and faster than the current state-of-the-art models your weatherman uses.
The scramble for Nvidia’s chips has been a big focus of the AI race, but human brains are where the real action is. OpenAI and Google are locked in a high-stakes battle for AI talent.
AI researchers must be changing their LinkedIn bios every few days as they get poached back and forth with huge salary offers.
In other news…
Here are some other clickworthy AI stories we enjoyed this week:
- White faces generated by AI are more convincing than photos.
- AI companions are becoming a big thing. Do they mitigate isolation or exacerbate it?
- Airbnb bought an AI startup in a bid to become more relevant in the travel industry.
- Is AI the answer to sustainable farming?
- This new AI tool that adds motion to images is incredible!
Introducing, Motion Brush.
A new way to add controlled movement to your generations.
Coming soon to Gen-2. pic.twitter.com/htyjf1gstz
— Runway (@runwayml) November 10, 2023
And that’s a wrap.
Have you pre-ordered your AI Pin from Humane? Feel free to send one our way for ‘testing’.
Do you care that AI probably scanned your face at the last music concert you went to? I want them to catch the bad guys, but Beyoncé probably hits different when you know the cops are scanning your face.
I’m heading off to the Google and OpenAI job boards to see if I can engage them in a bidding war for my services. If there’s no roundup next week you’ll know I got snapped up.
Until then, we’d love your feedback, and let us know if we missed any juicy AI stories.
