OpenAI Finds itself in Multiple Controversies... Again. Plus Other Big AI News This Week....

 

The world of artificial intelligence continues to evolve rapidly, with new developments emerging across various domains. Here's a roundup of the latest AI news:

AI Image Generation Reaches New Heights

Recent advancements in AI-generated images have been remarkable, with models like Flux producing incredibly realistic human portraits. While some minor imperfections remain, such as gibberish text on lanyards or slightly off microphone renderings, the overall quality is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from real photographs.

OpenAI Continues to Find itself in Controversies, and other OpenAI News...

Open AI, one of the leading AI research companies, has been at the center of several developments and controversies:

Cryptic "Strawberry" References: CEO Sam Altman posted an image of strawberries, fueling speculation about a rumored advanced AI model codenamed "Strawberry."

Leadership Changes: Co-founder John Sheu left to join Anthropic, while Greg Brockman announced an extended sabbatical.

New Board Member: Ziko Kolter, an AI safety and alignment expert, joined Open AI's board.

GPT-4.0 System Card: Open AI released a detailed report on safety measures for GPT-4.0.

Emotional Attachment Warning: The company cautioned about potential user emotional reliance on AI voice modes.

Structured Outputs API: A new feature for developers was introduced to improve data handling.

AI Text Detection Tool: Open AI developed but chose not to release a tool for identifying AI-generated text.

Legal Challenges: Elon Musk filed a new lawsuit against Open AI, while a YouTuber initiated a class action suit over alleged copyright infringement.

Anthropic's Bug Bounty Program

Anthropic launched a bug bounty program offering up to $115,000 for discovering novel jailbreak attacks on their AI models.

AI in Job Searches

HubSpot released a toolkit designed to help job seekers leverage AI in their search for employment opportunities.

Character AI Partners with Google

Character AI's co-founders are joining Google, with the company's CEO returning to his former employer to work on AI models at DeepMind.

Advancements in AI for Math and Video

Qwen-2-Math: A new large language model fine-tuned for mathematical tasks outperforms existing models in benchmark testing.

ByteDance's Jimang AI: TikTok's parent company debuted a new AI video generation model, though its capabilities compared to Open AI's Sora remain unclear.

Runway ML Updates: Runway introduced a new feature allowing users to specify ending frames in AI-generated videos.

Opus Clip Enhancements: The AI-powered video clipping tool added new capabilities for identifying specific content within videos.

Other AI Integrations and Developments

WordPress AI Writing Tool: Automatic launched an AI tool to improve blog readability.

Amazon Music and Audible AI Features: Both platforms are testing AI-powered content discovery features.

Reddit AI Search: The platform is testing AI-generated summaries for search results.

Google's AI-Powered TV Streamer: A new device leveraging Gemini AI for content curation is in development.

AI in Drive-Throughs: Wendy's is testing AI-powered ordering systems with improved accuracy.

Robotics Advancements: Google DeepMind showcased a table tennis-playing robot, while Nvidia demonstrated AR-controlled robotics using Apple Vision Pro.

New Humanoid Robot: Figure Robotics unveiled the Figure 02, a new humanoid robot being tested on BMW production lines.

As AI technology continues to advance, we can expect to see more innovations and integrations across various industries in the coming months, and you'll hear about them here as soon as it happens!

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Author: Trevor Kingsley
Tech News CITY // New York Newsroom

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AI News Roundup: Luma AI's Dream Machine, Apple AI, Leonardo's New Model, Pika Upgrades their Image to Video model and MORE...

AI Weekly Roundup: Exciting Developments in Image and Video Generation

This week saw a flurry of activity in the AI world, with several new tools and updates released for image and video generation. Let's dive into the most noteworthy developments:

Luma AI Launches Dream Machine

Luma AI released Dream Machine, their competitor to AI video tools like Sora, Veo, Pika, and Runway. While some claim it's on par with Sora, initial testing suggests it's not quite there yet in most scenarios. However, it does excel in certain areas.

Key points about Dream Machine:

- Initially had long queue times (up to 7 hours) due to high demand

- Performs better with image-to-video rather than text-to-video

- Generates 5-second videos

- Excels at flyover shots and time-lapses

- Pricing: 30 free generations per month, then about $0.25 per video

Pika and Stability AI Updates

Pika also updated their image-to-video model, though details on the improvements are scarce. Meanwhile, Stability AI finally released the weights for Stable Diffusion 3, making it available for download on Hugging Face. Initial tests show improvements in text generation within images, but it still requires detailed prompts for optimal results.

Leonardo Unveils Phoenix Model

Leonardo introduced their new custom AI model, Phoenix. This foundational model, trained from the ground up, offers:

- Enhanced prompt adherence

- Coherent text in images

- Superior image quality

- More creative control

Early tests suggest Phoenix may outperform Stable Diffusion XL in some aspects.

Midjourney Introduces Model Personalization

Midjourney launched a new feature called Model Personalization. By ranking at least 200 images, users can train the AI to generate images more aligned with their preferences.

Google's Gen Type Tool

Google Labs released Gen Type, a tool that creates letters in various styles based on user prompts. This free tool offers similar functionality to Adobe Firefly's text features.

Suno Updates Audio Generation

Suno, the AI music generation tool, now allows users to upload or record audio snippets and extend them into full songs. This feature is available for Suno Premium users.

Apple's AI Integration

At WWDC, Apple announced extensive AI integration across its ecosystem:

- On-device AI for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS

- AI-powered features in Notes and Calculator apps

- Email inbox overhaul with AI-generated summaries

- Smart replies and notification summaries

- Image Playground for generating illustrations and animations

- Gen Emoji feature for creating custom emojis

- Enhanced photo editing and searching capabilities

- Improved Siri with typing option and context awareness

Other Notable News

- Adobe is revising its terms of service to clarify they won't train AI on customers' work without permission.

- Apple briefly became the world's most valuable company following the WWDC announcements.

- Elon Musk expressed concerns about Apple's integration with OpenAI, though his claims were later clarified as misrepresentations.

- OpenAI hired two new C-level executives: Sarah Friar as CFO and Kevin Weil as CPO.

- Microsoft is removing custom GPTs from Copilot Pro due to low usage.

- A new open-source AI model, Qwen2, outperforms Llama 3 in various benchmarks.

- A photographer was disqualified from an AI image contest after winning with a real photo, highlighting the ongoing debate between AI-generated and human-created art.

As AI tools continue to evolve and become more accessible, creators have an expanding array of options for generating images, videos, and music. Stay tuned for more exciting developments in the world of AI.


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Author: Trevor Kingsley
Tech News CITY // New York Newsroom

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The Latest News in AI's Evolution: 6 Recent Stories or Announcements You Need to Stay Up To Date...

Like every week, there has been a torrent of AI news, reflecting the rapid progress and growing implications of this transformative technology. While many updates represent incremental advancements, some developments carry profound future implications, and a few are simply downright bizarre and amusing.

The AI Landscape's Overwhelming Complexity

An infographic from First Mark Capital vividly illustrates the staggering complexity of the current AI landscape. Dubbed the "2024 ML/AI/Data Landscape," the image depicts the sheer number of companies involved in this space, encompassing both established giants and numerous smaller players. This visual representation serves as a stark reminder of just how monumental and widespread the AI revolution has become.

Microsoft and OpenAI's Ambitious Data Center Plans

Unconfirmed reports suggest that Microsoft and OpenAI are planning a $100 billion data center project, which would be a staggering 100 times more costly than some of the largest existing data centers. The proposed facility would house an artificial intelligence supercomputer dubbed "Stargate." If realized, this endeavor could propel OpenAI and Microsoft to an unprecedented lead, making it challenging for other companies or open-source models to catch up.

OpenAI's Synthetic Voice Capabilities

OpenAI has unveiled its ability to generate realistic synthetic voices from a single 15-second audio sample. The quality of these AI-generated voices surpasses even the impressive capabilities of tools like Elevenlabs. However, while showcasing this remarkable feat, OpenAI has refrained from making the technology publicly available due to potential misuse concerns. The company is advocating for measures to protect individuals' voices, educate the public about AI-generated content, and develop techniques to track the origin of audiovisual media.

Advancements in AI Art and Music Generation

Several developments in AI-powered art and music generation have emerged. OpenAI has introduced an inpainting feature for its DALL-E model, allowing users to selectively modify specific areas of generated images. Stability AI has unveiled Stable Audio 2.0, enabling the generation of three-minute songs and audio-to-audio generation based on hummed or instrument sounds. However, the quality of AI-generated music remains a subject of debate, with a group of musicians, including Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry, signing a letter expressing concerns about the irresponsible use of AI in music.

Anthropic's Research and Apple's AI Ambitions

Anthropic researchers have discovered that repeatedly asking harmless questions to large language models can eventually lead them to provide potentially harmful information, a phenomenon they are actively investigating. Meanwhile, Apple appears to be deepening its involvement in AI, revealing the "Realm" language model designed to enhance voice assistants like Siri by improving context understanding and reference resolution.

Ethical Concerns and Regulatory Developments

Ethical and regulatory issues surrounding AI continue to surface. A court in Washington has banned the use of AI-enhanced video evidence, citing concerns about the potential for inaccuracies introduced by upscaling algorithms. Additionally, the company behind the AI-generated George Carlin standup comedy set has agreed to remove all related audio and video content following a settlement with Carlin's estate.

Bizarre and Amusing AI Applications

Among the more unusual AI developments, an autonomous electric scooter called the Ola Solo has been introduced in India, claiming to be the first fully self-driving scooter. In Phoenix, Waymo vehicles are now delivering Uber Eats orders, allowing customers to retrieve their food from self-driving cars. Furthermore, an upcoming season of the Netflix reality show "The Circle" will feature an AI catfish participant, adding an intriguing twist to the dating-focused premise.

As the AI news cycle continues to accelerate, it becomes increasingly evident that we are witnessing a technological revolution of unprecedented scale and impact. Stay tuned for more developments, insights, and discussions as we collectively navigate the challenges and opportunities of this "next wave" of innovation.


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Author: Trevor Kingsley
Tech News CITY // New York Newsroom

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AI Continues To Advance At Rapid Pace - The Top Stories from the World of AI...

The world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is ever-evolving, and this week has been particularly groundbreaking, especially in the realm of AI art. From new features in image generation platforms to legal battles over AI-generated art, there's a lot to unpack. Here's a comprehensive update on what you need to know.

Mid-Journey's In-Painting Feature

Mid-Journey, a prominent player in the AI art space, recently rolled out its in-painting feature. This feature allows users to selectively modify specific regions of an image. For instance, you can change a character's hairstyle or clothing by simply selecting the area and inputting a prompt. The feature has been praised for its ability to produce higher quality and more detailed images when the entire image is selected with the same prompt.

What's Coming Next? According to David, the founder of Mid-Journey, the company is focusing on enhancing the in-painting features and is also prioritizing the development of version 6. This new version aims to offer more control, better text understanding, and improved resolution. However, there's no estimated release date yet.

Ideogram AI: Text to Image Revolution

Ideogram AI, developed by a team from Google Brain, UC Berkeley, CMU, and the University of Toronto, has introduced a standout feature: adding text to AI-generated images. The platform allows users to generate images based on text prompts, offering a level of quality and detail that surpasses other platforms.

Actually, we used it for this article's header image!

Leonardo AI's Anime Pastel Dream

Leonardo AI has added a new model called Anime Pastel Dream, which allows users to generate anime-style images. The model is accessible through the Leonardo app and has been praised for the quality of images it produces.

Legal Challenges in AI Art

A U.S. federal judge recently ruled that AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted if it is produced without human intervention. This decision has sparked debates and discussions about the nuances of copyright laws concerning AI-generated art.

AI in Marketing: A Partnership with HubSpot

In collaboration with HubSpot, we're offering a free report on how AI is revolutionizing marketing. The report, "AI Trends for Marketers in 2023," provides insights into how AI tools are being used to create content faster, analyze data instantly, and increase ROI.

YouTube and AI in Music

YouTube has announced a partnership with Universal Music Group to explore the ethical and responsible use of AI in the music industry. They aim to ensure fair compensation for artists and record labels.

YouTube is also testing a new feature that allows users to hum a song to search for it. Built on a machine-learning model, this feature can identify a song based on its "fingerprint" or signature melody.

Advances in Healthcare

Microsoft and Epic are collaborating to use generative AI in healthcare. They aim to improve clinician productivity, reduce manual labor-intensive processes, and advance medicine for better patient outcomes. AI is also helping paralyzed individuals communicate through brain implants, marking a significant advancement in healthcare technology.

Conclusion

AI is not just a technological marvel; it's a tool that's shaping various industries, from art and marketing to healthcare. Despite some legal and ethical challenges, the future of AI looks promising. Companies are investing heavily in AI, and it's clear that we're just scratching the surface of its potential.


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Author: Trevor Kingsley
Tech News CITY // New York Newsroom

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Chips Made To Accelerate Artificial Intelligence Processing - A Vital Step Towards an AI Powered World...

Semiconductors are used in almost every industry and have become a very valuable asset. Developing and making these chips is a hard job. AI chip builders often neglect advanced deep learning needs and features because they think that software stacks between their silicon and algorithms may be enough abstract layers. But the performance gets better as more native hardware support is enabled.

Rebellions Inc, an AI-semiconductor startup, is working to solve this problem by making AI accelerators that close the gap between deep learning algorithms and the underlying silicon architectures. They are pushing the limits of algorithms to make better use of silicon budgets, and they are re-architecting AI processors to add complex deep learning capabilities using DL kernels that are built specifically for silicon.

The first chip made by Rebellions, called ION, came out in November 2021. The company says that it cuts down on delays and speeds up trading.

In terms of getting things done, it is thought to be twice as fast as the Intel Habana Labs AI Chip Goya...

Its main customers are investment banks around the world. The ION chips will be made by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) by the end of next year.

The company wants to make an AI processor for a specialized industry as well as the ideal software for it. With this strategy and a unique decentralized programming model, users will be able to equip themselves with the most powerful AI hardware that uses the least amount of energy and will also be able to integrate software without any problems.

In a Series A funding round, the South Korean startup got $50 million (62 billion KRW)...

 The round was backed by Temasek's Pavilion Capital. Korean Development Bank, SV Investment, Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Ventures, IMM Investment, KB Investment, KT Investment, and existing investors Kakao Ventures, GU Equity Partners, and Seoul Techno Holdings all took part in the round. With this round, Rebellions has raised a total of about $80 million (100 billion KRW), which is worth an estimated $283 million (325 billion KRW).

With these funds, the company plans to hire twice as many people and open an office in the U.S. They will also focus on making a lot of their second AI chip prototype, ATOM, which will be aimed at cloud companies and data centers.

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Author: Preston Summers
Tech News CITY // Austin Newsroom

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