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Humane’s AI Pin
humane AI
Welcome to Prompt.
I'm Rashi Shrivastava, a technology reporter at Forbes. Learn about the most important developments in artificial intelligence this week.
The big story this week is OpenAI's announcement of a new office in Japan. This marks the ChatGPT maker's first outpost in Asia, where it also deploys a custom GPT-4 model optimized for Japanese text translation and summarization. Tadao Nagasaki, a former Amazon Web Services executive, will be in charge of operations. This is a notable move for OpenAI, as Japan's copyright laws and regulations for AI developers have historically been weaker than in other countries such as the US and UK. Japan, which has been called a “machine learning paradise,” has passed a law that broadly recognizes certain copyrights. You may not use the Materials to train AI models without consent, even for commercial purposes.
“The idea was to make Japan so attractive to AI companies that they would develop their models here,” said Joseph Glasser, a partner at law firm Squire Patton Boggs. “This was seen as a way for Japan to avoid the perception that it was 'laggard' in the AI race.”
Now, let's get into the headlines.
champion chip
Google announced New AI chip, called Axion, part of an effort to reduce dependence on external vendors for expensive computing resources. The chip is built on ARM's central processing unit (CPU) and is useful for training AI models and running common workloads. Google claims that these new processors offer up to: 30% performance improvement Better than existing ARM chips, 60% more energy efficient Better than existing comparable options. Train the AI model Gemini in-house custom silicone gave tech giants an edge In the midst of a fierce AI arms race.
ethics and law
Last year, thousands of reports to NCMEC's CyberTipline involved suspected CSAM created using AI.
getty
OpenAI, Stability AI, Anthropic, and others follow widespread reports that AI-generated pornographic images of students are being circulated throughout U.S. schools and that AI is being used to create and distribute images of child sexual abuse. of AI companies have started operating. Report material related to child sexual abuse Information generated on the platform is sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. forbes It was reported on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice said rival AI companies overlapping executives or a member of the Board of Directors. violate antitrust laws. This concern is rapidly emerging as tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft pour billions of dollars into big AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Mistral. For example, Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI. He is also backing his AI model provider Mistral in France, and recently he hired Mustafa Suleyman, former CEO of Inflection, to lead his AI consumer business.The news broke a few months later F.T.C. launched a similar investigation Enter the tech giant that powers generative AI companies.
peak performance
Amazon uses AI to reduce packaging material usage.
DPA/Picture Alliance (via Getty Images)
Ships from Amazon 20 million packages All are packaged in cardboard, paper, and plastic packaging and are usually thrown in the trash.to Reduce packaging waste and coststhe retail giant Internal AI model Determine the type of packaging that is best suited for the products being shipped. Amazon's data is used by an AI model trained on product images and descriptions to Save 500,000 tons of packaging material one year.
AI human
Brett Adcock, 38, founder of humanoid robot company Figure, imagines a future where we all own humanoids. A robot that does laundry, dishes, and takes out the trash. Beyond these mundane chores, he sees AI-powered robots performing tasks that are dangerous for humans or augmenting understaffed workforces.
In January, Figure announced: Partnership with German automaker BMW The company plans to use its robots to do “dark, dirty, boring” things. Automobile manufacturing parts. 1 month later, The company raised $675 million in funding Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI Startup Fund and Jeff Bezos valued it at $2.6 billion. Mr. Adcock is a billionaire who owns 50% of the company.. (His net worth, forbes estimated at $1.4 billion). Figure also signed a deal with OpenAI to develop generative AI models for robots that can talk to humans.
This week's AI sale
Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it would invest 1.5 billion dollars G42 is an Abu Dhabi-based holding company that develops AI products across sectors such as healthcare, data centers, and surveillance.movement becomes stronger US-UAE relationship in race to stay ahead of China In the development of AI applications. This investment will result in the G42 severing ties with China and Eliminate Chinese equipment from operations. G42 is secret agreement According to a report by Bloomberg, the United States was looking to exit China before signing the deal with Microsoft.
Also worth noting is that Collaborative Robots, led by former Amazon Vice President Brad Porter, uses large language models such as GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 to ask questions and understand human speech. Raised $100 million for “cobots” or collaborative robots.
deep dive
The Saudi government is trying to turn the capital, Riyadh, into an AI hub.
AFP via Getty Images
At a recent technology conference, Saudi officials praised Gaia, the country's generative AI accelerator, for which Saudi Arabia has invested $1 billion in efforts to: Create 300 new AI startups In just 3 years. The program is part of a broader effort to diversify the Saudi economy and establish the capital, Riyadh, as Saudi Arabia. AI startup hub.
However, the founders who went through the Gaia program said: forbes This is what the kingdom became Slow payment of promised government subsidies — if it was paid at all. Each founder expected to receive $40,000 in government grants and an additional $100,000 in equity investment from New Native, the startup accelerator that ran the Gaia program. Review of interviews with seven Gaia founders, internal documents, and Zoom meeting recordings forbesplease show it Many startups do not receive grantsor a total investment estimated at $4.2 million.
According to two of the founders, the only startups that benefited from Gaia's pitch were members of the program's first batch, which received a small portion of the Saudi government grant and New Native investment. . Five others who spent tens of thousands of dollars on travel and lodging to attend the 10-week Riyadh-based program in 2023 and 2024 said they received no money at all. “These founders quit what they were doing and spent over $20,000 to spend a few months in the kingdom. They are very bitter about this,” said one person. . “This looks like a bad thing for the Saudi government.”
The Saudi dream of the founders of the Gaia project was also crushed. Gaia's founders said: The startup involved went bankrupt.or stalled, but many still don't have the money.
said Meshal al-Kabir, vice president of entrepreneurship at the National Technology Development Program (NTDP), which is funding the program by Saudi government agencies. forbes Grants are currently being processed for startups that have submitted the necessary documents. NTDP and accelerator New Native spoke forbes We were told that the next group of Gaia programs would be put on hold until more funding was raised from outside backers.
AI index
According to the Stanford AI Index report published by Stanford University's Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the total number of generative AI models launched in 2023 is: 149
Share newly released open source models: 65.7%
Compute costs used to train OpenAI's large-scale multi-model model GPT-4: $78 million
Compute costs used to train Google's latest AI model, Gemini Ultra: $191 million
Number of AI-related regulations passed in 2023: twenty five
Number of AI regulations in 2016: 1
weekly demo
Last year, San Francisco-based AI company Humane introduced the $699 AI Pin. The relentlessly touted device can make calls, send messages, take photos, and answer common questions thanks to OpenAI and Microsoft's AI models. Humane calls this device a “personal assistant” and “Second brain”. But according to the first one, mainly scathing review The device's performance falls well short of its promise.
david pierce Verge It's called Humane's AI Pin. “Completely unfinished” and “It's completely broken.(“The only thing you can really rely on an AI pin to do is tell you the time,” he writes.) wall street journal I didn't even bother writing a full review of the device, instead posting a short video highlighting its seriousness overheating problem. meanwhile, marques brownlee ”.slow, cumbersome, or inaccuratethan the phone. “It is no exaggeration to say that AI pins deserve to be displayed alongside Juicero and Crinkle. Silicon Valley Museum misfire” writes Benjamin Sandovsky, co-founder of camera app Halide.
It was a brutal debut for Humane, a company founded by. former apple executive Imran Chaudhry and Bethany Bongiorno Supported by groups like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and supported by some people $241 million In venture capital. One of his Reddit posters wrote, “It's laughable how many people this company poached from his Apple to make this shit.”
quiz
Which AI companies are backed by high-profile investors like Jeff Bezos, Meta's Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun, Google's Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, and former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki?
A.OpenAI
B. Hug face
C. confused
D. Humanity
Check the answer here.
Model behavior
new $400 Oral-B Toothbrush It claims to use AI for “3D tooth tracking” and “location detection.” This toothbrush uses your phone's Bluetooth-connected app and a “smart sensor” to detect if you're brushing your teeth with too much or too little pressure. Salesforce CEO marc benioff I tweeted AI toothbrush This may be a sign that AI will become like this. hype cycle It has reached its peak.
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