📰 News 📰 

Microsoft & OpenAI's $100 Billion "Stargate" Supercomputer Project

Microsoft and OpenAI are reportedly in discussions to build a colossal supercomputer, dubbed "Stargate," projected to cost up to $100 billion. This supercomputer aims to house millions of AI accelerators and could be operational by 2028. The venture marks a significant step in Microsoft's AI strategy, emphasizing their reliance on OpenAI's models and the substantial GPU clusters required to support them. "Stargate" represents the apex of Microsoft's efforts to maintain its exclusive cloud provider status for OpenAI, potentially consuming up to five gigawatts of power upon completion. However, sourcing carbon-free energy for the project poses significant challenges, highlighting the broader impacts of large-scale AI infrastructure on environmental sustainability.

Read More At: The Register

Musicians Against Irresponsible AI Use

Over 200 musicians, including Nicki Minaj, Billie Eilish, and Katy Perry, have signed an open letter urging tech companies to consider the ethical implications of AI in music creation, highlighting the risks to privacy, identity, and the livelihoods of creators. The letter addresses the unconsented use of artists' work to train AI models, which could have detrimental effects on working artists. It also notes efforts by some companies to develop AI music generators using licensed music, but the potential harm remains a concern for artists already impacted by the evolution of technology in music distribution and compensation. The call to stop the predatory use of AI to steal artists' voices and rights is growing louder.

Read More At: TechCrunch

Apple's AI Breakthrough in Screen Context Understanding

Apple researchers have introduced ReALM (Reference Resolution As Language Modelling), a ground breaking AI system designed to understand complex references and context on screens, paving the way for more intuitive interactions with voice assistants. Published in a recent paper, ReALM's innovative approach reconstructs the screen's visual layout into a textual representation, allowing it to perform better than GPT-4 in understanding screen-based references. This capability could revolutionize how conversational assistants interact, making them truly hands-free by enabling queries about visible on-screen content.

Read More At: VentureBeat

Hailo's $120 Million Funding to Challenge Nvidia in the AI Chip Market

Hailo, an AI chip startup, has secured $120 million in funding to compete with Nvidia amid a challenging climate for AI chip startups. Founded in 2017, Hailo specializes in chips for AI workloads on edge devices, offering lower memory usage and power consumption. With over 300 customers across various industries, this funding marks an extension of Hailo's Series C, aiming for long-term growth and leveraging opportunities in the AI space. Despite Nvidia's dominance, experts believe Hailo's efficient accelerators are essential for the expanding AI market.

Read More At: TechCrunch

Robot Fry Cooks at Service Stations

Re-Up, a convenience store chain, is pioneering the future of fast food with "The Wingman," a robotic fry cook developed by Nala Robotics. This innovation aims to transform the gas station dining experience, traditionally known for surprisingly good fried food and dishes like tikka masala. "The Wingman" is designed to automate the cooking process, handling tasks from frying chicken wings to saucing them before serving. With the promise of consistency, efficiency, and around-the-clock operation without the need for breaks or fear of illness, this AI-powered technology is set to revolutionize how customers enjoy customizable fried food.

Read More At: The Verge

🧠 Research 🧠 

FlexiDreamer: Single Image-to-3D Generation with FlexiCubes

This paper introduces FlexiDreamer, a framework for converting single images into detailed 3D models using FlexiCubes for direct mesh reconstruction. This end-to-end approach efficiently generates textured meshes by overcoming limitations of implicit representation and post-processing extraction, achieving significant improvements in speed and quality. The framework incorporates a multi-resolution hash grid encoding to capture geometric details and integrates a texture neural field for mesh texturing. The study demonstrates FlexiDreamer's superior performance in generating high-quality 3D content rapidly, outperforming existing methodologies. However, the method's reliance on generated images' quality and the limited perspectives for accurate object construction are acknowledged limitations. The paper suggests potential misuse of the technology, emphasizing the need for responsible use.

Read the full paper on arXiv

🔨 AI Powered Tools 🔨 

A run down of the latest SaaS products and services which leverage AI to help you take back some time.

• Creatify - Revolutionizes the creation of marketing videos, specifically targeting the advertising and e-commerce industries. It stands out by automating the video production process, where users can generate high-quality marketing videos from just a product link or description.

• Hexometer - AI-driven website monitoring service designed to enhance website performance and security across various industries, including e-commerce, agencies, and online publishing. It differentiates itself by offering 24/7 comprehensive monitoring in six core areas: availability, performance, user experience, health, SEO, and security

• Inworld - AI engine for game development, enhancing gameplay through dynamic NPCs (Non-Player Characters) and evolving game worlds. It supports innovative game mechanics, content creation at scale, and improved player immersion by leveraging AI to create responsive, intelligent in-game characters

🗞️ Other News Rollup 🗞️ 

Instant AI Access - OpenAI allows instant ChatGPT usage without sign-up, promoting accessibility and content safeguards. Exciting benefits included.

AI in Software Development - Generative AI transforms software development by streamlining tasks, enhancing skills, and pushing innovation, despite potential challenges.

AI in Customer Data - Reltio's Customer 360 Data Product leverages AI for unified customer view and real-time entity resolution.

Startup Fund Transition - Altman transfers control to Hathaway, fund now holds $325 million, invests in AI-driven start-ups.

Google AI Courses - Google offers AI courses on AI foundations, TensorFlow, and generative AI to boost your career in artificial intelligence.

AI-Powered Lil Snack - Lil Snack raises $3.1M for daily, AI-driven games that align with pop culture trends, attracting investors and users.

Data-Driven Corporate Training - Modal offers personalized data and AI training for corporate staff, attracting Fortune 1000 clients and raising $25 million.

AI Collaboration Boost - AWS partners with Mistral AI to democratize generative AI, offering diverse models for specialized tasks.

AI Deployment Made Easy - OctoAI launches OctoStack for private AI model deployments, ensuring control, security, and seamless optimization for enterprises.

AWS Startup Support - Amazon offers $500k AWS credits to Y Combinator AI startups, attracting FTC scrutiny for potential anticompetitive practices.

DARPA - DARPA's AI projects aim for secure code, network security, and trustworthy AI, impacting future software development.

🎶 Prompts 🎶 

Prompts used to generate some of this issues images. Unless otherwise stated all images are using Dall-E and ChatGPT Plus.

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