AI takes over Davos; Zuckerberg wants to build AGI; business leaders assess AI's impact on economics; DeepMind solves high-school geometry;
ChatGPT's hunger for energy triggers chip innovation; new Samsung phones integrate AI functionality; several countries in APAC move to regulate generative AI; Cohere in talks to raise $1b
This week thousands of world leaders, corporate executives, and civil society representatives gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering. Everywhere you turned, artificial intelligence was the topic du jour, from the companies exhibiting on the Promenade, to the sessions in the Congress Centre, and the networking events at restaurants and bars.
The WEF's AI Governance Alliance published its first series of briefing papers to establish three foundational focus areas for steering AI's development, adoption and governance: safety, responsible adoption, and regulation. Perhaps the most interesting of them is the second, called Unlocking Value from Generative AI: Guidance for Responsible Transformation; it looks at how generative AI enables value creation and presents five case studies of how the technology was deployed responsibly.
The paper also mirrors a real desire from everyone who came to Davos to explore more real-world applications for generative AI. But if in 2023 we got excited about what generative AI could do, this year we'll learn that there are many things it can't do (yet).
And this is not a bad thing!
What we're seeing now mirrors the typical cycle of all emerging technologies. There's a trigger moment that captures attention, followed by a peak of inflated expectations where hype far outpaces present capabilities. A certain level of disillusionment then sets in.
What's different with generative AI is the speed at which we're moving through this cycle and the fact that in the last three years we've gone through two more cycles in tech (web3 and the metaverse), against the backdrop of a global pandemic and turbulence in the global economy.
But what everyone in Davos seems to agree on is that 2024 will set the stage for the plateau of productivity, where we start finding practical real world applications that actually drive measurable results.
And while continued scaling of models and data will only keep advancing capabilities (as Aidan Gomez from Cohere said, we should expect 5-10 trillion parameter models to become the norm within a year or two), powerful and new business uses cases will eventually emerge.
❤️Computer loves (Davos)
Our top news picks for the week - your essential reading from the world of AI
AI fever takes over Davos pushing crypto aside as the new cool kid on the block [CNBC]
AI buzzes Davos, but CEOs wrestle with how to make it pay [Reuters]
At Davos, businesses looked to move from talk to action on AI [Axios]
The Davos elite embraced AI in 2023. Now they fear it. [The Washington Post]
Generative AI dominates Davos discussions as companies focus on accuracy [CNBC]
Real talk about AI at Davos [Semafor]
The bosses of OpenAI and Microsoft talk to The Economist [The Economist]
AI is the buzz, the big opportunity and the risk to watch among the Davos glitterati [AP]
AI Can Convincingly Mimic A Person's Handwriting Style, Researchers Say [Bloomberg]
Mark Zuckerberg’s new goal is creating artificial general intelligence [The Verge]
AI could help the water industry curb its thirst for energy [Fortune]
ChatGPT's Hunger for Energy Could Trigger a GPU Revolution [Wired]
⚙️Computer does
AI in the wild: how artificial intelligence is used across industry, from the internet, social media, and retail to transportation, healthcare, banking, and more
How AI is helping to prevent three buses turning up at once [BBC]
A new AI-based risk prediction system could help catch deadly pancreatic cancer cases earlier [MIT Technology Review]
US FDA clears DermaSensor's AI-powered skin cancer detecting device [Reuters]
Google DeepMind’s new AI system can solve complex geometry problems [MIT Technology Review]
Amazon brings its AI-powered image generator to Fire TV [TechCrunch]
How doctors are using AI to diagnose a hidden heart condition in kids [The Washington Post]
Amazon launches generative AI tool to answer shoppers’ questions [CNBC]
Ipswich Hospital uses AI to detect lung cancer in new research project [BBC]
Watch this robot cook shrimp and clean autonomously [MIT Technology Review]
These AI smart grills will help you avoid over-cooking that steak [Business Insider]
Android Auto will use Google AI to respond to your friends when you’re running late [The Verge]
Samsung bets heavily on AI tricks to boost Galaxy S24 appeal [The Guardian]
Investing platform eToro is bullish on using generative AI. [Business Insider]
Vay launches teledriving car service in Las Vegas [VentureBeat]
TikTok can generate AI songs, but it probably shouldn’t [The Verge]
With Microsoft's free AI tutor, students learn to read by choosing their own adventure [ZDNet]
🧑🎓Computer learns
Interesting trends and developments from various AI fields, companies and people
ChatGPT helped write my novel, says Japanese literary prize winner [The Times]
How AI is changing gymnastics judging [MIT Technology Review]
Game developer survey: 50% work at a studio already using generative AI tools [Ars Technica]
The Rabbit R1 will receive live info from Perplexity’s AI ‘answer engine’ [The Verge]
ChatGPT effect: Coursera sees signups for AI courses every minute in 2023 [Reuters]
Google DeepMind's Lila Ibrahim: AI is upending science [Axios]
Databricks and Credo AI unite for responsible, compliant AI at scale [VentureBeat]
Executives Cautiously Hit The Brakes On Artificial Intelligence [Forbes]
Musk Demands Bigger Stake in Tesla as Price for A.I. Work [New York Times]
Why everyone’s excited about household robots again [MIT Technology Review]
Are friends electric? How chatbots can help defeat loneliness [The Times]
AI comes to higher education as OpenAI partners with Arizona State University [VentureBeat]
Pinecone: New vector database architecture a ‘breakthrough’ to curb AI hallucinations [VentureBeat]
Palantir CEO Alex Karp: U.S. eating everyone's lunch on AI [Axios]
A $75 Million Gift for CUNY Dedicated to A.I. [New York Times]
AI threatens Google’s hold on search engines, says Microsoft boss [The Times]
Google DeepMind cofounder says AI can act like an entrepreneur and inventor in the next five years [Business Insider]
Vodafone and Microsoft strike $1.5bn AI deal [The Times]
Hackers bring AI chatbots to Capitol Hill to showcase cybersecurity issues [Axios]
How One Struggling Chip Company Benefited From Middle Eastern Investors’ AI Ambitions [Forbes]
Whether your company considers using AI to replace workers could be a coin flip, CEO survey finds [Business Insider]
Runway Gen-2 adds multiple motion controls to AI videos with Multi Motion Brush [VentureBeat]
When the broker is a chatbot: How AI will shake up commercial real estate. [Business Insider]
Stability AI releases Stable Code 3B to fill in blanks of AI-powered code generation [VentureBeat]
DigitalOcean wants to open the floodgates to AI for smaller enterprises with Nvidia H100 access [VentureBeat]
'Hey, Siri:' Inside Apple's speech AI and the technology behind it [Business Insider]
Don’t Talk to People Like They’re Chatbots [The Atlantic]
These are the skills employers are looking for as AI use expands, according to leaders at Davos [Business Insider]
Udacity launches GenAI nanodegree program [VentureBeat]
AI Startup Anthropic Is Working on Image Analysis for Chatbot Claude [Bloomberg]
Cellebrite is donating its AI investigative tools to nonprofits to help find missing children faster [Fast Company]
AI-generated content is raising the value of trust [The Economist]
The CEO of pharma giant Eli Lilly shares 3 ways AI could transform his industry [Business Insider]
Survey says there’s a 50% chance AI beats humans at all tasks in 20 years [VentureBeat]
Civil servants who investigate fraud ‘could be replaced with AI’ [The Telegraph]
Cirque du Soleil is using AI and high-tech theaters to move into its next era [Fast Company]
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Computerspeak by Alexandru Voica to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.