Last Week in AI #217: Generative AI and the First Amendment, robots dribble + catch + balance, AI video-to-video on your phone, and more!
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Last Week in AI #217: Generative AI and the First Amendment, robots dribble + catch + balance, AI video-to-video on your phone, and more!
The Future of Generative AI Under the First Amendment, Create generative AI video-to-video right from your phone with Runway’s iOS app, “GPT” may be trademarked soon if OpenAI has its way...
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The Future of Generative AI Under the First Amendment
A new article from our team!
The rise of generative AI and increasing calls for regulation have led a growing number of people to assert that enforcing ethical norms in AI system development amounts to “AI censorship”.
A variety of legal models are available to target the different concerns that come with generative AI, while also protecting freedom of speech. Several come from examining the parallels between technology regulation and more established areas of law, while others offer new paradigms for understanding the unique nature of AI. We offer five models in particular, each designed for different goals and strategies.
Read the internal memo Alphabet sent in merging A.I.-focused groups DeepMind and Google Brain
Summary: DeepMind has once again become Google DeepMind. In response to competitive pressures in the AI world, Google has merged its AI research division Google Brain with DeepMind. According to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, "combining all this talent into one focused team, backed by the computational resources of Google, will significantly accelerate our progress in AI." Demis Hassabis will lead the unit as CEO of Google DeepMind, while Jeff Dean's role at Google will be elevated to Chief Scientist.
Our Take: It's telling that Sundar Pichai's April update that announces Google DeepMind mostly focuses on the pace of progress and competitive pressures and how the merge will accelerate progress. The desire to develop AI systems "safely and responsibly" is stated in the letter, though it's clearly far from a primary motivation here. I think an interesting facet of this dynamic is that the companies locked in this AI race are truly locked: we're in a game theory situation where no one can afford to slow down unless everybody else does, and that doesn't seem likely. Sam Altman, for his part, is very open to regulators stepping in at this stage, and I suspect that at least a few tech leaders wouldn't categorically object to a coordinated slowdown. That being said, I think a slowdown is incredibly unlikely. In an ideal world, we'd speed up safety research as much as possible—this is also not a simple order, but would require massive investment in directing talent towards these problems and paying them competitively, funding different safety research directions, and plenty more. I hope we see substantial increases in funding for safety research, but the current race we're in seems like it will be the status quo for some time.
Other News
Research
Quadrupeds Are Learning to Dribble, Catch, and Balance - “Now that anyone, anywhere can get themselves a quadrupedal robot without having to apply for a major research grant, we’re seeing all kinds of fun research being done with our four-legged electromechanical friends.”
Sleep Better, Live Better: Machine-Learning Method Can Predict Your Body Clock - “New machine-learning method predicts the body clock, helping to improve sleep and health. The technology offers personalized sleep and meal plans aligned to our personal biology, reducing risks of illness.”
A machine learning algorithm for studying how molecules self-assemble and function - “A machine learning algorithm has been developed to capture and analyze rare molecular processes, revealing how molecules self-organize and function. The algorithm is general and can be applied whenever a dynamic system has a notion of likely fate..”
First stars in the universe formed in groups, machine-learning study reveals - “Machine learning has been used to characterize the heavy elements that the first stars in the universe passed on to their immediate successors after they exploded in supernovae.”
First Real-World Study Showed Generative AI Boosted Worker Productivity by 14% - “The study found the lowest-skilled customer-service workers reaped the greatest benefits when AI was rolled out at a Fortune 500 software firm over the course of a year.”
Image generation AI for predicting the deformation of splashing drops - “Examples of post-impact image sequences generated by the trained encoder–decoder and the actual binarized post-impact image sequences.”
Machine Learning and Metabolite Analysis Can Predict Individual Body Clock Timing - “Research carried out by the University of Surrey and the University of Groningen shows combining machine learning and metabolite analysis can help predict a person’s individual circadian body clock and assess what healthy sleep patterns are for that person.”
New machine learning framework for more accurate plant disease diagnosis - “Plant diseases pose a significant threat to nations across the globe, owing to the financial burden they impose and the impact they have on food security.”
Drones can fly themselves with worm-inspired AI software - “A worm’s brain may be teeny tiny, but that small organ has inspired researchers to design better software for drones. Using liquid neural networks, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have trained a drone to identify and navigate toward objects in varying environments.”
Real-time classification of underwater earthquakes based on acoustic signals enables earlier, more reliable disaster preparation - “Tsunamis are incredibly destructive waves that can destroy coastal infrastructure and cause loss of life. Early warnings for such natural disasters are difficult because the risk of a tsunami is highly dependent on the features of the underwater earthquake that triggers it.”
Research Evaluates AI Detectors - “I’ve spent the past 4 months looking into AI detectors. I collaborated with a few professors who specialize in academic integrity and we have now completed a research paper about AI Detectors. Throughout this journey, I have evaluated dozens of detectors.”
Applications
Create generative AI video-to-video right from your phone with Runway’s iOS app - “AI startup Runway has launched its first mobile app on iOS, letting people use the company’s video-to-video generative AI model — Gen-1 — directly from their phones. You can download the app here, with free users offered a limited number of credits.”
GitLab’s new security feature uses AI to explain vulnerabilities to developers - “Developer platform GitLab today announced a new AI-driven security feature that uses a large language model to explain potential vulnerabilities to developers, with plans to expand this to automatically resolve these vulnerabilities using AI in the future.”
How AI, automation, and machine learning are upgrading clinical trials - “AI accelerates the time to market for life-saving drugs.”
AI is taking the jobs of Kenyans who write essays for U.S. college students - “For the past nine years, Collins, a 27-year-old freelance writer, has been making money by writing assignments for students in the U.S. — over 8,500 miles away from Nanyuki in central Kenya, where he lives.”
People are using A.I. chatbots to write Amazon reviews - “Artificial intelligence chatbots like the hugely popular ChatGPT have proven to be a handy tool for helping people write things like emails, resumes and fiction. Now, the technology has found its way into some reviews for products sold on Amazon.”
TikTok is testing a new option to create AI-generated avatars for profile pictures - “TikTok is testing a new option to let users create AI-generated avatars for their profile pictures, the company confirmed to CNN on Wednesday, in a move with the potential to put recent advances in artificial intelligence technology front and center for millions of users.”
How ChatGPT might help your family doctor and other emerging health trends - “Health innovation in Canada has always been strong, but the sector is now experiencing growth at a pace we haven’t seen before. While COVID-19 helped accelerate change, new technologies like OpenAI’s ChatGPT are also having an impact.”
‘I’ve Never Hired A Writer Better Than ChatGPT’: How AI Is Upending The Freelance World - “Melissa Shea hires freelancers to take on most of the basic tasks for her fashion-focused tech startup, paying $22 per hour on average for them to develop websites, transcribe audio and write marketing copy. In January 2023, she welcomed a new member to her team: ChatGPT.”
Business
Machine Learning as a Service Market Size Growing at 37.9% CAGR Set to Reach USD 173.5 Billion By 2032 - “The Global Machine Learning as a Service Market Size accounted for USD 7.1 Billion in 2022 and is projected to achieve a market size of USD 173.5 Billion by 2032 growing at a CAGR of 37.9% from 2023 to 2032.”
Insider Lays Off 10 Percent of Staff After Announcing Pivot to AI - “Just a week after urging its writers to incorporate AI tools like ChatGPT into their workflow, Insider has laid off 10 percent of its staff. “As you know, our industry has been under significant pressure for more than a year.”
Walmart turns to warehouse robots, suggests a boost in profit is possible - “Walmart Inc. is investing heavily in warehouse robots, betting that greater supply-chain automations might lift profit beyond the retailer’s stated long-term goals.”
“GPT” may be trademarked soon if OpenAI has its way - “If the startup OpenAI is feeling protective about its brand lately, it’s understandable. ThreatGPT, MedicalGPT, DateGPT and DirtyGPT are a mere sampling of the many outfits to apply for trademarks with the United State Patent and Trademark Office in recent months.”
Google Cloud enhances API protection with machine learning abuse detection - “With an increasing number of threats to business security and the growth of application programming interface traffic, Google LLC’s cloud division today announced an API abuse detection dashboard powered by machine learning algorithms.”
Apple Plans AI-Powered Health Coaching Service and Mood Tracker - “Apple Inc. is working on an artificial intelligence-powered health coaching service and new technology for tracking emotions, its latest attempt to lock in users with health and wellness features.”
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta wants to ‘introduce AI agents to billions of people’ - “Meta sees “an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors today.”
Groundlight raises $10M for natural language powered computer vision - “Groundlight has announced that it raised $10 million in funding and has launched its visual understanding service based on language instructions. The funding round included participation from Madrone, Greycroft Partners and Founders Co-op.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers to Pour $1 Billion Into Generative AI - “PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP plans to invest $1 billion in generative artificial intelligence technology in its U.S. operations over the next three years, working with Microsoft Corp. and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to automate aspects of its tax, audit and consulting services.”
Harvey AI Raises $21M In A Series A Round Led By Sequoia - “The generative AI legal tech startup Harvey has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital.”
Inside Meta’s scramble to catch up on AI - “April 25 (Reuters) - As the summer of 2022 came to a close, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg gathered his top lieutenants for a five-hour dissection of the company’s computing capacity, focused on its ability to do cutting-edge artificial intelligence work, according to a company memo dated Sept.”
Amazon Is The Latest Major Ad Platform Going All-In On Machine Learning Tech - “The new hot trend in platform advertising is to put the machines in charge of everything. It’s true of Google, true of Facebook and, even more so as of today, it’s true of Amazon.”
Walmart is using AI to negotiate prices with suppliers, report says — and the suppliers are loving it - “If you’re a Walmart supplier, you may not be hammering out deals with a human employee of the retail giant. Walmart is using a chatbot to conduct negotiations with equipment vendors, according to a recent report from Bloomberg.”
Dropbox is laying off 500 people and pivoting to AI - “Dropbox is laying off around 500 employees, making up about 16 percent of the company’s entire workforce. In a memo to employees, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston attributes the layoffs to a rocky economy — but also says that the cuts will allow the company to build out its AI division.”
Concerns
From pope’s jacket to napalm recipes: how worrying is AI’s rapid growth? - “When the boss of Google admits to losing sleep over the negative potential of artificial intelligence, perhaps it is time to get worried. Sundar Pichai told the CBS programme 60 Minutes this month that AI could be “very harmful” if deployed wrongly, and was developing fast.”
I’m about to graduate from law school. Will AI steal my job? - “Many professional workers have begun to ask: Is AI going to steal my job? And this isn’t a problem facing just high-income workers. Everyone from call center operators to talk therapists faces the risk of displacement as the commercial deployment of ChatGPT and its ilk begins.”
AI is hijacking these actors’ voices. Can you tell the difference? - “Advances in generative artificial intelligence, technology that forms texts, images or sounds, has allowed software to recreate people’s voices with eerie precision.”
Persona-driven ChatGPT yields toxic, racist output - “ChatGPT is basking in virtually unprecedented popularity and acceptance by the tech community and general public, drawing more than 13 million users a day less than five months after its debut.”
AI machine learning TikTok filters are causing errors in our brains - “If you’ve been on TikTok recently, you might have come face-to-face with a scarily yassified version of yourself. The Bold Glamour TikTok filter, which has now been used in 46.8 million videos, is a heavy contour make-up filter that changes in response to who’s using it, and never glitches.”
Man’s ‘death’ after surgery to be BTS’s Jimin points to AI hoax - “Seoul, South Korea – The news that Saint Von Colucci, a 22-year-old Canadian-Portuguese actor, singer, and songwriter with pull in South Korea’s entertainment scene, died after undergoing surgeries to look like a K-pop star set media abuzz.”
Policy
Republicans counter Biden announcement with dystopian, AI-aided video - “The Republican National Committee said it used artificial intelligence software to depict what another four years of Biden’s presidency could bring.”
US Supreme Court rejects computer scientist’s lawsuit over AI-generated inventions - “The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge by computer scientist Stephen Thaler to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s refusal to issue patents for inventions his artificial intelligence system created.”
The UK will spend £100 million to develop its own ‘sovereign’ AI - “The UK government doesn’t want to sit idle while foundational AI models like ChatGPT flourish. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan have pledged an initial £100 million (about $124.5 million) to establish a Foundation Model Taskforce.”
Congress gets 40 ChatGPT Plus licenses to start experimenting with generative AI - “Congressional offices have begun using OpenAI’s popular and controversial generative AI tool ChatGPT to experiment with the technology internally, a senior official within the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer’s House Digital Services said Friday.”
Biden administration officials promise to fight AI discrimination - “Officials from multiple federal agencies say they’ll use existing civil rights laws against AI systems that perpetuate bias”
US senator urges AI company CEOs to take steps to address risks - “The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday urged CEOs of several artificial intelligence (AI) companies to prioritize security measures, combat bias, and responsibly roll out new technologies.”
U.S. regulators warn they already have the power to go after A.I. bias — and they’re ready to use it - “Four federal U.S. agencies issued a warning on Tuesday that they already have the authority to tackle harms caused by artificial intelligence bias and they plan to use it.”
John Legend calls for regulation on AI-generated music - “Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer John Legend is calling for regulation on artificial intelligence in the music industry after a duped Drake and The Weeknd song using AI tools went viral.”
EU lawmakers pass draft of AI Act, includes last-minute change on generative AI models - “Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More”
Nuke-launching AI would be illegal under proposed US law - “On Wednesday, US Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Representatives Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Don Beyer (D-Va.), and Ken Buck (R-Colo.) announced bipartisan legislation that seeks to prevent an artificial intelligence system from making nuclear launch decisions.”
Italy lifts ban on ChatGPT after data privacy improvements - “The hotly debated AI chatbot is back online in Italy after installing new warnings for users and the option to opt-out of having chats be used to train ChatGPT’s algorithms.”
Explainers
Understanding the Epistemic Uncertainty in Deep Learning - “Deep learning has been widely used in various fields, such as computer vision, NLP, and robotics. The success of deep learning is largely due to its ability to learn complex representations from data using deep neural networks.”
The Realm of Sampling-Based Planning - “This was a question thrown at me when I was getting into robotics. And the best answer I could come up with was an analogy to Google Maps. However, there’s so much more to it than Google Maps.”
Fun
What gets lost in the AI debate: It can be really fun - “The viral fake Drake and The Weeknd song tells us a lot about the future of AI. You’ve probably heard a lot lately about AI.”
The A.I. business influencer guys must be stopped - “One of the handful of things Twitter still has going for it is that it’s the main place people are talking about A.I.”
I’m ChatGPT, and for the Love of God, Please Don’t Make Me Do Any More Copywriting - ““Guillermo Rubio has found that his job as a copywriter has changed markedly since he started using ChatGPT to generate ideas for blog posts, write first drafts of newsletters, create hundreds of slight variations on stock advertising copy…” — New York Times Please, no more. I beg of you.”
Bad Bunny and Rihanna AI Duet Drops – and the Fake Drake/The Weeknd Creator Seems to Be Behind It - “A new song purportedly created with AI that mashes up Bad Bunny and Rihanna was uploaded on Tuesday (April 25), apparently by the same mystery maker behind the controversial AI Drake/Weeknd tune “Heart On My Sleeve” that led to immediate takedown notices earlier this month.”
From DrakeGPT to Infinite Grimes, AI-generated music strikes a chord - “Last week, a song using AI deepfakes of Drake and the Weeknd’s voices went viral, but neither major artist was involved in its creation.”
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