BIG updates released for ChatGPT 🚀

Good afternoon AI enthousiasts!

The first month of 2024 is coming to an end. Time flies when you’re reading about AI!

Last week OpenAI released big updates to their models, AI phones are on the rise and Google dropped some cool new tools. Let’s dive in` to this week’s updates and make sure you’re completely up-to-date on AI.

Table of contents 📚

• OpenAI upping their game and Sam Altman setting up an AI chip factory? 🏭

• AI Phones are on the rise and are here to stay 📲 

• Google is releasing new features 🛠️

• Are voice actors now a thing of the past? - AI Voice tool 👄

• AI again proving it’s worth in discovering materials 🌋 

Updates 📬

Sam Altam: upgrading AI models and investing in AI chips

OpenAI released an update on their website about new models, reduced prices for GPT-3.5 Turbo, and new ways for developers to manage API keys and understand API usage by OpenAI. The new models include two new embedding models, an updated GPT-4 Turbo preview model, an updated GPT-3.5 Turbo model, and an updated text moderation model. The update for GPT-4 model, called GPT-4 Turbo, aims to address "laziness" issues in completing tasks. The update is designed to make the model more thorough in tasks like code generation. GPT-4 Turbo is trained on more recent information, with data available as recent as April 2023, compared to the original GPT-4, which was trained on data available prior to September 2021. OpenAI has stated that more than 70 percent of users have moved to GPT-4 Turbo due to its more updated knowledge base. The company also announced that additional updates for GPT-4 Turbo, including the general availability of GPT-4 Turbo with vision, are forthcoming.

OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman is planning to raise funds to establish a network of AI chip factories. He believes that existing foundries such as TSMC, Intel, and Samsung will not be able to meet the future demands of AI technologies. Altman is in discussions with potential investors to raise billions for this initiative, aiming to create an independent AI chip-making giant. The project is significant, with funding discussions with one investor alone reportedly exceeding $8 billion. Altman's goal is to reduce reliance on other countries for AI chip production and to make the AI industry more independent in supporting its semiconductor supply chain. This move could potentially place OpenAI in competition with major tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, which have been developing their own chipsets. The initiative could also have implications for the global semiconductor industry, particularly in the context of geopolitical dynamics.

Will AI phones be the new normal?

Samsung is set to announce new phones, which are said to be the most AI-integrated phones to date. The company is emphasizing the potential of AI on mobile devices, highlighting the usefulness it could bring to smartphones. The article discusses the current limitations and capabilities of AI on phones, mentioning the Pixel 8 Pro's on-device AI capabilities and Google's Assistant with Bard. It also touches on the potential collaboration between Google and Samsung in the AI space. The article concludes by mentioning the Rabbit R1, a gadget that acts as an AI assistant for phones, and the growing interest in AI assistance for digital tasks. The focus is on the potential for AI integration in the upcoming Galaxy S24 series and its impact on the future of smartphones.

Apple is making a significant push to bring artificial intelligence (AI) to the iPhone. The company has been quietly acquiring AI companies, making hires, and updating its hardware to incorporate AI into its flagship product. Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, has emphasized the importance of AI and machine learning in the company's products, stating that they are "virtually embedded in every product" and are considered core fundamental technologies. The company's efforts in AI are seen as a response to an ongoing AI arms race, with the anticipation of demand for new AI features in iPhones later this year and in 2025. The company's focus on AI is part of a broader trend, as more than 1 billion AI-powered smartphones are expected to ship in the next three years. The report also mentions that Apple has been surpassed by Microsoft as the world's most valuable public company due to its AI efforts, but analysts anticipate that Apple's stock will be upgraded in anticipation of the new AI features.

New Google tools

Google Chrome is set to receive a range of new AI-powered features, including a writing helper, theme creator, and tab organizer. The writing helper will assist users in drafting various types of content, such as forum posts, online reviews, and more. The tab organizer will automatically suggest and create groups based on the tabs users already have open, making it easier to manage multiple open tabs. Additionally, the AI theme creator will allow users to generate custom themes for their Chrome browser based on subject, mood, visual style, and color. These features are part of Google's efforts to integrate AI and machine learning tools into Chrome, with more updates expected in the coming year, including integrations with its new AI model, Gemini.

Google also launched Lumiere, Lumiere is a space-time diffusion model proposed by researchers from Google, Weizmann Institute of Science, and Tel Aviv University. It is designed to help with realistic video generation by synthesizing videos that portray realistic, diverse, and coherent motion. The model provides users with the ability to generate realistic and stylized videos, as well as options to edit them on command. Users can give text inputs describing what they want in natural language, and the model generates a video portraying that. Additionally, users can upload an existing still image and add a prompt to transform it into a dynamic video.

🗓️ Tool of the week 🛠️

Are voice actors a thing of the past now? This tool allows your text to be transformed to speech with human sounding voices.

ElevenLabs is a platform specializing in AI-generated voice and text-to-speech technology. It offers advanced voice synthesis capabilities, enabling users to create realistic, human-like voices from text inputs.

This technology can be particularly useful in various applications such as voiceovers, audiobooks, and other areas where voice synthesis is required. You should really visit their website here and test it out for free.

More updates 📬

Microsoft used AI to find new battery material

Microsoft and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have collaborated to use artificial intelligence (AI) and large-scale cloud computing to accelerate the search for new battery materials. This collaboration has led to the discovery of a promising new solid-state electrolyte that could potentially lead to a safer and more efficient battery than today's lithium-ion batteries. The new material uses less lithium, which is increasingly in demand for rechargeable EV batteries. The AI system, Azure Quantum Elements (AQE), suggested 32 million different candidates for battery materials that use less lithium, and after filtering, 23 candidates were left. One promising candidate was synthesized and used to power a lightbulb and clock, but further testing and development are required before it can be considered for commercial use. The new material could potentially reduce the amount of lithium used in a battery by as much as 70 percent and create a solid-state battery that is safer than current lithium-ion batteries. However, the lower conductivity of the new material in lab tests than initially predicted presents a challenge that researchers are working to overcome. The use of generative AI in this research highlights the potential for AI and high-performance computing to accelerate scientific discovery, but it also emphasizes the need to increase the energy efficiency of computing and run data centers on clean energy to mitigate the growing environmental impact of AI. The research is part of an effort to find better batteries needed to power the world with renewable energy.