This week in AI for the week ending Sunday, May 7, 2023:
OpenAI Releases ChatGPT Code Interpreter Plugin
OpenAI has recently released its ChatGPT code interpreter plugin, which offers a range of functions, including a working Python interpreter in a sandboxed environment. The plugin allows ChatGPT to solve both qualitative and quantitative mathematical problems, perform data analysis and data visualization, convert files across formats, upload and download, and do things like extract colors directly from an image.
Midjourney 5.1 Brings Dramatic Improvements to AI-Generated Images
Midjourney, which uses generative AI to create images based on text prompts, has released version 5.1. Midjourney 5.1 is more opinionated, with a stronger artistic touch and dramatic flair, similar to Midjourney 4, but with higher resolution and sharpness. The new version also has better accuracy, improved color and contrast, and fewer unwanted borders or text artifacts. Users can choose between a raw mode for realistic results or a default mode for artistic and fantasy results.
University of Texas Develops Noninvasive AI That Can Read Minds
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a noninvasive artificial intelligence system that can read minds by translating brain activity into text. The UT Austin system uses (fMRI) imaging to measure brain activity. The system can accurately generate summaries of new stories or describe events in silent videos based solely on a person’s brain activity, following extensive training of the decoder.
Microsoft Upgrades Bing Chat with New Features and No Wait List
Microsoft has upgraded its Bing chatbot with new features, including image and video answers, restaurant bookings, chat history, and smarter integration with Microsoft Edge. Image and video search results are now available within Bing Chat, along with chat history and export and share features. Microsoft has also made Bing Chat available for public preview, after previously being in private preview.
White House Meets with AI CEOs to Discuss Product Safety
President Biden met with CEOs of leading AI companies, including Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, to discuss the importance of ensuring the safety of AI products before deployment. Biden urged the executives to address the risks that AI poses, emphasizing the need to mitigate risks to safety, security, human and civil rights, privacy, jobs, and democratic values.
AI Pioneer Geoffrey Hinton Leaves Google Over Concerns About Risks
Geoffrey Hinton, a renowned AI researcher and pioneer known as the “Godfather of AI,” has left his job at Google to speak freely about his concerns over the risks of AI technology. Hinton helped usher in AI technology, including user-friendly applications like ChatGPT, but now believes that serious risks may accompany it.
Meta’s Codec Avatars Enable Photorealistic Avatars
Meta has introduced its new AI technology, codec avatars, that allows anyone to create photorealistic avatars using just a smartphone. By panning the phone across the neutral face and a series of 65 facial expressions, users can create avatars with subtleties like raising the eyebrows, squinting, widening the eyes, or scrunching the nose. The new technology will reportedly soon be able to learn to speak and sound like the user.
ElevenLabs Voice Cloning is Multilingual
Elevenlabs can now translate your voice into 8 different languages. Rumors are that it will be integrated into WhatsApp in the near future. Current languages included are English, German, Polish, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Hindi.
IBM to Pause Hiring for 7,800 Jobs That Could Be Replaced by AI
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has announced plans to pause hiring for 7,800 positions that could be replaced by AI systems over time. The pause will affect roughly 26,000 non-customer-facing roles, with hiring in back-office functions like human resources being suspended or slowed. Current roles vacated by attrition will not be replaced. Krishna estimates that 30% of these roles could be replaced by AI and automation over five years.
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