The AI stories continue to come fast, so let me try and round up what’s happening.
Google has opened early access to Bard, their answer to ChatGPT. Bard will be initially available to select users in the US and UK, with users able to join a waitlist at bard.google.com, though Google says the roll-out will be slow and has offered no date for full public access.
GitHub announced an upgrade to Copilot, this time based on GPT-4. It also has a chat and voice interface and includes the experience within the code editor, allowing the chatbot to recognize and explain code, recommend changes, and fix bugs.
Mozilla is creating Mozilla,ai, a startup that the company hopes “will build a trustworthy and independent open-source AI ecosystem.” The goal – influence the industry not just via policy but via product.
ChatGPT did fix that bug I reported earlier in the week.
NVIDIA is out with two new chips designed for AI – the NVIDIA H100 NVL for Large Language Model Deployment, which is tailored to handle “inference” tasks on large language models. Inference is the second stage of a machine learning program’s deployment when a trained program is run to answer questions by making predictions. The second chip unveiled Tuesday is the L4 for AI Video, which the company says “can deliver 120x more AI-powered video performance than CPUs, combined with 99% better energy efficiency.”
In a post-Tuesday morning, Bill Gates wrote that he challenged OpenAI last year to develop an AI model that could pass the Advanced Placement biology exam without being trained for the questions on the test. He believed that the critical thinking required to pass the test would qualify as a clear breakthrough in the field. A version of OpenAI’s GPT scored 59 out of 60 in the multiple choice section of the AP biology exam and aced the open-ended questions, as assessed by an independent outside expert, he writes.
“The whole experience was stunning,” Gates writes. “I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface. … Soon, the pre-AI period will seem as distant as the days when using a computer meant typing at a C:> prompt rather than tapping on a screen.”
And.. in one I didn’t think would be tech news until it was, the Writers Guild of America has proposed allowing artificial intelligence to write scripts, as long as it does not affect writers’ credits or residuals. From Variety, “The proposal would allow a writer to use ChatGPT to help write a script without having to share writing credit or divide residuals. Or, a studio executive could hand the writer an AI-generated script to rewrite or polish, and the writer would still be considered the first writer on the project. The intention is to treat AI as a tool rather than a writer.
Why do we care?
The Writers Guild has come to the same conclusion I have, and it seems that the Copyright Office has too. AI is a tool.
And we’re seeing the tool pop up in new ways, with infusions into so many products. I even cut mentions of a couple from the show. Don’t be overwhelmed by the speed; instead, start leaning into conversations with your customers about their business goals. The more aligned you are with your customers, the right solutions will perk up the more your ears as they whiz by.