A Snapshot and Summary of What’s Happening to Enable the Safe and Effective Use of AI
Welcome to the latest installment of the Wovenware Monthly AI Index, where we’ve curated the most important (or interesting) news stories and issues shaping the AI-driven world. In this month’s edition, learn about China’s race to gain AI traction, the real cost of AI training, or how deceased actors are playing a new AI-driven role.
Happy reading!
Listen to the summary now: This audio was generated with AI
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS
China Takes to the AI Race
The CEO of Chinese AI company, Baidu, said recently that “China has too many AI language models and not enough practical applications,” which has resulted in “intense competition.” OpenAI has been restricted in China and so several major technology companies have raced to create their own solutions, including Baidu. Today, many advanced processors, or chips, as well as AI models from Western vendors, are not available in China because of trade restrictions. Baidu’s solution, Ernie Bot, is considered to be China’s version of ChatGPT.
Steep Price to Pay for AI Training
The CEO of AI startup Anthropic, says it takes about $100 million to train AI at the low end of the spectrum, and some can cost closer to $1billion. This can make it cost prohibitive for start-ups that want to enter the fray and compete against the likes of OpenAI or Anthropic.
Amazon Launches AI Assistant
AWS has announced the general availability of Amazon Q, which it says is the “most capable GenAI-powered assistant for accelerating software development and leveraging companies’ internal data.” The company claims that Amazon Q not only generates highly accurate code, but can test, debug and perform planning and reasoning functions in order to implement new code generated from developer requests.
New Start-Up Gets Backing from Jeff Bezos
Perplexity AI has raised tens of millions of dollars from investors, including Amazon’s former CEO, Jeff Bezos and other notable tech investors, as it seeks to compete against Google in the search business. However, Perplexity is also competing against Apple, which is also integrating similar capabilities into its core products.
U.S. AND EU REGULATIONS
California Leads the States in AI Legislation
California lawmakers recently voted to advance legislation that would require AI companies to test their systems and add safety measures to prevent them from being able to cause mass destruction, such as destroying California’s electric grid or building chemical weapons. The first-of-its-kind bill is vehemently opposed by tech giants, such as Meta, who claim that these types of regulations take aim at developers and instead should be focused on those who use and exploit AI.
The U.S. Senate Pushes AI Regulation
The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing July 11 centered on privacy-related concerns stemming from the rise of AI. The hearing comes amid mounting pressure for Congress to put AI rules in place, as well as a comprehensive federal privacy law. Currently, the U.S. lacks a comprehensive federal privacy law, as states and other countries roll out new standards that regulate the largely U.S.-based tech giants.
Sometimes a Job Interview is Too Good to be True
If the need for AI regulations was not evident enough, according to a recent report by an identity theft watchdog group, the rise of AI contributed to a surge in job scams last year. And it continues this year. The group has seen an increase in identity thieves creating phony job postings on legitimate networking and job search sites, enticing victims to apply for jobs in order to steal personal information. Scammers have created profiles on LinkedIn and other sites, or impersonated legitimate companies using a fake name to set up interviews.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
I Hear Dead People
AI startup ElevenLabs, announced that fans of legendary Hollywood movie stars can now listen to the voices of deceased film stars narrate books, articles and other digital text. The company said it had reached agreements with the estates of Sir Laurence Olivier, Judy Garland, James Dean and Burt Reynolds to add their voices to a library of AI-generated voices on ElevenLab’s new Reader App. Using AI to recreate someone’s voice has drawn negative attention after being used in malicious ways. For example, earlier this year, a phony robocall from President Joe Biden urged people not to vote in New Hampshire’s presidential primary.
American Psycho or AI Investor?
Famous actor, Jared Leto, known for his roles in Girl Interrupted, Fight Club, American Psycho and others, is now getting into the GenAI business, investing in a startup company, Captions. The new company is developing an AI-driven video creation and editing solution. other investors
That’s it for this month’s Wovenware Monthly AI Index. We hope you gained new AI insights to mull over or discuss during the beautiful beach days of summer.
Please share your questions, concerns and opinions about the AI-driven era. We’d love to hear from you. Please reach out to info@wovenware.com.