Singular Intel #14
Italy has banned ChatGPT due to concerns over privacy.
Italy has banned the use of AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, due to concerns over data privacy and age-verification measures. The ban marks the first time a country has taken action against the use of an AI chatbot. OpenAI is responding with additional information and possible remedies before the Italian government makes a final decision on the future of ChatGPT in the country. The ban highlights the need for AI regulation and ethical practices to ensure safe and secure use of AI technology as it continues to evolve.
Skillprint has launched a platform that uses science to match players with skill-based games that are suitable for them.
Skillprint, a San Francisco-based start-up founded by gaming industry veterans Chethan Ramachandran and Davin Miyoshi, has launched a platform that uses machine learning and neuroscience to match players with games that are likely to improve specific skills and moods. The platform rates games based on 135 separate criteria, and offers personalised recommendations for users. Skillprint also plans to work with game developers to help them target specific players. To date, the company has raised $3.5m in pre-seed funding from investors including Shanda Ventures, LearnStart and Niremia Collective.
Google has improved Bard by incorporating technology from its advanced PaLM language model.
Google has enhanced its Bard chatbot using technology from PaLM, an advanced language model with 540 billion parameters. The update enables Bard to answer maths questions better and handle multistep text prompts more reliably. Google also expects improvements in Bard's ability to generate software code. During the development of PaLM, Google used an internally developed software system called Pathways, which distributed the computations involved in training an AI model across multiple chips to speed up the workflow. The original version of Bard was based on LaMDA, but Google chose to wait until PaLM was fully developed before releasing a more capable model.
Meta's AI researchers have developed an artificial visual cortex for robots, enabling them to operate through sight.
Researchers at Meta Platforms Inc. have made advancements in adaptive skill coordination and visual cortex replication, which they say will allow AI-powered robots to operate in the real world without any real-world data. The first announcement relates to the creation of an artificial visual cortex, called VC-1, which has been trained on thousands of videos of people performing everyday tasks. The second announcement is the development of a new technique known as "adaptive skill coordination," where robots are trained entirely in simulations before those skills are transferred to the real-world robot. This technique was tested on the Boston Dynamics' Spot robot, which succeeded in achieving near-perfect performance in two significantly different real-world environments. Meta's researchers say they're open-sourcing the VC-1 model today and intend to integrate VC-1 with ASC to create a single system that gets closer to true embodied AI.
The first generation of Runway's Video-to-Video Tool is now accessible.
The new AI called Gen-1 by Runway allows users to generate new videos using text prompts and images. It features modes for customizing short videos and can apply the style of an image or text prompt to create a new video. Every user gets 400 free credits to try it out. Runway also introduced Gen-2 which can generate short clips using only text prompts.
Fetch.ai has recently secured new funding with a valuation of $250 million.
Blockchain platform Fetch.ai has raised $40m in funding from DWF Labs, with almost half already invested. The mix of equity and FET tokens brings the company's combined valuation to around $250m. The funds will be used to expand the developer community and grow the ecosystem, particularly in Asia. Cambridge-based Fetch.ai aims to automate tasks and simplify users' journeys via decentralised AI models such as Colearn and Autonomous Economic Agents. The company is currently not looking to increase its headcount, but is in talks with investors for a future funding round.