Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: robotics/AI – Page 1,299

This new AI can mimic human voices with only 3 seconds of training

Humanity has taken yet another step toward the inevitable war against the machines (which we will lose) with the creation of Vall-E, an AI developed by a team of researchers at Microsoft that can produce high quality human voice replications with only a few seconds of audio training.

Vall-E isn’t the first AI-powered voice tool— xVASynth (opens in new tab), for instance, has been kicking around for a couple years now—but it promises to exceed them all in terms of pure capability. In a paper available at Cornell University (opens in new tab) (via Windows Central (opens in new tab) ), the Vall-E researchers say that most current text-to-speech systems are limited by their reliance on “high-quality clean data” in order to accurately synthesize high-quality speech.

Don’t show up to the next meeting? Send your 4K AI-based “metahuman” clone instead

Interesting Engineering met up with Ploonet at CES 2023 to develop a language-agnostic digital clone.

The virtual world is one of the most high-anticipated emerging technologies on the planet. In particular, virtual humans are predicted to have a $527.58 billion market by 2030 as their use grows in several industries, including entertainment, business, and retail.

One company that caught our eye at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 was Ploonet-a subsidiary of artificial intelligence (AI) Korean-based firm Saltlux. Agard/Interesting Engineering/Ploonet.

Top Self-Driving Car Stories Of 2022 In Review

As we enter 2023, these were the big stories in self-driving cars for 2022. You an also check out my summary of early 2022 for more details on that quarter, but these are the game-changers for this year. There’s no doubt this was a year of huge ups and downs. A year where some gave up and others doubled down. A year where the stock market and VC funding took a massive nosedive and companies mostly shrunk, but also a year of great technical progress.

Usually I do this as a countdown to the biggest story, but I’ll spoil it right now and say the big story was the incredible contrast of the good and bad news. So I’m instead going to tell you the good, the bad and the not particularly ugly.

We wrap up the year with the biggest stories in robocars, from the very bad to the very good, of which 2022 had lots of both. Includes video of the stories.

ChatGPT Is Coming To A Customer Service Chatbot Near You

Meta, Canva, and Shopify among other companies are already using the technology that undergirds ChatGPT in their customer service chatbots, but experts warn that companies should be wary of generative AI’s creativity and unpredictability.

From processing an order return at Shopify to resetting a password for a Canva account, chances are that the chatbot you’ve interacted with uses the same type of large language models that power ChatGPT, OpenAI’s viral generative AI chatbot.

Now Ada, the Toronto-based company that automates 4.5 billion customer service interactions, has partnered with OpenAI to use GPT-3.

Extreme Weather Events Showcase Value Of Machine Learning

Across much of the country, the holidays were ushered in with strong winter storms, with every region of the country impacted by extreme weather from Christmas into the new year. The West Coast has experienced the most recent extreme weather with its third atmospheric river event in just three weeks bringing record rainfall and winds along the California coast. Buffalo, NY, is still digging out from its record holiday snowstorm and much of the Northern Plains saw record snowfalls just last week. The southern states weren’t spared from extreme winter weather with Florida and other parts of the southeast experiencing record cold temperatures over Christmas. While these weather events are all quite different — from heavy snows to rain to extreme cold — the one thing they have in common is the challenge it brings to the 1,400 utility companies across the country.

Extreme weather events are increasing, and utilities and customers alike are feeling the impact. According to Climate Central, the United States has experienced a 67% increase in major power outages from weather-related events since 2000, a trend predicted to continue as extreme weather events increase in frequency. With these most recent weather events across the country, on Christmas Eve alone, over 1.6 million U.S. customers were without power. The troubles continue now in California with nearly 196,000 Californians without power last week and more storms over the Pacific ready to move in bringing similar conditions.

Large utilities have been effectively using predictive weather analytics to prepare and pre-stage crews to help manage restoration efforts during major weather events like we just saw. But the majority of small to mid-size utilities still rely on traditional forecasts, severe weather updates and immediate impact assessments to make decisions around operations, safety and resource allocation. Recent advancements in technology, data modeling and cloud computing are making enterprise technology, such as machine learning for weather risks, more accessible to utilities of all sizes.

Can Drones And Artificial Intelligence Keep Us Safe From Sharks?

You might be rolling your eyes as you see the drone take off to the skies and hover over the Australian coastline, camera angled straight down towards the glistening turquoise water. “Another TikTok influencer trying to get the perfect shot,” you grumble to yourself. But if you look closely at the pilot, you’ll notice they’ve got a sign next to them that says “Keep Clear” in bright yellow and red letters. This is no TikTok influencer.

It’s an Australian surf lifesaver, using the above drone to spot sharks at the beach before they get too close to swimmers like yourself.

Australian surf lifesavers are increasingly using drones to spot sharks at the beach before they get too close for comfort. Can AI help them with identifying dangerous species?

Microsoft is looking at OpenAI’s GPT for Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint

Microsoft has reportedly been looking at ways of integrating OpenAI’s GPT features into Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.

Microsoft has been reportedly experimenting with building OpenAI’s language AI technology into its Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook apps. The Information.

Microsoft has reportedly been using OpenAI’s GPT technology to improve Outlook search results so users can find what they’re looking for without having to search using keywords in emails.

Microsoft also working on ChatGPT-like features for Bing.

A Bayesian machine based on memristors

Over the past few decades, the performance of machine learning models on various real-world tasks has improved significantly. Training and implementing most of these models, however, still requires vast amounts of energy and computational power.

Engineers worldwide have thus been trying to develop alternative hardware solutions that can run artificial intelligence models more efficiently, as this could promote their widespread use and increase their sustainability. Some of these solutions are based on memristors, memory devices that can store information without consuming .

Researchers at Université Paris-Saclay-CNRS, Université Grenoble-Alpes-CEA-LETI, HawAI.tech, Sorbonne Université, and Aix-Marseille Université-CNRS have recently created a so-called Bayesian machine (i.e., an AI approach that performs computations based on Bayes’ theorem), using memristors. Their proposed system, introduced in a paper published in Nature Electronics, was found to be significantly more energy-efficient than currently employed hardware solutions.

/* */