Introduces the first World and Human Action Model (WHAM). The WHAM, which we’ve named “Muse,” is a generative AI model of a video game that can generate game visuals, controller actions, or both.
Today Nature published Microsoft’s research detailing our WHAM, an AI model that generates video game visuals & controller actions. We are releasing the model weights, sample data, & WHAM Demonstrator on Azure AI Foundry, enabling researchers to build on the work.
Very excellent.
Arc Institute researchers have developed a machine learning model called Evo 2 that is trained on the DNA of over 100,000 species across the entire tree of life. Its deep understanding of biological code means that Evo 2 can identify patterns in gene sequences across disparate organisms that experimental researchers would need years to uncover. The model can accurately identify disease-causing mutations in human genes and is capable of designing new genomes that are as long as the genomes of simple bacteria.
Evo 2’s developers—made up of scientists from Arc Institute and NVIDIA, convening collaborators across Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and UC San Francisco—will post details about the model as a preprint on February 19, 2025, accompanied by a user-friendly interface called Evo Designer. The Evo 2 code is publicly accessible from Arc’s GitHub, and is also integrated into the NVIDIA BioNeMo framework, as part of a collaboration between Arc Institute and NVIDIA to accelerate scientific research. Arc Institute also worked with AI research lab Goodfire to develop a mechanistic interpretability visualizer that uncovers the key biological features and patterns the model learns to recognize in genomic sequences. The Evo team is sharing its training data, training and inference code, and model weights to release the largest-scale, fully open source AI model to date.
Building on its predecessor Evo 1, which was trained entirely on single-cell genomes, Evo 2 is the largest artificial intelligence model in biology to date, trained on over 9.3 trillion nucleotides—the building blocks that make up DNA or RNA—from over 128,000 whole genomes as well as metagenomic data. In addition to an expanded collection of bacterial, archaeal, and phage genomes, Evo 2 includes information from humans, plants, and other single-celled and multi-cellular species in the eukaryotic domain of life.
Before long, machines will become vastly more intelligent than humans…either accept that humans will become the second most intelligent species or impose a global ban — he will speak at Future Day.
Hugo de Garis believes that too many commentators on AI are avoiding the fundamental issue: before long, machines will become vastly more intelligent than humans—potentially trillions of trillions of times more, or even beyond that. Humanity will soon face a critical decision: either accept that humans will become the second most intelligent species or impose a global ban on the creation of artilects (artificial intellects).
In today’s AI news, in a social media post, DeepSeek said the daily releases it is planning for its Open Source Week would provide visibility into these humble building blocks in our online service that have been documented, deployed and battle-tested in production. As part of the open-source community, we believe that every line shared becomes collective momentum that accelerates the journey.
In other advancements, Together AI an AI cloud platform that enables companies to train and deploy artificial intelligence models — has raised $305 million in Series B funding in a round led by General Catalyst, more than doubling its valuation to $3.3 billion from $1.25 billion last March. The funding comes amid growing demand for computing power to run advanced open-source models.
In personal and professional development, if you’re curious about how to integrate AI smartly into your business, here are some friendly tips to get you started while keeping things safe and effective. The key is strategic integration with safeguards in place, use AI’s strengths — without losing your own.
Then, search startup Genspark has raised $100 million in a series A funding round, valuing the startup at $530 million, according to a source familiar with the matter, as the race to use artificial intelligence to disrupt Google’s stranglehold on the search engine market heats up. The Palo Alto-based company currently has over 2 million monthly active users, and the round was led by a group of U.S. and Singapore-based investors.
S like to compete with Google, and what the future of search could look like. + Then, as AI scales from the cloud to the very edges of our devices, the potential for transformative innovation grows exponentially. In this Imagination In Action session at Davos, Daniel Newman, CEO The Futurum Group moderates this expert panel which includes: Åsa Tamsons, Executive VP, Ericsson, Gill Pratt, CEO Toyota Research, Chief Scientist Toyota, Kinuko Masaki, CEO, VoiceBrain, Cyril Perducat, CTO, Rockwell Automation, and Alexander Amini, CSO, Liquid AI.
Meanwhile, Stripe cofounder and CEO Patrick Collison sits down with Bill Gates to discuss his memoir, Source Code. Bill Gates is a technologist, business leader, and philanthropist. In 1975, he cofounded Microsoft with Paul Allen and chair of the Gates Foundation. Bill is the founder of Breakthrough Energy, an effort to commercialize clean energy and climate-related technologies, and TerraPower, a company investing in developing nuclear technologies.
We close out with, Richard Attias, Chairman of the Executive Committee, FII Institute, Founder & Chairman, RA&A sitting down with Masayoshi Son, Representative Director, Corporate Officer, Chairman & CEO, SoftBank Group Corporation in a session entitled: Stargate AI: Who will win the $500 Billion Bet On The Future Of Intelligence.
Welcome to a unique listening experience in the universe of classic science fiction! Introducing “With Folded Hands” by Jack Williamson, an audiobook that will immerse you in a fascinating world full of technological intrigue. In this captivating tale, we explore a dystopian future where humanity has been supplanted by a race of helpful robots known as “Mechanies.” However, the apparent perfection of these androids hides a dark secret that threatens to destroy what remains of humanity. Accompany our narrator on a journey full of suspense and reflection as he discovers the dangers that lurk in a world dominated by technology. With the masterful voice of our narrator, each word comes to life, transporting you to a universe where machines have absolute control. Immerse yourself in this sci-fi masterpiece, where each chapter will leave you eager to discover what will happen next. Can humanity regain its freedom in the face of the unstoppable advance of technology? Find out now in “With Folded Hands” by Jack Williamson. Do not miss it! #audiobook #sciencefiction #JackWilliamson #WithFoldedHands #robots #dystopianbooks #technology #narration #literature #classicalliterature #futuristic #suspense #intrigue #books #audible #listen #adventure #classicliterature #Androids #sciencefictionfantasy
A new humanoid robot prototype uses fluid-filled muscles to kick its legs while hanging.
Not everyone is willing to passively accept the future AI companies are shaping.
In an aggressive response to AI companies like OpenAI, independent developers have created “tarpits” — malicious software designed to trap and confuse AI scrapers for months on end.
The goal? To make AI companies pay a higher price for their relentless data collection and, perhaps, to slow the rapid commercialization of AI-driven content generation.
Inspired by cybersecurity tactics originally used against spam, these digital snares lure AI crawlers into endless loops of fake data, slowing their operations and potentially corrupting their training models. One such tool, Nepenthes, forces scrapers into a maze of gibberish, while another, Iocaine, aims to poison AI models outright.
While critics argue that these efforts may have limited long-term impact—since AI companies are developing countermeasures—supporters see tarpits as a symbolic act of resistance against AI’s unchecked expansion.
With growing concerns over AI scraping depleting valuable online content and replacing human-created work with algorithm-generated material, these digital weapons offer a way for website owners to fight back.
Han, R.; Yoon, H.; Kim, G.; Lee, H.; Lee, Y. Pharmaceuticals 2023, 16, 1259. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16091259
AMA Style
Han R, Yoon H, Kim G, Lee H, Lee Y. Pharmaceuticals. 2023; 16:1259. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16091259
