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Category: robotics/AI – Page 330

Google opens its most powerful AI models to everyone, the next stage in its virtual agent push

In December, the company gave access to developers and trusted testers, as well as wrapping some features into Google products, but this is a “general release,” according to Google.

The suite of models includes 2.0 Flash, which is billed as a “workhorse model, optimal for high-volume, high-frequency tasks at scale,” as well as 2.0 Pro Experimental for coding performance, and 2.0 Flash-Lite, which the company calls its “most cost-efficient model yet.”

Gemini Flash costs developers 10 cents per million tokens for text, image and video inputs, while Flash-Lite, its more cost-effective version, costs 0.75 of a cent for the same. Tokens refer to each individual unit of data that the model processes.

Figure drops OpenAI in favor of in-house models

Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock promised to deliver “something no one has ever seen on a humanoid” in the next 30 days.

“We found that to solve embodied AI at scale in the real world, you have to vertically integrate robot AI.”

“We can’t outsource AI for the same reason we can’t outsource our hardware.”

Figure AI, a robotics company working to bring a general-purpose humanoid robot into commercial and residential use, announced Tuesday on X that it is exiting a deal with OpenAI. The Bay Area-based outfit has instead opted to focus on in-house AI owing to a “major breakthrough.” In conversation with TechCrunch afterward, founder and CEO Brett Adcock was tightlipped in terms of specifics, but he promised to deliver “something no one has ever seen on a humanoid” in the next 30 days.

OpenAI has been a longtime investor in Figure. The two companies announced a deal last year that aimed to “develop next generation AI models for humanoid robots.” At the same time, Figure announced a $675 million raise, valuing the company at $2.6 billion. Figure has so far raised a total of $1.5 billion from investors.

The news is a surprise, given the role that OpenAI plays in the cultural zeitgeist. Mere association with the company comes with a rapid profile boost. In August, the two companies announced that the Figure 2 humanoid would use OpenAI models for natural language communication.

Continue reading “Figure drops OpenAI in favor of in-house models” | >

Design of multimodal antibiotics against intracellular infections using deep learning

The rise of antimicrobial resistance has rendered many treatments ineffective, posing serious public health challenges. Intracellular infections are particularly difficult to treat since conventional antibiotics fail to neutralize pathogens hidden within human cells. However, designing molecules that penetrate human cells while retaining antimicrobial activity has historically been a major challenge. Here, we introduce APEXDUO, a multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) model for generating peptides with both cell-penetrating and antimicrobial properties. From a library of 50 million AI-generated compounds, we selected and characterized several candidates. Our lead, Turingcin, penetrated mammalian cells and eradicated intracellular Staphylococcus aureus. In mouse models of skin abscess and peritonitis, Turingcin reduced bacterial loads by up to two orders of magnitude. In sum, APEXDUO generated multimodal antibiotics, opening new avenues for molecular design.

CFN provides consulting services to Invaio Sciences and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Nowture S.L., Peptidus, European Biotech Venture Builder and Phare Bio. CFN is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Peptide Drug Hunting Consortium (PDHC). The de la Fuente Lab has received research funding or in-kind donations from United Therapeutics, Strata Manufacturing PJSC, and Procter & Gamble, none of which were used in support of this work. An invention disclosure associated with this work has been filed. All other authors declare no competing interests.

ByteDance’s OmniHuman-1 may be the most realistic deepfake algorithm yet

We may be well past the uncanny valley point right now. OmniHuman-1’s fake videos look startlingly lifelike, and the model’s deepfake outputs are perhaps the most realistic to date. Just take a look at this TED Talk that never actually took place.

The system only needs a single photo and an audio clip to generate these videos from scratch. You can also adjust elements such as aspect ratio and body framing. The AI can even modify existing video footage, editing things like body movements and gestures in creepily realistic ways.

How to keep AI from killing us all

If left unchecked, powerful AI systems may pose an existential threat to the future of humanity, say UC Berkeley Professor Stuart Russell and postdoctoral scholar Michael Cohen.

Society is already grappling with myriad problems created by the rapid proliferation of AI, including disinformation, polarization and algorithmic bias. Meanwhile, tech companies are racing to build ever more powerful AI systems, while research into AI safety lags far behind.

Without giving powerful AI systems clearly defined objectives, or creating robust mechanisms to keep them in check, AI may one day evade human control. And if the objectives of these AIs are at odds with those of humans, say Russell and Cohen, it could spell the end of humanity.

Who will win the AI race: $1 trillion dollar questions | Marc Andreessen and Lex Fridman

Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHWnPOKh_S0
Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/cv8455-sb.
See below for guest bio, links, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.

*GUEST BIO:*
Marc Andreessen is an entrepreneur, investor, co-creator of Mosaic, co-founder of Netscape, and co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

*CONTACT LEX:*
*Feedback* — give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey.
*AMA* — submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama.
*Hiring* — join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring.
*Other* — other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact.

*EPISODE LINKS:*
Marc’s X: https://twitter.com/pmarca.
Marc’s Substack: https://pmarca.substack.com.
Marc’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16z.
Andreessen Horowitz: https://a16z.com.

*SPONSORS:*
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
*Encord:* AI tooling for annotation & data management.
Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/encord-cv8455-sb.
*GitHub:* Developer platform and AI code editor.
Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/github-cv8455-sb.
*Notion:* Note-taking and team collaboration.
Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/notion-cv8455-sb.
*Shopify:* Sell stuff online.
Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/shopify-cv8455-sb.
*LMNT:* Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix.
Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/lmnt-cv8455-sb.

*PODCAST LINKS:*

Continue reading “Who will win the AI race:

Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHWnPOKh_S0
Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/cv8455-sb.
See below for guest bio, links, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.

*GUEST BIO:*
Marc Andreessen is an entrepreneur, investor, co-creator of Mosaic, co-founder of Netscape, and co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

*CONTACT LEX:*
*Feedback* — give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey.
*AMA* — submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama.
*Hiring* — join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring.
*Other* — other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact.

*EPISODE LINKS:*
Marc’s X: https://twitter.com/pmarca.
Marc’s Substack: https://pmarca.substack.com.
Marc’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16z.
Andreessen Horowitz: https://a16z.com.

*SPONSORS:*
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
*Encord:* AI tooling for annotation & data management.
Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/encord-cv8455-sb.
*GitHub:* Developer platform and AI code editor.
Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/github-cv8455-sb.
*Notion:* Note-taking and team collaboration.
Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/notion-cv8455-sb.
*Shopify:* Sell stuff online.
Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/shopify-cv8455-sb.
*LMNT:* Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix.
Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/lmnt-cv8455-sb.

*PODCAST LINKS:* trillion dollar questions | Marc Andreessen and Lex Fridman” | >

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