Lifeboat Foundation

The next—and final?—step for artificial intelligence is on the horizon.

Not content with accelerating graphics performance with AI via its various DLSS technologies (opens in new tab) and in designing GPUs themselves, Nvidia is now using AI to improve graphics drivers and further boost performance by up to 30%. Well, that’s the latest rumour.

According to CapFrameX (opens in new tab) (via OC3D (opens in new tab) ), maker of frame time analysis tools, Nvidia is working on AI-enhanced graphics drivers. Performance boosts of up to 30% are mooted, with the average performance benefit a more modest 10%.

German drugmaker BioNTech has struck a deal to buy U.K.-based AI startup InstaDeep for £562mn ($683mn).

Is AI coming for voice artists now?

Researchers at technology major Microsoft have unveiled their latest text-to-speech (TTS) generator, VALL-E that can be trained to mimic anybody’s voice in just three seconds. Unlike previous voice generators that sounded robotic, VALL-E sounds naturally human, and that may not be a very good thing.

Text-to-speech generators that gave voice to one of the greatest minds on the planet, Stephen Hawking, have come a long way. From reading messages on your smartphone to reading out pages from a book, these services are now everywhere and used by everyone.

It is also looking at a possible investment from Microsoft.

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company, is building an iOS app powered by its globally popular chatbot ChatGPT which helps users search for answers using an iMessage like interface. A beta version of the app is being tested currently, and a demo version was shared on the professional networking site LinkedIn.

Launched in November last year, ChatGPT made global news for its ease of answering even complex questions in a conversational manner. The algorithm that powers the chatbot, GPT3.5 is built by Open AI and is trained to learn what humans mean when they ask a question.

Back in 2002, the science fiction film Minority Report once again reignited futuristic imaginations about a world and police state gone too far. At the time, the movie inspired plenty of speculation about the future of our society, how computers would interact with us, and how law enforcement would be carried out proactively based on intent. In the movie, they combined technology with the psychic abilities of the “precogs,” to proactively prevent crimes.

The precogs had the ability to predict when crimes were about to be committed ahead of time, enabling law enforcement to act early.

Twenty years later, in a climate of abundant data, almost limitless processing, and at a point in history where law enforcement is frequently discussed, some of these technologies are beginning to look more feasible than ever.

Continue reading “AI Tools: From Minority Report To Mission Possible” »

You have probably heard of ChatGPT and DALLE-E, a new class of AI-powered software tools that can create new images or write text. The algorithm brings to life any idea you may have by putting together fragments of what it has previously seen — such as images annotated with meta-descriptions of what they represent — to generate original content from user-defined input. But now generative AI technology is revolutionizing drug discovery. Absci Corporation (Nasdaq: ABSI) is using machine learning to transform the field of antibody therapeutics: Absci has put out a press release today announcing the ability to create new antibodies with the use of generative AI.

GenerativeAI: You’ve seen it with images like DALL-E, you’ve seen it with text like ChatGPT. Now you can see it with protein design as well.

Anthropic, the startup co-founded by ex-OpenAI employees that’s raised over $700 million in funding to date, has developed an AI system similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT that appears to improve upon the original in key ways.

Called Claude, Anthropic’s system is accessible through a Slack integration as part of a closed beta. TechCrunch wasn’t able to gain access — we’ve reached out to Anthropic — but those in the beta have been detailing their interactions with Claude on Twitter over the past weekend, after an embargo on media coverage lifted.

Claude was created using a technique Anthropic developed called “constitutional AI.” As the company explains in a recent Twitter thread, “constitutional AI” aims to provide a “principle-based” approach to aligning AI systems with human intentions, letting AI similar to ChatGPT respond to questions using a simple set of principles as a guide.

If all the hype around ChatGPT, Dall-E, Tesla’s Fully Self Driving mode and *ahem* Q.ai, has shown us anything, it’s that artificial intelligence is here to stay. The knee jerk reaction from many old fashioned meat machines, sorry, humans, is a concern around what this means for their income.

For years now, we’ve been told how AI is going to take our jobs, and it’s true that in many industries, machines, robots and other technology have cut workforce numbers dramatically.

With that said, many of the jobs being taken by AI so far are often considered dangerous, repetitive and boring. There aren’t too many people out there who are going to get great job satisfaction from turning the same 5 screws on a production line for 40 hours a week.