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Elon’s & Kurzweil’s AI Predictions

What happens when AI surpasses human-level intelligence? And WHEN exactly is this likely to happen?

That’s the focus of the next Metatrend in this Age of Abundance series.

Human-level AI, often referred to as AGI (artificial general intelligence) or ASI (artificial super intelligence), has historically been defined as the ability of a machine program to pass the “Turing Test,” defined as the ability of an AI to perform human-level tasks in a fashion indistinguishable from us humans. This definition is no longer useful.

Can Digital Computers Ever Achieve Consciousness?

The question of whether artificial intelligence could ever achieve consciousness is a common theme in science fiction. Could robots ever truly feel anything—like love, hate, or fear—or would they be all “dark inside”, experiencing nothing at all?

It is more important than ever to answer this question correctly. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer merely a matter of science fiction. AI are increasingly capable of producing art and mastering the use of language, raising serious questions about whether AI are already capable of consciousness, or if not yet, then soon.

Spot’s Formula for Success

How do we ensure that our robots are the most reliable on the market, capable of walking greater distances, climbing more steps, and inspecting more assets than any other mobile robot? In this webinar, we’ll offer an unprecedented glimpse into the rigorous testing each robot endures before it leaves our lab. We’ll also explore our commitment to customer success, covering our after-sales service and support programs that enable an exceptional customer experience.

In this webinar you will learn:

Car Dealership Disturbed When Its AI Is Caught Offering Chevys for $1 Each

An AI chatbot deployed by a car dealership went off the rails after mischievous users discovered a cheeky exploit, in some cases tricking the bot into offering them the deal of a lifetime: brand new cars for chump change. It’s an amusing but cautionary tale on relying on AIs for front-of-house interactions.

The dealership, Chevy of Watsonville in California, used the chatbot to handle customers’ online inquiries, a purpose it was expressly tailored for.

Chris White, a software engineer and musician, was one such customer. He innocently intended to shop around for cars at Watsonville Chevy — until he noticed an amusing detail about the site’s chat window.

From graphic design to visual workflows, Canva’s new AI core is changing its business

Canva has crafted a wildly successful business model on the idea that graphic design should be accessible to everyone.


Adams told TechCrunch+ he’s not worried about valuation drops, anyway. “This year has been one of our best years for growth. We’ve almost doubled on most of our metrics. We’ve had 80 million more active users join since this time last year, so it’s just been up and to the right for us,” he said. “That’s what we focus on: more users, better product, revenue growth.”

Over the last 12 months, Canva has released a slew of generative AI products that Adams said gives both the company and its users a new ability to build features and design work that might not have even been considered five years ago. “For us, AI is going to bring human creativity to the next level,” Adams said, noting that AI will enable Canva to “take great visual communication to a billion people around the world.”

Many companies have jumped on the generative AI bandwagon since ChatGPT disrupted the consumer-facing space in November 2022, eliciting eye rolls and suspicion from many a journalist. But with Canva, generative AI hits different. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a better technology to boost Canva’s user growth and revenue generation. Content is the company’s bread-and-butter, the main reason why Canva has been able to scale to such impressive heights and across global boundaries. That’s because the focus has always been on offering images and templates to suit specific geographic audiences.

Giga ML wants to help companies deploy LLMs offline

AI is all the rage — particularly text-generating AI, also known as large language models (think models along the lines of ChatGPT). In one recent survey of ~1,000 enterprise organizations, 67.2% say that they see adopting large language models (LLMs) as a top priority by early 2024.

But barriers stand in the way. According to the same survey, a lack of customization and flexibility, paired with the inability to preserve company knowledge and IP, were — and are — preventing many businesses from deploying LLMs into production.

That got Varun Vummadi and Esha Manideep Dinne thinking: What might a solution to the enterprise LLM adoption challenge look like? In search of one, they founded Giga ML, a startup building a platform that lets companies deploy LLMs on-premise — ostensibly cutting costs and preserving privacy in the process.

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