Author: The Horizon

UK, US strike landmark deal on AI safety testing’

The UK and the US have forged a partnership following the EU’s recent approval of the risk-based AI Act. This collaboration aims to establish testing procedures and guidelines on AI safety by leveraging the capabilities and expertise of both countries. The plan involves developing tests for advanced AI models, creating tools for risk evaluation, and […]

Tech giants hatch a plan for AI job losses: Reskill 95 million in 10 years

Tech giants including Accenture, Eightfold, Google, IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft, and SAP have joined forces in a new consortium to address the repercussions of job losses due to artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. This initiative, named the AI-Enabled Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Workforce Consortium, aims to assist individuals who have been or will be displaced […]

Salesforce strengthens Mulesoft with AI tools to extract data, automate workflows

Salesforce, a prominent CRM company led by Marc Benioff, has unveiled plans to enhance Mulesoft’s automation, integration, and API management solutions with new AI tools shortly after launching Einstein Copilot for Tableau. These new features set to roll out in the upcoming months include an Intelligent Document Processing tool for extracting and organizing data from […]

AI Video Startup Raises $8 Million to Animate Social Media Characters

San Francisco-based AI developer Higgsfield has successfully secured an $8 million seed funding round that it plans to reinvest in its video creation tools tailored for marketers engaging with social media content. The company emphasizes responsible AI development and the democratization of AI video creation, distancing itself from creating feature-length AI-generated videos for movies. Led […]

Perplexity’s growth upends SEO fears, reveals crack in Google’s dominance

In a recent report by BrightEdge, the AI-first search engine Perplexity is gaining traction by showing promising referral traffic growth and relevant search results. Despite concerns about the impact of AI on SEO efforts, the study indicates that Perplexity is effectively directing traffic to brand websites.   Perplexity’s success is viewed as a potential threat […]

YouTube CEO warns OpenAI that training models on its videos is against the rules

OpenAI’s latest AI tool, Sora, which generates videos from text prompts, has sparked controversy over potential copyright infringement issues. The uncertainty surrounding how Sora is trained, including the use of YouTube content, has prompted a response from YouTube’s CEO Neal Mohan. Mohan made it clear that using YouTube videos to train Sora would violate the […]

‘We Won’t Need Sara’: Actress Learns She’s Been Replaced by AI

Stage and voice actress Sara Poyzer recently revealed that she was abruptly replaced by artificial intelligence, according to a message she shared on social media. The email from an unnamed production company informed Poyzer that the BBC had approved the use of an AI-generated voice, rendering her voice services unnecessary.   Poyzer received an outpouring […]

This Is a Sputnik Moment’: NYC Is Adding AI Metal Detectors to the Subway

NYC Mayor Eric Adams introduced a plan to boost subway safety by implementing AI-powered metal detectors to identify guns on individuals without flagging non-threatening items like phones. Despite a slightly delayed response, the detectors performed well during a recent demonstration. Produced by Evolv, the detectors utilize AI technology to differentiate between various metal objects quickly. […]

This four-legged robot learned parkour to better navigate obstacles

ETH Zurich researchers have enhanced their four-legged robot, ANYmal, enabling it to perform basic parkour moves such as jumping across gaps and climbing obstacles. The robot, originally introduced in 2019 with reinforcement learning, has now improved proprioception to sense movement better.   In previous experiments, a team led by Nikita Rudin showcased a trio of […]

SambaNova announces new AI Samba-CoE v0.2 that already beats Databricks DBRX

SambaNova Systems, the AI chip-maker, has achieved a significant milestone with its Samba-CoE v0.2 Large Language Model (LLM), surpassing competitors in speed and efficiency. Operating at an impressive rate of 330 tokens per second, the model outperforms recent models like DBRX from Databricks, MistralAI’s Mixtral-8x7B, and Grok-1 by Elon Musk’s xAI. Notably, this feat is […]

Is AI’s next big leap understanding emotion? $50M for Hume says yes

Hume AI, a startup co-founded by former Google DeepMind researcher Alan Cowen, recently secured $50 million in a Series B funding round led by EQT Ventures. The startup’s focus lies in developing an AI assistant and API that can understand and respond to human emotions, even in voice conversations. Unlike traditional text-based chatbots, Hume AI’s […]

Taiwan produces 90% of the world’s AI servers – raising concerns as US-China trade conflicts continue to simmer

Taiwan currently maintains a dominant position in the global artificial intelligence (AI) server market, controlling a staggering 90% share according to a recent report by DigiTimes. This success was underscored during a briefing held by the Taiwanese government, with President-elect Lai Ching-te and 20 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry leaders in attendance. The event, […]

The White House plans to regulate the government’s use of AI

The Biden administration has declared its commitment to promoting responsible artificial intelligence (AI) use within the US government. By December 1, 2024, all federal agencies are mandated to implement AI “safeguards” to ensure citizens’ safety. These safeguards will involve assessing, testing, and monitoring AI applications to prevent discrimination and enhance transparency in government AI utilization. […]

Google DeepMind unveils ‘superhuman’ AI system that excels in fact-checking, saving costs and improving accuracy

Google’s DeepMind research unit has introduced a new method, the Search-Augmented Factuality Evaluator (SAFE), that uses artificial intelligence to assess the accuracy of information generated by large language models. SAFE breaks down text into individual facts and cross-references them with Google Search results to determine their correctness. A study revealed that SAFE’s assessments matched human […]

Microsoft’s new safety system can catch hallucinations in its customers’ AI apps

Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer of responsible AI, Sarah Bird, has unveiled new safety features designed to enhance Azure AI security without the need for specialized red teams. These tools, leveraging the power of LLM technology, aim to identify vulnerabilities, prevent plausible but unsupported outcomes, and block malicious prompts in real-time.   The introduced tools include […]

Elon Musk’s updated Grok AI claims to be better at coding and math

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has unveiled an update for its chatbot named Grok-1.5, aimed at enhancing its capabilities in math, coding, and overall reasoning. The upgraded version boasts improved performance, with significant advancements in MATH benchmark scores, math word problems, and coding evaluations. xAI indicates that Grok-1.5 now competes closely with leading AI […]

OpenAI’s voice cloning AI model only needs a 15-second sample to work

OpenAI has introduced Voice Engine, a text-to-voice generation platform that can create a synthetic voice based on a short sample of someone’s voice. This AI-powered technology is being provided to select companies such as Age of Learning, HeyGen, Dimagi, Livox, and Lifespan for various applications including education, health, and communication.   The Voice Engine technology […]

University Leadership Suggest Using AI to Replace Striking Grad Students

Boston University’s Dean of Arts & Sciences, Stan Sclaroff, raised eyebrows with a proposal to substitute striking graduate students with generative AI tools, as reported by The Daily Beast. The suggestion was part of a set of ideas aimed at addressing disruptions caused by ongoing protests led by the Boston University Graduate Worker Union (BUGWU). […]