Weekly AI - 14 Oct 2023
Hey everyone, I'm back! I took a little break last week and didn't get a chance to send out the newsletter. But now I'm ready to catch you up on the latest happenings in AI from the past couple of weeks.
Compared to other recent editions, this one will be a bit more lowkey when it comes to major announcements. But there are still some interesting updates I want to highlight for you all.
The biggest story is definitely Microsoft integrating Dall-E 3 into Bing chat to allow AI-generated images through conversation. And I'll also tell you about Meta's new natural language model Llama 2 Long that is showing promising results on certain long-form text tasks.
Beyond those two headlines, I'll provide summaries of some of the other notable AI news from the past couple weeks. As always, I'll break things down in an accessible way for a non-technical audience. So sit back and get ready to catch up on the state of AI!
This newsletter is also available in Spanish and Catalan.
Bing Chat Gets a Major Upgrade with DALL-E 3 Integration
Microsoft announced this week that OpenAI's powerful new DALL-E 3 AI image generator is now available in Bing Chat for all users. Try it on https://www.bing.com/chat
Meta Unveils Powerful New AI Model Llama 2 Long
On September 29th, 2023, Meta unveiled its latest artificial intelligence creation, Llama 2 Long. This new AI model builds on Meta's open-source Llama 2 system, adding more training on longer text passages. Early results show Llama 2 Long outperforming leading AI models like OpenAI's GPT-3.5 Turbo and Anthropic's Claude 2 on certain tasks involving lengthy text. The release highlights Meta's push into open-source AI development and shows these models can compete with closed-source alternatives.
Google Upgrades Assistant with New AI Capabilities
Google has announced an exciting upgrade to its Google Assistant, integrating the conversational AI model Bard to enable more natural and intelligent interactions. Unveiled at their October 2023 Made by Google event, Assistant can now provide personalized responses by accessing opt-in Gmail, Drive, and other Google services. The new Assistant launches first on Pixel devices in select markets before a broader rollout.
LinkedIn Unveils New AI Features for Learning, Hiring, Marketing and Sales
Professional networking platform LinkedIn announced a suite of new AI-powered features to help users with learning, recruitment, marketing and sales. The Microsoft-owned company is leveraging generative AI models from OpenAI and Microsoft to introduce an AI learning coach, more intelligent search for recruiters, AI-generated marketing campaigns, and enhanced sales lead searching. According to LinkedIn, these new features will help its nearly 1 billion users to boost engagement and stay current.
Meta Launches AI-Powered Ad Tools
Meta announced the rollout of new AI features for advertisers on its platforms. The tools allow brands to use AI to customize ad backgrounds, resize their creative assets, and generate variations of ad text. According to Meta, these new generative AI capabilities will help advertisers optimize campaigns by automatically creating assets suited for different ad formats and surfaces. The launch shows how Meta aims to tap into AI advancements to improve advertisers' experiences and open up new creative possibilities.
NSA Launches AI Security Center to Safeguard Defense Systems
The National Security Agency (NSA) announced on September 28, 2023 the creation of an artificial intelligence (AI) security center focused on protecting AI capabilities used by the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. The center, to be incorporated into the NSA's Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, aims to secure AI systems against theft and sabotage. The new AI security center will develop best practices and risk assessment frameworks so that AI can be safely adopted within U.S. defense.
Cloudflare Launches Serverless AI Service for Developers
Cloudflare announced the launch of Workers AI, a new serverless AI service that allows developers to easily integrate powerful AI models into their applications. Workers AI provides GPU-accelerated access to popular open source AI models like GPT-3, Whisper, and ResNet-50 through a simple API. Key features include built-in privacy controls, global deployment on Cloudflare's edge network, and a pay-as-you-go pricing model. This service aims to democratize AI by making it quick and easy for any developer to start building AI-powered apps.
What is ChatGPT and how it compares to Bard and Claude
This week I also wrote a post about ChatGPT, where I explain what it is, its current skills and use cases, limitations, and how it compares to Bard and Claude. Let me know which model works best for you.
That wraps up this week's AI news! If you found this informative, don't forget to share it with friends and colleagues. And be sure to subscribe to get next week's news straight to your inbox. Thanks for reading!