The Rise of the 100B$ Supercomputer

Hi there.

Welcome to another crazy week in AI. Some of the headlines this week sounds like they were made up or come straight out of an episode of “Black Mirror”

How about the news that Microsoft and OpenAI are teaming up to build a supercomputer called “Stargate” that is going to cost a whopping 100 Billion dollars. The machine is set to go into operation in 2028.

It’s as if they’re building the god machine that is going to enslave or liberate all of humanity, depending on what position you’re taking.

It looks like our new Digital God/Overlord needs a nice new home to live in, with lots of cooling.

Or what to think about OpenAI’s technology that can clone your voice PERFECTLY after only listening to it for 20 seconds.

What can possibly go wrong?

Anyway, WELCOME to the Blacklynx Brief. Hope you can still sleep after reading this week’s edition.

AI NEWS
Let’s hope nothing comes through that Stargate

• On Friday last week, Elon Musk’s xAI unveiled Grok-1.5, an advanced version of its language model, promising better reasoning skills and an impressive ability to process lengthy discussions. This update shines in technical areas, scoring well on various tests, and will be accessible to select users and those already using Grok on the X platform. There's buzz about a new feature for summarizing online conversations, and Grok-1.5's integration with real-time data and potential collaboration with Midjourney suggest it could rival other leading AI technologies.

  

• Microsoft's Copilot AI, in collaboration with Intel, is set to run directly on PCs, aiming for enhanced performance and greater privacy by reducing cloud dependency. This development necessitates PCs equipped with specialized chips capable of heavy-duty AI tasks, highlighting Microsoft's strategy to utilize these chips for energy-efficient AI operations. The move mirrors a broader trend towards on-device AI processing seen in the tech industry, including in smartphones. It’s an interesting evolution to see that biggest tech is going for a decentralized model when it comes to processing AI.

• OpenAI has introduced Voice Engine, a groundbreaking technology capable of replicating human voices with just a 15-second audio sample, ensuring the accent and emotions remain intact in the produced speech. This tool is currently in testing with select partners and incorporates strict safety protocols to deter misuse. Initially developed in 2022, Voice Engine has already been utilized within OpenAI's offerings, indicating the company's leadership in voice synthesis technology. However, OpenAI is cautious about a wider release, particularly mindful of the potential for misuse in sensitive contexts like elections.

• Microsoft and OpenAI are going to create a 100 billion dollar supercomputer called "Stargate” - housed in its own data center and this in order to support OpenAI's advanced AI models. This ambitious project, expected to dwarf current data center scales by 100 times, is set for a potential launch by 2028, with Microsoft likely underwriting the costs. "Stargate" plans to incorporate AI chips from a variety of producers, reducing dependency on any single supplier like Nvidia.

• Apple has developed ReALM, an innovative AI system designed to enhance voice assistants by understanding on-screen content and background tasks through text conversion, improving efficiency by avoiding large-scale image recognition. This model outshines current technologies, including GPT-4, in performance, despite being more compact. A practical application could enable Siri to perform actions like calling a business directly from a phone number displayed on a website

• OpenAI has rolled out a feature that integrates image editing capabilities within ChatGPT, enabling users to tweak images created by DALL-E 3 directly. This development allows for detailed editing, such as adding, removing, or altering elements in specific parts of an image. Available through both the web interface and the ChatGPT app, this tool marks a significant enhancement in how users can interact with and refine AI-generated visuals. Despite being a notable advancement, this move suggests OpenAI is catching up to similar functionalities already offered by competitors like Midjourney.

  

• In other OpenAi news : they’re rolling out a feature where user don’t need to sign up anymore in order to use ChatGPT

• Princeton NLP researchers have unveiled SWE-agent, a groundbreaking open-source tool that transforms GPT-4 into an AI assistant capable of autonomously tackling software engineering tasks on GitHub. This agent, showcasing a performance on par with the popular Devin AI, can resolve over 12% of issues without human intervention, boasting an impressive average resolution time of under two minutes. Is coding going the way of the dodo ?

  

• Last week we told you how Hollywood is getting uneasy. In the music industry the same thing is going on. A group of 200 musicians, inclusing Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry signed an open letter calling on tech companies to use AI Music Generation Tools responsibly.

• A 7.4-magnitude earthquake in eastern Taiwan momentarily interrupted operations at key semiconductor factories, including TSMC and UMC, vital to the global electronics market. Despite evacuations and halting some equipment, damage was minimal, especially at TSMC's major sites, due to less intense shaking. TSMC, which dominates over half the semiconductor industry and serves companies like Apple and Nvidia, anticipates a brief production delay.

Closing Thoughts

That’s it for us this week.

Plenty to think about. But I leave you with some light-hearted AI-themed humour from the recently-returned Jon Stewart and the Daily Show. It’s very funny and the actual AI topic starts a few minutes in.

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