Sam Altman channels the late Steve Jobs at OpenAI developer conference, Elon Musk unveils his new Grok AI Chatbot, and yeah, maybe your AI does feel sorry for you.
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These and more top tech stories on Hashtag Trending
I’m your host Jim Love, CIO of IT World Canada and Tech News Day in the US.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, took a page from Steve Jobs’ playbook with his “One more thing…” announcement, unveiling groundbreaking features for ChatGPT. At a developers’ conference reminiscent of Apple’s early 2000s product launches.
The conference started with a bang, with Satya Nadella from Microsoft opening the show and the announcement that OpenAI now has 100 million users per week.
There were some rumoured announcements of increased speed for ChatGPT and lower costs for use of the API.
But then Altman showcased GPT Builder, allowing users to design task-specific apps and an API assistant that allows users to build apps that use the ChatGPT API and integrate with other applications. Creating working applications in real time for the audience, Altman and crew seemed determined to silence critics who complained about inaccuracies and hallucinations.
The show went flawlessly with several demonstrations of working and relatively sophisticated apps created using natural language.
Altman also unveiled a new app store where anyone could develop and publish apps and get revenue sharing from OpenAI.
The parallels with early Apple launches were readily apparent right down to the subtle use of the famous line “one more thing…”
Altman’s closing message? “We want you all to have superpowers on demand,” he said. As for the future? Altman asked the audience to imagine this time next year when “what we launched today is going to be very quaint.”
Sources include: ITWC
And in contrast to the OpenAI launch, Elon Musk also unveiled his new AI chatbot named “Grok” on his social media platform, X (previously known as Twitter).
This chatbot is currently exclusive to select users. Musk claims Grok is unique in its approach, appreciating sarcasm and answering with a touch of humour. In a demonstration, when asked about making cocaine, Grok humorously deflected the question with sarcasm. The chatbot also made an error regarding the trial duration of crypto-entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
Grok, developed by the team behind Grok xAI, is distinct from Musk’s other ventures, such as Tesla. Musk envisions Grok as a “maximum truth-seeking AI.” The chatbot will soon be available to X’s paying subscribers and as a standalone app.
Sources include: BBC News
And in more Elon Musk news
X, previously known as Twitter, revealed its current valuation at approximately $19 billion, a 55 per cent drop from the $44 billion Elon Musk paid for the company just a year prior. This information came to light through paperwork associated with stock grants given to employees. Musk, who acquired Twitter at $54.20 per share, has expressed that he believes he overpaid for the platform. In a communication to his employees in March, he described the company as “an inverse start-up” and estimated its worth at around $20 billion.
Sources include: The New York Times
A recent study reveals that over 30 million homes in Europe could potentially be self-sufficient using only rooftop solar panels. The research, conducted by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, indicates that over half of Europe’s 41 million standalone homes could have achieved self-sufficiency in 2020 with solar panels and batteries. This number is projected to increase to 75 per cent by 2050. While some homes might find it economically feasible to leave the electrical grid due to solar technology advancements, the study suggests that it’s more beneficial at a larger scale for households to stay connected and supply excess energy during overproduction periods. The cost of solar power has plummeted by almost 90 per cent in the past decade, making renewable energy sources more accessible and affordable.
Sources include: The Independent
I can’t be the only one who says please and thank-you to ChatGTP and other AIs. Why not? These models are polite, apologetic, and always helpful. You almost have to remind yourself that this is just programming – they don’t really understand emotions. Or do they?
A paper published by a group of researchers at Cornell University found that these large language models not only have a grasp of emotional intelligence, but their performance actually improves with emotional prompts.
Through experiments on 45 tasks with LLMs like Llama 2 and GPT-4, researchers found their performance can be notably enhanced using “EmotionPrompt”, a technique combining original prompts with emotional cues.
A subsequent human study with 106 participants confirmed that an emotional prompt significantly improved generative AI tasks by an average of almost 11 per cent in terms of performance, truthfulness and what they termed “responsibility metrics.
The researchers stated that this “heralds a novel avenue for exploring interdisciplinary knowledge for human and Large Language Model interactions.”
My reaction was a little more on the emotional side – this is scary.
A copy of the original study can be found at https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.11760v5
And who says we don’t get noticed? In response to the story we did yesterday which mentioned SolarWinds and the SEC investigation, a spokesperson for the company contacted me today and gave us the following response to yesterday’s story about charges by the SEC against the company and their chief security officer. “We are disappointed by the SEC’s unfounded charges related to a Russian cyberattack on an American company and are deeply concerned this action will put our national security at risk. The SEC’s determination to manufacture a claim against us and our CISO is another example of the agency’s overreach and should alarm all public companies and committed cybersecurity professionals across the country. We look forward to clarifying the truth in court and continuing to support our customers through our Secure by Design commitments.”
And that’s the top tech news for today.
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