“The AI system is based on a technique the researchers called “Deep Emotional Analysis Learning,” which can adapt to changing vocal patterns.
The study found that the system was capable of translating ‘various emotional states in chickens, including hunger, fear, anger, contentment, excitement, and distress.’
The study said: ‘Our methodology employs a cutting-edge AI technique we call Deep Emotional Analysis Learning (DEAL), a highly mathematical and innovative approach that allows for the nuanced understanding of emotional states through auditory data.’
‘If we know what animals are feeling, we can design a much better world for them,’ Cheok told the New York Post.”
I don’t need an AI to tell me what chickens are feeling to know that they probably don’t like being caged and eaten. But, maybe, that’s just me.
Is a chicken translation AI the Greatest Idea Ever?
Right now we’re using AI tools to help us create but soon AI itself will be able to create and it’s creations may both equally horrify and astound us. Or at the very least surprise us. But just because AI creations are unique that doesn’t mean there’s anything inherently wrong with them. Case in point: a recently designed walking robot that AI created that’s unlike anything else mobile.
“Scientists at Northwestern University recently put AI technology to the test, prompting an advanced design algorithm to produce a walking robot. The project aims to showcase the AI’s ‘instant evolution’ capabilities, designing a functional robot in a matter of seconds.
While the project itself was astoundingly successful, the design of the ‘robot’ wasn’t the most futuristic, but rather a strange creature that was perhaps more ‘used sponge’ than Cyberman.
The gelatinous purple ‘robot’ was made using 3D-printed moulds created by the algorithm. It features a number of internal ‘muscles’ that inflate when filled with air, propelling the model forward with slow but definite motion. It’s a surprisingly organic-looking shape for something created by an AI, taking on a rough rectangular form with various grooves, to make what can loosely be described as legs.
In a blog post, the robot was described by its lead creator, Sam Kreigman, as something ‘that looks nothing like any animal that has ever walked the earth,’ and quite frankly I agree. The design of the strange creature, alongside its odd caterpillar-esque crawling movements, looks like something out of a horror movie – but the bizarre creation is actually a momentous breakthrough in algorithmic AI technology.”
The “instant evolution” showcases in this use case goes to show that when it comes to innovation there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Something that actual evolution has already demonstrated time and time again. Now that we humans have access to whole new ways of thinking it’ll be interesting to see how many new insights and novel pathways we can unlock. Coming up with new ideas and designs that our flesh and bone incarnations, or even mother nature, never would have dreamed of.
Is a walking robot designed by AI the Greatest Idea Ever?
My days as a writer may be numbered thanks to a new AI capable of churning out entire fantasy novels complete with cover art quickly and easily off of simple prompts.
“GPT-author is an open-source AI tool that leverages GPT-4, Stable Diffusion, and Anthropic to generate entire fantasy novels with a short prompt automatically.
This amazing AI allows anyone to become an AI-assisted author. With typing a text prompt describing the novel’s genre, themes, etc., it will create an engaging multi-chapter fantasy story in minutes.
The AI generates potential plots, selects the most compelling one, refines it, and extracts a title. It then builds a complete chapter-by-chapter storyline, writes each chapter individually following the plot, and creates cover art. Finally, it compiles everything into an EPUB e-book file, immediately compatible with e-book readers. No further conversion required.”
Perhaps George R.R. Martin should try this when it comes to finally writing the next Game of Thrones book since he’s clearly never going to finish writing it himself!
With all the latest AI developments may have been easy to overlook tech giant Amazon. Today they reminded us that they are still here and ready to join the party with their own AI chatbot called Q. At least on the enterprise side of things.
“Amazon.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced Amazon Q, a new type of generative artificial intelligence-(AI) powered assistant that is specifically for work and can be tailored to a customer’s business. Customers can get fast, relevant answers to pressing questions, generate content, and take actions—all informed by a customer’s information repositories, code, and enterprise systems. Amazon Q provides information and advice to employees to streamline tasks, accelerate decision making and problem solving, and help spark creativity and innovation at work. Designed to meet enterprise customers’ stringent requirements, Amazon Q can personalize its interactions to each individual user based on an organization’s existing identities, roles, and permissions. Additionally, Amazon Q never uses business customers’ content to train its underlying models.”
Adds the New York Times, “The chatbot, developed by Amazon’s cloud computing division, is focused on workplaces and not intended for consumers. Amazon Q aims to help employees with daily tasks, such as summarizing strategy documents, filling out internal support tickets and answering questions about company policy. It will compete with other corporate chatbots, including Copilot, Google’s Duet AI and ChatGPT Enterprise.”
According to published reports, Q, previously internally codenamed Project Olympus, is a Large Language Model that would utilize twice as many parameters as OpenAI’s ChatGPT possibly making it the most powerful LLM out there.
What’s interesting is that Q isn’t for consumer use, just for businesses. One would have to wonder though if they eventually do come out with a consumer facing version. After all, Amazon has access to one data set that their competitors don’t: what you shop for. An AI chatbot that could leverage all that information could be invaluable towards helping you finding deals that match your individual style.
The world isn’t ready. Generative AI is already making an outsized impact on the Internet and we’re still in the early days of the AI revolution. The latest trends are going to take things to a whole new level. Case in point:
Make It More
Obsessed with the new “make it more” trend on ChatGPT.
You generate an image of something, and then keep asking for it to be MORE.
We’re still wrapping our heads around ChatGPT and Generative AI tools like Midjourney that let us use natural language to create pose, poetry, and pictures. But now thanks to Pika, text to video has arrived as well. Allowing us to unlock our creative potential even more.
According to Product Hunt. “Pika is an AI video platform that allows anyone to bring their creative vision to life. Through a state-of-the-art-video foundational model and a creation product that is effortless and accessible to everyone, Pika is redesigning how videos are made & edited.”
As the video below demonstrates the tool lets you not only type a description of the video you want to see but also drop in photos to bring them to life or even existing video clips. You can even edit your videos on the fly with sample drag and drop options similar to Adobe’s Generative Fill.
Introducing Pika 1.0, the idea-to-video platform that brings your creativity to life.
Surprisingly, I haven’t gotten into making my own AI art yet but this new tool is so cool and seemingly so easy to use that I’m sure I won’t be able to resist the urge to start trying it out. I’ve always wanted to make movies. I might finally have the chance.
When it comes to innovating we’re often told to think outside the box. But soon we may be told to step inside of it, at least, when it comes to healthcare. That’s because with the CarePod we can skip the doctor’s office and obtain valuable information about the status of our bodies all thanks to AI.
As futurist Thomas Frey of the Da Vinci Institute puts it, “The CarePod is aimed at streamlining healthcare processes. Instead of spending hours in a doctor’s office for routine tests, individuals can now visit CarePods for blood draws, throat swabs, and blood pressure readings—all without the need for a doctor or nurse. Custom AI facilitates the diagnosis, and prescriptions are promptly available.”
Adds Forbes, “the CarePod is an attempt to fully automate a check-up: A patient approaches the metallic, square 8×8 foot box, which is eight feet by eight feet, and unlocks it with their phone. Once inside, they find a chair and a large screen, where a robotic voice walks them through a body scan or blood pressure reading or finger prick blood draws — all of which they do on their own.”
Considering how much people hate the endless waiting at the doctor’s office I can certainly see the CarePod finding a niche audience within the healthcare field.
Whenever the Olympics roll around I always wonder how someone winds up on the bobsled team. Are those really the best people in the world at that obscure sport or are they just the best people out of all the people who tried to do that one very specific thing? It’s probably the latter. So, then how do we as a society ensure that people find their niche, find what they are the most capable of doing so that we actually do surface the very best of the best in every possible field? The short answer is that we don’t.
Job placement is basically a total free for all. An every man for himself battlefield that leaves millions of people disenfranchised, feeling helplessly stuck in dead end jobs that don’t ignite their passion or give them a sense of purpose. I should know. I’ve been there myself. Several times over. Falling into jobs rather than getting put in a place that best aligned with my interests. That’s how a political science major can wind up doing compliance work for financial services firms and never once doing anything involving politics. Or journalism. Or writing. Or broadcasting. Or event planning. Or design. Or becoming a futurist or a million other things that I probably would have been suited for than pushing paper around in a NYC skyscraper.
And thanks to AI we may soon have a better path forward. One that could at the very least point us in the right direction, setting us on so-called lifepaths that actually make sense for us. This won’t be an Orwellian-level, society-wide job placement initiative but it could help people better help themselves. Which is really the bare minimum we should be doing as a society when it comes to helping people find employment.
This path forward is called Lifepaths and it works by using AI to leverage your existing LinkedIn profile.
Ever wondered all the possible scenarios your life could end up in?
This is an AI tool that takes your LinkedIn and predicts exactly that.
It’s yet another example of how we can use AI to enhance and improve our lives, trawling through vast amounts of data to find insights that may have been initially hidden to us. Eventually, AI may wind up replacing our jobs but that might be okay if they wind up setting us up on new, rewarding lifepaths first before they do.
2023 has been a banner year for AI development but it may wind up being the developments coming out of the OpenAI board room that makes the biggest long-term impact of all after CEO Sam Altman was surprisingly fired, hired by Microsoft, and then re-hired after the majority of the company threatened to quit if he left.
While all this drama was unfolding people were speculating that there must have been a reason to the sudden Succession level power struggle. Did OpenAI achieve AGI? Were the board members spooked by a new breakthrough? Was Altman actually at fault for failing to disclose something?! Or was this simply a difference in opinion in how best to run the company going forward? A pivot towards profitability that would fly in the face of the board’s non-profit ethos?
Well, as it turns out there indeed was a breakthrough in play that could have factored into the spectacularly failed hostile takeover. As they say on Sesame Street this breakthrough is brought to you by the letter Q.
“OpenAI was reportedly working on an advanced system before Sam Altman’s sacking that was so powerful it caused safety concerns among staff at the company.
The artificial intelligence model triggered such alarm with some OpenAI researchers that they wrote to the board of directors before Altman’s dismissal warning it could threaten humanity, Reuters reported.
The model, called Q* – and pronounced as ‘Q-Star’ – was able to solve basic maths problems it had not seen before, according to the tech news site the Information, which added that the pace of development behind the system had alarmed some safety researchers. The ability to solve maths problems would be viewed as a significant development in AI.
The reports followed days of turmoil at San Francisco-based OpenAI, whose board sacked Altman last Friday but then reinstated him on Tuesday night after nearly all the company’s 750 staff threatened to resign if he was not brought back. Altman also had the support of OpenAI’s biggest investor, Microsoft.
Many experts are concerned that companies such as OpenAI are moving too fast towards developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), the term for a system that can perform a wide variety of tasks at human or above human levels of intelligence – and which could, in theory, evade human control.
Andrew Rogoyski, of the Institute for People-Centred AI at the University of Surrey, said the ability to solve maths problems not included in a model’s training set would be a significant development.
‘A lot of generative AI regurgitates or reshapes existing knowledge, whether text, images or maths, including libraries of known maths solutions. If you can create an AI that can solve a problem where you know it hasn’t already seen the solution somewhere in its vast training sets, then that’s a big deal, even if the maths is relatively simple. Solving complex maths, unseen, would be even more exciting.’
Speaking on Thursday last week, the day before his surprise sacking, Altman indicated that the company behind ChatGPT had made another breakthrough.
In an appearance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, he said: ‘Four times now in the history of OpenAI, the most recent time was just in the last couple weeks, I’ve gotten to be in the room, when we sort of push the veil of ignorance back and the frontier of discovery forward, and getting to do that is the professional honour of a lifetime.’
OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit venture with a board that governs a commercial subsidiary, run by Altman. Microsoft is the biggest investor in the for-profit business. As part of the agreement in principle for Altman’s return, OpenAI will have a new board chaired by Bret Taylor, a former co-chief executive of software company Salesforce.
The ChatGPT developer states that it was established with the goal of developing ‘safe and beneficial artificial general intelligence for the benefit of humanity’ and that the for-profit company would be ‘legally bound to pursue the nonprofit’s mission’.
The emphasis on safety at the nonprofit led to speculation that Altman had been sacked for endangering the company’s core mission. However, his brief successor as interim chief executive, Emmett Shear, wrote this week that the board ‘did *not* remove Sam over any specific disagreement on safety’.”
Regardless of what really happened behind closed doors with Altman and the board it’s clear that Q is a big deal (it may have even figured out how to break encryption) and that OpenAI is going to continue to be in the middle of the AI revolution for the foreseeable future with Altman now back at the helm. Whether or not that’s a good thing remains to be seen.
The music industry has been notoriously closed off. They threw a fit when Napster first came out and lately have been up in arms over AI. And I get it. Artists don’t want their work to be stolen or have others profit off of it at their expense. But there is a happy medium. One in which the music industry embraces AI while still predicting their artists and Spotify may have come up with one such way: a digital mixtape generator that mixes songs and original audio together.
“Spotify has been a prolific generator of patents in recent years.
Some of these have been quite ambitious – such as, for example, its A&R technology for predicting breaking artists. And some have, at times, been a bit creepy – such as its patent to identify music tastes by tracking the personality traits of its users.
Now we can add another to Spotify’s growing roster of patents: A system to create digital mixtapes that enables users to integrate their own audio with a selected list of songs.
A patent issued to Spotify on Tuesday (September 26) by the US Patent Office describes ‘a system for generating and distributing a digital mixtape.’
The patent application’s abstract states: ‘The system can receive a user command to generate a digital mixtape including a user-defined compilation of music. The user command identifies a recipient of the digital mixtape and identifies one or more media content items to be included in the music compilation for the recipient. The digital mixtape can also include audio recordings from the user to be added to the digital mixtape.’
This digital mixtape system will create ‘a user-defined compilation of media content, at least in part from a catalog of media content, and share it with friends over a data communication network. Voice messages or other audio can be added to the compilation to further customize the compilation for the recipient.’
One variation of this technology involves a ‘mixtape application’ that is installed on the mixtape creator’s device, and potentially also on the device of the person who the mixtape is sent to, suggesting that the digital mixtape feature could exist as a standalone app, separate from the Spotify app.
However, another version of the product includes only a ‘media playback engine,’ indicating that someone who is sent a mixtape won’t have to download the full mixtape app to listen to it.
The full document, obtained by MBW, can be read here.“
This innovation comes at the perfect time considering that I now have a girlfriend to give a mixtape to!
Is the Spotify Mixtape Recorder the Greatest Idea Ever?
If you love hearing about new ideas that could change the World then you’ve come to the right place. Whether I’m discussing my own ideas or highlighting other people’s ideas there will be no shortage of things to discuss.
My hope is that this site will not only bring awareness to these ideas and start a dialogue about them but also become a springboard for getting them implemented.
Greatest. Idea. Ever. 