Nvidia Research has debuted Eureka, an AI agent that autonomously teaches robots complex motor skills. Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, Eureka has successfully trained a robotic hand to handle a pen with the dexterity of a human — a first, according to Nvidia. Eureka has also enabled robots to do things like open drawers, manipulate scissors and toss and catch balls, along with dozens of other tasks. “Eureka is a first step toward developing new algorithms that integrate generative and reinforcement learning methods to solve hard tasks,” according to Nvidia Senior Director of AI Research Anima Anandkumar said. Continue reading Nvidia Leverages OpenAI’s GPT-4 to Train Dexterous Robots

Alphabet is developing an AI tool that would let creators generate music in the voice of famous recording artists. Lyor Cohen, global head of music for Google and its YouTube subsidiary, has reportedly been in discussions with music labels for several months about obtaining the rights to use songs by major artists to train an AI model in this manner. The discussions continue, but not without raising concerns in the music business. Meanwhile, other AI tools are already generating new content, but not without facing some resistance. The use of artificial intelligence to generate creative works in the style of others is being hashed out in the courts. Continue reading Music Industry Considers Impact of AI as New Tools Emerge

Amazon now has more than 750,000 robots that relieve warehouse employees from some intensely repetitive tasks. Just in time for the holiday shopping rush, the company is adding a new robotic technology, Sequoia, which is already operating at a fulfillment center in Houston, Texas. Amazon says Sequoia is a complete “reimagining” of how inventory is stored and managed, resulting in a 75 percent improvement in how inventory is identified and housed, and also improves employee safety. Amazon is also expanding its robot workforce with the addition of a bipedal robot called Digit, from Agility Robotics. Continue reading Amazon Introduces New Robots to Improve Fulfillment Speed

The U.S. Department of Commerce is further curtailing the ability of American companies to sell China advanced chips for artificial intelligence. The national security objective is to avoid providing Beijing with sophisticated silicon that could potentially fuel breakthroughs, giving the nation an advantage in what’s been couched as an “AI arms race.” China is a large market for semiconductors, and the move is said to be fueling tension on both sides of the globe. The new restrictions attempt to plug loopholes in rules the Biden administration introduced in October 2022. Continue reading U.S. Tightens Export Regulations for AI Chip Sales to China

Captions, which leverages AI to help its customers produce “studio quality videos directly from their mobile devices,” has launched a new app called Lipdub that automatically translates and dubs content into 28 languages. The free download lets user dub anyone “and experience familiar voices and faces in a suite of new languages.” Lipdub’s translations not only duplicate what the company says is “the subject’s exact voice,” but also syncs lip movements to match. It also incorporates dialects and idioms, with options like Gen Z and Texas slang. Continue reading Captions Debuts AI Lipdub with Translation and Gen Z Slang

Swedish fintech company Klarna, whose online payments platform claims to work with 500,000 merchants worldwide, is debuting an AI-powered shopping lens. As with in-app lens tools from Google and Amazon, the Klarna lens lets shoppers snap pictures of items or styles then use its app to find out where to buy using a “search and compare” filter. Klarna claims its camera feature can visually identify over 10 million items and match them with more than 50 million store offers. “Klarna uses AI to translate the image into a search term,” turning it into “a shoppable item,” the company explains. Continue reading Klarna AI Image Search Takes Aim at the E-Commerce Space

Adobe is building out its AI infrastructure with three new generative AI models to augment Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe Express and other tools. In all, Adobe released over 100 major new AI features and updates across Creative Cloud flagship applications at Adobe MAX 2023. The three-day Los Angeles event saw Adobe debut three new Firefly models — Firefly Image 2, Firefly Vector and Firefly Design — each designed to generate content that is cleared for commercial use. The Firefly Image 2 image generator offers improved detailing for things like skin texture, hair and foliage. Continue reading Adobe Debuts Three New Firefly Models and Adds AI Labels

The name ‘X’ may have received an icy welcome as a social media platform, but Qualcomm is snapping it up with a new line of PC chips called the Snapdragon X series. The “all-new naming architecture” describes a chip anchored by the Qualcomm Oryon CPU, which when combined with its neural processing unit (NPU) will deliver what the company says will be “next-level performance, AI, connectivity and battery life.” The move positions Qualcomm to take on Apple in the bid for AI super chips. Qualcomm acquired the Oryon tech with its 2021 acquisition of Nuvia, founded by former Apple engineers. Continue reading Qualcomm Teases Its Soon-to-Launch Snapdragon X Series

With internal Snapchat data indicating 80 percent of its members plan to use the service during Halloween activities, the platform was eager to scare up a special treat. What it came up with is an immersive original series called “Phantom House.” Disney+ and Maybelline are among the first sponsors to sign-up for the weekly installments spanning across Snap’s Chat, Camera, Stories and Spotlight tabs. “’Phantom House’ will come to life during Advertising Week New York through an out-of-home takeover” that includes a live activation, according to Snap. Continue reading Disney+, Maybelline Sign Up for Snapchat’s ‘Phantom House’

Europe is moving forward in the supercomputer space, with two new exascale machines set to come online. Jupiter will be installed at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre in Munich, with assembly set to start as early as Q1 2024. Scotland will be home to the UK’s first exascale supercomputer, to be hosted at the University of Edinburgh, with installation commencing in 2025. An exascale supercomputer can run calculations at speeds of one exaflop (1,000 petaflops) or greater. On completion, these two new supercomputers will land in the top percent of the world’s high-performers. Continue reading Germany, UK to Host Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputers

OpenAI began previewing vision capabilities for GPT-4 in March, and the company is now starting to roll out the image input and output to users of its popular ChatGPT. The multimodal expansion also includes audio functionality, with OpenAI proclaiming late last month that “ChatGPT can now see, hear and speak.” The upgrade vaults GPT-4 into the multimodal category with what OpenAI is apparently calling GPT-4V (for “Vision,” though equally applicable to “Voice”). “We’re rolling out voice and images in ChatGPT to Plus and Enterprise users,” OpenAI announced. Continue reading ChatGPT Goes Multimodal: OpenAI Adds Vision, Voice Ability

Startup Reka AI is releasing in preview its first artificial intelligence assistant, Yasa-1. The multimodal AI is described as “a language assistant with visual and auditory sensors.” The year-old company says it “trained Yasa-1 from scratch,” including pretraining foundation models “from ground zero,” then aligning them and optimizing to its training and server infrastructures. “Yasa-1 is not just a text assistant, it also understands images, short videos and audio (yes, sounds too),” said Reka AI co-founder and Chief Scientist Yi Tay. Yasa-1 is available via Reka’s APIs and as docker containers for on-site or virtual private cloud deployment. Continue reading Yasa-1: Startup Reka Launches New AI Multimodal Assistant

Yahoo is spinning out its Vespa platform, which leverages AI and data online at scale. The move is being positioned as an effort to make Vespa more widely available to third parties. After supporting Yahoo’s needs for 16 years, the unit in 2021 began serving external customers including Spotify, Wix and OkCupid for needs such as “searching millions of documents within a global organization, serving better data-driven online ads, or allowing AI-based language apps the ability to scale.” Yahoo says it will continue to invest in Vespa and remain its largest customer even after the split. Continue reading Yahoo Spins Out Big Data Unit Vespa AI as Independent Firm

Dell Technologies is expanding its Generative AI Solutions portfolio to help enterprise customers add GenAI to their workflow. The expansion includes support for advanced infrastructure and collaborative data solutions that optimize and help secure intelligence gathering and utilization. Dell takes a “validated design” approach to optimization and acceleration, testing different hardware configurations designed to fit the needs of various use cases. Dell has partnered with Nvidia for validated GenAI design for model customization, and with Starburst on data lakehouse solutions that tap multi-cloud data for AI end-use. Continue reading Dell Partnering with Nvidia and Starburst for GenAI Solutions

Likewise, a startup discovery platform backed by Bill Gates, is launching its own free chatbot named Pix. Billed as “the world’s first personal entertainment companion,” Pix helps users find TV shows, movies, books and podcasts, drawing from 600 million consumer data points. Trained on OpenAI models, Pix uses natural-language processing to answer user questions submitted by text, email or on the web at Likewise.com. Responses are promised “within seconds,” and Pix will learn users’ preferences over time. Likewise claims to have more than six million registered users. Continue reading Likewise: Startup Backed by Bill Gates Launches Pix Chatbot