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The A.I. Boom Has an Unlikely Early Winner: Wonky Consultants
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Researchers upend AI status quo by eliminating matrix multiplication in LLMs
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Enlarge / Illustration of a brain inside of a light bulb. (credit: Getty Images)
Researchers claim to have developed a new way to run AI language models more efficiently by eliminating matrix multiplication from the process. This fundamentally redesigns neural network operations that are currently accelerated by GPU chips. The findings, detailed in a recent preprint paper from researchers at the University of California Santa Cruz, UC Davis, LuxiTech, and Soochow University, could have deep implications for the environmental impact and operational costs of AI systems.
Matrix multiplication (often abbreviated to "MatMul") is at the center of most neural network computational tasks today, and GPUs are particularly good at executing the math quickly because they can perform large numbers of multiplication operations in parallel. That ability momentarily made Nvidia the most valuable company in the world last week; the company currently holds an estimated 98 percent market share for data center GPUs, which are commonly used to power AI systems like ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
In the new paper, titled "Scalable MatMul-free Language Modeling," the researchers describe creating a custom 2.7 billion parameter model without using MatMul that features similar performance to conventional large language models (LLMs). They also demonstrate running a 1.3 billion parameter model at 23.8 tokens per second on a GPU that was accelerated by a custom-programmed FPGA chip that uses about 13 watts of power (not counting the GPU's power draw). The implication is that a more efficient FPGA "paves the way for the development of more efficient and hardware-friendly architectures," they write.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Mac is now available to all users
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Enlarge / The app lets you invoke ChatGPT from anywhere in the system with a keyboard shortcut, Spotlight-style. (credit: Samuel Axon)
OpenAI's official ChatGPT app for macOS is now available to all users for the first time, provided they're running macOS Sonoma or later.
It was previously being rolled out gradually to paid subscribers to ChatGPT's Plus premium plan.
The ChatGPT Mac app mostly acts as a desktop window version of the web app, allowing you to carry on back-and-forth prompt-and-response conversations. You can select between the GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and GPT-4o models. It also supports the more specialized GPTs available in the web version, including the DALL-E image generator and custom GPTs.
AI as Self-Erasure
How A.I. Imitates Restaurant Reviews
© Ben Konkol
The Unknown Toll Of The AI Takeover
In early May, Google announced it would be adding artificial intelligence to its search engine. When the new feature rolled out, AI Overviews began offering summaries to the top of queries, whether you wanted them or not — and they came at an invisible cost. Investigative journalist Lois Parshley explores this topic for The Lever. Archive.org link.
Can A.I. Answer the Needs of Smaller Businesses? Some Push to Find Out.
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Report: Apple isn’t paying OpenAI for ChatGPT integration into OSes
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Enlarge (credit: OpenAI / Apple / Benj Edwards)
On Monday, Apple announced it would be integrating OpenAI's ChatGPT AI assistant into upcoming versions of its iPhone, iPad, and Mac operating systems. It paves the way for future third-party AI model integrations, but given Google's multi-billion-dollar deal with Apple for preferential web search, the OpenAI announcement inspired speculation about who is paying whom. According to a Bloomberg report published Wednesday, Apple considers ChatGPT's placement on its devices as compensation enough.
"Apple isn’t paying OpenAI as part of the partnership," writes Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, citing people familiar with the matter who wish to remain anonymous. "Instead, Apple believes pushing OpenAI’s brand and technology to hundreds of millions of its devices is of equal or greater value than monetary payments."
The Bloomberg report states that neither company expects the agreement to generate meaningful revenue in the short term, and in fact, the partnership could burn extra money for OpenAI, because it pays Microsoft to host ChatGPT's capabilities on its Azure cloud. However, OpenAI could benefit by converting free users to paid subscriptions, and Apple potentially benefits by providing easy, built-in access to ChatGPT during a time when its own in-house LLMs are still catching up.
Wyoming mayoral candidate wants to govern by AI bot
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Enlarge (credit: dakuq via Getty)
Victor Miller is running for mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, with an unusual campaign promise: If elected, he will not be calling the shots—an AI bot will. VIC, the Virtual Integrated Citizen, is a ChatGPT-based chatbot that Miller created. And Miller says the bot has better ideas—and a better grasp of the law—than many people currently serving in government.
“I realized that this entity is way smarter than me, and more importantly, way better than some of the outward-facing public servants I see,” he says. According to Miller, VIC will make the decisions, and Miller will be its “meat puppet,” attending meetings, signing documents, and otherwise doing the corporeal job of running the city.
But whether VIC—and Victor—will be allowed to run at all is still an open question.
ChatGPT is bullshit
Abstract: Recently, there has been considerable interest in large language models: machine learning systems which produce human-like text and dialogue. Applications of these systems have been plagued by persistent inaccuracies in their output; these are often called "AI hallucinations". We argue that these falsehoods, and the overall activity of large language models, is better understood as bullshit in the sense explored by Frankfurt (On Bullshit, Princeton, 2005): the models are in an important way indifferent to the truth of their outputs. We distinguish two ways in which the models can be said to be bullshitters, and argue that they clearly meet at least one of these definitions. We further argue that describing AI misrepresentations as bullshit is both a more useful and more accurate way of predicting and discussing the behaviour of these systems. And this bullshit might just be 'good enough' to give bosses even more leverage against workers.
You can see the future first in San Francisco.
Maybe you can see the future first in Dallas? [Previously] Or is the future no more than what the markets will pay for?
Elon Musk Withdraws His Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Sam Altman
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Elon Musk is livid about new OpenAI/Apple deal
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Enlarge (credit: Anadolu / Contributor | Anadolu)
Elon Musk is so opposed to Apple's plan to integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT with device operating systems that he's seemingly spreading misconceptions while heavily criticizing the partnership.
On X (formerly Twitter), Musk has been criticizing alleged privacy and security risks since the plan was announced Monday at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
"If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies," Musk posted on X. "That is an unacceptable security violation." In another post responding to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Musk wrote, "Don't want it. Either stop this creepy spyware or all Apple devices will be banned from the premises of my companies."
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CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP
- ChatGPT Integration Fortifies Apple’s Siri and Writing Tools – Source: www.databreachtoday.com
ChatGPT Integration Fortifies Apple’s Siri and Writing Tools – Source: www.databreachtoday.com
Source: www.databreachtoday.com – Author: 1 Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning , Next-Generation Technologies & Secure Development AI Integration Boosts Siri’s User Writing Tools As Apple Plays Catch Up to Rivals Michael Novinson (MichaelNovinson) • June 10, 2024 (Image: Apple) Device giant Apple announced Monday a response to attention-grabbing generative AI moves from Google […]
La entrada ChatGPT Integration Fortifies Apple’s Siri and Writing Tools – Source: www.databreachtoday.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.
Apple Intelligence and Privacy @ WWDC '24
The system will debut in the pending iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia releases and is composed of three separate layers: 1) On device, the primary mode which draws upon all personal information across apps, contacts, conversations, etc. to create a highly-detailed, user-specific context Apple refers to as a "semantic index." In addition to the ability to parse information currently displayed on screen when requested, there is a new developer API so that third-party applications can specify what kind of information Siri can draw from them, and request appropriate generated text and images. The specific information gathered and any derived data or personalized fine-tuning remains on your device, with the limited exception of difficult queries which are handed off to... 2) Private Cloud Compute, a semi-anonymous cloud-based neural network inference service hosted by Apple with exposure of personal data limited specifically to the query at hand, using a cryptographically-signed software stack and operating with a no-data-retention policy. The segment on Private Cloud Compute featured an unusually candid critique of the data harvesting common to machine learning systems by competing tech giants, without specifically naming... 3) OpenAI's ChatGPT, which will be available later this year and only with explicit user opt-in (on each individual query) for queries the new Siri detects as likely to benefit from scale beyond both on-device hardware and Private Cloud Compute. Data sent to OpenAI is heavily anonymized and multi-modal (meaning combined text and images) for asking questions about an image. Apple mentioned that other models may later become available, but did not specify whether this meant Google's Gemini, Facebook's Llama-3, or potentially even self-hosted endpoints based on open source models like Mistral 8x7b.
How Apple and Google Are Overhauling Our Phones With AI
© Sisi Yu
Apple unveils “Apple Intelligence” AI features for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS
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Enlarge (credit: Apple)
On Monday, Apple debuted "Apple Intelligence," a new suite of free AI-powered features for iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia that includes creating email summaries, generating images and emoji, and allowing Siri to take actions on your behalf. These features are achieved through a combination of on-device and cloud processing, with a strong emphasis on privacy. Apple says that Apple Intelligence features will be widely available later this year and will be available as a beta test for developers this summer.
The announcements came during a livestream WWDC keynote and a simultaneous event attended by the press on Apple's campus in Cupertino, California. In an introduction, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company has been using machine learning for years, but the introduction of large language models (LLMs) presents new opportunities to elevate the capabilities of Apple products. He emphasized the need for both personalization and privacy in Apple's approach.
At last year's WWDC, Apple avoided using the term "AI" completely, instead preferring terms like "machine learning" as Apple's way of avoiding buzzy hype while integrating applications of AI into apps in useful ways. This year, Apple figured out a new way to largely avoid the abbreviation "AI" by coining "Apple Intelligence," a catchall branding term that refers to a broad group of machine learning, LLM, and image generation technologies. By our count, the term "AI" was used sparingly in the keynote—most notably near the end of the presentation when Apple executive Craig Federighi said, "It's AI for the rest of us."
Apple Intelligence Revealed at WWDC 2024 as Company Jumps Into AI Race
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DuckDuckGo offers “anonymous” access to AI chatbots through new service
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Enlarge (credit: DuckDuckGo)
On Thursday, DuckDuckGo unveiled a new "AI Chat" service that allows users to converse with four mid-range large language models (LLMs) from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Mistral in an interface similar to ChatGPT while attempting to preserve privacy and anonymity. While the AI models involved can output inaccurate information readily, the site allows users to test different mid-range LLMs without having to install anything or sign up for an account.
DuckDuckGo's AI Chat currently features access to OpenAI's GPT-3.5 Turbo, Anthropic's Claude 3 Haiku, and two open source models, Meta's Llama 3 and Mistral's Mixtral 8x7B. The service is currently free to use within daily limits. Users can access AI Chat through the DuckDuckGo search engine, direct links to the site, or by using "!ai" or "!chat" shortcuts in the search field. AI Chat can also be disabled in the site's settings for users with accounts.
According to DuckDuckGo, chats on the service are anonymized, with metadata and IP address removed to prevent tracing back to individuals. The company states that chats are not used for AI model training, citing its privacy policy and terms of use.
Israel Secretly Targets U.S. Lawmakers With Influence Campaign on Gaza War
© Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times, Kenny Holston/The New York Times
OpenAI Whistle-Blowers Describe Reckless and Secretive Culture
© Jason Andrew for The New York Times
Google Rolls Back A.I. Search Feature After Flubs and Flaws
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The New ChatGPT Offers a Lesson in AI Hype
© Arsenii Vaselenko for The New York Times
Microsoft’s Windows Recall: Cutting-Edge Search Tech or Creepy Overreach?
SecurityWeek editor-at-large Ryan Naraine examines the broad tension between tech innovation and privacy rights at a time when ChatGPT-like bots and generative-AI apps are starting to dominate the landscape.
The post Microsoft’s Windows Recall: Cutting-Edge Search Tech or Creepy Overreach? appeared first on SecurityWeek.
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SecurityWeek
- OpenAI Forms Safety Committee as It Starts Training Latest Artificial Intelligence Model
OpenAI Forms Safety Committee as It Starts Training Latest Artificial Intelligence Model
OpenAI is setting up a new safety and security committee and has begun training a new artificial intelligence model to supplant the GPT-4 system that underpins its ChatGPT chatbot.
The post OpenAI Forms Safety Committee as It Starts Training Latest Artificial Intelligence Model appeared first on SecurityWeek.
OpenAI Says It Has Begun Training a New Flagship A.I. Model
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Scarlett Johansson Said No, but OpenAI’s Virtual Assistant Sounds Just Like Her
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Can AI Make the PC Cool Again? Microsoft Thinks So.
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OpenAI’s Flirty New Assistant, Google Guts the Web and We Play HatGPT
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Inside OpenAI’s Library
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OpenAI’s Chief Scientist, Ilya Sutskever, Is Leaving the Company
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A.I.’s ‘Her’ Era Has Arrived
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OpenAI Unveils New ChatGPT That Listens, Looks and Talks
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Apple Will Revamp Siri to Catch Up to Its Chatbot Competitors
© Amy Matsushita-Beal
Meta and Google Are Betting on AI Voice Assistants. Will They Take Off?
© Derek Abella
Friends From the Old Neighborhood Turn Rivals in Big Tech’s A.I. Race
© Left, Enric Fontcuberta/EPA, via Shutterstock; right, Clara Mokri for The New York Times