AI Innovations in June 2024 - AI - IT - Engineering - Cloud - Finance - Trends (2024)

Raspberry Pi launched a $70 AI Kit, an extension for the Raspberry Pi 5. It includes a neural network inference accelerator, the Hailo-8L, powered by Hailo’s AI chip. With it, the Raspberry Pi 5 can perform inferencing at 13 tera-ops per sec, facilitating tasks like object detection, semantic segmentation, and facial landmarking for camera applications. (https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/04/raspberry-pi-partners-with-hailo-for-its-ai-extension-kit)

TECNO CAMON 30 series launches Ella-GPT AI assistant

It supports over 70 languages, helps with daily tasks and content creation, and improves user interaction with features like real-time translations, voice commands, and personalized assistance. Additional capabilities include Ask AI for text editing and grammar checks and AI Generate for turning sketches into images.(https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/tecno-camon-30-series-introduces-new-ai-assistant-ella-gpt-432156-2024-06-05)

Snowflake empowers enterprise AI with new No-Code studio

It announced several updates to its Cortex AI service and Snowflake ML. The introduction of No-Code AI & ML Studio stands out among these enhancements, enabling every enterprise user to construct AI applications tailored to their specific use cases without requiring coding expertise. (https://venturebeat.com/ai/snowflake-doubles-down-on-enterprise-ai-with-no-code-studio-and-more)

Zoom’s CEO envisions AI clones in meetings

Zoom’s CEO, Eric Yuan, envisions AI-driven digital avatars, or “digital twins,” representing humans in meetings, potentially reducing the workweek to three or four days. He argues AI can efficiently manage tasks like Zoom calls, chats, and emails, allowing people to reclaim time spent in meetings. This initiative forms part of Zoom’s 2.0 journey, aiming to evolve beyond a mere videoconferencing tool. (https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/3/24168733/zoom-ceo-ai-clones-digital-twins-videoconferencing-decoder-interview)

Google’s AI Overviews appear on 70% fewer Search results pages now: https://www.zdnet.com/article/googles-ai-overviews-appear-on-70-fewer-search-results-pages-now

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s chip plans were ‘too aggressive’ for TSMC: https://the-decoder.com/openai-ceo-sam-altmans-chip-plans-were-too-aggressive-for-tsmc/

AI startup Cohere gets $450 million from Nvidia, Salesforce, and others: https://the-decoder.com/ai-startup-cohere-gets-450-million-from-nvidia-salesforce-and-others/

Cisco announces $1bn AI investment fund: https://techmonitor.ai/technology/ai-and-automation/cisco-ai-invest-fund

MIT’s new AI chatbot can simulate users’ future selves: https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/science/mit-ai-researchers-create-chatbot-to-simulate-future/story

Intel’s new data center chips handle demanding AI workloads
Amazon’s Project PI detects defective products before shipping
Microsoft’s Aurora AI could transform weather forecasting

High-quality education data key to AI performance: Research

LeCun criticizes Musk for mistreating scientists and spreading misinformation

Microsoft to invest $3.2 billion in Sweden to expand AI and cloud infrastructure

Microsoft identifies few AI deep fakes in the EU election

Intel’s new data center chips handle demanding AI workloads

Intel has announced next-generation Xeon 6 server processors to regain the data center market share it had been losing to AMD. They come in two varieties. The larger, more powerful version is designed to run the computations necessary to generate responses from complex AI models and other tasks requiring increased horsepower. Intel plans to help companies modernize their aging data center systems with Xeon 6 chips so they can generate new digital capabilities.

Intel also revealed that its Gaudi 3 AI accelerator chips would be priced much lower than its rivals’ products.

Why does it matter?

As more companies have started to deploy AI apps and models, the AI hardware space is getting heated with competition. Intel seems to be one of the only companies innovating across the full spectrum of the AI market opportunity– from semiconductor manufacturing to PCs and data center systems.

Source: https://venturebeat.com/ai/intel-reveals-xeon-6-processor-enterprise-ai-gaudi-3-accelerator-price

Amazon’s Project PI detects defective products before shipping

Amazon has launched Project PI, which uses AI to scan products for defects before shipping them to customers. This AI system combines computer vision to visually inspect items with generative AI models that can understand things like text on packages.

As products go through a scanning tunnel, the AI checks for damage, incorrect colors/sizes, or expired dates. If it finds a problem, that item is isolated to evaluate the defect. Project PI already operates in several of Amazon’s warehouses across North America. The system catches millions of defective products daily before they reach customers.

Why does it matter?

Using innovative AI systems, retailers can avoid dealing with returns and reshipments, reducing costs and inefficiencies. By cutting down unnecessary shipping, retailers minimize environmental impact and carbon emissions, contributing to sustainability goals.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/3/24170567/amazons-project-pi-product-defect-return-ai-computer-vision

Microsoft’s Aurora AI could transform weather forecasting

Microsoft has developed a powerful new AI foundation model called Aurora that can make highly accurate weather predictions. It is trained on over a million diverse weather and climate data hours. This allows it to develop a comprehensive understanding of atmospheric dynamics and excel at forecasting various weather variables like temperature, wind speed, air pollution levels, and greenhouse gas concentrations.

What sets Aurora apart is its ability to capture intricate details at high spatial resolution (around 11km) while being much faster and more computationally efficient than traditional numerical weather prediction systems. Aurora’s flexible architecture and training on heterogeneous datasets enable it to adapt to different forecasting tasks and resolutions.

Why does it matter?

This major advancement in AI-based weather forecasting could help communities prepare for extreme weather events like storms. AI will also play a bigger role in predicting the impacts of climate change. We may be nearing days when weatherman’s predictions will be 100% accurate.

Source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/introducing-aurora-the-first-large-scale-foundation-model-of-the-atmosphere

☕️ Robots serve up coffee at Starbucks

South Korean search giant Navershareda video of the company’s in-office autonomous Starbucks location —with 100 robots delivering coffee and other items throughout the building.

• Naver’s autonomous wheeled “Rookie” robots navigate the building’s 36 floors to bring packages, coffee, and lunch to employees.
• Rookie bots are assisted by dual-armed “Ambidex” robots, which are lightweight and dexterous for safer human interactions.
• Both robots connect to the company’s ARC system, which enables control of navigation, planning, and processing for the entire fleet through cloud computing.
• Naver also developed RoboPort, a dedicated elevator system that allows robots to move quickly and efficiently between floors.

Naver’s putting its robots to work in the ‘real world’ — and while the location is just a testing ground for now, it’s also a glimpse into how service robotics will be integrated into the mainstream sooner than many expect.

📦 Amazon’s AI ‘private investigator’

Amazon justunveiledProject P.I., an AI system that scans products in the company’s fulfillment centers to detect damaged or incorrect items before they ship to reduce returns and waste.

• Project P.I. uses AI and computer vision to spot defects like damaged products as well as wrong colors/sizes as items pass through imaging tunnels.
• The system is already in place across the company’s North American fulfillment centers, with plans to expand globally throughout the year.
• Amazon also utilizes a multimodal LLM to investigate issues further, combining customer feedback with Project P.I. images to identify the source problem.

Amazon’s no stranger to adopting AI across its operations, and Project P.I. is yet another innovative approach to supercharge efficiency. Soon, the company will likely combine these talents with advanced warehouse robots — taking humans out of the fulfillment process altogether.

Source: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/amazon-ai-sustainability-carbon-footprint-product-defects

What Else Is Happening in AI on June 04th 2024

Hugging Face detects ‘unauthorized access’ to its AI model hosting platform

Last week, Hugging Face detected unauthorized access to Spaces, its platform for creating, sharing, and hosting AI models. It suspects some Spaces secrets (private pieces of info that act as keys to unlock protected resources like accounts, tools, and dev environments) have leaked. It has taken steps to remediate this.(https://huggingface.co/blog/space-secrets-disclosure)

High-quality education data key to AI performance: Research

Researchers created a high-quality dataset called FineWeb-Edu by filtering an existing web dataset for educational content. Language models trained on FineWeb-Edu significantly outperformed models trained on unfiltered datasets. The research shows that data quality and diversity are more important than dataset size for training effective AI models.(https://x.com/gui_penedo/status/1797173053123916036)

LeCun criticizes Musk for mistreating scientists and spreading misinformation

LeCun has again rebuked Musk on X after they had a heated feud on X last week. This time, LeCun accused Musk of forcing researchers to work in secrecy instead of allowing them to publish their work, which slows scientific progress. He also accused Musk of falsely predicting AI and autonomous vehicles. (https://venturebeat.com/ai/yann-lecun-ai-pioneer-sharply-criticizes-elon-musk-over-treatment-of-scientists-and-spreading-of-misinformation)

Microsoft to invest $3.2 billion in Sweden to expand AI and cloud infrastructure

Microsoft will invest $3.2 billion over two years to expand its cloud and AI infrastructure in Sweden. Microsoft’s biggest investment to date in Sweden includes a pledge to help train some 250,000 people with AI skills, corresponding to 2.4% of the population, which will help boost the Nordic country’s competitiveness in generative AI. (https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-invest-32-bln-swedish-cloud-ai-2024-06-03)

Microsoft identifies few AI deep fakes in the EU election

As the European Union prepares for its elections in June 2024, the threat of AI-generated deepfakes has become a significant concern. Microsoft President Brad Smith highlighted this burning issue, emphasizing its potential impact on the democratic process and the steps Microsoft is taking to mitigate these risks.(https://www.reuters.com/technology/few-ai-deepfakes-identified-eu-elections-microsoft-president-says-2024-06-03 )

Windows AI feature is a security ‘disaster’

Zoom CEO wants AI clones in meetings

Nvidia and AMD unveil next generation AI chips as competition heats up

Nvidia announces an AI gaming assistant

Nvidia CEO drops a series of AI announcements
AMD outlined new chip architecture strategy for AI data centers
ElevenLabs’ Text to Sound AI wows creators

Windows AI feature is a security ‘disaster’

• Microsoft’s new AI-powered Recall feature, which captures and stores screenshots of all user activity on a PC, has been criticized as a cybersecurity “disaster” due to significant security vulnerabilities discovered during testing.
• Cybersecurity expert Kevin Beaumont found that Recall stores screenshots in an unencrypted plain text database, making it easy for malware and attackers to access sensitive data, despite Microsoft’s claims of a secure, encrypted experience.
• Privacy advocates and the UK’s ICC have raised concerns about Recall’s potential to expose personal information, with criticisms focusing on its default enabled status and the lack of comprehensive content moderation to protect sensitive data like passwords and financial information.
• Source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/3/24170305/microsoft-windows-recall-ai-screenshots-security-privacy-issues

Zoom CEO wants AI clones in meetings

• Zoom CEO Eric Yuan envisions using AI-powered digital twins to attend meetings on behalf of users, allowing people to manage their time more effectively.
• Yuan aims to expand Zoom beyond videoconferencing into the broader enterprise software market, competing with giants like Microsoft and Google by integrating productivity tools such as email and chat.
• Zoom is heavily investing in AI technology to facilitate this transition, although Yuan acknowledges challenges like AI hallucination that need to be addressed before fully realizing his vision.
• Source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/3/24168733/zoom-ceo-ai-clones-digital-twins-videoconferencing-decoder-interview

Nvidia and AMD unveil next generation AI chips as competition heats up

• Nvidia and AMD showcased their latest AI chips at a major computing conference, heightening their rivalry in the AI chip market.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang emphasized his company’s dominance and highlighted a new chip, Rubin, set for release in 2026, while AMD CEO Lisa Su focused on teamwork and collaborative presentations with industry partners.
• The competition between the two companies is significant for AI development, with Nvidia promoting a proprietary ecosystem and AMD advocating for open standards and interoperability.
• Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nvidia-amd-chiefs-square-off-101007730.html

Nvidia announces an AI gaming assistant

• Nvidia recently demonstrated its AI assistant, G-Assist, showcasing its evolution from an April Fools’ prank to a powerful tool for game developers and RTX GPU owners.
• G-Assist can respond to voice queries, understand in-game activities, provide guidance based on player’s skill points, and offer performance-enhancing recommendations for a smooth gaming experience.
• The AI assistant optimizes PC settings, monitors latency and frame rates, detects refresh rate discrepancies, and suggests ways to boost performance, including overclocking the GPU if necessary.
• Source: https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/science/nvidia-g-assist-ai-assistant-breaks-cover-features-specifications/story

Nvidia CEO drops a series of AI announcements

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed the company’s ambitious plans for annual AI accelerator upgrades, targeting a broader range of industries to expand its customer base.

• It will release the Blackwell Ultra chip in 2025 and the next-generation Rubin platform in 2026.
• It is also releasing a new server design, MGX, to help companies like HPE and Dell bring products to market faster.
• They are promoting the use of digital twins in its Omniverse virtual world, showcasing a digital twin of Earth for sophisticated modeling tasks.
• Introduces ProjectG-Assist, an RTX-powered AI assistant technology that provides context-aware help for PC games and apps.
• G-Assist uses voice or text inputs and game window snapshots to provide personalized responses based on in-game context.
• Developers can customize the AI models for specific games or apps, and they can run on the cloud or locally on GeForce RTX AI PCs and laptops.
• Nvidia partnered with Studio Wildcard for a tech demo using ARK: Survival Ascended, showcasing how G-Assist can help with quests, items, lore, and challenging bosses.Check out full keynote speech:
• https://www.youtube.com/live/pKXDVsWZmUU?si=mOPV2g0EP_gcUfMa

Why does it matter?

These announcements show how eager Nvidia is to retain its position as a leader in the AI hardware market. In addition to pushing the acceleration of AI chips, Nvidia is developing new tools to shape AI’s implementation in multiple sectors.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-02/jensen-huang-computex-keynote-nvidia-reveals-new-ai-software-and-services

AMD outlined new chip architecture strategy for AI data centers

AMD CEO Lisa Su introduced new AI processors at Computex, including the MI325X accelerator, set to be available in Q4 2024.

• The CEO announced the MI325X accelerator, which will be released in Q4 2024, and outlined the company’s plan to develop AI chips over the next two years.
• Introduced the MI350 series, expected in 2025, which promises a 35x improvement in inference performance compared to the current MI300 series.
• The company also teased the MI400 series, slated for 2026, based on the mysterious “Next” architecture.

With AMD and Nvidia moving to annual release cycles, the competition is heating up to meet the soaring demand for AI semiconductors.

Why does it matter?

AMD’s aggressive push to challenge Nvidia’s market leadership could lead to increased innovation, lower prices, and more widespread adoption of AI across various sectors.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/amd-launches-new-ai-chips-take-leader-nvidia-2024-06-03

ElevenLabs’ Text to Sound AI wows creators

ElevenLabs introduces Text to Sound, an AI model that generates sound effects, instrumental tracks, soundscapes, and character voices from text prompts. The tool aims to help film, TV, video games, and social media creators produce high-quality audio content quickly and affordably.

They have partnered with Shutterstock to fine-tune the model using their diverse audio library of licensed tracks. Users can generate sound effects by logging in, describing the desired sound, and downloading the best results.

Note:This tool doesn’t have a content filter and can generate any raw content through conditional prompting.

Why does it matter?

It could significantly reduce production costs and timelines by simplifying the development of high-quality sound effects, music, and voices, encouraging smaller studios and individual creators to compete with larger players.

Source: https://elevenlabs.io/blog/sound-effects-are-here

What Else Is Happening in AI on June 03rd 2024

xAI is developing two new modes for the Grok AI chatbot

These two new modes are ‘Socrates’ and ‘DEI’ (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). Grok currently offers normal mode, fun mode, and the recently announced ‘Unhinged’ mode. In DEI mode, Grok will act as a ‘Senior VP of Diversity and Inclusion’ and provide correct answers even to incorrect questions. The function of the ‘Socrates’ mode is not yet clear. The release date for these new modes has not been confirmed. (https://www.latestly.com/socially/technology/grok-new-modes-elon-musks-xai-working-on-two-new-modes-called-socrates-and-dei-likely-to-be-announced-soon-6006912.html)

Sony Pictures CEOannounces AI plans for better movie and TV production

The move comes amid negotiations between Hollywood’s major crew union and top studios. While union agreements will define the extent of AI use in the industry, the tech is already eliminating jobs in Hollywood, particularly in voice acting, concept art, VFX, and postproduction. (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sony-pictures-adopt-ai-streamline-production-says-ceo-tony-vinciquerra-1235912109)

Arm predicts 100 Billion devices AI-ready by 2025

According to CEO Rene Haas at the Computex forum in Taipei, Arm Holdings expects a staggering 100 billion Arm devices worldwide to be primed for artificial intelligence by the end of 2025. (https://www.reuters.com/technology/arm-expects-100-billion-arm-devices-will-be-ready-ai-by-end-2025-2024-06-03)

Meta’s AI generates bizarre summaries of Facebook comments on various posts

The AI picks up on both serious and lighthearted comments, often highlighting the more outlandish ones. It’s unclear how Meta chooses which posts to display these summaries on. However, the summaries have raised privacy concerns, as Meta feeds user comments into its AI system. (https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/31/24168802/meta-ai-facebook-comments-summaries)

Finnish startup Binit is developing an AI household waste tracker

The gadget, designed to be mounted in the kitchen, has cameras and sensors to scan items before throwing them away. Binit uses OpenAI’s GPT for image recognition, achieving nearly 98% accuracy in trash recognition. The app provides analytics, feedback, and gamification to encourage users to reduce waste, with tests showing a 40% reduction in mixed bin waste. (https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/03/binit-is-bringing-ai-to-trash)

Latest AI Tools on June 03rd 2024:

• Consistent Character Model– Create consistent character images in different poses: https://supertools.therundown.ai/content/consistent-character-mode
• Perplexity Pages– Turn your research into shareable articles with AI: https://supertools.therundown.ai/content/paper-clipserplexity-ai
• PixVerse Magic Brush – Brush areas, mark directions, and watch images come to life: https://supertools.therundown.ai/content/pixverse
• Glaze – Protect artists from generative AI: https://supertools.therundown.ai/content/glaze
• Fontjoy – Helps designers find perfect font pairings in one click: https://supertools.therundown.ai/content/fontjoy
• Eva Coach– An AI assistant to help manage work-related stress: https://supertools.therundown.ai/content/eve-coach

Latest AI Jobs on June 03rd 2024:

• Figure AI – Solutions Lead: https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/59875235-solutions-lead
• Kumo – Software Engineer Internship: https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/61517389-software-engineer-internship
• Palantir Technologies – Backend Software Engineer, Application Development: https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/61517369-backend-software-engineer-application-development
• Meta – Technical Program Manager, AI Research: https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/60072576-technical-program-manager-ai-research

A Daily Chronicle of AI Innovations in May 2024