The AI Digest
Your weekly AI news blast - creating meaningful discussions around AI - 15th July
Read time: 2 mins 45 secs
OpenAI Unveils GPT-4o mini
What is it? OpenAI’s most cost efficient, small model. Think of it as replacing GPT 3.5 Turbo.
Why is it important? Much more affordable. 60% cheaper than 3.5 Turbo. Low latency, large context window (ideal for chatbot). Supports text and vision with the API.
Will’s Take: Faster, cheaper, more intelligent. This is the development needed to make models more accessible globally. Democratising AI is very important, ensuring AI works to level up the whole world, rather than leaving places behind, and this is a step on the right path.
Trump’s Allies reportedly drafting AI executive order
What is it? A plan aimed at boosting military AI development and rolling back current regulations.
Why is it important? The plan would immediately review and eliminate ‘burdensome regulations’ on AI development and repeal Biden’s AI executive order (focused on AI containment and safety).
Will’s Take: AI is the future, therefore, it’s political. Does a plan like this accelerate AI innovation in America? Most likely. Does it increase the chance AI will be harmful? I think so. I’m not convinced this trade-off is worth it, especially considering the pace of innovation already and that regulation is behind.
Microsoft AI Designer app is out
What is it? Brings advanced image generation, editing, and design capabilities to users on mobile and Windows platforms.
Why is it important? Figma, Canva competitor. Microsoft is making a move in the design space with AI.
Will’s take: Integrating this into Microsoft products (laptops, browsers, CoPilot) is extremely powerful and seamless. This could become a beginner-friendly, more accessible Figma people start turning to.
OpenAI getting AI to explain itself better
What is it? OpenAI is using a "Prover-Verifier Game" where a stronger AI model (the prover) tries to convince a weaker model (the verifier) that its answers are correct.
Why is it important? Through multiple rounds of the game, the prover learns to generate solutions that are not only correct, but also easier to verify.
Will’s take: Optimising for legibility increases human understanding of outputs. As AI models improve, keeping sight of human comprehension will be key. We still need to understand the solutions AI gives us!
China using censors to ensure ‘socialist AI’
What is it? Chinese government officials are testing artificial intelligence companies’ large language models to ensure their systems “embody core socialist values”.
Why is it important? China is putting in place the world’s toughest regulatory regime to govern AI and the content it generates.
Will’s Take: Up until now, we have seen the majority of models (whether from the US, China or elsewhere) produce relatively similar outputs. 10 years into the future, how will these nation-specific regulations impact models’ outputs? Will they measurably change outputs at all?
Samsung sketch-to-image tool, scarily good?
What is it? Add a sketch to any photo you take and AI will add it to the photo.
Why is it important? It looks seamless. Click the link and check the before and afters!!!
Will’s Take: Will tools like this change the way we take and share photos? Will it change what we class as a ‘good’ photo? An insta-worthy photo? This could easily come under the category of deepfakes and may come under regulation scrutiny soon.