Earlier this month, DeepMind unveiled a new “generalist” AI model called Gato. The model can play Atari video game, subtitle images, chat and compose blocks with the help of a real robot hand, announced the AI lab owned by Alphabet. In total, Gato can perform hundreds of different tasks.
But while Gato is undeniably exciting, a week after its release some researchers were a little fascinated.
One of DeepMind’s top researchers and co-author of Gato’s work, Nando de Freitas, couldn’t contain his excitement. “The game is over!” he tweeted, suggesting that there is now a clear path from Gato to artificial general intelligence, or “AGI,” a vague concept of human-level or superman-level AI. The way the AGI is created, he argued, is mostly a matter of scale: making models like the Gato bigger and better.
Not surprisingly, de Freitas ’announcement sparked breathless press coverage that Deepmind was“ on the edge ”of artificial intelligence at the human level. This is not the first time the hype has overtaken reality. Other interesting new models of artificial intelligence, such as the OpenAI GPT-3 text generator and the DALL-E image generator, have caused similar big claims.
For many in this field, this type of feverish discourse overshadows other important areas of research in AI. Read the full story.
-Melis Heikkiel
Required reading
I combed the Internet to find for you today the funniest / most important / scary / fascinating stories about technology.
1 Volunteers translate messages on Chinese social networks into English
Despite reports that the regime has passed censorship online, Beijing is unhappy. (Atlantic Dollar)
+ WeChat wants people to use its video platform. So they did for the digital protests. (TR)
2 The startup community of Ukraine resumes work as usual
Many workers combine their daily work with volunteering after the war. (WP $)
+ Russian-speaking technology bosses living in the United States are severing ties with pro-war workers. (NYT $)
+ YouTube has removed more than 9,000 war-related channels. (The Guardian)
3 The shooting in Buffalo highlighted the shortcomings of the counter-terrorism agreement
Critics say the platform has not done enough to tackle the root causes of extremism. (WSJ $)
+ Since Sandy Hook, America has experienced more than 3,500 mass shootings. (WP $)
4 Crypto seems to have problems with insider trading
Just like the banking system, supporters oppose it. (WSJ $)
+ Christine Lagarde considers the crypt “worthless”. (Bloomberg $)
+ Crypto is experiencing a fierce storm. Some are still clinging to an expensive life. (TR)
+ The crypto industry has lost about $ 1.5 trillion since November. (Atlantic Dollar)
+ Stablecoin Tether has paid $ 10 billion since the crash began. (The Guardian)
5 In the fusion industry concern
It is not even working yet, but fuel supplies are running low. (Wired $)
+ A pit in the ground could become the future of fusion energy. (TR)
+ This summer, the US Midwest may face a power outage. (motherboard)
6 Big Tech is not worried about the economic downturn
Even if it lowers its market value along the way. (NYT $)
+ But lawmakers are determined to curb their antitrust laws. (Recode)
+ Their carbon emissions are also getting out of control. (New Yorker $)
7 The US military wants to build a flying ship
The Liberty Lifer X-plane will be independent of stationary airfields and ports. (IEEE Spectrum)
8 We need to change the ways we recycle plastic
The good news is that the technology for its overhaul exists – it just needs improvement. (Wired $)
+ The French company uses enzymes to process one of the most common disposable plastics. (TR)
9 Why you should treat the use of the phone as a fault
Achieving a fine balance from stopping the positive to the negative. (The Guardian $)
10 Inside the useful world of online knitting 🧶
His favorite works of the knitter won the cult. (Introduction)
+ How the ban on the pattern of Trump unraveled the world of online knitting. (TR)
Quote of the day
“I like the instant fun of improving the Internet.”
-Jason Moore, who is credited with creating more than 50,000 pages of Wikipedia, tells CNN about his motivations to take on unpaid work.
