Download: AI Transparency and the Transformation of Twitter
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekly newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s happening in the world of technology.
It’s time for more transparency in artificial intelligence
Less than a week since Meta launched its open-source AI model, LLaMA 2, startups and researchers have already used it to develop chatbots and AI assistants. It will only be a matter of time before companies start launching products built with it.
LLaMA 2 makes a lot of sense. An agile, transparent, and customizable model that is free to use can help companies build AI products and services faster than they could with a large, complex proprietary model like OpenAI’s GPT-4.
By allowing the wider AI community to download and customize the model, Meta can help make it safer and more efficient. And crucially, it could demonstrate the benefits of transparency over secrecy when it comes to the inner workings of AI models – at a time when it couldn’t be more timely or more important. Read the story in its entirety.
— by Melissa Haykill
This is a story from The Algorithm, her weekly AI newsletter. Register to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday.
If you want to learn more about AI, check out our great recent reports:
+ A quick guide to all the most (and least) promising AI governance efforts around the world.
+ How existential risk became the biggest meme in AI.
+ Generative AI risks concentrating the power of Big Tech. Here’s how to stop it.
A must read
I’ve combed the web to find the funniest/important/scary/interesting tech stories for you today.
1 Twitter’s name change will cost its brand billions
“Tweets” are part of our cultural lexicon, but Elon Musk doesn’t care. (Bloomberg $)
+ He’s trying to destroy Twitter’s legacy and chart a risky new course. (WP$)
+ Musk is also projecting “s3xy” on the walls of the company’s headquarters. (NYT$)
+ If you’re a little sad about Twitter’s demise, you’re not alone. (vox)
+ However, the letter X has an enduring appeal. (The Guardian)
2 The world is not prepared for what OpenAI is working on
Sam Altman says his employees have created a dangerous artificial intelligence that they will never release. (Atlantic dollar)
+ His ambitions are increasingly at odds with regulators. (FT$)
+ It’s time to talk about the real risks of artificial intelligence. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Mastodon is rife with images of child abuse
It’s a grim reminder of how much harder it is to moderate decentralized platforms. (WP$)
4 China is fed up with Western sanctions
And he does not hesitate to take revenge. (Economist $)
+ China fights back in semiconductor export war. (MIT Technology Review)
5 It’s now harder for governments to flag people’s social media posts
While the US has already been restricted, the same kinds of checks are coming to Europe as well. (Wired $)
6 America’s farmland is turning into artificial intelligence data centers
Branched centers appear in rural areas. (Insider $)
7 The FBI has been doing a secret business with encrypted phones for years
Now the defense team wants the judge to name the country that helped them. (motherboard)
+ Eric Prince wants to sell you a “secure” smartphone that’s too good to be true. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Ozempic shouldn’t cost that much
After all, pharmaceutical companies exist to make money. (Slate $)
+ Weight loss injections have taken the Internet by storm. But what does this mean for people IRL? (MIT Technology Review)
9 Influencers are becoming a powerful tool for Indian politicians
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term next year and is taking no chances. (rest of the world)
10 We’re getting closer to learning more about asteroids
A mission more than a decade in the making is returning to Earth – complete with a precious cargo of rock and dust. (Ars Technica)
Quote of the day
“Is this what we want?”
— A senior Adobe designer doubts the extent to which the company should integrate artificial intelligence into its products if it threatens to put people out of work, Insider reports.
A great story
This company is going to grow new organs in humans for the first time
August 2022
In the coming weeks, a volunteer from Boston, Massachusetts will be the first to try a new treatment that could lead to the creation of a second liver in their body. And this is just the beginning – in the coming months, other volunteers will be tested with doses that could leave them with up to six livers.
Treatment company LyGenesis hopes to save lives for people with devastating liver diseases who are not suitable for transplants. Their approach involves injecting donor liver cells into the lymph nodes of diseased recipients, which can give rise to entirely new miniature organs.
These mini-livers should help compensate for the existing disease. This approach seems to work in mice, pigs and dogs. Now we’ll find out if it works in humans. Read the story in its entirety.
— Jessica Hamzelow
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these strange times. (Any ideas? Scribble me a few lines or shout at me.)
+ I’m not sure I like the sound of that pizza smelling Xbox controller.
+ If you’ve never listened to Jane Birkin’s great late music, these seven songs are a good place to start.
+ This story about a man who won a contest to look like Ernest Hemingway is very charming.
+ It’s true — video game underwater levels have always had the best soundtracks.
+ Transforming these digital codes into tangible pen drawings created true works of art.
