The week on AI – November 17, 2024

Are LLM reaching a plateau?

The reasoning capabilities of LLMs may be reaching a plateau, suggesting that the scaling laws might be hitting a limit. Scaling laws which are based on observations and are not proper laws (like the Moore Law), describe how machine learning models improve as a function of resource allocation, such as compute power, dataset size, or model parameters. Reports suggest that OpenAI’s upcoming model, Orion, is showing only modest improvements over GPT-4, falling short of the significant leaps seen in earlier model iterations. The industry is beginning to exhaust its data for training LLMs, and the legal disputes over copyright rights are escalating. Additionally, the use of synthetic data generated by AI presents its own set of challenges. In addition, computation power is not limitless, even in the cloud, and it brings limitations and hard decisions for LLM developers like OpenAI. The industry is working to overcome these challenges by developing new training approaches that align more closely with human thinking. This has already been used in the development of OpenAI’s o1 model.

Google DeepMind has a new way to look inside AI models

As previously discussed, we currently do not fully understand how AI operates. Google DeepMind has taken on this challenge by introducing Gemma Scope, which is a collection of open, sparse autoencoders (SAEs) aimed at providing insights into the internal workings of language models. This research falls under the category of mechanistic interpretability. To better control AI, we will need to further refine our approaches, balancing the need to reduce or eliminate undesirable behaviors—like promoting violence — without compromising the model’s overall knowledge. Additionally, removing undesirable knowledge is a complex task, particularly when it involves information that should not be widely disseminated (such as bomb-making instructions) as well as knowledge that may be incorrect [on the internet]. Mechanistic interpretability has the potential to enhance our understanding of AI, ensuring that it is both safe and beneficial. Read

Elevating AI-coding to the next level

In a crowded landscape filled with AI coding tools such as GitHub Copilot, Dodeium, Replit, and Tabnine, many of these options function primarily as coding assistants. Tessl aims to elevate AI-based coding to the next level. They envisions a future where software developers transition into roles more akin to architects or product managers, allowing artificial intelligence to handle the majority of the coding. Upon examining their proposal on their website, it seems that Tessl is not attempting to turn everyone into a developer (at least not yet). Their tool will still be targeted at developers but will empower them to define what they want to build and let the Tessl AI tool define the internal architecture of the solution and develop it. Let’s see how far they can push the concept. They have just raised another USD 100 million making them worth a reported USD 750 million. Read

Other readings

> Inside Elon Musk’s colossus supercomputer, watch (no content guarantee)
> Amazon to develop its own AI chips to take on Nvidia, read
> Nvidia’s message to global chipmakers, read
> A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness, Read

The week on AI – October 27, 2024

Perplexity AI search start-up targets USD 8bn valuation

Perplexity AI is an AI-powered search engine that leverages large language to deliver fast, accurate answers to user queries. The company positions itself as a user-focused alternative to traditional search engines like Google, aiming to provide a more streamlined and informative search experience without relying on advertisements. Perplexity differentiates itself by offering concise summaries of search results with citations, enabling users to easily verify information and avoid the often overwhelming presence of sponsored content found on other platforms. Driven by the success of other AI ventures and the potential of AI-powered search, Perplexity is actively pursuing a new round of funding, aiming to raise between USD 500 million and USD 1 billion. This would increase its valuation to an impressive USD 8 billion, more than double its previous valuation of USD 3 billion in June. Perplexity’s current investors include prominent names like Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, Andrej Karpathy, Yann LeCun, and SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, reflecting the strong belief in the company’s potential to disrupt the search engine landscape. While Perplexity’s annualized revenues have increased from USD 5 million in January to USD 35 million in August, the company is not yet turning a profit. This is largely due to the substantial operating costs associated with training and maintaining its advanced AI models. The expenses related to these models reportedly amount to “millions of dollars,” potentially creating a significant burn rate as the company strives to establish a sustainable business model. Perplexity’s reliance on venture capital funding underscores this financial challenge, as the company works to achieve profitability through subscriptions and other revenue streams. Read

Notebook LM from Google, to help with research and writing

Notebook LM (https://notebooklm.google.com) is a new tool from Google designed to help users quickly create content based on specified information. This means it utilizes only the information you provide and includes references to the sources, so that content can be quickly verified (eliminate hallucinations). It excels at writing and following instructions, which is not always the case with ChatGPT and other LLM models. Be sure to watch the video that explains Notebook LM. I have been experimenting for quite a few days now, and I must say that I love it.

The future of automation is [almost] here

Anthropic has released the “Computer Use” API, allowing developers to automate processes much like a human would use a computer. Although the AI is still in its early stages, slow, and not yet performing optimally, it will likely improve rapidly in the coming months. A demo is available on Anthropic’s website. Similar tools will be released in the coming weeks from companies like Microsoft, Asana, and Salesforce, among others. But it seems that Anthropic is ahead of the game on that one.

ARM CEO sees AI transforming the world much faster than the internet

Arm Holdings plc is a British semiconductor and software design company based in Cambridge, specializing in the architecture and licensing of central processing unit (CPU) technologies. Founded in 1990, Arm’s designs are integral to a wide range of devices, from smartphones to automotive systems. Rene Haas, the CEO of ARM, is optimistic about the future of AI and believes its evolution will be faster than that of the internet revolution. One of the main challenges ARM is facing is the need for more engineers. As AI continues to grow, we will require more energy, but it’s also crucial to develop more efficient chips. Read

Other readings

>Intel has tough choices to make to survive. Read
> OpenAI to release its latest model Orion before the end of 2024. Read But it does not seem for 2024 anymore! Read