UsefulAINewsBackup7Aug24


Last update: Wednesday  8/7/24
This weekly news page provides links to reports about major innovations in generative AI. This page is not for AI experts. It's for (1) computer savvy professionals who want to be alert to genAI's potential impact on their careers, and (2) computer savvy citizens who want to be alert to genAI's potential impact on our society.

Most of the links on this page refer to reports published after the "AI Big Bang", i.e., after Sam Altman's dismissal from and return to OpenAI, i.e., after November 20, 2023. The previous edition of this page can be found here ➡ PreBigBang  

A. OpenAI  | B. Microsoft | C. Google | D. Other Models | E. LLM News | 
F. SLM News | G. Public Policy | H. OpEds+Misc | I. Hacks | J. Basics

Top 2 stories in past week ...  

... Upcoming events
  • Nvidia will issue its next quarterly on August 28, 2024 
  • Made by Google 2024, August 13th
Evolving context and connections ... 
Fast moving AI news is often exciting, but also confusing. This page is designed to provide readers with an evolving context for the news and reminders of the connections between news items. From time to time, links to older stories whose content has been overcome by newer events will be deleted. However, enough older links will be retained so that readers can get a quick sense of how we got to where we are today by skimming the headlines of the preceding stories in chronological order. No section will ever include more than 12 stories.
 ➡ Our publication schedule

A. OpenAI
B. Microsoft 
C. Google 

D. Amazon, Facebook, Anthropic, Apple, and other Big Tech models
  • "Amazon Takes a Big Stake [$4 G7 conference (Nov 27-Dec 1, Las Vegas, NV)
    -- Overview "Here’s everything Amazon Web Services announced at AWS re:Invent", Christine Hall, TechCrunch, 11/29/23
    -- Amazon Q, an AI-powered chatbot for AWS customers ..."Amazon Introduces Q, an A.I. Chatbot for Companies", Karen Weise, NY Times, 11/28/23 ... This story also covered by Bloomberg, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, 
    -- Image generator "Amazon joins AI image creation fray with new model", Emilia David, The Verge, 11/29/23 ... This story also covered by Bloomberg, Engadget,     Gizmodo

  • "A.I. Start-Up Anthropic Challenges OpenAI and Google With New Chatbot", Cade Metz, NY Times, 3/4/24 
    -- This story also covered by TechCrunch, CNBC, CNET, Bloomberg,

  • "In Latest A.I. War Escalation, Elon Musk Releases Chatbot Code", Kate Conger and Cade Metz, NY Times, 3/17/24 
    -- This story also covered by TechCrunch, The Verge, Wired, VentureBeat, Mashable, ... and xAI

  • "Inside the Creation of the World’s Most Powerful Open Source AI Model", Will Knight,  Wired, 3/27/24 
    -- Model is called DBRX ... 136 billion parameters
    -- This story also covered by The Information, Business Insider ... and Databricks

  • "Amazon Adds $2.75 Billion to Its Stake in the A.I. Start-Up Anthropic",Karen Weise, NY Times, 3/27/24 
    -- This story also covered by Bloomberg, VentureBeat, The Information, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch

  • "Elon Musk announces Grok-1.5, nearing GPT-4 level performance", Shubham Sharma, VentureBeat, 3/29/24 
    -- This story also covered by TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Endgadget,  ... and xAI (Musk)

  • "Meta’s battle with ChatGPT begins now", Alex Heath, The Verge, 4/18/24
    -- This article focuses on Meta's chatbot, the "Meta AI assistant". The chatbot runs on Facebook's new Llama 3 family of open source models. The smaller members of the family are described in greater detail in articles in section "F. Small Language Model news" (below). The huge model has not been released yet.
    -- Meta AI is also discussed by Mashable, TechCrunch, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, NY Times,
    -- A NY Times tech writer's low rating for MetaAI
    "Meta’s A.I. Assistant Is Fun to Use, but It Can’t Be Trusted", Brian X. Chen, NY Times, 4/24/24

  • "Anthropic finally releases a Claude mobile app", Emilia David, The Verge, 5/1/24 
    -- This story also covered by Gizmodo, Bloomberg, Mashable, Engadget, Ars Technica, ... and Anthropic

  • "Anthropic’s AI now lets you create bots to work for you", Kylie Robison, The Verge, 5/30/24
    -- This story also covered by Wired, 

  • "Apple’s AI, Apple Intelligence, is boring and practical — that’s why it works", Sarah Perez, TechCrunch, 6/11/24 ... and a video on X/Twitter  
    -- This story also covered by Engadget,

  • "Anthropic has a fast new AI model — and a clever new way to interact with chatbots", David Pierce, The Verge, 6/20/24 
    -- This story also covered by Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Wired, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, Reuters, CNET, 

E. Large Language Model (LLM) news
F. Small Language Model (SLM) news 
Note: News reports are classified in this category if and only if they explicitly refer to models with less than 70 billion (70B) parameters. 
  • "Europe’s largest seeded startup Mistral AI releases first model, outperforming Llama 2 13Bx", Shubham Sharma, VentureBeat, 9/27/23 ... Mistral 7B
    -- This story also covered by Mistral

  • "Microsoft releases Phi-2, a small language model AI that outperforms Llama 2, Mistral 7B", Carl Franzen, VentureBeat, 12/12/23 
    -- This story also covered by ZDNet, TechRepublic, Medium, Computerworld ... and Microsoft

  • "Allen Institute for AI releases ‘truly open source’  LLM to drive ‘critical shift’ in AI development", Sharon Goldman, VentureBeat, 2/1/24 ... OLMo 7B parameters
    -- This story also covered by TechCrunch ... and Allen Institute

  • "Google goes 'open AI'" with Gemma, a free, open-weights chatbot family", Benj Edwards, Ars Technica, 2/21/24 ...7B and 28B
    -- This story also covered by Reuters, Fast Company, Hugging Face, Fortune, NY Times ... and Google

  • "Generative AI and the big buzz about small language models", Clint Boulton, VentureBeat, 2/29/24

  • "Meta releases Llama 3, claims it’s among the best open models available", Kyle Wiggers, TechCrunch, 4/18/24 
    -- Meta's announcement of Llama 3 ➡ HERE
    -- Another Big Tech's opinion: "Elon Musk’s ‘not bad’ review thrusts Meta’s Llama 3 AI into spotlight", Michael Nuñez, VentureBeat, 4/19/24

  • "Microsoft Makes a New Push Into Smaller A.I. Systems", Karen Weise and Cade Metz, NY Times, 4/23/24  
    -- This story also covered by The Verge, Engadget, Ars Technica, ZDNet ... and AI Revolution YouTube Video... and Microsoft ➡ Microsoft benchmarks pdf

  • "Why Apple is taking a small-model approach to generative AI", Brian Heater, TechCrunch, 6/11/24  
    --     Apple's small language model strategy also discussed by VentureBeat, Wired, The Verge, ... and Apple (SLM) plus Apple ("private cloud compute" extension of SLM)

G. Public policy and legal considerations  
  • "AI cannot be patent 'inventor', UK Supreme Court rules in landmark case", Reuters, 12/20/23

  • "The New York Times sued Microsoft and OpenAI for alleged copyright infringement, touching off a legal fight over generative-AI technologies, with implications for the future of the news business", Alexandra Bruell, Wall Street  Journal, 12/27/23 
    -- A related story (podcast) ➡ "How Adobe is managing the AI copyright dilemma, with general counsel Dana Rao", Nilay Patel, TheVerge, 1/9/24

  • "F.C.C. Bans A.I.-Generated Robocalls", Cecilia Kang, NY Times, 2/8/24  
    -- This story also covered by NY Times, CNN, Forbes, NPR ... and the FCC

  • "Forced to Change: Tech Giants Bow to Global Onslaught of Rules", Adam Satariano and David McCabe, NY Times, 3/4/24
  • "World’s Most Extensive AI Rules Approved in EU Despite Criticism", Jillian Deutsch, Bloomberg, 3/13/24  
    -- This story also covered by TechCrunch, BBC, Wall StreetJournal, VentureBeat, The Information, Mashable ... and European Parliament

  • "France Fines Google Amid A.I. Dispute With News Media", Adam Satariano, NY Times, 3/20/24
  • "President Joe Biden to announce AI data center at failed Foxconn site in Wisconsin", Gaby Del Valle, The Verge, 5/8/24
    -- This story also covered by Gizmodo, Reuters, Washington Post, NY Times,... and The White House

  • "Senators studied AI for a year. Critics call the result ‘pathetic.’", Cat Zakrzewski, Washington Post, 5/15/24
    -- This story also covered by Engadget, The Verge,     The Hill, Politico, NY Times, 

  • "Senate committee passes three bills to safeguard elections from AI, months before Election Day", The Verge, Lauren Feiner, 5/15/24

  • "Apple may delay AI features in the EU because of its big tech law", Richard Lawler, The Verge, 6/21/24  
    -- This story also covered by  Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, 

  • "UK antitrust officials join FTC in investigating Microsoft's hiring of Inflection AI staff", Kris Holt, Engadget, 7/18/24 
    -- This story also covered by TechCrunch, The Verge, Bloomberg, 

H. Misc = Opinions, other news, rumors, long reads
  • A trio NY Times audio interviews from Ezra Klein about generative AI. 
    -- 1. "How Should I Be Using A.I. Right Now?", Guest = Ethan Mollick (professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania), Ezra Klein (NY Times podcast + transcript), 4/2/24 

    -- 2. "Will A.I. Break the Internet or Save It?", Guest = Nilay Patel (Editor of The Verge), Ezra Klein (NY Times podcast + transcript), 4/5/24 

    --  3. "What if Dario Amodei is Right About A.I.", Guest = Dario Amodei (CEO of Anthropic), Ezra Klein (NY Times podcast + transcript), 4/12/24 

  • "Everything Apple announced during its iPad event, including new OLED iPad Pro", Alex Perry, Mashable, 5/7/24 ... with M4 chipset
    -- This story also covered by The Verge, Macworld, ... and Apple

  • "75% of Knowledge Workers Use AI on the Job, but Executives Are Dragging Their Feet", Lisa Lacy, CNET, 5/8/24 
    -- This story also covered by Wired, The Verge, Axios, CNBC, Fast Company, Fortune, ... and Microsoft and LinkedIn

  • "Nvidia Becomes Most Valuable Public Company, Topping Microsoft", Tripp Mickle and Joe Rennison, NY Tmes, 6/18/24  
    -- This story also covered by Forbes,  Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg,  
    -- Nvidia's CEO has expressed concerns "about whether his biggest customers are moving fast enough to install and generate revenue from Nvidia’s chips", Anissa Gardizy and Qianer Liu, The Information, 6/18/24
    -- Nvidia lost its #1 spot before the end of the week, "Nvidia Sheds $220 Billion After Short Run as Top Stock", Subrat Patnaik and Carmen Reinicke, Bloomberg, 6/21/24

  • "In a Surprise, OpenAI Is Selling More of Its AI Models Than Microsoft Is", Aaron Holmes, The Information, 6/27/24  

  • "Data centre boom reveals AI hype’s physical limits", Yawen Chen, Reuters, 7/4/24 
    -- Here's a more pessimistic take on the same issue: "AI's Energy Demands Are Out of Control. Welcome to the Internet's Hyper-Consumption Era",  TechCrunch, 7/11/24
    -- The following discussion considers less impactful ways to attain AI scaling: "Will the cost of scaling infrastructure limit AI’s potential?", Sean Michael Kerner, VentureBeat, 7/10/24
     
  • "The biggest names in AI have teamed up to promote AI security", Emma Roth, The Verge, 7/18/24 
    -- This story also covered by Google ... and CoSAI

  • "AI regulation in peril: Navigating uncertain times", Gary Grossman, VentureBeat, 7/21/24

  • "Why OpenAI Could Lose $5 Billion This Year", Amir Efrati and Aaron Holmes, The Information, 7/24/24

  • AI Big Tech quarterly earnings reports  
    +++ Alphabet/Google ...
    "Alphabet Reports 29% Jump in Profit as A.I. Efforts Begin to Pay Off", Nico Grant, NY Times, 7/23/24
    -- This story also covered by Yahoo!/finance, Reuters

    +++ Microsoft
    "Microsoft shares dip as cloud miss overshadows better-than-expected revenue and earnings", Jordan Novet, CNBC, 7/30/24
    -- This story also covered by Reuters, yahoo!/finance, Barron's, NY Times ... and Microsoft

    +++ Meta
    "Meta’s Upbeat Earnings Buy Time for AI Investment to Pay Off", Kurt Wagner, Bloomberg, 8/1/24
    -- This story also covered by NY Times, Forbes, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, CNBC 

    +++ Apple
    "Apple Reports Record June Earnings Despite Worst iPhone Sales In Years", Derek Saul, Forbes, 8/1/24 
    -- This story also covered by yahoo!/finance (video), Reuters, Wall Street Journal, ... and Apple

    +++ Amazon
    "Amazon shares slide on revenue miss, disappointing guidance for third quarter", Annie Palmer, CNBC, 8/1/24
    -- This story also covered by Bloomberg, yahoo!/finance, Business Insider, 

     ... Nvidia will issue its next quarterly on August 28, 2024 

  • Has Big Tech over invested in GenAI? Are we in a bubble that's about to burst? 
    -- "Big Tech’s AI Promises Become a ‘Show Me’ Story For Investors", Carmen Reinicke, Bloomberg, 8/3/24
    -- "This Week in AI: Companies are growing skeptical of AI’s ROI", Kyle Wiggers, TechCrunch, 7/31/24
    -- "The Generative-AI Revolution May Be a Bubble", Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 8/2/24
    -- "AI bubble: Tech stocks plummet with another potential 25% drop, analysts warn", Paolo Confino, Fortune, 8/2/24
    -- "Elliott says Nvidia is in a ‘bubble’ and AI is ‘overhyped’", Laurence Fletcher and Costas Mourselas, Financial Times, 8/2/24

I.  Language model flaws, hacks, and remedies
  • "Computer scientists claim to have discovered ‘unlimited’ ways to jailbreak ChatGPT", Clint Rainey,  FastCompany, 7/27/23 
    -- This story also covered by NY Times,  Mashable, Yahoo Finance, Wired, ZDNet, 
    -- Note: The research reported in these articles was conducted by Carnegie Mellon University

  • "Stanford study challenges assumptions about language models: Larger context doesn’t mean better understanding", Matt Marshall, VentureBeat, 7/21/23  
  • "Hackers Trick AI With ‘Bad Math’ to Expose Flaws and Biases", Katrina Manson, Bloomberg, 8/12/23 
    -- This story also covered by the NY Times

  • "Patronus AI finds ‘alarming’ safety gaps in leading AI systems", Michael Nuñez, VentureBeat, 12/19/23
  • "Anthropic researchers find that AI models can be trained to deceive", Emilia David, TechCrunch, 1/13/24 
    -- This story also covered by     VentureBeat  ... and Anthropic 

  • "Why Two Models Are Better Than One", Stephanie Palazzolo, The Information, 3/28/24
  • "Many-shot jailbreaking", Anthropic, 4/2/24 
    -- This story also covered by video on TechCrunch, 

  • "Measuring the Persuasiveness of Language Models", Anthropic, 4/9/24
  • "DeepMind researchers discover impressive learning capabilities in long-context LLMs", Ben Dickson, VentureBeat, 4/24/24 

  • "[Gen] AI Is a Black Box. Anthropic Figured Out a Way to Look Inside", Steven Levy, Wired, 5/22/24
    -- This story also covered by Fast Company, NY Times, Time, ... and Anthropic

  • "OpenAI Offers a Peek Inside the Guts of ChatGPT", Will Knight, Wired, 6/6/24  
    -- This story also covered by OpenAI Blog Note ... and underlying OpenAI Research Paper (pdf)  co-authored by Dr. Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike (before they resigned from OpenAI) and others on the recently disbanded “superalignment” team 

  • "A New Trick Could Block the Misuse of Open Source AI", Will Knight, Wired, 8/2/24
J. Basics 
  • "Watch an A.I. Learn to Write by Reading Nothing but Shakespeare or Harry Potter or Jane Austen or Star Trek or Moby Dick", Aatish Bhatia, NY Times, 4/27/23 
  • "What Is a Large Language Model, the Tech Behind ChatGPT?", Kurt Muehmel, Data Iku, 6/7/23 
  • "Textbooks Are All You Need II: phi-1.5 technical report", Yuanzhi Li, Sébastien Bubeck, Ronen Eldan, Allie Del Giorno, Suriya Gunasekar, Yin Tat Lee, Microsoft Research, September 2023

  • "Phi-2: The surprising power of small language models", Mojan Javaheripi and Sébastien Bubeck , Microsoft Research, 12/12/24
  • WTF are diffusion transformers 
    -- "Stable Diffusion 3.0 debuts new diffusion transformation architecture to reinvent text-to-image gen AI", Sean Michael Kerner, VentureBeat, 2/22/24
    -- "Diffusion transformers are the key behind OpenAI’s Sora — and they’re set to upend GenAI", Kyle Wiggers, TechCrunch, 2/28/24
    -- "Diffusion Transformer Explained", Mario Namtao Shianti Larcher, Towards Data Science, 2/28/24

  • "Compact Guide to Large Language Models", DataBricks, 2023 ... Link to form that enables download of their eBook (9 pages) pdf file.
  • "Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.", Will Douglas Heaven, MIT Tech Review, 3/4/24
  • "Let's learn about artificial intelligence -- A series about AI, machine learning, ChatGPT, and more", Mark Wiemer, Medium, 3/21/23

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