A quick overview of interesting AI News for the Yate and Sodbury U3A's monthly AI News meeting in September 2024 (second Thursday of month, 1400 -1545, St John's Church Centre, Wickwar Road, Chipping Sodbury - all welcome). Note that this is very much a summary to act as background as the topics are discussed in detail at the meeting itself. We also discuss and demonstrate other AI products and services and much more.
[1a] Trials in the home.
An interesting insight to how humanoid robots might be first introduced to homes. Note that they are likely to be at first tele-operated in many functions.
In last week's S3 @1x_tech shared their plans to quickly deploy Neo, their new robot, in homes.
— Jason Carman (@jasonjoyride) September 7, 2024
So I asked if they'd put Neo in my home. pic.twitter.com/m9OHx2KT7k
[1b] Price and volume of Tesla Optimus Humanoid Robot.
Elon talks about how they plan to get to production of a million units of Optimus per year by about 2029 and that by then the cost to produce will be about USD 10 000.
Elon on All-in summit today:
— The Humanoid Hub (@TheHumanoidHub) September 10, 2024
⦿ "Next-generation Optimus hand, which we have in prototype form, has actuators that have moved to the forearm, just like humans, and they operate the fingers through cables, just like human hands."
⦿ Chamath: "If you just provide Grok to the… pic.twitter.com/KbGhH4782q
[1c] How countries should invest in humanoid robots
Discussion with think tank RethinkX explains that usually, if GDP (Gross Domestic Product) increases by 3% a year everybody is happy, but that humanoid robots could quickly double the GDP of a country.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Tony Seba's RethinkX Says Tesla Bot is the SECRET to America's Future Success | @adam_dorr
— Herbert Ong (@herbertong) September 9, 2024
• RethinkX highlights that investing in humanoid robots can greatly boost national productivity and economic output.
• American leadership in humanoid robotics, shown by… pic.twitter.com/B8cCmGO4ZA
[2a] The Future is Electric
Two keys factors in the future of the transport inductry are electric cars (not ICE Internal Combustion Engine) and AI self driving tech. See what is already happening in the huge market of China. Note. Hybrid cars are an interim tech to full electric cars.
Internal combustion engine vehicle (gas and diesel cars) market share is collapsing in China.
— AJ (@alojoh) September 10, 2024
Market share is down over 50% in less than 5 years! This is wreaking havoc on China's gas/diesel car supply chain.
Source: China Passenger Car Association; Chart AJ pic.twitter.com/v79YzgFLqc
[2b] Europe recognises it is not competitive
The President of the EU_Commission praises the writer of the report on improving competitiveness. All of those years introducing restrictions on business apparently does not have a positive effect. So "cutting red tape" is good now. As Mario Draghi says "the task seemed so daunting" and "growth has been slowing down for a long time, but we ignored it". He then says that China is becoming more of a competitor than a market. Also mentions population decline and "urgent, concrete, radical change".
Dear Mario Draghi, a year ago, I asked you to prepare a report on the future of Europe’s competitiveness.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 9, 2024
No one was better placed than you to take up this challenge.
Now, we are eager to listen to your views ↓
https://t.co/aHjnX6Si5D
[2c] Elon's ASS is live (Actually Smart Summon)
As we know, Elon has a sense of humour even if not everybody approves. Don't ask him about his proposed Texas Institute of Technology and Science for example. Nevertheless, this week ASS was released on the very many USA based Tesla cars. It lets you stand at one end of a car park and, using your phone, summon your car which will unpark itself and navigate to you. Below it is demonstrated on a road - it has no driver.
Your Robotaxi has arrived pic.twitter.com/YeNavKrmO7
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) September 6, 2024
[2d] The Cybercab launch approaches (10th Oct 2024)
The Cybercab (or Robotaxi) launch will no doubt be spectacular. This does not mean the tech is yet fully ready, and there are a lot of regulatory hurdles. Apparently 2026 is probably when the roads will start to fill with self-driving vehicles, with Europe availability always lagging a little behind timewise. The video below shows the state of Full Self Driving on the Tesla (August 2024).
FSD Supervised can drive you almost anywhere pic.twitter.com/fYjqoH3qEZ
— Tesla (@Tesla) August 29, 2024
[3a] Meet CEO Alex Karp.
Products used by large companies, the military, governments to model very complex situations. Digital twins create a model of all real world objects and their relationships within a computer model, allowing AI systems to coordinate everything.
$PLTR
— amit (@amitisinvesting) September 10, 2024
PALANTIR CEO ALEX KARP RELEASES A MESSAGE TO EMPLOYEES AND INVESTORS ON S&P 500 INCLUSION:
“People tend to use the term retail investor, which is another way of saying people courageous enough to invest their own money, otherwise own as tendies, in what they believe in.”… pic.twitter.com/WB454pmJqA
[3b] Meet BP - a happy Palantir client
Former CEO of BP explains how they introduced Palantir tech across a very diverse range of issues.
The former CEO of BP on why they bought 1% of $PLTR after using their product 🔮⛽️pic.twitter.com/Ce0zdo5see https://t.co/uxQOoV0j0H
— Jawwwn (@jawwwn_) September 9, 2024
There does not yet seem, in the UK or USA, to have been any serious problem caused by an AI generated movie or image. Instead humour and satire is much encouraged by the technology. I would show a British one featuring our PM, there are many good ones, but I would fear arbitrary arrest. This USA one is therefore safer. It refers to a suggestion that you need to elect Donald Trump if you want your pets, and also the ducks and geese in the park to be safe.
Haters will say this is AI. pic.twitter.com/Tt3VTi7r6h
— Steve 🇺🇸 (@SteveLovesAmmo) September 9, 2024
[5a] Neuralink lets man (Noland) play chess and video games just by thinking
Also the second Neuralink patient, Alex, took only 5 minutes from when his 'Link' was connected to his computer to start controlling the cursor with his mind. By day 2 he was back to using the CAD (Computer Aided Design) software he used to use in his job. IMPORTANT. Neuralink's Patient registry is open in the UK.
A paralyzed man is playing chess and Mario Kart solely by thinking, thanks to Neuralink. 🧠 pic.twitter.com/ruXDOWoZQn
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) September 9, 2024
[5b] Milbotix Smart Socks for Dementia Care
I have asked Milbotix when they are coming to Yate and Sodbury with solutions for our AI Aware community.
More press coverage for Milbotix!
— Milbotix (@milbotix) September 10, 2024
Exeter Today ran an article over the weekend showing how our SmartSocks® are being used in a trial at The Old Rectory care home in Exeter, where they are being used to monitor anxiety and distress levels.
Read more at https://t.co/O8D2dtk6iV
[6a] Elon sets out timescales for Mars
Elon says that he does not want Earth to be 'one of those lame single-planet civilisations' and is very serious about how he plans to fix that.
The first Starships to Mars will launch in 2 years when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 7, 2024
These will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars. If those landings go well, then the first crewed flights to Mars will be in 4 years.
Flight rate will… https://t.co/ZuiM00dpe9
[6b] The Polaris Dawn Mission and Space Walk
Video below is about the 10 Sept 2024 mission of the SpaceX powered Polaris Dawn launch. Nothing to do with Mars but it shows quite a lot of how advanced the tech is, particularly the space suits.
Here is a quick wrap of tonight's Polaris Dawn launch, including some of the SpaceX segments showcasing why this mission is so important for humanity.
— Ellie in Space 🚀💫 (@esherifftv) September 10, 2024
Private spacewalk this Thursday!
Ok, time for bed. #PolarisDawn pic.twitter.com/lHgIJ1bjZe
[6c] 7000 Starlink Satellites
All across the globe there are people using Starlink dishes for their broadband, threatening traditional providers.
NEWS: @SpaceX launched its 7,000th Starlink satellite today. pic.twitter.com/P7DgBUElKC
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 5, 2024
[7a] Hume's new 'empathetic chatbot'.
This comes with various voices and personalities. It is easy to imagine this engaging a lonely, maybe slightly confused, older person and enriching their life. Available in format EVI Small now at app.hume.ai with EVI Big coming soon ...
Introducing Empathic Voice Interface 2 (EVI 2), our new voice-to-voice foundation model. EVI 2 merges language and voice into a single model trained specifically for emotional intelligence.
— Hume (@hume_ai) September 11, 2024
You can try it and start building today. pic.twitter.com/yqM6ivmkUl
[7b] ChatGPT 5 launch maybe.
There is endless speculation about whether ChatGPT 5 exists, whether it is any good, and when it might be released. One suggestion is that it 'thinks' before it answers - some kind of internal meditation about the problem it is working on. So maybe a ten second wait for an answer that is noticeably better. Meanwhile more and more money is needed for the compute!
OpenAI is in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors and $5 billion more from banks, a report by Bloomberg says. The deal would reportedly see the ChatGPT maker valued at $150 billion. Read more: https://t.co/GRv4YNs2gL pic.twitter.com/9VCmlsoZya
— Reuters Tech News (@ReutersTech) September 12, 2024
You need power to train AI models, and a lot more power to run the models that are answering people's questions.
[8a] Larry Ellison of Oracle has plans.
So no need to think small ... "we already got the building permits for three nuclear reactors"
Probably read it 3 times already .. a mega trend staring at your face .. will disrupt lot of industries… just need cheap and reliable energy. pic.twitter.com/WIKw54q6zS
— Ritesh Jain (@riteshmjn) September 11, 2024
[8b] Sergey Brin of Google talks growth.
Is not seeing any limit to demand. "We have to turn down customers because we just don't have the compute available."
Sergey Brin: there doesn't seem to be a limit to AI demand at the moment. $NVDA
— The AI Investor (@The_AI_Investor) September 11, 2024
pic.twitter.com/NVmghuUIbg
[8a] Sodbury and Yate AI Radio.
This has our AI powered podcasts, over 100 AI generated songs, and lots of local information including history. You can find it at www.sayairadio.com but also now at www.sodburyandyate.com to give it a more easily identifiable name.
[8b] Utility AI (UK).
This is a project by a member to demonstrate practical use of AI in a small business dealing with helping people in our community deal with decisions about their electricity and gas bills. The website is www.utilityai.co.uk but again it has a more directly relevant friendly name at www.electricitybillgasbill.com.