Brian and Sarah talk about what’s next for the podcast, as well as where AI has been showing up in earnings reports for GAMMA companies over the past week. Listen for more on those stories and a content-themed edition of "Two truths and l’AI" in this week’s episode.

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[0:16] Welcome

[0:35] What’s next for the podcast

[4:42] Tech earnings reports

[7:48] Amazon’s new AI shopping assistant Rufus

[13:02] Google adds text-to-image functionality to Bard

[16:58] Meta’s increased spending on AI

[19:58] "Two truths and l’AI"

[28:15] Chris Emezue interview

[30:27] How he began working with the Bambara language

[33:49] His experience in Nigeria and working with other African languages

[40:00] Meeting collaborators through Masakhane

[44:58] Founding Lanfrica

[50:40] What a focus on data farming means

[52:57] What constitutes good data when working with languages?

[1:04:46] How other people can get involved with AI and language projects

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

Lanfrica: https://lanfrica.com/

Data farming vs. data mining (Lanfrica): https://lanfrica.com/blog/data-farming-in-the-global-south/

Lanfrica Talks: https://lanfrica.com/blog/lanfrica-talks/

Masakhane website:

https://www.masakhane.io/

Microsoft and Alphabet’s recent earnings (The Byte): https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-companies-lose-190-billion-dismal-google-report

Amazon’s new AI shopping assistant (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/01/amazon-debuts-rufus-an-ai-shopping-assistant-in-its-mobile-app/

Google adds functionality to Bard (The Verge): https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/1/24057438/bard-gemini-imagen-google-ai-image-generation

Zuckerberg’s plan to beat Google and Microsoft in AI (Fortune): https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-explained-meta-crush-004732591.html

The AI Artifacts Podcast’s visual branding is by Skaaren Design.

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Sarah Jaquette Ray, a professor at Cal Poly Humboldt, joins Sarah and Brian to talk about dealing with anxiety. As the author of "A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet,” she discusses some takeaways from her work that can be useful in other contexts, including AI, where major changes are already in progress across industries and careers.

In news, several follow-up stories show up as the Federal Trade Commission takes a look at OpenAI and Anthopric’s deals with big tech companies, and Satya Nadella gets asked to weigh in on a wave of Taylor Swift deepfakes on social media. All of this and a new, suspenseful round of "Two truths and l’AI" are in this week’s episode.

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[0:16] Welcome

[1:44] FTC investigation into OpenAI and Anthropic deals

[07:16] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Taylor Swift deepfakes

[14:30] George Carlin’s estate sues over AI-created comedy special

[16:55] AI-created news articles appearing in Google News

[24:55] GitHub Copilot study

[25:35] "Two truth and l’AI"

[36:21] Interview with Sarah Jaquette Ray

[40:00] The role of anxiety in climate change and risk

[43:30] Moving past fear

[51:00] Dealing with burnout and identifying goals

[55:04] How to focus attention on specific problems

[1:00:00] Confronting negativity bias

[1:02:05] Taking a systems thinking approach to mindset

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

"A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet" by Sarah Jaquette Ray (University of California Press): https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520343306/a-field-guide-to-climate-anxiety

"The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators" edited by by Jennifer Atkinson and Sarah Jaquette Ray (University of California Press): https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520397125/the-existential-toolkit-for-climate-justice-educators

FTC investigates OpenAI and Anthropic deals (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/technology/ftc-ai-microsoft-amazon-google.html

Satya Nadella on implications of Taylor Swift deepfakes (NBC News): https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/taylor-swift-nude-deepfake-ai-photos-images-rcna135913

The Liar’s Dividend (Georgia Tech University): https://gvu.gatech.edu/research/projects/liars-dividend-impact-deepfakes-and-fake-news-politician-support-and-trust-media

George Carlin’s estate sues over AI comedy special (ABC News): https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/george-carlin-estate-sues-fake-comedy-special-purportedly-106700248

AI content appearing in Google News (New York Post): https://nypost.com/2024/01/22/business/google-news-searches-ranked-ai-generated-ripoffs-above-real-articles-including-a-post-exclusive/

GitHub Copilot study (Visual Studio Magazine): https://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2024/01/25/copilot-research.aspx

AI-generated horse calendar (Bored Panda): https://www.boredpanda.com/ai-generated-horse-calendar/

Volar dating app feature (Wired): https://www.wired.com/story/volar-dating-app-chatbot-screen-matches/

The rise of AI anxiety (Scientific American): https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-anxiety-is-on-the-rise-heres-how-to-manage-it/

Ways the UN believes AI can have a positive impacted on climate change (United Nations): https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/11/1143187

The AI Artifacts Podcast’s visual branding is by Skaaren Design.

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft each entered 2024 with their own AI strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. In this special episode, Brian and Sarah break down why each company is in a unique position and discuss which of the former GAFAM — now GAMMA (or GAMAM) — is in the strongest place.

In news, attention turns to Samsung’s Galaxy S24 announcements, controversy about AI-generated content in Google News results, and a debate between the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission over where the authority lies to investigate OpenAI. Dive in for all of this an intense crime-themed round of "Two truths and l’AI."

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[00:16] Welcome and news

[1:18] GAMMA adopted to our podcast style guide

[2:00] AI-generated face challenge

[4:18] Samsung adds AI features to new Galaxy S24 phone

[17:43] AI content in Google News results

[21:21] Justice Department and FTC discuss jurisdiction over OpenAI

[27:28] "Two truths and l’AI"

[38:29] 10,000 hours of language recordings to train an AI model

[40:14] GAMMA special: What’s going on in AI across the five big tech companies

[42:26] Alphabet/Google

[50:05] Amazon

[54:11] Meta/Facebook

[1:02:50] Apple

[1:11:48] Microsoft

[1:17:56] Who is best positioned, and who is most vulnerable in 2024?

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

AI-generated face quiz (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/01/19/technology/artificial-intelligence-image-generators-faces-quiz.html

Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 AI features (Wall Street Journal): https://www.wsj.com/tech/samsung-galaxy-s24-artificial-intelligence-features-dc37e134

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 demo video (Samsung): https://www.sammobile.com/news/galaxy-ai-features-video-galaxy-s24-ultra/

Apple passes Samsung as top seller of phones globally (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/17/apple-samsung-worlds-top-smartphone-seller-iphone-honor-google-divide-android

Former top seller of 2010, Nokia (Statista): https://www.statista.com/statistics/268877/worldwide-market-share-of-leading-cell-phone-manufacturers/

Assertion that AI-generated content is appearing in Google News results (404 Media): https://www.404media.co/google-news-is-boosting-garbage-ai-generated-articles/

Google’s response to 404 Media story (Search Engine Roundtable): https://www.seroundtable.com/google-responds-garbage-ai-content-in-google-news-36757.html

DOJ and FTC meet over jurisdiction to investigate OpenAI (Politico): https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/19/doj-ftc-microsoft-openai-antitrust-00136624

The AI Taylor Swift-impersonation Le Creuset scam (Creative Bloq): https://www.creativebloq.com/news/taylor-swift-le-creuset-ai

Criminals hacking children’s social media accounts (Daily Mail): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12859675/Warning-criminals-hacking-childrens-social-media-using-just-three-seconds-voice-turning-terrifying-AI-scam-trick-parents.html

How many hours of language recording it takes to train an AI model (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7153882887723884546/

Google anticipates more layoffs in 2024 (CBS News): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-layoffs-2024-sundar-pichai/

Microsoft gain cloud share in Q3 2023 (Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsofts-ai-bets-boost-cloud-business-alphabet-yet-find-silver-lining-2023-10-24/

Amazon losing $10 billion on Alex in 2022 (Fox Business): https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/amazon-alexa-track-lose-10-billion-year-described-colossal-failure-new-report#

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook video about AI (Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/pfbid02Uf3JSi5xzYqbpEcgfCSmFhwJS3VfrSH5RRxN5C6psFVUWCJADDic8VEADJwPFkVNl

Apple’s AI initiatives (Mac Rumors): https://www.macrumors.com/guide/apple-gpt/

Microsoft overtakes Apple as most valuable company (Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-overtakes-apple-worlds-most-valuable-company-2024-01-11/

Microsoft alleges spying by state-sponsored Russian group (Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/microsoft-says-it-was-hacked-by-russian-state-sponsored-group-2024-01-19/

The AI Artifacts Podcast’s visual branding is by Skaaren Design.

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Brian and Sarah talk to David Talbot, part of the founding team at the startup Inceptive, which is using artificial intelligence to synthesize RNA molecules. It’s a fascinating discussion about AI’s use in biotech and how these two important fields are coming together to introduce new possibilities.

In news, enterprise AI use comes up again, as we get some new numbers from OpenAI detailing how many business seats it is serving. In addition, the recap addresses state action on AI regulation and a reaction from the late George Carlin’s daughter to an AI-generated comedy special that used a synthetic voice likeness of her father.

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[00:17] Welcome and news recap

[00:33] OpenAI’s enterprise clients

[1:44] State-level action on AI

[3:00] AI-generated George Carlin comedy special

[6:10] Interview with David Talbot of Inceptive

[7:11] David’s career leading up to Inceptive

[9:27] AI’s role in designing RNA molecules at Inceptive

[11:44] AI’s strengths in this field

[14:58] The problems Inceptive is trying to solve

[20:18] What kinds of data Inceptive generates

[22:54] How machine learning can be used in science

[28:00] Watermarking and issues with navigating synthetic data when training AI

[30:53] Finding/generating the best data for training

[32:34] How biotech has changed how he views AI

[34:53] Applying natural language processing competencies in biotech

[36:33] What “biological software” means

[40:16] Additional details about Inceptive

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

David Talbot (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-t-271a9139/

Inceptive: https://inceptive.life/

OpenAI reveals volume of enterprise clients (Venture Beat): https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-reveals-how-many-chatgpt-for-enterprise-customers-it-has-so-far/

State-level AI legislation in the U.S. (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/us/ai-election-ads-state-legislators.html

George Carlin’s daughter criticizes AI-generated comedy special (Polygon): https://www.polygon.com/24034625/george-carlin-i-wish-i-was-dead-ai-comedy-special-kelly-carlin-dudes

The AI Artifacts Podcast’s visual branding is by Skaaren Design.

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

To kick off 2024, Brian and Sarah welcome guest Karin Golde, the founder of West Valley AI and an AWS alum to talk about how she advises companies getting started when they deploy artificial intelligence. What are best practices? What should be avoided? And what needs to be defined going in?

In this week’s news, funding gets the spotlight as Perplexity raises $73.6 million and Anthropic’s reported $18.4 billion valuation raises some eyebrows. Then, the conversation turns to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinions on AI and how it should be treated in the legal world.

Tune in for all of this, along with a CES 2024 edition of "Two truths and ‘AI."

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[00:17] Welcome

[0:58] The FTC’s prize for fighting voice-cloning fraud

[3:02] Perplexity raising $73.6 million

[10:18] Anthropic reportedly raising $750 million

[17:46] Chief Justice Roberts on AI

[24:37] "Two truths and l’AI"

[33:03] Interview with Karin Golde

[34:29] Karin’s experience starting a company

[35:48] What to watch out for with AI and data implementations

[37:51] Chevrolet of Watsonville’s ChatGPT-powered chatbot incident

[43:30] Having a strategy vs. throwing things at the wall to see what sticks

[51:32] What types of questions do companies working with Karin ask?

[53:40] What should big tech companies know about these non-tech companies adopting AI?

[55:15] How to tell if a product is going to solve a problem

[1:02:38] What should companies consider when it comes to regulation and long-term thinking?

[1:14:40] Most interesting questions about AI going into 2024

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

Karin Golde (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-golde/

West Valley AI:

https://www.westvalley.ai/

FTC offering $25,000 for solution to fighting voice-cloning fraud (The Register): https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/05/ftc_voice_cloning_solution/

Context page for entries open until January 12 (FTC): https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/contests/ftc-voice-cloning-challenge

Perplexity raising $73.6M values it at $520M (Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/technology/perplexity-ai-valued-520-mln-funding-bezos-nvidia-2024-01-04/

Why Anthropic doesn’t want a higher valuation (Semafor): https://www.semafor.com/article/01/05/2024/why-hot-ai-startup-anthropic-wanted-a-lower-valuation

Previous reporting on Anthropic’s valuation (Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/anthropic-raise-750-mln-menlo-ventures-led-funding-round-information-2023-12-21/

Chief Justice Roberts weights in on AI (NPR): https://www.npr.org/2024/01/01/1222378766/chief-justice-roberts-casts-a-wary-eye-on-artificial-intelligence-in-the-courts

Machine bias in sentencing (ProPublica): https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing

Problems with predictive algorithms in policing (MIT Technology Review): https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/07/17/1005396/predictive-policing-algorithms-racist-dismantled-machine-learning-bias-criminal-justice/

Wehead’s ChatGPT edition (Creative Bloq): https://www.creativebloq.com/news/chatgpt-face-wehead

LG’s new robot (Yahoo! Finance): https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/lg-releases-robot-hopes-lead-170753978.html

"Never Too Small" series (YouTube):

LG’s StanbyME (LG): https://www.lg.com/us/lifestyle-products/lg-27art10akpl-lifestyle-screen

The Chevrolet of Watsonville AI chatbot goes viral (GM Authority): https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/12/gm-dealer-chat-bot-agrees-to-sell-2024-chevy-tahoe-for-1/

Human labeling being done by domain experts (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/technology/chatgpt-rlhf-human-tutors.html

Kenya workers training AI (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/aug/02/ai-chatbot-training-human-toll-content-moderator-meta-openai

The nature of data labeling complexity (The Verge): https://www.theverge.com/features/23764584/ai-artificial-intelligence-data-notation-labor-scale-surge-remotasks-openai-chatbots

The AI Artifacts Podcast’s visual branding is by Skaaren Design.

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

In the final episode of 2023, Brian and Sarah go into forecast mode, laying out their AI predictions for 2024. Will the hype keep growing? What will the next phase of adoption look like? This New Year’s episode gets into all of it.

Meanwhile, in the week’s biggest news, the discussion looks at The New York Times lawsuit against OpenAI, Jony Ive’s latest hire for some ChatGPT-powered hardware, and Michael Cohen’s AI-powered legal mistake.

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[00:16] Welcome

[1:32] AI predictions for 2024

[4:47] Sarah’s big prediction

[10:04] Brian’s big prediction

[17:57] The New York Times suing OpenAI

[27:04] Jony Ive’s design firm adds Tang Tan, an iPhone designer from Apple

[32:14] Michael Cohen’s trouble with Bard

[37:52] "Two truths and l’AI"

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

Skift’s AI-powered chatbot (Skift): https://ask.skift.com/

The New York Times sues OpenAI (Associated Press): https://apnews.com/article/nyt-new-york-times-openai-microsoft-6ea53a8ad3efa06ee4643b697df0ba57

Potential risks for The New York Times (Techdirt): https://www.techdirt.com/2023/12/28/the-ny-times-lawsuit-against-openai-would-open-up-the-ny-times-to-all-sorts-of-lawsuits-should-it-win/

OpenAI’s negotiations with media companies (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/29/business/media/media-openai-chatgpt.html

Looks at generation AI output that raise copyright concerns (Marcus on AI):

Tang Tan from Apple joins Jony Ive (Engadget): https://www.engadget.com/apples-iphone-designer-is-leaving-to-work-with-jony-ive-and-sam-altman-on-ai-hardware-093028794.html

Michael Cohen gets caught using AI citing non-existent legal cases (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/29/nyregion/michael-cohen-ai-fake-cases.html

Champagne at risk, based on ClimateAI data (Fox News): https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/new-years-eve-beverage-could-extinct-climate-change-ai-company-predicts

Burger King’s facial recognition use for hangover identification (RetailWire): https://retailwire.com/discussion/burger-king-taps-facial-recognition-for-hangover-promotion/

The AI Artifacts Podcast’s visual branding is by Skaaren Design.

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

This week’s episode brings another startup founder to the show with Pulze.ai CEO Fabian Baier. He talks with Brian and Sarah about creating a product for enterprise companies and what he has learned about working with multiple large language models in a year when so many debuted.

In news, the discussion turns to Rite Aid’s issues using facial recognition technology, Apple’s reported talks with media companies about its own AI, and some potential new valuations for OpenAI and Anthropic.

Plus, don’t miss this week’s holiday edition of "Two truths and l’AI."

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[00:16] Holiday welcome

[1:10] Rite Aid’s five-year ban on facial recognition tech

[11:18] Apple reportedly discussing deals with news publishers to use content for AI training

[15:10] OpenAI and Anthropic reportedly seeking additional funding at new valuations

[25:31] "Two truths and l’AI" (Sarah was 5-2 before this episode.)

[31:50] Interview with Fabian Baier

[33:00] Why he started Pulze.ai

[37:07] Figuring out what kind of company he wanted to build

[57:13] Choosing early use cases and sectors to focus on

[59:15] What enterprise companies are asking for

[1:03:30] What’s ahead for Pulze.ai

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

Fabian Baier (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/fbaier/

Fabian’s email: fabian@pulze.ai

Pulse.ai: https://www.pulze.ai/

Listeners can use "exclusiveoffer1k" to get 1,000 credits until end of 2023 on: platform.pulze.ai

Rite Aid’s settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over AI us (CNN): https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/20/tech/rite-aid-ai-ftc-settlement/index.html

Clearview AI reaches settlement in class-action privacy lawsuit (The Record): https://therecord.media/clearview-ai-class-action-privacy-suit-settles-bipa-illinois

Apple’s reported talks with Condé Nast, NBC News, and IAC (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/22/technology/apple-ai-news-publishers.html

OpenAI trying to raise at $100 billion valuation (Bloomberg): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-22/openai-in-talks-to-raise-new-funding-at-100-billion-valuation

Anthropic looking to raise $750 million at an $18.4 billion valuation (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/21/openai-rival-anthropic-in-talks-to-raise-750-million-funding-round.html

2023’s big rounds for AI startups (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/05/mega-deals-ai-funding-q3/

Airbnb’s use of AI to combat New Year’s Eve parties (Airbnb): https://news.airbnb.com/en-uk/airbnb-using-ai-to-help-clampdown-on-new-years-eve-parties-globally/

AI for saving deer (Andover Advertiser): https://www.andoveradvertiser.co.uk/news/national/24001665.saving-rudolph-ai-used-deter-deer-railway-tracks-christmas/

Andrej Karpathy’s intro to large language models (YouTube):

 Pulze.ai’s community (Pulze.ai): https://www.pulze.ai/community

Pulze.ai webinar (YouTube):

GPT-4 as Rater (Arxiv.org): https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.02575

The AI Artifacts Podcast’s visual branding is by Skaaren Design.

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

The podcast returns this week as Brian and Sarah interview Kurt Bollacker, a director of engineering at MLCommons. Ever wonder how to begin testing an AI model? What standards matter? The discussion spans history and model types, with a quick look at recent work out of Stanford.

In this week’s news, we get into OpenAI’s relevance for media and wearables with its new Axel Springer deal and reported talks about working with Snap. Listen in, and play along with this week’s festive game of “Two truths and l’AI.”

Plus, thanks and full credit to Cory Skaaren at Skaaren Design for our new visual branding.

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[0:20] Welcome

[0:50] OpenAI developments recap

[2:23] Axel Springer deal with OpenAI

[15:40] Snap’s reported talks with OpenAI to use its object recognition software for smart glasses

[17:49] “Two truths and l’AI”

[25:59] Interview with Kurt Bollacker

[27:50] Kurt’s journey to working on AI data sets and system evaluation

[32:14] What are the best standards for evaluating AI?

[38:00] Establishing what level of trust to put in AI output

[43:00] AI and machine learning history

[46:16] Predictions about the future of large language models

[50:05] The future of general-purpose AI

[53:35] The value of transparency and explainability

[55:30] Reviewing the Foundation Model Transparency Index from the Center for Research of Foundation Models at Stanford University

[1:00:46] MLCommons work on AI safety testing

[1:05:06] LLMs as “plausibility machines,” not “truth machines”

[1:07:42] How should the average person use this information?

[1:14:26] How the general public views data use for training AI

[1:15:58] Likelihood of a new AI winter soon

[1:21:49] The AI Safety working group

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

Axel Springer reaches deal with OpenAI for ChatGPT to use its news content (Axios): https://www.axios.com/2023/12/13/openai-chatgpt-axel-springer-news-deal

OpenAI talking to Snap about object recognition software use in smart glasses (The Information): https://www.theinformation.com/articles/tech-giants-chase-wearable-ai

The AI-powered Curio and Grimes toy called “Grok” (New York Post): https://nypost.com/2023/12/15/business/grimes-says-grok-toy-has-nothing-to-do-with-elon-musks-ai-bot/

AI-enabled robot pets helping vets (PetFoodIndustry.com): https://www.petfoodindustry.com/pet-ownership-statistics/article/15660175/aianimated-robot-pets-dont-eat-pet-food-or-want-treats

MLCommons: https://mlcommons.org/

Internet Archive: https://archive.org/

Water use when training AI models (Brian Warmoth): https://warmoth.org/2023/09/10/how-much-water-ai-is-going-to-drink/

The Foundation Model Transparency Index (Stanford University): https://crfm.stanford.edu/fmti/

The Holistic Evaluation of Language Models (HELM) paper (arxiv.org): https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.09110

MLCommons announcement about the formation of the AI Safety Working Group (MLCommons): https://mlcommons.org/2023/10/mlcommons-announces-the-formation-of-ai-safety-working-group/

The AI Artifacts Podcast’s visual branding is by Skaaren Design.

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

One of the most important developments was Friday’s deal in Europe where 37 hours of talks over the European Union’s AI Act resulted in a deal that could set new standards for risk, enforcement, and penalties in EU countries. The legislation could also set a bar for other countries to emulate. As with many laws, though, enforcement in practice will tell the story of how effective these rules prove to be.

Google, meanwhile, debuted its new Gemini AI model, showing off capabilities that extend to text, images, audio, and coding in a video titled "Hands-on with Gemini: Interacting with multimodal AI." The video received a great deal of deserved scrutiny, however, thanks to some liberties that were taken, resulting in criticism that some of the interactions shown were ultimately fake.

Then, on the OpenAI front, the dust is still settling from the recent leadership shakeup, with various parties trying to get their sides of the ordeal out in the open for public consumption. For departing board member Helen Toner, that meant opening up about the conflict between her and CEO Sam Altman. For Altman, that meant speaking with Trevor Noah about his intense days fighting to be reinstated. In the meantime, a Washington Post story found employee accounts alleging that the CEO had been psychologically abusive, painting a contrasting picture against the supportive scene that emerged previously as OpenAI team members pledged to resign en masse if Altman wasn’t put back into power.

Last, because we don’t have "Two truths and l’AI" to play this week, here’s one of the stories I would have mentioned there. It’s called: "The tortured ‘I’ in AI — poems by artificial intelligence reveal angst over its own identity." In it, you’ll see what AI composing poetry about humans can look like.

As always, thanks for subscribing and tuning in. We’ll be back with a new episode soon!

ChatGPT marked its first birthday on Nov. 30 with OpenAI entering a whole new era filled with familiar faces and few new ones. Brian and Sarah keep things casual on this episode, welcoming friend of (and off) the pod Mason Del Rio, a data scientist and analyst with media production experience, to discuss ChatGPT's impact in its first year. [Editor’s note: Mason also helped us with editing this episode, which we greatly appreciate.]

For coders, creatives, and writers, the online world is increasingly saturated with AI-powered content. What’s going to happen next in 2024, and what will it mean for the workforce? All of this and more are on the table, along with a suspenseful edition of "Two truths and l’AI." Find out if Sarah finally cracked Brian’s strategy once and for all.

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[0:18] Welcome

[1:35] Introduction of Mason Del Rio

[2:47] What the changes at OpenAI mean

[6:48] What OpenAI’s changes mean for Microsoft

[10:16] OpenAI’s new board

[11:25] What Pika Labs is doing for text-to-video tech

[14:55] Increased quality of generative AI output in less than a year

[16:05] HeyGen’s AI-generated video avatars

[18:17] "Two truths and l’AI"

[27:06] One year of ChatGPT: What has changed?

[31:40] ChatGPT relevance for Github and Microsoft

[33:25] Practical applications for professionals outside of computer science

[36:57] Impact on persuasion for politics, sales, and customer service teams

[42:32] Generating images for product design and textiles

[44:50] Generative AI for video

[46:07] Expectations for AI in 2024

[53:20] Most impressive generative AI capabilities so far

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

ChatGPT’s birthday (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/30/chatgpts-one-year-anniversary-how-the-viral-ai-chatbot-has-changed.html

Inside look at Microsoft’s relationship with the board at OpenAI (The New Yorker): https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/12/11/the-inside-story-of-microsofts-partnership-with-openai

Reactions from prominent women in tech to OpenAI’s all-male (so far) board (Wired): https://www.wired.com/story/women-in-tech-openai-board/

AI-powered video-editing platform Pika raises $55 million (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/28/pika-labs-which-is-building-ai-tools-to-generate-and-edit-videos-raises-55m/

HeyGen raises $5.6 million for its AI-powered video tools (Forbes): https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2023/11/29/ai-video-startup-heygen-launches-near-instant-avatar-generator-adds-56-million-in-funding/

"Avengers Wes Anderson Trailer" (YouTube):

"Star Wars by Balenciaga" (YouTube):

Making $200,000/year to talk to chatbots (Wall Street Journal): https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/talking-to-chatbots-is-now-a-200k-job-so-i-applied-258bd5f0

Using AI to complete a Sophoclean play (The Tribune-Democrat): https://www.tribdem.com/news/ai-completed-sophoclean-play-presented-at-upj/article_fabc8d3a-8fd8-11ee-9b2b-1b8f63ccbc8b.html

Chris Onstand’s use of AI to replicate voices from his webcomic "Achewood" (Polygon): https://www.polygon.com/entertainment/23712969/achewood-2023-ai-chris-onstad

More links to news that didn’t make the show:

ChatGPT-written legislation for a city in Brazil (Associated Press): https://apnews.com/article/brazil-artificial-intelligence-porto-alegre-5afd1240afe7b6ac202bb0bbc45e08d4

Yann LeCun’s near-term AI superintelligence skepticism at Meta: (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/03/meta-ai-chief-yann-lecun-skeptical-about-agi-quantum-computing.html

Meta’s global ban of AI-made political ads (ZDNet): https://www.zdnet.com/article/meta-will-enforce-ban-on-ai-powered-political-ads-in-every-nation-no-exceptions/

Amazon announces Q chatbot for businesses (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/28/amazon-announces-q-an-ai-chatbot-for-businesses.html

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Rob Salkowitz joins Brian and Sarah to talk about the expectations and limitations of AI tools in entertainment and comic books. In the interview, he explains what he has seen in his work as a consultant in technology and digital media, as well as covering AI at Forbes and ICv2.

This week’s news returns to OpenAI (where it was reported late Tuesday that Sam Altman will return as CEO). The conversation turns to how the media is covering this story before this week’s round of "Two truths and l’AI," featuring a Thanksgiving selection of real and AI-generated holiday news.

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[0:22] OpenAI developments and why the story has captured so much attention

[6:30] How the media is covering the board vs. Sam Altman

[14:12] The Cambridge Dictionary’s selection of hallucinate as its word of the year

[18:19] "Two truths and l’AI: Thanksgiving edition"

[26:20] Interview with Rob Salkowitz

[31:12] Early reactions to AI implications for the creative industry

[33:05] Interviewing the founder of Midjourney

[38:12] Best roles for AI tools

[40:12] Webtoons and DC Comics

[47:55] Limitations

[53:42] Fair use and copyright issues

[1:05:15] Best ethical priorities on display right now

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

Microsoft’s overtures to Sam Altman and OpenAI employees (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/21/microsoft-exec-says-openai-employees-can-join-with-same-compensation.html

More than 95% of OpenAI employees prepared to quit (FT): https://www.ft.com/content/7215167b-b3dc-4a09-b8db-b6b20b79239e

Puck’s Teddy Schleifer on Sam Altman’s relationships with journalists (X):

https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer/status/1726644226006700522

Eric Newcomer on the case for the OpenAI board’s position (Substack):

Newcomer

Give OpenAI's Board Some Time. The Future of AI Could Hinge on It

Read more

2 years ago · 100 likes · 1 comment · Eric Newcomer

Hallucinate updated as 2023’s word of the year by Cambridge Dictionary (BBC): https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67424335

The AI Human Generator for creating fake people (The Creative Bloq): https://www.creativebloq.com/news/ai-human-generator

A guide for using AI in Thanksgiving plans (Fast Company): https://www.fastcompany.com/90984948/ai-guide-to-thanksgiving-chatgpt

"AI is coming to comics whether we like it or not. Are there ways it could help?" (ICv2): https://icv2.com/articles/columns/view/55521/ai-coming-comics-whether-we-like-it-not-are-there-ways-it-could-help

"AI is coming for commercial art jobs. Can it be stopped?" (Forbes): https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/ai-is-coming-for-commercial-art-jobs-can-it-be-stopped/

Interview with Midjourney founder David Holz (Forbes): https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/midjourney-founder-david-holz-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-art-imagination-and-the-creative-economy/

Rob Salkowitz’s website:

https://robsalkowitz.com/

Rob Salkowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robsalkowitz/

More links to news that didn’t make the show:

Board reinstates Sam Altman as CEO at OpenAI (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/technology/openai-sam-altman-returns.html

Meta eliminates its responsible AI team (Decrypt): https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67424335

This week’s episode of "The AI Artifacts Podcast" kicks off with fresh news that Sam Altman was ousted as CEO at OpenAI on Nov. 17. Brian and Sarah get into the known details and review other stories, including Ed Newton-Rex leaving Stability AI and Sundar Pichai’s comparison of AI to climate change.

Then, the podcast welcomes Jade Newton, an AI data expert who has worked at large-scale companies in a variety of contexts, as she discusses the future of AI regulation. Get a deep look into standards for responsible use, as well as a very special dog-themed edition of "Two truths and l’AI."

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[0:27] Breaking news from Friday on Sam Altman being pushed out at OpenAI

[5:07] Altman confirmed plans for GPT-5, though training has not yet begun

[7:15] Ed Newton-Rex leaves Stability AI, criticizing fair use approaches toward training data

[12:22] Sundar Pichai compares AI to climate change in regulation context

[17:44] "Two truths and l’AI: Dog edition"

[25:36] Interview with Jade Newton

[28:45] What does "responsible AI" mean?

[32:33] How to solve issues of access

[36:26] Best and worst ideas for regulatory action

[45:43] How encryption and data privacy concerns relate to AI

[48:14] Risk of regulatory capture by incumbents

[51:39] Regulation in the European Union

[55:20] Best practices for companies implementing AI

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

OpenAI’s board fires Sam Altman as CEO (The Verge): https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/17/23965982/openai-ceo-sam-altman-fired

Official OpenAI announcement about Altman leaving (OpenAI): https://openai.com/blog/openai-announces-leadership-transition

Podcast episode from 2019 where Brian and Sarah interviewed Mira Murati, who is now OpenAI’s interim CEO (Apple Podcasts):

Altman confirms plans for GPT-5 at OpenAI (Decrypt): https://decrypt.co/206044/gpt-5-openai-development-roadmap-gpt-4

Ed Newton-Rex quits at Stability AI (BBC): https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67446000

Sundar Pichai makes AI and climate change comparison (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/16/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-compares-ai-to-climate-change-at-apec-ceo-summit.html

Microsoft makes Bing Image Creator changes after Disney copyright complaints (Ars Technica): https://arstechnica.com/ai/2023/11/fake-movie-posters-with-disney-logos-force-microsoft-to-alter-bing-image-creator/

Meta’s AI tools enable dog additions to any photo (Mashable): https://mashable.com/article/meta-ai-tools-emu

U.S. Census data on broadband internet access in 2018 (Census.gov): https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/12/rural-and-lower-income-counties-lag-nation-internet-subscription.html

Summary of individual parts in Biden’s executive action on AI (The Markup): https://themarkup.org/news/2023/11/01/the-problems-bidens-ai-order-must-address

Additional note on the White House’s executive action from Jade:

I think that people need to understand that the White House's executive order on AI is a good first step to putting guardrails in place when it comes to developing, testing, training, and optimizing emerging technologies that use machine learning. 

However, I also think that this executive order is very broad and there is this thinking that AI can solve systemic issues (think discrimination/bias/access, etc.). AI is not going to fix systemic racism, sexism, xenophobia, education funding, etc. These are issues that are rooted in the fabric of what America was designed to be. AI cannot change people's mindsets. And despite the daily advances of technology, there will always be a need for a human-in-the-loop. AI is a tool -- it is not the ultimate problem solver. Humans can use AI to solve some problems, but ultimately AI can't do it on its own.

I think it is important for those at the table (i.e., NIST, and whoever else the White House appoints to the committee(s) that are ensuring implementation of these guardrails to understand the above. AI can only do what the humans tell it to do. And the systemic issues that are rampant in American culture are too complex to be solved by technology. 

Jade Newton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j3n3r3/

More links to news that didn’t make the show:

Discord gets rid of its AI assistant Clyde (The Verge): https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/17/23965185/discord-is-shutting-down-its-ai-chatbot-clyde

Microsoft Ignite announcements related to AI (The Verge): https://www.theverge.com/23961007/microsoft-ignite-2023-news-ai-announcements-copilot-windows-azure-office

Reactions to the Humane AI pin (Axios): https://www.axios.com/2023/11/14/humane-ai-pin-smartphone-replace

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Brian and Sarah welcome David Hojah, the founder and CEO of Parrots, along with CBO Erin Janklow. Their startup focuses on medical assistive AI for patients with ALS and Parkinson’s disease, using a smart assistant called Polly, which is designed to speed up communication loops and enable people experiencing cognitive problems to engage with their caregivers and the world around them.

That interview, this week’s news on OpenAI and the end of the actors strike, and the most challenging round of "Two truths and l’AI" yet are all in this episode of "The AI Artifacts Podcast."

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[0:29] This week’s biggest AI news

[0:44] OpenAI’s developer day

[2:56] Overview of announcements from OpenAI

[7:29] The end of the Hollywood actors strike

[15:30] "Two truths and l’AI"

[21:38] Interview with Parrots founder/CEO David Hojah and CBO Erin Janklow

[23:12] David Hojah’s background

[25:22] Origin: Why the startup is called Parrots

[26:25] How the technology at Parrots works

[28:25] What Parrots does

[30:08] The Polly smart assistant

[31:09] Use cases for patients and caregivers that Parrots targets

[35:20] Focus on ALS patients and Parkinson’s Disease, looking ahead at cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and Alzheimer's disease cases

[36:40] Early milestones

[41:17] Perspective on navigating and preparing for an evolving regulatory environment

[46:39] Approaches to data collection and feedback

[49:32] Next goals for Parrots

[50:37] Currently raising a seed round, looking for new patients and partnerships

[51:29] Guest contact info: david@flyparrots.com and erin@flyparrots.com

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

Parrots, Inc. website: https://www.flyparrots.com/

OpenAI’s developer day (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/06/everything-announced-at-openais-first-developer-event

OpenAI announces custom GPT versions (Axios): https://www.axios.com/2023/11/06/open-ai-dev-day-chatgpt-custom

The Hollywood actors strike ends (Wired): https://www.wired.com/story/hollywood-actors-strike-ends-ai-streaming/

AI’s role in the actors strike’s final week (The Hollywood Reporter): https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sag-aftra-ai-protections-for-high-earning-members-sticking-point-1235638247/

Why using an AI meeting surrogate could be a mistake (Fortune): https://fortune.com/2023/11/10/ai-bot-zoom-meetings-power-move-management-mistake-office-culture/

British royal astronomer Lord Marin Rees suggests AI aliens could appear (Futurism): https://futurism.com/the-byte/uk-royal-astronomer-ai-aliens

Study suggested Agatha Christie may have had Alzheimer's disease, based on textual analysis (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/apr/03/agatha-christie-alzheimers-research

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

In addition, co-hosts Brian and Sarah dig into the past week’s big stories about The Beatles, President Biden’s new executive order, and more. Listen in, play this week’s round of "Two truths and l’AI," and share your thoughts on AIArtifacts.net.

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[0:53] This week’s biggest AI news

[1:00] The Beatles release "Now And Then" track produced using AI

[5:21] U.S. President Joseph Biden’s new executive order on AI

[10:50] "Bletchley Declaration" on AI safety published in Britain

[14:10] Google to invest up to $2 billion in Anthropic

[17:40] Google lays off voice assistant team

[18:59] Microsoft’s new 365 Copilot could generate $10 billion/year in revenue

[19:44] "Two truths and l’AI"

[25:08] Interview with Thomas Huitric

[27:03] What developments made today’s AI technology possible?

[29:27] Cloud vs. local processing for AI applications

[32:35] Apple reportedly spending $1 billion/year on AI to catch up to others

[38:30] Microsoft’s water usage in Iowa while training ChatGPT-4

[43:30] How much data will be required to create the next version of ChatGPT

[49:10] Open-source vs. proprietary AI

[52:48] Meta’s approach to Llama 2

[54:44] Were big tech companies actually surprised by OpenAI’s ChatGPT?

[59:37] Reasons for optimism in AI and LLMs

[1:02:25] Thanks, sign-off, and outro

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

New Beatles song "Now And Then" released (CNBC) https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/02/a-new-beatles-song-is-set-for-release-after-45-years-with-help-from-ai.html

Official music video for "Now And Then" by The Beatles (YouTube)

President Biden’s new AI executive order (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/30/us/politics/biden-artificial-intelligence.html

Text from White House briefing room explaining Biden’s AI executive order (The White House): https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/10/30/executive-order-on-the-safe-secure-and-trustworthy-development-and-use-of-artificial-intelligence/

Full text from the Bletchley Declaration (Gov.uk): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-2023-the-bletchley-declaration/the-bletchley-declaration-by-countries-attending-the-ai-safety-summit-1-2-november-2023

Google invests in OpenAI rival Anthropic (Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-agrees-invest-up-2-bln-openai-rival-anthropic-wsj-2023-10-27/

Google lays off 20 data scientists who worked on voice assistant team (San Francisco Chronicle): https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/google-layoffs-california-companies-18465600.php

Microsoft launches 365 Copilot (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/01/microsoft-365-copilot-becomes-generally-available.html

Joe Biden worried about AI after seeing "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning" (Variety): https://variety.com/2023/film/news/joe-biden-worried-ai-mission-impossible-dead-reckoning-1235775115/

Suspected AI-written review content at Gannett (The Verge): https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/26/23931530/gannett-ai-product-reviews-site-reviewed-union-newsguild

Thomas Huitric (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashuitric/

Apple reportedly "caught flat-footed" by ChatGPT, now spending $1 billion/year to catch up (Bloomberg): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-10-22/what-is-apple-doing-in-ai-revamping-siri-search-apple-music-and-other-apps-lo1ffr7p

Apple spending millions of dollars per day on AI training (The Verge): https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/6/23861763/apple-ai-language-models-ajax-gpt-training-spending

Microsoft reportedly used about 11.5 million gallons of water at Iowa data centers in July 2022 (Brian Warmoth): https://warmoth.org/2023/09/10/how-much-water-ai-is-going-to-drink/

Stanford researchers publish Foundation Model Transparency Index: https://crfm.stanford.edu/fmti/

ZenML’s vision for small, in-house AI models (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/23/zenml-empowers-companies-to-build-their-own-ai-stack-based-on-open-source-tools/

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Also, find out if you can tell the difference between real news and news and AI-dreamed news about AI.

Respond on AIArtifacts.net to let Brian and Sarah know what you think:

• What are the biggest questions you have about AI and machine learning?

• What’s the most useful AI tool you have found so far?

• What are your biggest concerns about AI and large language model (LLM) adoption right now?

Timestamps for this episode:

[0:00] Intro

[0:38] Who we are and why we launched this podcast

[4:17] The current AI boom and recent bust prediction

[7:52] "Two truths and l’AI"

[13:08] What defines the current moment for AI capabilities and adoption?

[18:26] AI’s jump from mainstream novelty into mainstream utility

[33:15] Who will our guests be on the first season of "The AI Artifacts Podcast"?

[34:50] Thanks and sign-off

[35:29] Outro

Links for topics referenced in this episode:

CCS Insight predicts generative AI will fizzle in 2024 (Business Insider): https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-industry-overhyped-cold-shower-analyst-firm-predicts-2024-2023-10

Snapchat launches "Phantom House" series: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/snapchat-phantom-house-halloween-content-maybelline-disney/695945/

Young boy dances in M3GAN costume: https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/boy-terrifies-neighbours-crawling-around-130923

Music used in this podcast comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Then, see if you can pass each episode’s test to tell the real AI news from the fake.

Subscribe on AIArtifacts.net or listen on your podcast platform of choice. The first episode of "The AI Artifacts Podcast" will arrive in time for Halloween.

Music used in this trailer comes from "Vanishing Horizon" by Jason Shaw and is licensed under an Attribution 3.0 United States License.

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