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AI made with human brain cells
PLUS: California compromises on safety bill
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Welcome, AI enthusiasts.
A startup from Switzerland has created AI “biocomputers“ made from real human brain cells, that are now rentable for just $500 a month.
Could using organoids be the future of how we create 100,000x more energy efficient AI, or is this an ethical disaster waiting to happen? Let’s investigate…
In today’s AI rundown:
Creating AI using human brain cells
California compromises on AI safety bill
Create ultra-realistic images with AI
New AI solves Rubik’s Cube faster
5 new AI tools & 4 new AI jobs
More AI & tech news
Read time: 4 minutes
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
FINALSPARK
Image source: Midjourney
The Rundown: Swiss startup FinalSpark just launched a service allowing scientists to rent cloud access to "biocomputers" made of human brain cells for $500 a month, in an effort to create AI that uses 100,000x less energy than current systems.
The details:
The system uses organoids (clumps of human brain cells) that can "live" and compute for up to 100 days.
AI models are trained using dopamine for positive reinforcement and electrical signals for negative reinforcement, mimicking natural neural processes.
FinalSpark claims these biocomputers could be up to 100,000 times more efficient for AI training than traditional silicon-based technology.
The organoids and their behaviour are live streamed 24/7, which you can access here.
Why it matters: AI is an energy-hungry industry, and alleviating its dependence on CPUs and GPUs is generally a step in the right direction. That said, using brain organoids for biocomputing is completely uncharted territory and is bound to raise ethical concerns — such as the sci-fi possibility that cell masses somehow achieve consciousness.
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ANTHROPIC
Image source: Midjourney
The Rundown: California’s SB 1047, an aggressive AI safety bill aimed at preventing AI disasters, just got significantly revised to address concerns raised by AI companies like Anthropic and open-source developers.
The details:
The bill no longer allows California’s attorney general to sue AI companies for negligent safety practices before a catastrophic event occurs.
AI labs are now only required to submit public “statements” about their safety practices vs certifications “under penalty of perjury.”
Likewise, developers must now provide “reasonable care” vs “reasonable assurance” that AI models do not pose significant risks.
The bill is headed to California’s Assembly floor for a final vote.
Why it matters: There’s a fine line between advancing technological progress and mitigating potential existential risks that governments are navigating — and California is showing that regulation can be practical and adaptive. These changes are a big step towards fostering responsible AI development through collaborative governance.
AI TRAINING
The Rundown: Flux Realism LoRA on Fal AI allows users to create ultra-realistic images simply by describing your vision.
Step-by-step:
Visit the Fal AI website and create an account to access the tool.
In the "Prompt" box, describe your desired image in detail.
Click "More" under Additional Settings to fine-tune parameters like image size, number of inference steps, and guidance scale.
Hit "Run" and watch as the AI brings your description to life!
Hot tip: Try adding your generation into Runway’s image-to-video to transform your images to real-life videos.
AI RESEARCH
Image source: arXiv
The Rundown: Researchers just developed a new technique to find shorter solutions to scrambled Rubik’s Cubes by cleverly analyzing the puzzle’s structure and identifying the best moves more quickly.
The details:
The Rubik’s Cube has an enormous number of possible configurations, over 43 quintillion, making it challenging for AI to solve in the fewest moves possible.
Researchers represented the Rubik’s Cube as a complex network or “graph" and used a new technique to pass useful information, like the moves required to solve the puzzle, between connected nodes.
The AI then considers which next moves are most likely to lead to a quick solution, using the probabilities as weights, and focuses on the most promising paths.
When tested, the new technique found solutions to the puzzle faster than current state-of-the-art Rubik’s Cube solving AI systems.
Why it matters: As companies like Sakana build AIs that can completely automate scientific research, it’s important to make sure they’re solving highly complex problems efficiently. This technique, coupled with Sakana’s processes, could be massively beneficial in areas like optimizing supply chains and advanced drug discovery.
NEW TOOLS & JOBS
🧠 GigaBrain - Scans billions of discussions on Reddit and finds the most useful posts
🧑💻 ShellMate - Open-sourced AI-powered Mac terminal\
🎨 Midjourney Editor - Edit AI-generated images easily on a single unified interface
📈 Graphy - Transform data into captivating visual presentation
💹 LedgerUp - Bookkeeping with automated financial management
🎨 Palantir - Product Designer, New Grad
🛠️ Glean - Solutions Architect
💻 Luma AI - Principal Software Engineer - Reliability
🤖 Sanctuary AI - Simulation Software Engineer - Reinforcement Learning
QUICK HITS
Free event: Navigating AI Data Privacy. Join Section CEO Greg Shove to learn how to protect your data, write a team or company AI data policy, and lead your company on safe AI. RSVP here.*
Claude introduced a new screenshot capture button, allowing users to easily include images from their screen in prompts.
Midjourney released a new unified web-based AI image editor with advanced tools for seamlessly modifying and extending generated images.
Rebellions and Sapeon, South Korean AI chip makers, signed a definitive merger agreement to challenge global leaders like Nvidia.
Bzigo launched Iris, an AI-powered mosquito detector that tracks and marks mosquitoes with a laser pointer for easy swatting.
Coinbase started a $15,000 accelerator grant program for projects combining AI with crypto wallets to enable economic participation.
Microsoft unveiled PowerToys Workspaces, a new feature to auto-arrange apps, plus an AI-powered copy-paste tool with OpenAI API integration.
*Sponsored listing
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