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- AI takes over the WEF
Welcome, AI enthusiasts.
AI is taking over the World… Economic Forum.
The world’s rich and powerful descended on Davos, Switzerland, this week for the annual meetup — with all the leading figures in AI attending to help shape global strategy. Let’s get into it…
In today’s AI rundown:
AI takes center stage at the World Economic Forum
Musk wants over $80B to continue AI and robotics strategy
How to run Phi-2 locally on your computer for private AI
Meta releases MAGNET technique for speedy text-to-audio
8 new AI tools & 4 new AI jobs
More AI & tech news
Read time: 4 minutes
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
OPENAI
Image source: Reuters
The Rundown: AI is one of the main themes of this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — with notable leaders like Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Yann LeCun, Mustafa Suleyman, and others holding discussions at the annual meeting of the world’s most rich and powerful.
The details:
OpenAI revealed it is working with the Pentagon on cybersecurity projects, coming after recently removing a blanket ban on ‘military and warfare’ uses on ChatGPT’s ToS.
The ChatGPT creator is also accelerating work on addressing election disinformation risks, including new tools for ID’ing DALL-E generated images and more guardrails to prevent abuse.
Altman also said more climate-friendly power is critical for training billion-parameter models, with future AI breakthroughs depending on energy innovation.
Nadella urged attendees on a global regulatory approach to the technology but said he feels a ‘broad consensus’ is emerging on guardrails.
Why it matters: In the annual meeting of global leaders and elites, it’s no surprise that AI has a key seat at the table. With businesses and governments across the globe rushing to get a grasp on the tech, this year’s meetings will provide a key opportunity to get more globally aligned on adoption and safety.
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TESLA
Image source: The New York Times
The Rundown: Elon Musk just demanded (via X) that Tesla's board grant him a 25% voting stake (worth over $80B) to continue driving its AI and robotics strategy, startling investors and saying he'll pursue external ventures if his ask is not met.
The details:
Musk said he is “uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI and robotics without having ~25% voting control" in a reply on X.
Musk’s current shares are reportedly worth 13% of the company, with the polarizing tech leader selling a significant amount of his shares to fund the purchase of Twitter.
Granting the demands would be difficult, with Tesla needing to issue new shares that could result in shareholder lawsuits.
Voting power was highlighted by Musk as the main driver, saying that being at 15% or lower ‘makes a takeover by dubious interests too easy’.
Why it matters: The provocative move spotlights Tesla's susceptibility to Musk's whims and the friction between his personal and corporate interests as AI ambitions collide. While Elon is undoubtedly an accelerant of innovation — it’s certainly not always a smooth ride.
AI TRAINING
Image source: Paul Couvert on X
The Rundown: Mistral AI’s open-source LLM, Phi-2, can be run on your laptop offline — keeping data private and avoiding the censorship that comes with other models.
Thank you to Paul Couvert for sharing this tutorial with us.
Step-by-step:
Download LM Studio - a free platform for local AI models
Inside LM Studio, search for "phi-2", select “TheBloke/phi-2-GGUF” and download the Q6_K or Q4_K_S version.
Open the Chat tab, ensure Phi-2 is selected, and then start prompting away!
AI RESEARCH
Image source: Midjourney
The Rundown: Meta researchers just developed a new text-to-audio AI method called MAGNET, which is capable of quickly generating music, sound effects, and noises from text prompts.
The details:
MAGNET learns by predicting masked sections of songs during training, then unmasks pieces by using surrounding context as clues to fill in gaps.
The technique is 7 times quicker than similar systems while matching their sound quality.
MAGNET is also tested for turning text into sound effects and environmental noises.
Why it matters: By composing sections together non-sequentially, MAGNET points toward more efficient AI methods for music, audio, and perhaps even video creation down the line.
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Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said during an interview at Davos that he sees AI and machine learning as a core area of network growth, citing AI’s potential to possibly revive the smartphone market.
PwC’s annual Global CEO Survey found that 25% of respondents expect to reduce employee numbers due to generative AI.
Baidu has denied allegations its Ernie Bot is being used to train a Chinese military system, following media reports linking the LLM to weapons and combat data.
Vodaphone just signed a $1.5B, 10-year deal with Microsoft for AI-related services, including customer support chatbots and collaboration on the telecommunication giant’s platforms.
Square Enix revealed its Playstation exclusive game Foamstars uses some AI-generated art created with Midjourney, following the company’s pledge to ‘aggressively’ adopt AI.
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