OpenAI's o1 achieves 'Level 2'

PLUS: Apple launches beta of AI-powered iOS 18.1

Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

Sam Altman just confirmed OpenAI's o1 models have reached level 2 of their 5-tier path to AGI, accelerating the leap towards level 3 (agents).

With o1 improving day by day, are we only a couple of months away from a new era of AI-driven internet powered by autonomous agents? Let’s get into it…

In today’s AI rundown:

  • Sam Altman on AI’s evolution: o1 to agents

  • Apple launches beta of AI-powered iOS 18.1

  • Visualize data with AI-powered charts

  • Google uses AI to help build cities

  • 5 new AI tools & 4 new AI jobs

  • More AI & tech news

Read time: 4 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

OPENAI

Image source: T-Mobile

The Rundown: At T-Mobile’s Capital Markets Day, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman discussed the new o1 model's advanced reasoning capabilities and hinted at the accelerated development of AI agents, suggesting another major leap in AI is imminent.

The details:

  • o1 is described as the first AI system with advanced reasoning, outperforming previous models in complex problem-solving.

  • Altman compared o1’s current state to the ‘GPT-2 stage’ of reasoning models, suggesting that this is just the start, and the GPT-4 equivalent is on the horizon.

  • He outlined five levels of AI development, with o1 at level 2 (reasoners), and suggested level 3 (agents) could follow "relatively quickly".

  • Altman's full discussion can be found in the linked YouTube video from 51:00 to 1:06:00.

Why it matters: While the transition from GPT-4 to o1 seemed to take forever, Altman's comments suggest the time between o1 and fully capable agentic AI systems will be significantly faster due to its iterative nature. If true, it should only be a couple of months before o1 models blow GPT-4o (and other current models) out of the water.

TOGETHER WITH INNOVATING WITH AI

The Rundown: Innovating with AI’s new program, AI Consultancy Project, equips AI enthusiasts with all the resources to capitalize on the rapidly growing AI consulting market – which is set to 8x to $54.7B by 2032.

The program offers:

  • Tools and framework to find clients and deliver top-notch services

  • A 6-month roadmap to build a 6-figure AI consulting business

  • Student landing their first AI client in as little as 3 days

APPLE

Image source: Apple

The Rundown: Apple just released the beta version of its highly anticipated AI software update, iOS 18.1, for early testing alongside the iPhone 16 release — significantly enhancing Siri and introducing a suite of AI-powered features.

The details:

  • Available for iPhone 16 models and premium versions of iPhone 15 through the Apple Beta Software Program (users should download with caution).

  • Siri now features improved conversational abilities and a new visual interface with a rotating glowing light during interactions.

  • New AI-powered features include writing assistance, email summarization, and advanced photo editing tools, with more planned for future releases.

  • It will initially be available in the United States, but Apple’s AI features will expand to other English-speaking countries in December and to more languages and regions in the next year.

Why it matters: This beta release offers an early glimpse into Apple's long-awaited Siri upgrades and AI integrations that are set to create truly unique and personalized experiences for users. However, as with all beta software, download with caution — as the update might be buggy, and is not the final version of iOS 18 yet.

AI TRAINING

The Rundown: Perplexity's new code interpreter feature allows users to install Python libraries, fetch financial data, and create charts directly within the platform.

Step-by-step:

  1. Visit Perplexity AI.

  2. In the search bar, click “Pro” search and enter a query like "Install a library to get the stock market returns of the DAX index over the past 20 years. Then use it to make a chart."

  3. Watch as Perplexity searches for libraries, installs them, fetches data, and creates the chart, allowing you to then analyze the results and ask follow-up questions about that specific chart.

Hot tip: Free users get 5 Pro searches per day!

PRESENTED BY ADA

The Rundown: Ada and OpenAI are hosting an exclusive webinar on building trust in enterprise AI adoption for customer service, focusing on minimizing hallucinations to and deploying reliable AI agents.

Join on Sep. 26, at 1pm ET to learn:

  • Why AI agents hallucinate and strategies for building reliable AI

  • Practical levers that Customer Service teams can pull to increase trust in the AI agents

  • OpenAI's approach to mitigating enterprise AI risks

Register today and learn the top tips for trusted AI deployment.

GOOGLE

Image source: Google

The Rundown: Google just released the Open Buildings 2.5D Temporal Dataset, an AI-powered tool that tracks building changes across the Global South from 2016 to 2023, including estimates of building presence, counts, and heights.

The details:

  • The dataset covers a 32 million square mile area across Africa, Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia, using 10m resolution imagery from Sentinel-2 satellites.

  • It uses a novel AI approach combining multiple low-resolution satellite images to achieve near high-resolution accuracy in detecting buildings and estimating their heights.

  • The tool is designed to aid urban planning, crisis response, and environmental impact studies in regions lacking up-to-date infrastructure data.

  • While powerful, the dataset has limitations, such as gathering data in areas with frequent cloud coverage and detecting very small structures.

Why it matters: Google is on fire with its new models tackling real-world problems. Yesterday, the tech giant was talking to whales with AI — and now it’s using the technology to help build better cities and prevent environmental disasters.

NEW TOOLS & JOBS

  • 💻 Curai - Senior Software Engineer

  • 🤖 UiPath - RPA Developer

  • 📈 Meta - Product Marketing Manager

  • 🧠 Deepmind - Data Scientist

QUICK HITS

Free event on AI and Disinformation with Section and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Dr. Rumman Chowdhury. RSVP here*

TikTok is developing its own AI GPUs, aiming to reduce reliance on Nvidia with two chips for AI training and inference planned for mass production in 2026.

The UN’s AI advisory board released a report with seven recommendations for global AI governance, including establishing a scientific panel and creating a global AI fund.

Amazon launched Amelia, an AI assistant for third-party sellers to help resolve account issues and access sales data, now available in beta for select US sellers.

MIT researchers developed an AI model called Crystalyze that can determine the structures of powdered crystalline materials from X-ray diffraction data.

LinkedIn quietly introduced AI model training using user data, requiring users to opt-out via account settings and a separate form to fully prevent future data use.

Salesforce announced free access to its premium AI courses and certifications for everyone through 2025 via its Trailhead learning platform.

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