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OpenAI's secret discovery before firing Sam Altman
PLUS: Grok is coming!
Rowan Cheung
November 24, 2023
Welcome, AI enthusiasts.
The mystery of what led the OpenAI board to fire Sam Altman might’ve just been solved.
A leak from top OpenAI researchers states they made a powerful AI discovery that could "threaten humanity" right before the ousting. Let’s get into it...
In today’s AI rundown:
OpenAI’s recent discovery before firing Sam Altman
xAI plans to launch Grok next week to rival ChatGPT
9 new AI tools to try
The 5 most popular GPTs of the week
ElevenLabs reveals speech-to-speech converter
Bill Gates predicts AI can lead to a 3-day workweek
Andrej Karpathy: Intro to LLMs
Read time: 3 minutes
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
OPENAI
Image source: Jessica Chou via WIRED
The Rundown: According to a report by Reuters, OpenAI had a secret breakthrough called Q* (pronounced Q-Star) that precipitated the firing of Sam Altman.
The details:
Before Sam's firing, researchers sent the board a letter warning of a new AI discovery that could "threaten humanity."
The new model dubbed Q* demonstrated internal capabilities of doing simple math (something no model has achieved).
While simple math might not seem impressive to most, it could be a huge step toward creating artificial general intelligence (AGI).
A day before Sam was fired, he gave a chilling speech, quoting: "Is this a tool we've built or a creature we have built?"
Why it matters: While Q* is not fully confirmed yet, if true, the entire firing of Sam Altman could have been AGI-related all along, and the board’s drastic (and unexplained) actions would make more sense.
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xAI
Image source: xAI
The Rundown: Elon Musk’s new company, xAI, is reportedly launching Grok, its ChatGPT competitor next week to X Premium+ subscribers.
The details:
Grok will be integrated directly into X (formerly Twitter) and will have its own unique tab within the platform.
Grok’s differentiation over ChatGPT is its unique features like a distinctive personality and real-time X knowledge access.
Grok is part of a new, higher-priced X Premium+ subscription, priced at $16/month (above the standard $8/month).
Users will be able to submit feedback on how Grok answered, including writing optimal answers in response, to train the AI over time.
Our thoughts: While X is known to be the top platform for real-time news, it’s also known for massive misinformation. Given this fact, it will be interesting to see how the team at xAI handles what to feed into the AI vs. not.
TRENDING TOOLS
✍️ Grail Writer- Generate unlimited SEO-optimized articles from by your OpenAI API key (link)
👗 AI Fashion Model Generator- Create try-on models for garments and accessories (link)
📖 Readany- Turn any website into a podcast or audiobook (link)
🧠 Sonia- AI-powered cognitive behavioral therapist (link)
✏️ Notice- Create FAQs, Blogs, Docs, and Testimonials (link)
🎨 Meimu- Convert SVG to 3D with a high-quality renders (link)
🦙 Llama packs by Llamaindex- Hub of prepackaged modules that you can use to kickstart your LLM application (link)
🪞 Hey Mind- A mirror for the mind (link)
🎯 Automata - Repurpose Your Videos with AI (link)
Browse the most popular tools ever featured with our tool database.
AI TRAINING
An interesting thing about the OpenAI saga is that as the drama happened, OpenAI’s newly launched custom GPTs seemingly spiked in interest, based on data from our GPT directory.
The top 5 most popular GPTs of the week worth trying out:
ResearchGPT- An AI research assistant that searches 200M academic papers and drafts content with accurate citations (link)
VideoGPT- Drop a Spotify link to a song, playlist, user, or artist and explore with insights (link)
Logo Creator- Generates simple logo designs in seconds (link)
ConvertAnything- Convert images, audio, videos, PDFs & more with natch uploads, ZIP support, and download links (link)
Grimoire- A 10x coding assistant that can help you build a website with a single sentence (link)
QUESTION OF THE DAY
Have you built a custom GPT for yourself yet?Vote below (click for live results) |
QUICK HITS
Popular AI voice startup ElevenLabs released an AI speech-to-speech converter that allows you to change your voice for free. Potential uses include creating custom voices for games, videos, and podcasts using any sample audio with a single click.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates predicts that AI could lead to a three-day workweek, with machines taking over the “drudge work.“ Gates believes that if human labor is freed, it can be used for more meaningful activities, such as helping the elderly and reducing class sizes.
Andrej Karpathy, one of the world’s most respected AI scientists currently working at OpenAI, just published an extremely helpful YouTube video titled: “Intro to Large Langauge Models.”
LLMs are the brains behind AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard, and if you don’t yet understand what they do, we highly recommend the free intro video!
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THAT’S A WRAP
That’s it for today’s news in the world of AI!
If you have anything interesting to share, please reach out to us by sending us a DM on Twitter: @rowancheung & @therundownai
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