The hottest AI Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Gemini: how did we end up here?

lcamtuf’s thing • 2166 implied HN points • 02 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Ethics Language Models Big Tech Content Moderation
  1. The development of large language models (LLMs) like Gemini involves mechanisms like reinforcement learning from human feedback, which can lead to biases and quirky responses.
  2. Concerns arise about the use of LLMs for automated content moderation and the potential impact on historical and political education for children.
  3. The shift within Big Tech towards paternalistic content moderation reflects a move away from the libertarian culture predominant until the mid-2010s, highlighting evolving perspectives on regulating information online.

Has Google gone too woke? Why even the biggest models still struggle with guardrails

Marcus on AI • 2603 implied HN points • 21 Feb 24
🕹 Technology AI Ethics Data Bias Machine Learning
  1. Google's large models struggle with implementing proper guardrails, despite ongoing investments and cultural criticisms.
  2. Issues like presenting fictional characters as historical figures, lacking cultural and historical accuracy, persist with AI systems like Gemini.
  3. Current AI lacks the ability to understand and balance cultural sensitivity with historical accuracy, showing the need for more nuanced and intelligent systems in the future.

Open Thread 317

Astral Codex Ten • 2340 implied HN points • 26 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Social media AI Data
  1. Some users who were supposed to be unbanned were not truly unbanned, leading to a need for them to reach out to get it fixed.
  2. Substack acknowledges issues with page and comment loading speed, with plans to improve that in the future.
  3. GPT-6's training might require only 0.1% of the world's computers, according to Ben Todd's findings, a significant discrepancy from previous estimations.

Happy 1st Birthday, GPT-4

Marcus on AI • 1380 implied HN points • 16 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Ethics Applications Progress Competition
  1. There seems to be a possible plateau in GPT-4's capability, with no one decisively beating it yet.
  2. Despite challenges, there has been progress in discovering applications and putting GPT-4 type models into practice.
  3. Companies are finding putting Large Language Models into real-world use challenging, with many initial expectations proving unrealistic.
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🌍📈 The world is a less impoverished and more equal place than you think

Faster, Please! • 1736 implied HN points • 06 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Business Policy Health Clean Energy
  1. Productivity and worker pay have increased together over the years, contrary to popular belief.
  2. Income inequality has actually decreased since 2007, suggesting concerns might be overstated or outdated.
  3. Global poverty and inequality have declined since the 1980s, even after adjusting for systematic survey misreporting.

Judgment Day Has Arrived for the Journalism Business

The Honest Broker • 30220 implied HN points • 07 May 23
💼 Business Journalism Media Subscription Advertising AI
  1. Media platforms struggling with advertising rely on gimmicky clickbait strategies that eventually fail.
  2. Subscription-based models are becoming successful in journalism, shifting the focus back to quality writing.
  3. AI-generated articles, the latest gimmick in media, reduce writing costs but sacrifice quality and are doomed to fail.

Analog Chip Design is an Art. Can AI Help?

The Asianometry Newsletter • 2707 implied HN points • 12 Feb 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Neural Networks
  1. Analog chip design is a complex art form that often takes up a significant portion of the total design cost of an integrated circuit.
  2. Analog design involves working with continuous signals from the real world and manipulating them to create desired outputs.
  3. Automating analog chip design with AI is a challenging task that involves using machine learning models to assist in tasks like circuit sizing and layout.

Quick Essay: Large Language Models, How to Train Them, and xAI’s Grok

chamathreads • 3321 implied HN points • 31 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Chatbots Neural Networks Data Training
  1. Large language models (LLMs) are neural networks that can predict the next sequence of words, specialized for tasks like generating responses to questions.
  2. LLMs work by representing words as vectors, capturing meanings and context efficiently using techniques like 'self-attention'.
  3. To build an LLM, it goes through two stages: training (teaching the model to predict words) and fine-tuning (specializing the model for specific tasks like answering questions).

What Could Possibly Go Wrong with Sam Altman’s New Ambitions?

Marcus on AI • 2485 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
🕹 Technology AI Security Finance Ethics Risk
  1. Sam Altman's new ambitions involve projects with significant financial and technological implications, such as automating tasks by taking over user devices and seeking trillions of dollars to reshape the business of chips and AI.
  2. There are concerns about the potential consequences and risks of these ambitious projects, including security vulnerabilities, potential misuse of control over user devices, and the massive financial implications.
  3. The field of AI may not be mature enough to handle the challenges presented by these ambitious projects, and there are doubts about the feasibility, safety, and ethical implications of executing these plans.

TfL's AI Tube Station experiment is amazing and slightly terrifying

Odds and Ends of History • 2278 implied HN points • 12 Feb 24
🕹 Technology AI Surveillance Transportation Data Analysis Digital innovation
  1. AI technology, like the one used in TfL's Tube Station experiment, is rapidly changing and being implemented in various sectors.
  2. AI cameras at stations can have a wide range of uses, from enhancing security to improving passenger welfare and gathering statistical data.
  3. While AI technology offers numerous benefits, there are also concerns about privacy, surveillance, and potential misuse of the technology.

In the World of AI, What Have Engineers Experienced?

AI Disruption • 39 implied HN points • 07 May 24
🕹 Technology AI Engineers Silicon Valley Tech Companies Artificial Intelligence
  1. Silicon Valley AI engineers are burnt out due to high workload and constantly changing priorities.
  2. Many tech companies use AI for the sake of using it, focusing on hype rather than real problem-solving.
  3. The rush to release AI products quickly can lead to failures and negative consequences, highlighting a current bubble in the AI industry.

The One and a Half Gemini

thezvi • 1651 implied HN points • 22 Feb 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Innovation APIs Digital Transformation
  1. Gemini 1.5 introduces a breakthrough in long-context understanding by processing up to 1 million tokens, which means improved performance and longer context windows for AI models.
  2. The use of mixture-of-experts architecture in Gemini 1.5, alongside Transformer models, contributes to its overall enhanced performance, potentially giving Google an edge over competitors like GPT-4.
  3. Gemini 1.5 offers opportunities for new and improved applications, such as translation of low-resource languages like Kalamang, providing high-quality translations and enabling various innovative use cases.

The future of AI, work, and the world

Granted • 4751 implied HN points • 15 Dec 23
🕹 Technology AI Work Geopolitics Psychology Podcasts
  1. Encourage a love for learning in kids rather than pushing for practical majors. Liberal arts education is about expanding minds, not just building careers.
  2. Gain diverse perspectives to broaden your mind. Explore topics like AI, global geopolitics, and work happiness.
  3. Question the status quo in education and work. Focus on asking the right questions, embracing ambiguity, and challenging common myths.

🤖⏭ Nvidia's surge hints at AI's transformative potential. But what's next?

Faster, Please! • 913 implied HN points • 15 Mar 24
💰 Finance Stock Market AI Economics Technology Investing
  1. Nvidia's surge in the stock market indicates the potential of AI and its transformative impact.
  2. The stock market reflects high optimism towards AI, but it hasn't reached the levels of previous tech bubbles.
  3. The increase in Nvidia's market value seems to be supported by actual earnings, not just speculative investments.

Agents 4 All

DARK FUTURA • 2869 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Augmented reality Deepfakes Social media
  1. AI plays a significant role in tracking and manipulating consumer behaviors to maximize profits for corporations.
  2. The development of full-time AI agents as personal assistants is the next phase of AI innovation, focusing on handling daily tasks and expenditures.
  3. DARPA is exploring the development of human-presenting AI agents for influencing social and behavioral systems, indicating potential dangerous implications.

The techno-optimist's fallacy

Slow Boring • 7429 implied HN points • 23 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Innovation AI Ethics Risk Progress
  1. The fallacy of assuming all technological progress is inherently good is a common mistake.
  2. The nuclear energy industry faced significant opposition in the 1970s, impacting energy policies and environmental outcomes.
  3. While technological progress is vital, it is crucial to acknowledge that technology can have negative impacts that need to be addressed.

🧪⚛🧬 Broken promises: CHIPS Act funding for science research falls short

Faster, Please! • 822 implied HN points • 13 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Research Economics Policy AI Health
  1. Despite promises made in the CHIPS and Science Act, Congress significantly underfunded key agencies and programs for scientific research, hindering progress in fields like artificial intelligence.
  2. Investment in basic scientific research, often a public good with long-term benefits beyond immediate financial gains, is essential for innovation and societal advancement.
  3. Government-funded R&D has historically played a crucial role in business sector productivity growth, supporting the argument for increased federal spending on research and development.

AI safety is not a model property

AI Snake Oil • 796 implied HN points • 12 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Cybersecurity Ethics
  1. AI safety is not a property of AI models, but depends heavily on the context and environment in which the AI system is deployed.
  2. Efforts to fix AI safety solely at the model level are limited, as misuses can still occur since models lack necessary context for decision-making.
  3. Defenses against AI model misuse should focus primarily outside models, on attack surfaces like email scanners and URL blacklists, and red teaming should shift towards early warning of adversary capabilities.

Nvidia Illumina Acquisition? The AI Foundry for Healthcare – The Hardware of Life

SemiAnalysis • 7576 implied HN points • 27 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Healthcare Genomics AI Compute Data Analysis
  1. Eroom's Law and Moore's Law are critical in Semiconductors and Drug Research, analyzing time, money, and output.
  2. Healthcare, a $4 trillion industry, lags behind in technological progress driven by Moore's Law.
  3. Illumina acquisition by Nvidia could bridge the gap in genomics, addressing bottlenecks and enabling full-stack healthcare solutions.

Wait, ChatGPT Didn't Take My Job?

Big Technology • 10258 implied HN points • 11 Aug 23
🕹 Technology AI Automation Jobs
  1. Artificial intelligence is used by companies to increase productivity without reducing jobs.
  2. There was a fear that many professions would be automated by AI, but it hasn't happened as quickly as expected.
  3. Individuals can access full articles on Big Technology with a 7-day free trial.

The WITI Recommends Edition

Why is this interesting? • 1085 implied HN points • 27 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Products AI Recommendations Software
  1. A new recommendations site, Why is this interesting? Recommends, has been launched after almost five years of planning, bringing together over 1,000 product, book, and software recommendations from their past newsletters.
  2. The use of AI has played a crucial role in extracting and categorizing product recommendations from a vast amount of text, making the process more efficient and manageable.
  3. The team behind the site is open to feedback and suggestions, emphasizing user engagement by encouraging exploration, purchases, and sharing ideas for further improvements.

Part Skis, Part Scooter: Urban Carving on the Skwheel

The Micromobility Newsletter • 2044 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Micromobility Electric Vehicles AI
  1. The Skwheel is a unique urban mobility solution that combines skiing, roller blades, and an electric scooter.
  2. Innovative DIY projects in micromobility include a mountain bike powered by sled dogs and a hand truck converted into a go-kart.
  3. Mobility companies are exploring AI-driven solutions, such as Shimano's suspension components that adjust based on terrain and rider habits.

Meet the Team Bringing AI Agents to Minecraft

A16Z GAMES • 439 implied HN points • 29 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Gaming Startups Innovation
  1. Altera is developing AI agents for Minecraft that can interact autonomously and learn from player interactions.
  2. The team at Altera, including MIT PhDs and ex-Google AI engineers, aims to create agents with episodic memory and the ability to set their own goals.
  3. Altera's long-term goal is to expand their AI agents to other games like Roblox and integrate their technology with game engine SDKs for wider developer use.