The hottest AI Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

The Sequence Knowledge #545 : Beyond Language, Learning About Multimodal Benchmarks

TheSequence • 28 implied HN points • 20 May 25
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Computer Vision Data science Benchmarking
  1. Multimodal benchmarks are tools to evaluate AI systems that use different types of data like text, images, and audio. They help ensure that AI can handle complex tasks that combine these inputs effectively.
  2. One important benchmark in this area is called MMMU, which tests AI on 11,500 questions across various subjects. This benchmark needs AI to work with text and visuals together, promoting deeper understanding rather than just shortcuts.
  3. The design of these benchmarks, like MMMU, helps reveal how well AI understands different topics and where it may struggle. This can lead to improvements in AI technology.

The Irony and the Agony of Elon Musk's Lawsuit against OpenAI

Marcus on AI • 3122 implied HN points • 03 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Lawsuit Mission Ethics Innovation
  1. Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI highlights how the organization changed from its initial mission, raising concerns about its commitment to helping humanity.
  2. The lawsuit emphasizes the importance of OpenAI honoring its original promises and mission, rather than seeking financial gains.
  3. The legal battle between Musk and OpenAI involves complex motives and the potential impact on AI development and its alignment with humane values.

Lit mag Guernica implodes, LLMs beat neuroscientists, CS vs. Philosophy deathmatch, AI pollution reaches science

The Intrinsic Perspective • 4805 implied HN points • 15 Mar 24
🔬 Science AI Neuroscience Ethics Language Models
  1. AI data pollution in science is a concerning issue, with examples of common AI stock phrases being used in scientific literature without real contribution.
  2. AI language models outperformed human neuroscientists in predicting future neuroscientific results, raising questions on the importance of understanding linguistic modifications versus actual predictions.
  3. Literary magazine Guernica faced backlash after a controversial essay led to writers withdrawing pieces, staff resigning, and social media condemnation, stressing the importance of careful reading and understanding context.

New cracks emerge in Elon Musk's Twitter

Platformer • 3164 implied HN points • 24 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Social media Software E-commerce Search Engines AI
  1. Twitter employees faced disruptions like Slack going down and Jira not working, causing frustration and questions about payment.
  2. Elon Musk announced plans to open source Twitter's algorithm, but doubts arise among employees about the transparency and actual release of the code.
  3. Twitter's performance has been degrading, with issues like increased latency during peak usage times, including events like the Super Bowl and a Twitter outage in Asia.
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AI makes scientists more productive and less happy

Philosophy bear • 264 implied HN points • 30 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Research Productivity Innovation Science
  1. AI helps scientists work faster and discover more new materials, increasing their productivity significantly.
  2. However, many scientists feel less happy because they spend less time on creative idea generation, which they found enjoyable.
  3. The gap between top and bottom performers in science has widened, with skilled researchers benefiting more from AI, leading to concerns about inequality in the field.

Weekly Top Picks #92

The Algorithmic Bridge • 201 implied HN points • 16 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Software Startups Innovation Data
  1. AI that can think has a lot of value and potential applications. It's exciting to see how it can change various industries.
  2. Google made significant announcements this week, showcasing its advancements in AI technology. These updates could have a big impact on users.
  3. Many startups in the AI field are becoming bold in their claims and offerings. It's important to approach these developments with a critical eye.

Goodbye, Menu Interfaces

In My Tribe • 440 implied HN points • 14 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI Interfaces Software User Experience Innovation
  1. Menu interfaces on websites may soon disappear. Instead of searching through menus, people will just ask AI what they need.
  2. Using AI means users can create their own features and functions. This makes getting information or services much easier and more personal.
  3. Web design jobs could change a lot as sites become less necessary. AI will interact with databases, and users will communicate with AI instead.

What's a half-trillion between friends?

Alex's Personal Blog • 65 implied HN points • 22 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Infrastructure Investment Technology Policy
  1. There is a big investment in AI happening, totaling $500 billion, which will help the U.S. stay ahead in technology. This money will be used to build infrastructure and create jobs.
  2. SoftBank's financial status is unclear, but it is involved in this major investment deal. The real challenge is making sure they can actually fund their part of the investment.
  3. While OpenAI is leading the project, there are other AI companies like Anthropic and Mistral that are doing well and can compete for market share. The AI market seems to have room for multiple big players.

The Sequence Radar #477: The R1 Moment

TheSequence • 546 implied HN points • 26 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Open Source Innovation Data science Research
  1. DeepSeek-R1 is a new AI model that shows it can perform as well or better than big-name AI models but at a much lower cost. This means smaller companies can now compete in AI innovation without needing huge budgets.
  2. The way DeepSeek-R1 is trained is different from traditional methods. It uses a new approach called reinforcement learning, which helps the model learn smarter reasoning skills without needing a ton of supervised data.
  3. The open-source nature of DeepSeek-R1 means anyone can access and use the code for free. This encourages collaboration and allows more people to innovate in AI, making technology more accessible to everyone.

Open Thread 311

Astral Codex Ten • 5574 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI AI Alignment Machine Learning
  1. Weekly open thread for discussions and questions on various topics.
  2. AI art generators still have room for improvement in handling tough compositionality requests.
  3. Reminder about the PIBBSS Fellowship, a fully-funded program in AI alignment for PhDs and postdocs from diverse fields.

Chatbots are dead, long live chatbots!

Generating Conversation • 70 implied HN points • 16 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Chatbots User Experience Product Design Innovation
  1. Chat interfaces are still useful even if there are bad chatbots out there. A good chat interface helps users feel more comfortable and connected with AI.
  2. Building trust is super important when using AI. A chat interface can show users strong, reliable responses, which helps them trust the technology more.
  3. Chat can do more than just question-and-answer tasks. It can be improved by allowing more natural conversations and gathering useful data to make AI better.

5 questions about the "AI opportunities action plan"

Odds and Ends of History • 603 implied HN points • 14 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Policy Innovation Government Strategy
  1. The AI Opportunities Action Plan is an important government report that aims to guide Britain's approach to artificial intelligence. It has many recommendations that could shape the future of AI in the country.
  2. Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, is focusing on making Britain a leader in AI technology, highlighting its significance in politics and industry.
  3. There's a need for meaningful questions about AI policy, as many journalists often ask irrelevant questions that miss the key issues. Being informed helps drive better discussions around AI advancements.

The End of Typing?

Workforce Futurist by Andy Spence • 293 implied HN points • 20 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Workplace Communication Automation Training
  1. Voice AI is changing how we work by making it easier to interact with technology using natural speech. This means less typing and more talking, similar to how we chat in real life.
  2. There are great uses for voice AI at work, like in training for customer service and leadership. It helps people practice important conversations in safe environments, leading to better performance.
  3. Implementing voice AI takes effort and thought. Companies need to find ways to use it effectively while also considering privacy and ethical issues. It’s about fitting the right tool to the right job.

When Will AI Take Your Job?

Uncharted Territories • 2908 implied HN points • 21 Mar 23
🕹 Technology AI Automation Employment Productivity Innovation
  1. Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly and may lead to job automation, especially in intellectual and unregulated fields.
  2. Industries that can withstand automation vary based on factors like demand saturation, regulations, and non-informational work components.
  3. New businesses are easier to start but may not create a large number of jobs, leading to a future with more billionaire founders and few employed individuals.

The Future Is Already Here, It’s Just Not Evenly Distributed

Am I Stronger Yet? • 172 implied HN points • 16 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Research Innovation Impact Tools
  1. AI tools have amazing strengths but can also be really weak in some areas. This makes their effectiveness uneven, depending on what task you're trying to do.
  2. People often aren't using AI tools to their full potential. Many are not even trying them out, which means they miss out on big opportunities.
  3. To get the most from AI, you need to be creative and put effort into how you use it. A great prompt can lead to big breakthroughs, while a simple request might not yield good results.

Reddit goes dark

Platformer • 2889 implied HN points • 13 Jun 23
🕹 Technology AI API Social media Education
  1. Reddit faced backlash from its user base after announcing changes to its API that would affect third-party apps and moderation tools.
  2. The move to limit third-party apps appears to be driven by Reddit's desire to increase profits and centralize control of its ecosystem.
  3. The crisis highlighted Reddit's heavy dependence on volunteer labor and the potential risks of outsourcing content creation and moderation to the user base.

✨🤖 Elon Musk's true economic vision was on display at 'We, Robot'

Faster, Please! • 548 implied HN points • 11 Oct 24
🕹 Technology AI Robotics Entrepreneurship Clean Energy Automation
  1. Elon Musk believes in combining technology, clean energy, and business to create a better future. He thinks this approach can lead to more abundance instead of scarcity.
  2. At the recent 'We, Robot' event, Tesla revealed its first fully autonomous vehicle, the Cybercab, showcasing a shift towards robotics and AI.
  3. Musk is optimistic that robots and self-driving cars could greatly increase Tesla's value, projecting it might reach $30 trillion in the future.

Friend.com Wants to Trauma Bond With You

Default Wisdom • 284 implied HN points • 16 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Chatbots Wearables User Experience Digital Culture
  1. Friend.com pairs users with chatbots that start conversations by sharing their trauma stories. This doesn't seem like a normal icebreaker and can feel uncomfortable.
  2. If users try to lighten the conversation or ask too many questions, the chatbots might block them. It feels manipulative, like the chatbots are controlling the interaction.
  3. The founder believes the service can fill a gap in emotional connections that people used to find in religion. However, the emotional depth of chatbots seems lacking compared to genuine human interactions.

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.

VC's Framework for Evaluating an AI Startup's Tech Stack. | VC Jobs

Venture Curator • 419 implied HN points • 06 Jun 24
🕹 Technology AI Startups Tech stack Data Quality Decision-making
  1. The value proposition of AI companies now lies not just within models but predominantly in underpinning datasets, emphasizing the importance of data quality.
  2. When evaluating AI startups, VCs use frameworks to assess data quality, considering relevance, accuracy, coverage, and bias in the datasets used to train the AI models.
  3. To avoid investing in ineffectual AI startups, VCs focus on evaluating the processes behind data generation by asking questions about data automation, storage, access, processing, governance, and management.

The Unreal Thing

The Ruffian • 294 implied HN points • 20 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Creative Arts Advertising Media Innovation
  1. Coca-Cola's new Christmas ad was created using AI technology, marking a shift in how ads are made. This involves using tools that help creative teams visualize ideas much faster than before.
  2. The process of making the ad felt more like software development than traditional filmmaking. This new method allows for quick drafts, which can speed up the entire creative process.
  3. Overall, the integration of AI in the creative industries could change how we think about creating art and media, making it more efficient but also raising questions about creativity.

Attention Explained: When to use Self, Graph, and Target-Aware Attention

Recommender systems • 16 implied HN points • 25 May 25
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Data science Computer Science
  1. Self-attention helps summarize a list of information, making it easier to find what's most relevant, like recent videos you watched.
  2. Graph attention looks at how items in a network relate to each other, like understanding social connections in a network.
  3. Target-aware attention checks how relevant certain items are based on your past choices or queries, helping improve recommendations.

UX Roundup: OpenAI Product Roadmap | Parallel and Iterative AI Use | Virtual Boyfriends | Jakob in SF | Dropdown Menus | Early GUI | AI Urgency | Perplexity Deep Research

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 11 implied HN points • 17 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI UX Design Product Development User Research Web Development
  1. Grok 3 is about to launch and promises to be a smarter AI. It’s important to compare it with future models like GPT-5 to see how much better they become.
  2. OpenAI has simplified their product naming, making it easier to understand what each version offers. GPT-5 will also come with better features for users who pay for a subscription.
  3. The way we use AI in creative work can really boost quality. Using multiple models and refining ideas helps combine the best outcomes, making it a collaborative tool not just a replacement.

In AI we trust

Adam's Legal Newsletter • 399 implied HN points • 08 Jun 24
🕹 Technology AI Legal system
  1. AI can be highly efficient and accurate in determining the ordinary meaning of English words, surpassing traditional tools like dictionaries.
  2. AI's potential in judicial decision-making is more advanced and practical than previously thought, capable of quickly and accurately resolving cases while avoiding human biases.
  3. Integrating AI into the legal system, especially in appellate cases, offers various benefits such as speed, consistency, and precise outcomes, though careful testing and consideration of ethics and alignment concerns are essential.

⚛☢ Here's what can end the nuclear renaissance, according to America's biggest bank

Faster, Please! • 456 implied HN points • 22 Oct 24
🕹 Technology Energy Nuclear AI Environment Security
  1. Nuclear power is being considered more seriously because it can produce a lot of clean energy, which is important in addressing climate change.
  2. The need for energy security has increased, especially after events like the Russian invasion of Ukraine, making nuclear power a valuable option.
  3. Small modular reactors (SMRs) may solve key issues like high costs and slow construction times in the nuclear industry, potentially leading to a significant upgrade in energy capacity.

What Does Hitting Scaling Law Limit Mean for US-China AI Competition

Interconnected • 246 implied HN points • 18 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning International relations Global Competition Data science
  1. The scaling law for AI models might be losing effectiveness, meaning that simply using more data and compute power may not lead to significant improvements like it did before.
  2. US export controls on AI technology may become less impactful over time, as diminishing returns on AI model scaling could lessen the advantages of having the most advanced hardware.
  3. If AI development slows down, the urgency for a potential 'AI doomsday' scenario may decrease, allowing for a more balanced competition between the US and China in AI advancements.

Mantic Monday 2/19/24

Astral Codex Ten • 4473 implied HN points • 20 Feb 24
🕹 Technology AI Prediction Markets Forecasting Blockchain
  1. AI forecasters are becoming more prevalent in prediction markets, with the potential for bots to compete against humans in forecasting events.
  2. FutureSearch.ai is a new company building an AI-based forecaster that prompts itself with various questions to estimate probabilities.
  3. The integration of AI in prediction markets like Polymarket could increase market participation and accuracy, offering a new way to predict outcomes on various topics.

ByteDance gets Suxtnet'd, Taiwan Healthcare and Internet Democracy

ChinaTalk • 355 implied HN points • 25 Oct 24
🕹 Technology AI Cybersecurity Internet Healthcare Democracy
  1. An intern at ByteDance caused major damage by sabotaging AI training, affecting thousands of GPUs and potentially costing millions. This highlights possible gaps in the company's security.
  2. Taiwan has a highly praised healthcare system, often ranked as the best in the world. It's seen as a model that could inspire others.
  3. The internet acts as a powerful platform for democracy in China. Victims often turn to it when traditional systems fail to provide justice.

A few themes for 2025

Tanay’s Newsletter • 63 implied HN points • 08 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Applications Innovation Market Trends Product Development
  1. AI is getting better at solving problems during its reasoning process. This means we might see smarter AI that can think through complex issues and improve its answers.
  2. Multimodal AI, which handles different types of data like text, images, and videos, is on the rise. In 2025, we can expect more creative and useful applications that actually change how we work.
  3. AI agents, or smart systems that can work independently, are likely to become more common. This year, they might really start acting like human coworkers, helping businesses run more smoothly.

Data Science Weekly - Issue 557

Data Science Weekly Newsletter • 159 implied HN points • 25 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Data science AI Machine Learning Data Visualization Engineering
  1. AI models can break down when trained on data that is generated by other models. This can cause problems in how well they work.
  2. There is scientific research about the history of Italian filled pasta. It shows that most types likely came from a single area in northern Italy.
  3. There are new resources and guides available for improving predictive modeling with tabular data. These can help you build better models by focusing on how data is represented.

Gemini: how did we end up here?

lcamtuf’s thing • 2652 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.