Mark Zuckerberg’s new goal is to create artificial general intelligence

There is a tech industry's race towards developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), with major players like OpenAI, Google, and now Meta (formerly Facebook) heavily investing in this area. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, is shifting Meta's AI research group, FAIR, to work more closely with the team developing generative AI products, aiming to leverage AI breakthroughs across Meta's platforms. Zuckerberg emphasizes the need for general intelligence to build advanced products and acknowledges the intense competition for AI talent and computing resources. Meta plans to amass a significant number of Nvidia GPUs to support their AI development.

Despite not having a precise definition or timeline for AGI, Zuckerberg sees its development as a gradual process, with Meta's Llama 2 and upcoming Llama 3 models focusing on code generation and advanced reasoning. He advocates for an open-source approach to AI development to prevent concentration of power and to promote equal access, contrasting this with other companies that have become more secretive about their AI technologies.

Zuckerberg stresses that Meta's commitment to the metaverse and Reality Labs remains strong, with AI playing a crucial role in enhancing these experiences. He envisions AI-generated virtual worlds and AI characters in Meta's platforms and asserts that Meta’s focus is on building connections, increasingly involving interactions between humans and AIs.

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OpenAI announces first partnership with a university

OpenAI announced a partnership with Arizona State University (ASU), marking its first collaboration with a higher education institution. This partnership, which has been in development for over six months, will grant ASU full access to ChatGPT Enterprise starting in February. This version of ChatGPT includes no usage caps and improved performance.

ASU plans to use ChatGPT Enterprise in various ways, including creating a personalized AI tutor for students, especially in STEM subjects and Freshman Composition. The university also aims to develop AI avatars to assist in studying and enhance its prompt engineering course, which has become increasingly popular among students.

This partnership ensures data security and privacy, as inputs from the ASU community into ChatGPT will remain secure and not be used for training OpenAI's models. Despite some criticisms and bans of AI chatbots in education due to cheating concerns, this collaboration focuses on leveraging the technology for research, data analysis, and creative applications.

OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap expressed enthusiasm about learning from this experience and expanding ChatGPT's use in higher education. ASU CIO Lev Gonick highlighted the significance of this partnership in advancing educational technology and research.

Microsoft makes its AI-powered reading tutor free

Microsoft Education is introducing new AI innovations to enhance productivity and personalize learning. This includes the wider availability of Copilot for Microsoft 365 and the introduction of Loop in education. Key features include Reading Coach, powered by generative AI, which offers personalized reading experiences and dynamically created stories that adapt to the student's reading level. Reading Coach is available on the web and as a Windows app for free to anyone with a Microsoft account, with plans to integrate it with Learning Management Systems like Canvas.

In Teams for Education, new AI features help educators create and organize class resources and assignments more efficiently. Microsoft Reflect has been updated to assist students in expressing emotions and receiving active support from educators. These tools aim to save time for educators and personalize instruction for students.

Alongside these product updates, Microsoft is focused on building AI literacy, launching a new course for educators on Microsoft Learn. This includes the AI for Educators Learning Path and the AI Classroom Toolkit to help educators and students safely engage with AI tools.

Finally, Microsoft is actively participating in discussions around youth online safety and wellness, emphasizing the importance of considering both the benefits and risks of technology for young people in policy decisions. This aligns with Microsoft's broader commitment to responsible AI use in education.

Other stuff

• TikTok can generate AI songs, but it probably shouldn’t

• Microsoft’s Bing Market Share Barely Budged With ChatGPT Add-On

• Microsoft released a new method to speed up LLM inference and boost performance while making them 20x smaller.

• Samsung says Galaxy AI features will only be free ‘until the end of 2025’

• Current and former Google engineers discuss how Google has changed

• Making $190,000 per month with an AI dating assistant

• RunwayML officially announced Multi Motion Brush

• HeyGen introduced new AI Avatars! More diverse avatars, each with their own personality and wardrobe choices

• AI-generated videos don't have sound yet, but that is going to change!

• Is A.I. the Death of I.P.?

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