Nvidia+Lenovo = AI-in-a-Box

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shared the stage with Lenovo CEO Yuangqin Yang to announce a partnership to make AI super-easy for enterprise customers. Nvidia will provide the cloud GPUs to train the customer’s AI model, and Lenovo will ship the hardware for the customer to run the model securely on-premise. So - Just like Oprah giving away cars - Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy - every (big) customer can have their own customized AI-in-a-(on-prem)-box.

Nvidia + Lenovo = AI-in-a-box

Snapdragon details leaked

Credible sources indicate that cellular chip giant Qualcomm’s new flagship Snapdragon processor for Android phones, expected to be launched next month, will be stuffed with AI goodies. Most will be focused (get it?) on images, but it is purported to be able run Meta’s LLaMa 2 LLM on-device (albeit at a rather stately 20 tokens/sec.) Expect to see it in a high-end Samsung phone in early 2024.

Snapdragon will be stuffed with AI

IBM’s radical new AI chip has “mindblowing” efficiency

In a just-released paper in Science, IBM researchers have announced a radically redesigned processor for AI, that includes both GPU and memory on the same chip, speeding up operations, with “mindblowing” decreases in energy consumption. Not a moment too soon, because as we recently reported, AI’s worldwide energy use could soon equal that of a small country, leading Bill Gates to propose putting a nuclear reactor next to every data center.

IBM’s new AI chip has mindblowing power efficiency

Amazon’s AI-powered van inspections save beaucoup bucks

Amazon owns a helluva lot of delivery vans. So many, that optimizing their maintenance and repair has become an important source of cost savings. At the end of each shift, the van is driven slowly through an imaging station, where every inch of the exterior is inspected with cameras connected to an AI diagnostic system, to detect any needed repairs or maintenance. The diagnostic AI is adaptive, continuously refining its judgments as data accumulates from operations day after day after day. With enough data, Amazon will be able to realize its ambition to RULE THE WORLD bwahaha - er, um, (cough cough) - offer ever better service to its beloved customers.

Amazon’s AI-powered van inspections

Time Magazine’s surprisingly apt “Best Inventions of 2023”

Face it, most Time “Best of” collections are disappointing at best. At worst, they can seem like a compilation of your Dad’s most annoying hot takes, or your idiot brother-in-law’s most pompous ill-informed pronouncements. Rarely, they sparkle. This is one of those times. The AI section has all the expected hits - OpenAI! Midjourney! - but also some surprising hidden gems that even aficianados may not have heard of. Enjoy.

Time’s Best Inventions of 2023

Humane’s much-hyped AI assistant-on-a-pin nears release

The buzz around AI startup Humane’s smart device is so fevered, that anything less than walking on water or turning water into wine is likely to be deemed a disappointment. Nonetheless, soon it will be showtime. Credible rumors are that it runs on GPT-4, will function as an always-there personal assistant, uses your hand as a screen, and, has a cutesy “Trust light” to let bystanders know that they are being recorded on image or audio. Just in case the hype is real, be sure to bring loaves and fishes to the debut.

Humane’s AI pin

Microbots can manipulate bio-samples or even patient tissue

Researchers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands have demonstrated millimeter-sized magnetic microbots that can cooperate to manipulate sterile biological samples, or even someday, do microsurgery in a patient’s body. Watch the videos.

Microbots can manipulate bio-samples or patient tissue

AI can accurately predict Atrial Fibrillation a month ahead

Scientists used nearly a million routine EKGs collected over a 15-year period at two large Veterans Affairs hospital networks to train a deep learning model to predict the development of a common, dangerous abnormal heart rhythm, known as Atrial Fibrillation, in a patient over the next 31 days. The goal is to identify high risk patients and prevent adverse outcomes.

Predicting Atrial Fibrillation

AI can calculate a cancer patient’s individual chance of survival

Cancer patients often ask, “Doc, what are my chances?” Until now, they were often met with a blizzard of statistics, detailing the average survival rates. But you are not average, and neither is anyone else. What we really want to know, is what are our own personal odds of survival.

Medical researchers associated with the American College of Surgeons used data from hundreds of thousands of cancer patients to identify specific patient and tumor characteristics that had an impact on survival. They then used this information to develop a “highly accurate” calculator of a patient’s individualized chance of 5-year survival.

AI can calculate individual chances of cancer survival