Robots have a breakout moment

Robots are all over the news with breakthrough abilities.

First, robotics startup Figure announces that they can teach their humanoid robot to perform household tasks just by having it watch videos of humans doing them. Here a robot makes coffee.

Figure 01 robot learns to do household tasks by copying humans.

Second, Google DeepMind and Stanford researchers announce Mobile Aloha, an open source framework for completing complex tasks such as cooking and cleaning, after being shown how to do them by remote control.

Mobile Aloha, an open source autonomous robot controller

There are many more examples, but we’ll wind it up for today with some video of car-parking robots that actually slide under your car, lift it up, and maneuver it in and out of tight parking spaces.

HL Mando’s “Parkie” car parking robot video

OpenAI claps back at the New York Times

Last week the New York times filed a take-no-prisoners lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement, asking for billions of dollars in damages, and the complete destruction of all OpenAI software. This week, OpenAI responds, with a bit more restraint.

OpenAI’s response on its public blog holds that

1. “We collaborate with news organizations and are creating new opportunities

2. Training is fair use, but we provide an opt-out because it’s the right thing to do

3. “Regurgitation” is a rare bug that we are working to drive to zero

4. The New York Times is not telling the full story”

In the end, this lawsuit will be settled, because neither side can afford to lose.

OpenAI’s response to the NYT lawsuit

Volkswagen to install ChatGPT into its cars

VW plans to use ChatGPT to enhance its own interactive voice response technology, in order to allow more natural and fluid conversations between driver and vehicle. Many other automakers are testing ChatGPT, but VW is apparently just going for it, predicting a roll-out later this year. VW sales have been lackluster of late, and it seems that VW is hoping for a boost from AI hype.

VW to install ChatGPT into its cars later this year

Pennsylvania announces first-in-nation AI collaboration

The Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, has announced a Generative AI pilot program for state employees. ChatGPT will be used for tasks like drafting documents and generating computer code, without direct interaction with citizens. The program is designed to boost productivity of state government, while testing OpenAI’s security protocols for handling sensitive government information.

Pennsylvania announces collaboration with OpenAI

OpenAI opens much-anticipated GPT Store

Now ChatGPT Plus users can get access to special-purpose versions of ChatGPT, fine-tuned by other users for a particular purpose, from tutoring to book recommendations and much, much more - there are already 3 million GPTs on Day One. Currently these special purpose chatbots are free (with the Plus subscription of $20/month), but developers are salivating at the prospect of monetizing these chatbots like the apps in the Apple App Store.

OpenAI opens its GPT Store

AI detects that Raphael farmed out part of renowned painting

Experts have long thought that Joseph looked a little fishy. Now AI proves it. Iconic Renaissance painter Raphael was by far the most successful, and most sought-after artist of his age, outshining even now-revered masters such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo. It has long been suspected that Raphael, who had more commissions than he could handle, let students and apprentices work on some of the less important sections of his paintings, while he concentrated on the showy parts. Now, an AI analysis has demonstrated that the figure of Joseph, in Raphael’s “Madonna della Rosa” is almost certainly by the hand of a different artist, while the remainder of the painting appears to be authentically by Raphael. The analysis was completed by an AI model that had been trained to identify paintings by Raphael to an accuracy of 98%. When the model analyzed the different figures in the painting, the discrepancy between Joseph’s face and the rest of the painting was apparent.

AI detects that part of famous painting was not completed by Raphael

AI-generated digital Elvis will perform in upcoming show

“The King” lives - digitally. An immersive London concert experience called Elvis Evolution will feature holographic projections of the rock icon, created by AI from thousands of photographs and video clips made during his (fleshly) lifetime.

AI brings Elvis back to the stage as holographic digital clone

Meet the woman who turned Sam Altman into the face of AI

Right before the rocky weekend in which OpenAI’s board and CEO Sam Altman took turns saying, “No, you’re fired,” Sam was swanning around the globe, meeting top world leaders. He was in such demand, that Emmanuel Macron, President of frickin’ France, fer crissake, had to be satisfied with meeting with Greg Brockman, Sam’s #2 at the company.

This global tour of the halls of the mighty was largely the work of a single person, the company’s head of public policy Anna Makanju, a former national security staffer in the Obama administration, and by all accounts, a force of nature. WaPo has an in depth profile, which reveals both the woman, and the largely hidden world where princes of commerce meet the lords of the realm, for mutual benefit.

OpenAI’s Anna Makanju is a force of nature

AI determines your biological age noninvasively

Researchers from China and Macau trained a multi-modal Transformer-type AI to accurately estimate biological age from images of a patient’s face, tongue, and retina. The authors claim accuracy comparable to existing methods for estimating biological age, with the advantage of speed, convenience, and low cost from its noninvasive imaging.

AI determines biological age noninvasively

Smartphone app diagnoses TB by listening to your cough

Tuberculosis is a worldwide killer, and notoriously hard to diagnose. Now researchers have developed an AI-powered smartphone app that detects the disease by analyzing the sound of the patient’s cough. Although far from foolproof, (the current app is only able to diagnose TB about 70% of the time), the app is faster, cheaper, and is readily available wherever patients may be found. Future enhancements will no doubt improve the app’s accuracy considerably, making it an even more valuable clinical tool.

Technology Review article  Article in Science

AI startup Nabla snags $24 million to help physicians write notes

Paris-based Nabla has raised an additional $24 million in venture funding to continue to develop its AI scribe software, which will help physicians automatically turn transcripts of their patient interactions into clinical notes in the EHR. Nabla joins a growing list of contenders in this space, including Nuance, Abridge, and Suki, among others.

Nabla raises another $24 million to develop automated clinical notes