AI above the clouds

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Welcome back, Superhuman

Some people have a hard enough time stepping into a plane piloted by a human. But would you dare fly in one that’s controlled entirely by AI? The Air Force’s secretary did just that during a test flight in the California desert late last week.

Today’s Insights

• AI pilots take flight

• Microsoft’s new GPT-4 rival

• Prompt: SEO Help

• Chart: Top AI research areas

• 5 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• AI-Generated Images: Paper skylines

AI & TECH NEWS

Everything you need to know today

• Coded Couture: Guests at this year’s Met Gala will be able to interact with a digital version of 1930s socialite Natalie Potter powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4.

• Double Trouble: In a meeting with investors last week, Warren Buffett warned that deepfakes have gotten so good that he could be easily fooled by an AI-generated video of himself.

• Skip to the Good Part: A new AI-powered feature will let YouTube Premium users jump to the most-watched section of a video.

• AI Explanations: X will now use Grok AI to summarize news stories from the platform’s personalized Explore tab.

• Seeing is Believing: Influential Stanford researcher Fei-Fei Li is reportedly working on a visual-based AI model that will be able to perform high-level reasoning tasks.

NEXT IN AI

The Air Force secretary takes a ride on an AI-powered jet

The next time you see a jet whizzing overhead, you can reasonably ask whether it’s being piloted by a human. The military just sent a special orange-painted F-16 into the sky for one of the first AI-piloted dogfight simulations — and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall was strapped into the cockpit the entire time.

What happened? The F-16, which took off from California’s high-security Edwards Air Force Base, didn’t just take Kendall on a quick joy ride. Instead, it flew at speeds of up to 550 mph and engaged in complicated maneuvers alongside a second, human-piloted fighter jet, coming within 1,000 feet of its practice opponent.

The future of warfare?

• The military has used unmanned drones for years, but those are remotely operated by humans. Experts think AI will completely change how battles are waged.

• For its part, the Air Force says it expects to eventually have a fleet of around 1,000 unmanned warplanes. The first ones are expected to take flight by 2028.

• The program could save money and keep human pilots out of harm’s way. “At this point, we have to have it,” Kendall told the Associated Press.

Not everyone’s onboard: Kendall said he thinks AI is already ready to launch weapons on its own. But some advocates want the military to be more cautious, pointing out that even sophisticated models can make mistakes. Still, the US shows no sign of slowing down, especially as rivals like China start developing their own LLM-powered capabilities.

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AI & INNOVATION

Microsoft is reportedly building its own AI model

Tech outlet The Information reported that Microsoft’s developing MAI-1, a new LLM that may perform about as well as today’s leading models, including OpenAI’s GPT-4.

Here’s what you need to know about MAI-1:

• Microsoft had previously worked on tiny AI models, but this is its first foray into the big leagues.

• Mustafa Suleyman is leading the charge. The AI pioneer co-founded DeepMind and Inflection AI before landing at Microsoft in March.

• The move shows that Microsoft wants to compete across the AI spectrum. It has already invested heavily in its Azure platform, which allows companies to train AI models in the cloud.

• Microsoft could formally announce the new model as soon as its annual Build conference, scheduled for later this month.

How does this change Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI? Microsoft has pumped billions into OpenAI over the years. In return, it got exclusive access to OpenAI’s GPT — using it to power its own AI products, like Bing and Copilot. It’s too early to tell whether the pair can remain close even as they compete with each other for AI dominance.

PROMPT OF THE DAY

SOS SEO

Prompt: Using [insert topic here, ex:‘sustainable fashion’] as the central seed keyword, identify 15 long-tail keywords that potential customers might use when they look for [insert topic here again, ex: 'eco-friendly and affordable clothing options'].

Follow-Up Prompt: Which three of the 15 long-tail keywords do you think have the most commercial intent, and why?

You can adapt the prompt to your specific SEO needs. You can also keep asking the model different follow-up questions and include guidelines around formatting and analysis.

Source: Team GPT

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CHART

Top AI research areas

Between 2017 and 2022, AI research focused most heavily on large language models like OpenAI’s GPT-4, with around 13,300 papers exploring the subject. Roughly 10,300 articles focused on distributed machine learning, when a model is trained across multiple computers.

Neural scene representation (a method of building 3D objects out of individual points) and plant disease detection were the third and fourth most popular research areas respectively.

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AI GENERATED IMAGES

Paper SkyLines

Prompt: 3d papercuts view of [insert city here] skyline at sunrise, in the style of surrealistic cartoons, detailed shading, realistic landscapes with soft, tonal colors, swirling vortexes, traditional, vibrant

--ar 9:16

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🧞 Your wish is my command 

Thanks for reading.

Until next time!

Zain

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