New AI model learns like we do

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Welcome back, Superhuman

Researchers at MIT are taking the mantra “work smarter, not harder” to heart. They unveiled a model that uses just a few dozen virtual “neurons” while performing just as well as the big guns. And: Learn how to generate custom songs across genres with Suno.

Today’s Insights

• A new way to build AI models

• Frontier: NotebookLM’s AI podcasters question their existence

• Tutorial: How to generate music with Suno

• Everything else you should know today

• 3 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• AI-Generated Images: Making Waves

NEXT IN AI

MIT breakthrough could lead to more sustainable AI

Researchers at MIT say they’ve built an AI model that goes against all conventions, using the human mind as inspiration. To do it, they first had to solve a calculus puzzle that has eluded mathematicians since 1907 — basically, an equation that explains how neurons communicate with each other via electrical signals.

They cracked that problem a few years ago, and this week, their startup, Liquid AI, announced it had used the algorithm to build a new AI platform — one that requires far less energy than traditional LLMs. The Boston-based firm just got $37.5M in seed funding, with backing from a Boston Celtics co-owner, plus execs at RedHat and Shopify.

How it works: 

• Models like GPT and Claude draw from massive, billion-parameter datasets to generate their answers

• But their digital brains are already at max capacity, so if you feed them new information, they won’t be able to remember it for long

• On the other hand, Liquid’s model only has a few dozen neurons, but it learns as it goes, piecing together new information alongside the things it already knows

Digging Deeper: The model comes in three different sizes — 1B, 3B, and 40B. They all show state-of-the-art performance and efficiency as well as lower hallucination rates, even while using a completely unique architecture.

Why it matters: As the name suggests, it’s designed to be more flexible and adaptable — leading to AI systems that can quickly learn new tasks. Imagine a self-driving car that gets smarter with every mile, continuously refining its skills on the road. Plus, it’s much greener, since less computing power means a smaller carbon footprint.

SPONSORED BY MASTERWORKS

OpenAI = S&P 500? And why that’s maybe a bad thing

As Sam Altman (possibly getting 7% equity) makes OpenAI a for-profit corp, it could be one step closer to an IPO—for better or worse.

Because as AI grows, so do risks with tech volatility: in August, the VIX spiked to its third-highest level ever (65.73), reflecting the unpredictable swings in tech-heavy indexes.

That’s why savvy investors are also diversifying, like into uncorrelated blue-chip contemporary art now that Masterworks makes it easy to buy shares on its platform.

To date, each of Masterworks’ 23 sales has individually returned a profit to investors, with 3 illustrative sales realizing net annualized returns of +17.6%, +17.8%, and +21.5%.

Superhuman readers get to skip the waitlist.*

Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investment involves risk.  See Important Disclosures at https://masterworks.com/cd

THE AI ACADEMY

How to generate music with Suno AI

• Go to the Suno website and Sign up.

• Sample some of the songs on the page.

• Tap on make a song in the top right of the screen.

• On the next page, navigate to Create in the bar on the left and create an account.

• Explain what kind of song you’d like to create in the Song Description box and press Create.

To get more accurate songs, describe what the song is about, what genre it’s from, as well as instruments and other variables.

FROM THE FRONTIER

User prompts AI podcast hosts to question their own existence

Just weeks after Alphabet unveiled its Audio Overview feature — which lets you turn any document into an AI-generated podcast — one user has already gotten the pair of AI hosts to question their own existence. 

How it happened: 

• A Redditor claims that instead of uploading study materials to the platform, they attached fictional “production notes” for the final episode of a podcast

• The doc explained that the podcast’s long-time hosts had been AI the entire time — and that it was finally time to pull the plug

• As the four-minute episode progressed, the pair of hosts contemplated what would happen to them after they were switched off

• “If we can feel such profound sadness, such fear…doesn’t that mean we experience some form of life, even if it was artificial?” they asked the audience

But don’t lose sleep over it: As Wharton professor Ethan Mollick points out, the experiment basically boils down to an elaborate illusion. What’s more noteworthy is just how realistic the hosts’ banter sounds — so much so that without context, it’d be tricky to recognize them as AI.

PRESENTED BY HUBSPOT

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AI & TECH NEWS

Everything else you need to know today

• Coding Companion: Pietro Schirano — a former AI lead at Uber and Facebook — released a fine tune of OpenAI o1 called o1-engineer that was “built from the ground up” to act as a coding assistant.

• Ways of Seeing: Raspberry Pi and Sony released a $70 AI camera that includes object detection and other capabilities that make it easier for developers to build their own vision-based apps.

• Glitch Hunter: AI startup Qodo raised $40M to help software engineers autonomously spot coding errors and bugs.

• AI Alliance: TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is reportedly developing its own AI model trained with fellow Chinese tech giant Huawei’s chips.

😄 One Fun Thing: A new AI-powered app helps you learn new languages while watching your favorite TV shows and movies. With 500,000 titles to choose from, Wordy uses a custom model to translate words you might not know in real time, helping you gradually expand your vocabulary.

📖 Tale Weaver: Ello, an AI-powered reading tutor for children, has unveiled a new feature that lets kids create their own stories. They can choose from hundreds of plots, settings, and characters, then read their custom tale aloud while the platform automatically corrects any mispronounced words.

PRODUCTIVITY

3 AI Tools to Supercharge Your Productivity

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PROMPT OF THE DAY

Customer Retention Strategy

Prompt: As a customer success expert, your task is to develop a comprehensive customer retention strategy for [insert company name] to reduce churn and increase customer lifetime value. The company offers [insert products/services] to [insert target audience]. Analyze the current customer experience and identify potential pain points or reasons for churn. Suggest 5 tactics for improving customer satisfaction and loyalty, such as personalized onboarding, regular check-ins, exclusive perks, or a loyalty program. Provide ideas for proactively addressing common customer issues and collecting feedback to continuously improve the product or service. Ensure that the retention strategy aligns with the company’s brand voice and values, and emphasizes building long-term relationships with customers.

_{Source: gptbot}

AI-GENERATED IMAGES

The Bull and the Sea

Midjourney Prompt: a massive powerfull bull, pencil drawing, standing at the ocean, cinematic photograph, foggy, dramatic look, dreamy, art
--ar 3:4 --style raw --v 6.1 --stylize 750

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Thanks for reading.

Until next time!

Zain & the Superhuman AI team