AI Bytes Newsletter Issue #26

Welcome to the 26th edition of AI Bytes! As we celebrate Independence Day, we're reminded that innovation and progress often require breaking free from old constraints. In that spirit, let's explore the latest developments in AI that are pushing boundaries and declaring new frontiers of possibility. Happy Fourth of July, and we hope your day was as explosive as the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence!

The Latest in AI

A Look into the Heart of AI

Featured Innovation: Suno's AI App Revolutionizes Music Creation

Listen up, Music Lovers! The landscape of music creation is undergoing a transformative shift with the introduction of Suno's AI-powered app, now available on the App Store. Leveraging advanced artificial intelligence, Suno's app offers musicians and producers an innovative tool to enhance their creative processes. By analyzing user input and generating high-quality compositions, the app simplifies the music production journey, making it accessible to both seasoned artists and newcomers. This groundbreaking application is poised to redefine the boundaries of creativity in the music industry, allowing users to experiment with new sounds and styles effortlessly.

The impact of Suno's AI app extends beyond individual artists, potentially democratizing music production by lowering barriers to entry, which is why many of us love the AI application and tool development spaces. Ethical considerations arise in terms of intellectual property and the role of human creativity, as AI-generated music may blur the lines between original compositions and machine-generated content. Despite these concerns, the app's ability to streamline the creative process and foster innovation highlights its significance in the evolving digital music landscape. As AI continues to integrate into various aspects of life, Suno's app represents a glimpse into the future of artistic collaboration between humans and machines.

If you’ve seen a game changing innovation and want to share it with us, hit us up at [email protected]!

Ethical Considerations & Real-World Impact:

Echoing a bit of last week's article which discussed Microsoft's AI boss, Mustafa Suleyman, seeing no issue with scraping content from the internet and considering it "up for grabs", we are again discussing accusations of an AI company plagiarizing and being involved in unethical web scraping.

This time, Perplexity, an AI-powered information retrieval platform, finds itself at the center of controversy. Allegations of content theft and unethical data collection practices have reignited the debate about the boundaries of AI innovation and content creators' rights. The accusations raise important questions about how AI companies should ethically source and use data, especially when it comes to copyrighted material from news outlets and other content producers.

If these allegations prove true, the implications could be significant. News organizations, already facing financial challenges in the digital age, may suffer further if their content is being used without authorization or compensation. Moreover, such practices could erode public trust in AI technologies, potentially slowing the adoption of innovative tools that promise to revolutionize information access and processing.

We leave the conclusion to you, the reader, but know that intellectual property rights should be respected. Of course, we all want models that work very well and have the most up-to-date information, but at what cost? There is a definite need for companies and users to talk, long before we expect government intervention and laws forced upon everyone that may have worse consequences than plagiarism.

AI Tool of the Week - Moshi, open-source voice enabled AI

The Toolbox for Navigating the AI Landscape

Kyutai recently released Moshi the very first voice-enabled AI openly accessible to all. What this means is not that Moshi is the first voice enabled AI tool, but that it’s the first open-source tool with these capabilities. Now, the real question is this, is it the “OpenAI Killer” that everyone’s hyping it up to be? Let’s see if there’s some steak beyond that sizzle…

Regardless of the clear fact that this is NOT going to kill ChatGPT any time soon, what we really like about it is:

1. The low latency is really nice, much faster than the current version of GPT-4o

2. The fact that it’s open source is great, this allows for folks to build it into their apps without spending an exorbitant amount of money on OpenAI tokens.

Let us know what you think in the comments here or on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/artificialantics_moshi-ai-the-next-chatgpt-killer-or-just-activity-7216259839587495936-ntYp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

If you’ve got a suggestion on tools we should check out, email us at [email protected] and let us know.

Rico's Roundup

Critical Insights and Curated Content from Rico

Skeptics Corner: “Unable to issue citation to computer.”

I found this story both hilarious and terrifying at the same time. Imagine you, a human, minding your own business as you sip your frozen coffee from Dunks, and then see an oncoming car in your lane that forces you to jerk the wheel violently, spilling your caffeinated delight on your favorite new shirt as you cuss out the mad-person who nearly struck you. Only to find out that the driver seat of said vehicle was empty the entire time. Now, this story isn't quite that dramatic, but it is not too far from the possibilities of what we may experience as human drivers, once autonomous vehicles begin taking the roadways. Which ultimately raises the question, who is liable?

In Phoenix, Arizona, this hypothetical scenario became a reality when a Waymo robotaxi was pulled over by police for driving into oncoming traffic. The incident, captured on bodycam footage, shows an officer approaching the driverless Jaguar I-Pace, only to find an empty driver's seat. The cop, likely as bewildered as we would be, was able to communicate with a Waymo support operative through the car's onboard system.

The Waymo vehicle had apparently encountered "inconsistent construction signage" and was unable to navigate back to the correct lane for about 30 seconds. While this explanation might seem reasonable, it doesn't negate the potential danger posed to other drivers on the road, and a lot can happen in 30 seconds (enter famous Michael Scott quote). The incident highlights a significant gap in our current traffic laws and enforcement procedures, which were designed with human drivers in mind.

The officer found himself in an unprecedented situation - unable to issue a citation to a computer. This legal loophole raises serious questions about accountability and liability in the age of autonomous vehicles. If a driverless car causes an accident or violates traffic laws, who bears the responsibility? The company that developed the technology? The software engineers? Or should there be a new system of fines and penalties specifically for autonomous vehicles?

Ultimately, the question of liability in autonomous vehicle incidents is complex and multifaceted, and thankfully at this point, not widespread. It may require a complete overhaul of our current understanding of driver responsibility, individual and company liability, and traffic laws as we know them.

While the image of a confused cop trying to ticket an empty car might elicit a chuckle, the underlying implications are no laughing matter. As we sip our frozen coffees and share the road with these robotic drivers, we must demand clear answers and robust safeguards to ensure that the promise of autonomous vehicles doesn't come at the cost of our safety or legal protections. After all, having a vehicle go rogue for even a matter of seconds can easily cost someone their life or quality of life as they know it. It is both an exciting and scary time to be alive and see this new tech roll out, but we are here for it. How do YOU think they should go about penalizing companies with rogue tech?

Must-Read Articles

Rico’s Top Pick

This week I am including a featured coffee table book that Midjourney is releasing. I have to admit, when I saw this article, I got pretty excited. I had previously wondered what, if anything, Midjourney would and could do with all of the art derived from their various versions, and now we know. Year One showcases inspiring images from V4, V5, and V6, including prompts, feature milestones, and community member profiles. $75 is a grip, but I am curious if any of our renderings made the cut… I also loved the quote (see below) that they included on the site and in the description.

“This book serves as a physical snapshot of the community, offering an exciting artifact and reference point for the future growth of human creativity and imagination.”

Mike's Musings

Tech Deep Dive

Essential Tips for Using AI Tools Effectively

Hey all! This week, I’m going to do something different and link a video. The subject today is Neural Networks! Many folks have heard the term, but what the heck are they?

Neural networks are computational models that mimic the human brain, consisting of layers of nodes including input, hidden, and output layers, which help them recognize patterns and solve problems in AI and deep learning. These networks use nodes that function like linear regression models to process input data and weights, adjusting outputs through a method called feed forward. They improve over time by training with labeled data, using algorithms to minimize error. Beyond the basic feed forward type, there are also specialized networks like convolutional and recurrent neural networks, suited for tasks such as image recognition and time series prediction.

Check out IBM’s video below for a really straightforward look at neural nets:

Mike Favorites

Sharing personal recommendations for technology, AI books, podcasts, or documentaries.

Cloudflare allows you to block bots and scrapers

Just one favorite this week, and it’s from Cloudflare. There’s been a lot of talk about copyright and fair use law lately. I do appreciate that there are tools like this that allow you to protect your works from web scrapers and bots. As things evolve, I predict more and more web hosting services offering these types of tools out of the box.

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Thanks to our listeners and followers! Continue to explore AI with us. More at Artificial Antics (antics.tv).

Quote of the week: “Artificial intelligence and generative AI may be the most important technology of any lifetime.” - Mark Benioff