IBM and NASA Unveil AI Geospatial Model to Track Earth’s Climate and Landscape Change

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June 12, 2023

IBM NASA AI geospatial model — Image Credits: Stock Images

IBM and NASA announced their partnership on a new initiative at the beginning of the year, with the goal of developing AI foundation models to examine petabytes of text and remote-sensing data to make it simpler to develop AI applications suited to various geospatial tasks. Recently, the pair unveiled the first foundation model produced from the collaboration which is a part of IBM’s watsonx.ai geospatial offering.

By turning satellite data into high-resolution maps, this new geospatial foundation model aims to follow changes to Earth’s terrain, like floods and wildfires, with the intention of revealing the planet’s past and hinting at its future. At some time in the second part of this year, IBM clients should be able to preview the model through the IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite.

IBM lists a few potential applications for the model in their news release, including estimating climate-related risks to crops, buildings, and other infrastructure, valuing and monitoring forests for carbon-offset programmes, and developing predictive models to assist businesses in developing climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.

This is the first foundation model created specifically for the analysis of geographical data, according to IBM. In order to pre-train the model, the IBM Research team used NASA’s Harmonised Landsat Sentinel-2 data, a collection of measurements that allows observations of land at a 30-meter spatial resolution around the world every two or three days.

They then used hand-labeled instances of floods, fires, and other comparable occurrences that had an impact on the landscape, to train the model, resulting in a model that allows users to quickly select a region, task, and date period to obtain the visualized data.

IIT Mandi Launches Certification Programme in Data Science and Machine Learning

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Sahil Pawar

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June 12, 2023

IIT Mandi certification programme data science machine learning — Image Credits: IIT Mandi Website

In partnership with the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC), IIT Mandi is launching a short-term certification programme in data science and machine learning that is open to STEM graduates, working professionals, and students in their last semester. The programme will last for six months and costs a total of 75,000.

The student will master the fundamentals of mathematics and statistics, computing and data science, data processing and modeling, and data analytics tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Excel, and many others in this certification programme. In order to convert complicated data into business insights, this programme will assist aspiring data scientists in better understanding both the theories and applications of data science models.

Upon successful completion of the certification programme, participants will be offered placement and internship options. Additionally, the participants will be given the chance to experience IIT Mandi‘s campus firsthand for a week. This programme commences on 15 June.

The Institute is also providing a number of flexible, customized training programmes in robotics, automation based on the Internet of Things, and machine learning in conjunction with HPKVN. Engineering, BCA, MCA, ITI, Polytechnic students, including Teachers, Trainers, and Working Professionals, are eligible to enroll in the courses. The course will last between one and two months. These free online and offline courses are already accepting applications, which will last through June 15th, 2023.

The main goal of this plan is to improve and facilitate the employment opportunities for Himachali applicants, including those who have some IT-related educational or professional expertise.

Depending on their specialization and area of interest, these candidates will go through extensive advanced level industry-relevant courses in the fields of machine learning, the internet of things, industrial automation, drone technology, and more, along with modules aimed at enhancing coaching and training skills.

AI Poses No Risk to Jobs in Next 5 Years; Government to Regulate AI to Keep it Safe, Says Union IT Minister

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Sahil Pawar

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June 12, 2023

AI poses no risk jobs next 5 years Union IT minister — Image Credits: NDTV

The government would regulate artificial intelligence technology to make sure that it doesn’t hurt “digital citizens,” according to Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics and Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

At a press conference to highlight the digital initiatives undertaken so far by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, the Union Minister said, “Our strategy for regulating AI is really straightforward. We will regulate AI as we regulate Web 3 or any emerging technologies to ensure they do not harm digital citizens.”

He added that companies interested in pursuing business in India must first take steps to minimize the consumer harm. He also addressed the concerns about potential job losses brought on by advent of new technologies, stating that AI in its current form poses no threat whatsoever to employment.

He believes that AI technology as it now is mostly task-oriented and unable to handle circumstances that require logic and reasoning. The minister explained that AI is still in its infancy.

“While AI is disruptive, we do not anticipate the alleged threat of job replacement in the coming years because AI is now very task-oriented and not yet capable of reasoning, logic, or other higher-order thinking processes,” he said.

WordPress Gets Generative AI Assistant Plug-in Jetpack to Help with Content Writing

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Sahil Pawar

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June 9, 2023

WordPress gets generative AI assistant plug-in Jetpack — Image Credits: Jetpack

In order to assist users in composing and editing blogs and other written content, Automattic has unveiled a proprietary AI-powered writing assistant in the Jetpack plug-in. With this on WordPress, the new Jetpack AI Assistant function is now easily accessible and integrated into the editing interface.

The assistant uses generative AI technology similar to that used by OpenAI’s ChatGPT large language model chatbot. The announcement, however, offers no specifics about the assistant’s technical details.

Jetpack functions similarly to its competitors by using user prompts to produce content. The AI assistant may also modify text to meet particular tones and styles, giving writers the ability to alter their writing to appeal to their target audience.

There are currently 12 languages that the Jetpack AI Assistant supports and those include French, Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, and Korean. The plug-in promises to correct spelling and grammar mistakes automatically while enabling smooth language translation.

The company that created WordPress and the Jetpack AI Assistant, Automattic, thinks that this functionality enables writers to produce content in their native tongue while also allowing them to market it in many languages.

The tool, according to the company, is a “creative writing partner” that enables users to easily produce a variety of material, greatly speeding up the content production process. Users of Jetpack AI Assistant are able to condense a blog post into a headline and change the tone of their writing by choosing from alternatives like “formal,” “provocative,” or “humorous.”

Robot Pizza Startup Zume that Raised $500 Million Shuts Down

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Sahil Pawar

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June 9, 2023

Robot pizza startup Zume shuts down — Image Credits: Bloomberg

Zume, the firm that used robots to serve pizza and raised close to $500 million, has shut down. The startup, which was established in 2015 with the intention of automating the pizza-making process, encountered numerous technological challenges.

The company later modified its business strategy and made an effort to provide sustainable packaging. Despite receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from investors including Softbank and AME Cloud Ventures, according to Crunchbase, Zume failed.

The Information said that Zume was “insolvent,” and that Sherwood Partners, a restructuring company, had been hired to sell the business’s assets. It stopped trading in May, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

According to Bloomberg, Zume had difficulty preventing issues like melted cheese from sliding off their pizzas while they were cooking in moving vehicles. Due to its issues, there were numerous well-known departures and financial issues.

According to a prior report by Insider, it made a number of layoffs in 2020, eliminating more than 500 jobs, including those for all of its robotics and food-delivery truck operations. In a leaked email, Cofounder and CEO Alex Garden blamed the employment losses on a number of funding opportunities that had fallen through as well as the pandemic’s economic effects.

Man Sues OpenAI Over Defamation Due To ChatGPT Hallucinations

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Sahil Pawar

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June 9, 2023

Man sues OpenAI defamation ChatGPT Hallucinations — Image Credits: Stock Images

A Georgia radio broadcaster Mark Walters has filed a defamation case against OpenAI LLC, alleging that the widely used artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT caused a fabricated lawsuit accusing him of money laundering.

The groundbreaking case comes at a time when generative AI programmes are being closely examined because of their propensity to propagate misleading information and “hallucinate” inaccurate results, such as erroneous judicial precedent.

According to Mark Walters in his Georgia state court lawsuit, the chatbot gave the phony complaint to Fred Riehl, the editor-in-chief of the gun journal AmmoLand, who was covering a real-life legal action taking place in Washington state. Riehl requested a synopsis of Second Amendment Group vs. Ferguson case from ChatGPT.

This case in federal court in Washington accuses the state’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson of abusing his authority by stifling the activities of the gun rights group. But according to a synopsis of the case that ChatGPT allegedly gave to Riehl, Walters is being sued by Alan Gottlieb, the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, for “defrauding and embezzling funds” while serving as the foundation’s chief financial officer and treasurer.

According to the defamation suit, which was filed on June 5, “every statement of fact pertaining to Walters in the summary is false.” A request for comment from OpenAI was not immediately answered.

According to the lawsuit, Walters, the host of Armed America Radio, is not a party to the Ferguson case and has never worked for the Second Amendment Foundation. The complaint brought by the Second Amendment Foundation has absolutely nothing to do with financial accounting claims against anyone.

AI Startup Cohere Raises $270 Million in Series C Funding, Values at $2.2 Billion

By

Sahil Pawar

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June 9, 2023

Cohere raises $270 million Series C funding — Image Credits: Cohere

Cohere, a rival to Microsoft-backed OpenAI and an AI foundation model company, announced on Thursday that it had secured $270 million in a series C funding round from a group of investors that included Nvidia, Oracle, and Salesforce Ventures.

According to Martin Kon, Cohere will use the additional funding to hire staff members and buy computing equipment. The funding round was led by a group of investors that included the Canadian company Inovia Capital as well as DTCP, Schroders Capital, SentinelOne, Mirae Asset, and Thomvest Ventures.

The long-rumored funding for the Toronto-based AI startup, which focuses on developing AI models for business clients, was verified by the release. Cohere did not provide its valuation, but according to those with knowledge of the situation, it is worth $2.2 billion.

Cohere has been pushing itself to be a neutral provider allowing businesses to utilize models that are not bound to cloud providers like Microsoft. Cohere is managed by former top AI experts at Alphabet’s Google.

“We’re self-sufficient. We didn’t and wouldn’t accept a sizable payment from a single firm, particularly not from a single cloud provider, because we believe that would prevent us from acting in the best interests of our company and our business customers,” said Martin Kon, president of Cohere.

OpenAI’s Sam Altman Participates in Fireside AI Talk at IIIT-Delhi

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Sahil Pawar

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June 8, 2023

OpenAI's Sam Altman participates AI talk IIIT Delhi — Image Credits: CNN

The CEO and founder of OpenAl and the person behind the well-known AI chatbot ChatGPT came to India yesterday as part of a six-nation trip. He took part in a unique fireside talk at India’s Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (IIIT-Delhi). He spoke on generative AI, ChatGPT, AI in India, and other subjects during his talk.

During the talk, Altman was asked what OpenAl thinks about how legislation might affect the advancement of Al given how quickly technology is developing. He replied, “I don’t want to pause, according to Altman. Working with these newest models has greatly contributed to making these vehicles safer.”

“Working with regulators and conducting external audits will be beneficial. A framework for regulation must be created. The most vocal advocates for regulation are all developers. We want to find a way to make Al safe since we are aware of the risks,” he continued.

Although the expansion of Al during the past few years has been beneficial for the majority, it has also raised challenging questions concerning its socioeconomic effects. Whether Al would ultimately take up the occupations currently performed by humans was the question posed to Altman. In reference to this, Altman declared, “Al is going to 100x human productivity. Al cannot match the human capacity for inventiveness.”

Some Al models have been accused of fabricating information and presenting it as fact, which is a problem known as “Al hallucination.” The interviewer asked, “Does OpenAl thus have a strategy in place to stop this?” It will take us roughly a year to perfect the model, according to Altman. “We are attempting to reduce the issue by striking a balance between originality and accuracy.”

Altman remarked in reference to security measures surrounding Al that there is no one solution to make Al safe. He said, “To design safe Al, we enhance the algorithm, perform audits, work on maintaining parameters, and more.” Regarding the possibility of an OpenAl office in India, Sam Altman responded, “First, we will invest in companies in India. Their caliber is excellent. We intend to develop technology that is centered on mobile and the internet.

The CEO of OpenAI was also questioned about whether he had ever deviated from his own advice. In response, he said, “I feel so bad about the startup advice I give that I might delete my entire blog. With OpenAl, we chose a unique course. Fortunately, it worked out for us, but we wouldn’t recommend it to others, he continued.”

Nasscom Releases Guidelines to Regulate Generative AI in India

By

Sahil Pawar

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June 7, 2023

Nasscom guidelines regulate generative AI India — Image Credits: NASSCOM

A set of rules that will be used to establish the frameworks for generative AI were announced by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) on June 6th.

Delighted to unveil @nasscom's first-of-its-kind responsible AI guidelines for #GenAI! This industry-led initiative sets a global benchmark, fostering collab. to create a self-governance framework benefiting all stakeholders.

🔗 https://t.co/4RDmvQOAH9 @debjani_ghosh_ pic.twitter.com/be2NHMEPnL
— nasscom (@nasscom) June 6, 2023

These recommendations are intended to create uniform norms and procedures for the study, creation, and responsible application of AI technology in India. Given that organizations and enterprises are embracing AI more and more, this is one of the country’s initial drafted regulations for the technology.

The draft guidelines were created after conversations with the technology sector, a multidisciplinary group of AI practitioners, researchers, and specialists, as well as academic and civil society leaders.

The rules place a strong emphasis on the duties that users, developers, and researchers have to uphold. They also stress how crucial it is to act with reasonable prudence, foresight, accountability, and transparency.

Supporting the advancement of humanity as a whole is the aim. The entire lifecycle of a generative AI system should be monitored internally by researchers and developers, who are also expected to exercise prudence by completing thorough risk assessments.

In order to facilitate the implementation of responsible AI, Nasscom plans to raise awareness about the adoption of these rules, create detailed guidance for various use cases, and improve the current Responsible AI Resource Kit.

Apple Releases iOS 17 with Enhanced Features at WWDC 2023

By

Sahil Pawar

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June 6, 2023

Apple releases iOS 17 WWDC 2023 — Image Credits: Stock Images

The iOS 17 has been released by Apple at WWDC 2023. Highlights include improved auto-correct and speech transcription, live voicemail, enhanced safety features, a built-in journaling app, a new nightstand mode, and revamped contact cards. Additionally, users will be able to discard the “hey” from “Hey Siri.”

Posters, a new feature in the contact book, converts contact cards into eye-catching visuals that appear full-screen on the recipient’s iPhone when one calls them. They are compatible with third-party VoIP apps and have a similar design language to the updated lock screens, with options for bold font and the addition of Memoji.

Additionally, a new voicemail function called live transcription allows users to view a transcript of the message a caller is now leaving in real time. Users can decide whether to answer the call or wait it out. Additionally, one can also leave a message via FaceTime.

The ability to filter searches with additional terms, a feature that jumps to the most recent message so you can catch up more easily, and a new feature called Check In that shares your live location and status with someone else, are some updates to the messages section. When you go home, it can notify a friend automatically. If the battery’s about to die, it can also communicate your phone’s battery and cell service status to prevent confusion.

By bringing two iPhones close to one another, NameDrop, an updated version of AirDrop that sends contact information, will send your chosen phone numbers and email addresses. Additionally, this feature can be used between an Apple Watch and an iPhone. The same method may be used to exchange photos, and if the file is large, it is now allowed to leave the area while the download is still in progress.

Updates to the keyboard in iOS 17 also include improvements to the autocorrect feature. It now uses a new language model for improved accuracy and has a simpler shortcut to go back to the word the user originally typed, if necessary.