The Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) unveils its metaverse platform to attract technology innovators worldwide.
The metaverse platform consists of three main initiatives. It will have an accelerator program with a dedicated physical studio for metaverse technology to encourage the development of a venture-building and creator community. The accelerator program will launch soon, attract more than 500 applicants, and identify 50 graduates. It will also facilitate partnerships with startups and corporates to create proofs-of-concept and innovative metaverse solutions.
As per the DIFC, it will support metaverse startups and help them explore, gain exposure to investors, access a regulatory sandbox, and obtain marketing guidance.
Arif Amiri, the chief executive of the DIFC authority, stated that developing the integrated DIFC metaverse platform would empower the achievements of Dubai. The DIFC initiative is a natural extension of Dubai’s Innovation Hub proposition.
The DIFC metaverse platform will also address policy development in the metaverse sector, legislation on open data, company law frameworks, and digital identity in the metaverse.
According to Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, the minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, the UAE is adopting advanced technologies to keep up with global changes.
Yesterday, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and DALL-E 2, launched a new “AI classifier” tool. This tool can distinguish whether a person has authored text or used artificial intelligence to generate textual content.
Since ChatGPT captured global attention for its text-generative AI abilities, many have been quite critical of its misuse. Sure, ChatGPT can be used to write codes, compose essays, suggest jokes for Twitter, or even help you improve your flirting skills on chatting, but the debate has been around the use of this tool in academia.
The chatbot has aced tests at the graduate level in various disciplines, including those for four law courses at the University of Minnesota and the MBA program final exam at the University of Pennsylvania. It also passed the American US Medical Licensing Examination comfortably within the passing range.
However, the accessibility and capability of ChatGPT have faced heat from educators worldwide. There have been multiple instances where teachers have expressed concerns about students employing ChatGPT to complete their assignments or write their papers for them. In January, the New York City Education Department banned the use of ChatGPT in schools, highlighting concerns about the reliability and accuracy of the content generated.
A few weeks ago, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) published a guideline stating that papers using large-scale language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, are only allowed if the generated text is included as part of the paper’s experimental analysis. Additionally, Stack Overflow and other websites have prohibited users from publishing ChatGPT-generated content because they believe that the AI makes it too simple for users to oversaturate discussion threads with inappropriate responses. Recently, Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, claimed that he does not find ChatGPT to be particularly innovative.
But not every educator feels the same about ChatGPT. For example, in reaction to ChatGPT and concerns that students would use it to write essays and cheat on examinations, the Group of Eight (Go8) consortium of prestigious Australian institutions announced last month that its members would set more pen-and-paper assessments. However, soon they found themselves discussing the benefits of tools like ChatGPT for disabled students.
According to OpenAI’s press statement, the AI classifier is a language model refined using a dataset of pairs of texts authored by humans and AI on the same topic. This dataset was compiled from a number of sources, including pretraining data and human demonstrations on InstructGPT prompts.
OpenAI believes the new tool will help stop the exploitation of AI text-generation tools for unethical purposes, including automated misinformation campaigns, plagiarism, academic dishonesty, and posing an AI chatbot as a human.
Despite the fact that this could be a game-changer in addressing worries regarding AI-generated content, OpenAI clarified that there are limitations. According to OpenAI, “the AI classifier is not fully reliable.”
With a 26% accuracy rate in detecting non-human generated text, the classifier still has room for improvement. During the tests, OpenAI also found that the classifier can mistakenly classify human-written material as AI-written text 9% of the time. There are other caveats too. For instance, the classifier performs relatively worse when the text is fewer than 1,000 characters in length or about 150 to 250 words. Additionally, the classifier may not work as well with text in other languages because it is designed for English-language text.
We used the OpenAI classifier to check its effectiveness and found that while it correctly labeled some Analytics Drift articles, it did mislabel a few. On Twitter, the Founder of AlphaSignal.ai shared how they were successful in tricking the classifier by using GPT3 to rewrite the text. So, the claims are true!!
OpenAI just released a new model to distinguish between AI/human written text to protect against ChatGPT.
The classifier was trained on a pair of AI/human written dataset.
However.. I was easily able to trick it by using GPT3 to rewrite the text.
You can access the AI Classifer with just a few clicks! Visit the page, log in, copy your text, and then wait for the classifier to do its thing. It won’t take long for it to rank your text on a scale ranging from very unlikely to likely. It’s that easy!
Edward Tian, a student at Princeton University, released GPTZero earlier last month and noted on the tool’s website that it was designed for educators. So far, more than 5000 educators from top universities, including Yale and Harvard, have signed up to use GPTZero. Copyleaks, a plagiarism detection program, introduced its own AI Content Detector for educational institutions and publishing last month. The Giant Learning Model Test Room, a partnership between the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab and the Harvard Natural Language Processing Group, can also recognize AI-generated work using predictive text.
As a part of the global drive for practical quantum computers and quantum networks, an international team of researchers at the University of Cambridge has made a development to retain the quantum coherence of quantum dot spin qubits.
Quantum dots are crystalline structures made out of many atoms. Every atom consists of a magnetic dipole moment that couples to the quantum dot electron and will suffer the loss of quantum information stored in the electron qubit.
Claire Le, who led the project from the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory, mentioned that the development is a new regime for optically active quantum dots where you can switch off the interaction with nuclei and refocus the electronic spin over and over to find its quantum state alive.
While exploring the hundred-microsecond timescales for the first time, researchers were surprised to find that the electron only sees noises from the nuclei. Another thing that surprised the researchers was the sound from the nuclei. It was not as harmonious as initially anticipated, and there is a scope for further improvement in the system’s quantum coherence.
The world’s leading cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, Binance, has partnered with Mastercard to announce the launch of the Binance Card in Brazil.
The prepaid card is a part of the ongoing initiatives to evolve the bridge between existing financial services and the growing crypto ecosystem. The card is still in the testing phase and will be available widely in the coming weeks.
The Binance Card that will be issued by Dock will allow all Binance users in Brazil with a valid national ID to pay bills and make purchases with cryptocurrencies, including BNB and Bitcoin. Purchases can be made at over 90 million Mastercard merchants worldwide, both in-store and online.
Users can enjoy a seamless transaction during which their cryptocurrencies are converted to fiat currency at the point of purchase in real time. Some of the advantages include zero fees on ATM withdrawals and up to 8% cashback in crypto on eligible purchases.
Binance cardholders can manage their cards through the card dashboard on the Binance website and App. Users will also be able to see their transaction history and access customer support through the card dashboard. By using the Binance Card, merchants will continue to receive fiat, and the users can pay in any cryptocurrency they choose.
Binance Card holders in Brazil can pay by using 14 different currencies, including DOT, SOL, ADA, SHIB, XRP, MATIC e LINK, USDT, BTC, ETH, BNB, BUSD, Santos fan token, and Brazilian Real.
PowerON, a New Zealand startup, claims the next generation of robotics can fabricate muscles, feature sensory skins, and have artificial neurons printed on flexible materials, allowing them to feel.
Junior Research Group Leader at TU Dresden’s Institute of Semiconductors and Microsystems and CEO of PowerON, Dr. Markus Henke, mentioned that people are observing a drastic trend in automation across all areas of industries, and they will soon see more of it in their everyday lives.
PowerON uses the results of the collaborative research conducted by TU Dresden’s Institute of Semiconductors and Microsystems and the University of Aukland in New Zealand.
Dr. Markus Henke completed his two-year postdoc fellowship at the University of Auckland in the department of electrical and computer engineering. With the collaboration of TU Dresden, he and his team explored the scientific foundations of multifunctional dielectric elastomers in soft robotics as a part of the Marie Curie Fellowship awarded by the European Commission. Upon his return to TU Dresden, Dr. Markus and his colleagues founded PowerON with the help of Dresden.
Prof Andreas Richter, the Chairperson, and Director of the Institute of Semiconductors and Microsystems, stated that PowerON wants to use a sensory fingertip for industrial robots. According to him, the sensory fingertip of robots will help handle items like eggs or test tubes and harvest fruits and vegetables and can be implemented at home or in healthcare sectors.
At CES earlier this January, Mercedes had announced that it would become the first car company to gain certification from the SAE for a Level 3 driver assist system.
The latter became official on Thursday when the company confirmed its Drive Pilot ADAS (automated driver assist system) now sits well with the requirements of Nevada Chapter 482A, which oversees the use of autonomous vehicle technology on the roads of the state. That renders Drive Pilot the only legal Level 3 system at the moment in the US.
Level 3 capabilities, as defined by the NHTSA, would allow the vehicle to handle all aspects of driving when engaged. However, it will still need the driver to be attentive enough to take control promptly if necessary.
That is being seen as a big step up from the Level 2 systems that we see today, such as Ford’s Blue Cruise, Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving,” and GM’s Super Cruise.
According to the company, Mercedes’ Drive Pilot system can take over the bumper-to-bumper crawling duties up to 40 MPH on suitable freeway sections and where there is high traffic density without needing the driver to keep their hands on the wheel.
To perform these feats, the Drive Pilot system depends on a suite of sensors embedded throughout the vehicle, including visual cameras, LiDAR arrays, radar and ultrasound sensors, and audio mics to keep an ear out for approaching emergency vehicles.
SoundHound, the voice AI company that facilitates conversational AI services for automotive, connected hospitality, and home applications, today announced that it had raised a sum of $25 million in equity to shore up its position in the market. The company laid off 40% of its staff earlier this month.
SoundHound did not disclose who is behind the funding except that it comes from a diverse set of strategic and financial investors, both from the new capital providers and the current shareholder base.
SoundHound notes that the funding is coming in the form of preferred equity and is convertible into shares of Class A common stock, potentially on or after the one-year anniversary of the issuance date if certain price conditions are met.
SoundHound was once valued at more than $1 billion when it was still a privately held startup and was seen as an independent alternative to services created by Big Tech, such as Amazon’s Alexa.
SoundHound went public in November 2021 through a SPAC merger at a $2.1 billion valuation. But, the SPAC valuation went the way of several other SPACs and did not hold. Today, SoundHound has a market cap of $295 million.
Baidu is launching an AI chatbot similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This could be China’s biggest entry in the AI race.
According to the insider, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential information, the largest search engine business in China intends to launch the ChatGPT-style software in March, first integrating it into its primary search services. Users of the unnamed tool will be able to receive search results that are conversational in nature, similar to the well-liked OpenAI platform.
In contrast to ChatGPT, which excels at more professional activities like programming and essay writing, chatbots in China are currently used for social interactions. The insider reported that Baidu intends to include results created by chatbots rather than just links when users make search requests.
Beijing-based Baidu has been investing heavily in AI technology, such as cloud services, semiconductors, and self-driving cars. This is part of their plan to diversify their revenue. At a developer conference last month, Baidu unveiled three artificial intelligence “creators” with the ability to work as screenwriters, illustrators, editors, or animators.
During an internal meeting in December, according to a transcript seen by Bloomberg News, Baidu Chief Executive Officer Robin Li cited ChatGPT as an instance of where the tech giant might take the lead in AI.
He expressed his enthusiasm about the technology’s ability to capture people’s attention and acknowledged the challenge of commercializing generative AI to make it a “must-have” product.
Like internet users everywhere else, ChatGPT has piqued the interest of Chinese internet users, who like others posted screenshots of their fascinating AI conversations on social media. This is despite China’s heavily censored internet and local equivalents to Google, Amazon, and Facebook, such as Baidu, that have thrived behind the walled-off model.
Inscribe has raised $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Threshold Ventures with participation from Foundry, Uncork Capital, Intercom co-founder Des Traynor, Box co-founder Dillon Smith, and Crosslink Capital.
The infusion has brought the startup’s total raised funds to $38 million, including a $10.5 million Series A round that was closed in April 2021.
Inscribe is an AI-powered document fraud detection service created for fraud, risk, and operations teams in the finance and fintech industries. Inscribe uses AI trained on hundreds of millions of data points to provide results.
Inscribe processes, classifies, and data-matches financial onboarding documents, highlighting any dissimilarities between the documents provided and documents recovered using its AI-powered fraud detection.
Document details, including names, bank statement transactions, and addresses, are automatically digitized to generate individual customer risk profiles that contain snapshots of bank statements and transactions.
Ronan Burke says that Inscribe solves the issue of hiring a large data science team or having to create an in-house fraud detection solution.
San Francisco transportation authorities have expressed safety concerns over the rapid expansion of robotaxi services by Waymo and Cruise.
As reported by NBC News, the officials have written to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) stating that the expansion is “unreasonable.” This is because there have been recent instances of autonomous vehicles halting and impeding traffic, preventing emergency personnel from responding.
The authorities have requested California regulators to either stop or slow down the expansion plans of both companies, who are in fierce competition to be the first to offer round-the-clock robotaxi service in the tech hub. In June, Cruise was granted a permit to offer paid rides in its autonomous vehicles (AVs) from 10 PM to 6 AM, followed by Waymo receiving a permit to provide fully driverless rides a few months later.
However, Waymo still needs additional permission from the CPUC in order to charge for its driverless rides. Meanwhile, despite receiving the license from the California Department of Motor Vehicles in December, Cruise still needs approval from the CPUC before expanding the hours of its commercial service.
Fortunately, there haven’t been any documented fatalities in San Francisco caused by Cruise or Waymo vehicles. However, the companies need to address their occasional errors, such as an incident where a Cruise vehicle, unoccupied, made a humorous attempt to flee from the police. In a separate incident, which was reported on social media and recorded by municipal officials, five disabled Cruise vehicles fully blocked a street in the Mission District, delaying a public bus transporting 45 passengers for at least 13 minutes. Cruise’s autonomous vehicles have also interfered with firefighting operations, forcing firemen to shatter a car window in order to prevent it from ramming into their fire hoses.
Between late May and the end of December of last year, 92 incidences involving Cruise driverless cars stopping unexpectedly or erratically in travel lanes were reportedly documented by San Francisco authorities. Due to worries that the vehicles were blocking traffic and causing rear-end incidents with abrupt braking, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started an investigation into Cruise last December. In other instances, Cruise called 911 three times to report “unresponsive” passengers. However, when emergency workers arrived, they discovered that the passenger had simply fallen asleep.
The San Francisco Transportation Authority endorses the growth of driverless technology, but calls for increased transparency and stronger safety measures. Officials urge companies to gather additional information about the performance of the vehicles, particularly the frequency and duration of traffic jams. The authorities plan to restrict the operation of these companies to the “downtown core streets” during peak hours until they can show that they can run efficiently without interfering with street operations or transit services.
