🤖 Bill Gates and The Future of AI, 🕺 TikTok in Congress, 🖌 Canva AI Launch

Update 2023-03-27

News

• TikTok Faces Tough Questions Over US Security Threats, Biden Administration Demanding Divestment

• Apple CEO Tim Cook to Attend China Development Forum as US-China Tensions Escalate

• Bill Gates: AI as Transformative as Microprocessor, PC, Internet, and Mobile

• AI Supercomputer Cloud Computing Options

• Adobe and Nvidia Tackle Challenges of Generative AI: Copyright Protection and Writers Guild of America Proposals

• Canva Launches Generative AI Tools for Text-to-Image and AI-Powered Presentations

• Google Prepares to Challenge OpenAI and Microsoft with AI Chatbot Bard

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Big Tech

TikTok Faces Tough Questions Over US Security Threats, Biden Administration Demanding Divestment

CEO of TikTok Shou Zi Chew to face tough questions from lawmakers over potential national security threat the app poses towards the US.

TikTok has said it has invested $1.5 billion in data security efforts under "Project Texas", and has hired Oracle to store user data in the US. It also claims to screen content potentially harmful to children rigorously.

House Democrats rallied with TikTok creators on Capitol Hill to oppose a ban, while more U.S. lawmakers remain in favor of it; the Biden administration demanding divestment or face a potential ban.

China’s Ministry of Commerce strongly opposes potential sale or ban, saying it would damage investor confidence worldwide; Knight First Amendment Institute expressing concern at a restriction of access to public speech platform used by millions of Americans daily.

Apple CEO Tim Cook to Attend China Development Forum as US-China Tensions Escalate

Apple CEO Tim Cook will attend the two-day China Development Forum in Beijing alongside Jon Moeller from Procter & Gamble, Stephen Schwarzman from Blackstone, and Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates.

• The summit is viewed as Beijing's answer to the World Economic Forum in Davos and will allow Cook to meet with China's economic ministers and premier Li Qiang for the first time since he took office.

• Multinational executives will discuss supply chain adjustments as businesses reassess their presence in China, with Apple and its contract manufacturers relocating production lines out of mainland China.

• Despite US-China tensions, Apple products remain popular among Chinese consumers; Cook has attended the CDF every year since 2017 except in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

• US CEOs attending may face political pressure in Washington while trying to endear themselves to Chinese leaders.

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AI

Bill Gates: AI as Transformative as Microprocessor, PC, Internet, and Mobile

Bill Gates recently published a seven-page letter outlining his views on the future of artificial intelligence.

• He believes that developing AI is as fundamental as creating the microprocessor, the personal computer, the internet, and the mobile phone.

• Gates focused on three sectors AI could transform: the workforce, healthcare, and education.

• He believes AI could be used as a "digital personal assistant" to enhance employee productivity, free healthcare workers from certain tasks, and transform education by delivering content tailored to a student's learning style.

• Gates also acknowledged concerns around artificial intelligence, including the risk that humans will misuse it and the possibility of superintelligent, or "strong," AI that could "establish their own goals" as AI technology improves over time.

📝 Want to read our summary of each key point of Bill Gates letter? See our PRO section at the bottom of the newsletter 👇

AI Supercomputer Cloud Computing Options

Nvidia has launched DGX Cloud, an all-inclusive AI supercomputer in the cloud, with a monthly starting price of $36,999 per instance.

• The rental includes access to a cloud computer with eight Nvidia H100 or A100 GPUs and 640GB of GPU memory.

• The price includes the AI Enterprise software to develop AI applications and large language models such as BioNeMo.

• The DGX Cloud starting price is nearly double that of $20,000 charged by Microsoft Azure for a fully-loaded A100 instance with 96 CPU cores, 900GB of storage, and eight A100 GPUs per month.

• Oracle is hosting DGX Cloud infrastructure in its RDMA Supercluster, which scales to 32,000 GPUs.

Microsoft will launch DGX Cloud next quarter, with Google Cloud’s implementation coming after that.

Adobe and Nvidia Tackle Challenges of Generative AI: Copyright Protection and Writers Guild of America Proposals

Nvidia and Adobe have collaborated to address the issue of copyright with their platforms targeting the enterprise (Nvidia’s Picasso) and creators (Adobe’s Firefly family of models).

• The companies intend to limit what their models are trained on and plan to compensate any copyright holders whose works are used.

• The Writers Guild of America has proposed a system of credit distribution for A.I.-generated scripts.

• The U.S. Copyright Office confirmed that works must have human authorship in order to be protected by copyright; however, exceptions can be made if the work has been modified or arranged in a “sufficiently creative way”.

• Research has shown how humans can develop innovative tactics when faced with besting A.I. systems, demonstrating our capacity for evolution in this new field.

Canva Launches Generative AI Tools for Text-to-Image and AI-Powered Presentations

Canva has launched generative AI tools that include text-to-image and AI-powered presentations. The text-to-image feature allows users to input text, and the tool generates an image based on their preferences. The AI-powered presentation tool will enable users to input their idea in a few words, and the tool creates a professional-looking presentation slide deck. Users can then edit and customize the presentation further.

Google Prepares to Challenge OpenAI and Microsoft with AI Chatbot Bard

Google has released its new AI chatbot, Bard, which works similarly to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Bing chatbot. There is still a waitlist to get access to it.

• Bard can give multiple responses to a prompt, and Google has warned users that it may give inaccurate or inappropriate responses.

• While some users have reported success with Bard, others have been less impressed.

• Google has emphasized that it is taking a patient approach to developing the technology, and that Bard is not trained on Gmail data.

• The release of Bard has been seen as a move by Google to compete with other companies in the generative AI space, such as OpenAI and Microsoft.