AI research

Summary Google Deepmind researchers demonstrate Promptbreeder, an AI system that can improve itself by recursively generating better prompts. The development of natural language instructions (prompts), also known as prompt engineering, is a key technique for improving the capabilities of large language models such as GPT-4. However, the process is time-consuming, often not intuitive and the …

Deepmind’s Promptbreeder automates prompt engineering Read More »

Summary With a new dataset, Deepmind has partnered with many other institutions to fill the data gap in robot training and enable generalization of robot capabilities across robot types. Early results are promising. Google Deepmind, in collaboration with 33 academic labs, has released a new dataset and models aimed at promoting generalized learning in robotics …

Google Deepmind takes the next step toward general-purpose robots Read More »

Maximilian Schreiner Max is managing editor at THE DECODER. As a trained philosopher, he deals with consciousness, AI, and the question of whether machines can really think or just pretend to. LLMs (Large Language Models) like OpenAI’s GPT-4 act as repositories for millions of vector programs mined from human-generated data learned as a by-product of …

Prompt engineering in LLMs is finding the right vector program Read More »

Summary Benchmarks are a key driver of progress in AI. But they also have many shortcomings. The new GPT-Fathom benchmark suite aims to reduce some of these pitfalls. Benchmarks allow AI developers to measure the performance of their models on a variety of tasks. In the case of language models, for example, answering knowledge questions …

GPT-4 “crushes” other LLMs according to new benchmark suite Read More »

Summary Claims of AI achieving consciousness have surfaced again recently. But what would it really take for an artificial system to become self-aware? In June 2022, Google engineer Blake Lemoine made headlines by claiming the company’s LaMDA chatbot had achieved sentience. The software had the conversational ability of a precocious seven-year-old, Lemoine said, and we …

Why ChatGPT isn’t conscious – but future AI systems might be Read More »

Summary The AI research organization LAION has sent an open letter to the European Parliament recommending that regulatory efforts in the AI sector should encourage the use of open source AI models. LAION’s datasets are widely used to train AI models. Open-source AI models offer greater safety, accountability, reproducibility, and robustness than closed-source models because …

LAION releases new open source models and calls for EU regulations Read More »

Summary Amazon is buying itself and its customers’ priority access to Anthropic’s foundational models. As Amazon announced in a press release, the online retailer and cloud provider plans to invest up to four billion US dollars in the AI startup Anthropic. Amazon has thus secured an important partner in the field of generative AI. Anthropic …

Amazon invests up to four billion dollars in OpenAI competitor Anthropic Read More »

Summary An experiment shows that language models cannot generalize the simple formula “A is B” to “B is A”. But why is that? If Tom Cruise’s mother is Mary Lee Pfeiffer, who is Mary Lee Pfeiffer’s son? To humans, the answer is obvious. But large language models fail to answer this question, according to a …

Language models know Tom Cruise’s mother, but not her son Read More »

Summary Google Deepmind’s AlphaMissense AI system has created a comprehensive catalog of “missense” gene mutations, providing valuable insights into their potential impact. The AlphaMissense AI model categorizes potentially dangerous missense variants, specific gene mutations that affect the function of human proteins and can potentially lead to diseases such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, or …

Deepmind’s AlphaMissense predicts potentially disease-causing gene mutations Read More »

Researchers at Cornell University have developed a tiny quadruped robot powered by combustion actuators fueled by methane and oxygen. The insect-sized robot, published in Science, can jump 59 centimeters straight up and walk while carrying 22 times its own weight. The researchers aim to apply the power generated by the combustion actuators to large-scale, variable-recruitment …

Microscale internal combustion engine powers insect robot Read More »