_{Welcome back for the Latest AI Drops!}

Today’s Drops:

• Grok Coming to X Premium+ subscribers

• Effects of the U.S. Chip Export Ban on China's AI Ecosystem

• What's Happening with Autonomous Cars?

• When will we see AGI become a reality?

• Hottest New AI Startup! - Artisan

• More AI Headlines

• Trending GitHub Projects

• Latest AI Tools

Grok Coming to X Premium+ subscribers

Elon Musk confirmed that Grok will be available to all of X’s Premium+ subscribers sometime “next week” as an integrated feature on X’s web application .

Key Features:

• It was initially released on November 4 to select testers and is designed to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard​​.

• Grok claims to have a distinct personality, with a wit and a rebellious streak, and it will attempt to answer "spicy" questions that other AI systems might reject​​.

• Grok will have access to real-time knowledge via the X platform and will be capable of web searches for up-to-date information on certain topics​​.

Source

Exploring the Effects of the U.S. Chip Export Ban on China's AI Ecosystem

Baidu Inc. in China reported a 6% revenue increase, largely due to its ChatGPT-like AI, Ernie bots, drawing 70 million users. Despite the U.S. chip export ban affecting the Chinese AI sector, larger firms like Baidu have coped well, stockpiling Nvidia GPUs and seeking long-term alternatives.

The U.S. export ban has put China's AI startups in a tough spot, as smaller companies are struggling to acquire advanced chips and are forced to use less powerful processors. In contrast, larger tech giants are better equipped to navigate these challenges through substantial investments, effective inventory management, and alternative sourcing strategies.

Key Points:

• Chinese tech giants, anticipating U.S.-China tensions, stockpiled Nvidia GPUs.

• Baidu's CEO revealed they have enough AI chips for 1-2 years and are exploring alternative solutions.

• Major companies like ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba ordered around 100,000 Nvidia A800 processors, with deliveries scheduled for this year and 2024.

• Alibaba and Tencent's cloud computing businesses are impacted by the U.S. ban, with Alibaba halting its cloud unit spin-off and Tencent adjusting its strategy.

• Nvidia introduced H800 chips for the Chinese market, circumventing some U.S. restrictions.

• Chinese AI researchers are optimizing systems to reduce dependency on high-speed chips.

Why is this important: If these restrictions persist for an extended period, there is a significant risk of creating an AI market that is dominated by well-established firms. This could result in high entry barriers for new players, potentially hindering the diversity and innovation that are essential for the AI industry's continued growth and progress.

Source

What’s Happening with Self-Driving Cars? GM and Tesla Under Scrutiny

GM’s big bet on driverless cars turns sour

• General Motors' Cruise has hit a rough patch, Kyle Vogt, the CEO of Cruise, has resigned. Dan Kan, Cruise's chief product officer, is also reportedly stepping down.

• The resignation follows a significant incident where a Cruise vehicle was involved in a hit-and-run, resulting in California suspending Cruise's driverless car permit and prompting a nationwide pause in driverless operations.

• In reaction to the incident, Cruise recalled all its vehicles and undertook an independent safety audit. GM is increasing its oversight of Cruise, with changes in leadership roles to ensure more direct control.

Judge finds ‘reasonable evidence’ Tesla knew self-driving tech was defective

• Florida judge finds "reasonable evidence" that Tesla, may have been aware of deficiencies in their Autopilot system.

• This acknowledgment comes amidst a lawsuit over a tragic crash that questions the integrity of Tesla's self-driving claims and the adequacy of their consumer warnings. 

• The legal challenge highlights the potential disconnect between Tesla's promotional assertions and the actual performance of their technology.

GM and Tesla's experiences reflect a broader industry pattern of recalibrating expectations around autonomous vehicles. The recent cutbacks by other automotive giants like Ford and Volkswagen and the scaling down of Toyota's ambitious projects signal a collective step back. Investments have plummeted as companies grapple with the complex reality of bringing self-driving cars to market amid safety, regulatory, and ethical considerations.

Is the dream of fully autonomous cars becoming a reality, or are we facing greater hurdles than anticipated?

Source & Source

When will we see AGI become a reality?

In yesterday's edition, we discussed OpenAI's recent breakthrough, Project*, which represents a significant advancement in their quest for achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). AGI is the level of AI that can potentially perform tasks on par with or even surpass the capabilities of the human brain.

To complement this discussion, we have a 5-minute video produced by Y Combinator featuring insights from 33 YC founders who specialize in AI. In this video, they share their perspectives on the timeline for when AGI might become a reality, given their current understanding of AI.

_{Hottest New AI Startup!}

“The Rapid Rise of Artisan”

The company was founded by a 22-year-old CEO, Carmichael-Jack, and CTO Dr. Rupert Dodkins, a machine learning expert with a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Oxford. 

Despite being in existence for just two months, Artisan has quickly grown from an idea to a team of five, secured over $2.3 million in investment, and is preparing for its first Artisan's launch.

At the core of Artisan's mission lies the development of human-like digital workers called “Artisans”. These digital workers, unlike traditional software tools, act as valuable additions to teams and require minimal human intervention. 

The first Artisan, named Ava, is set to launch on December 4th and will automate various aspects of the sales cycle, eventually becoming a co-pilot alongside human workers. Artisan plans to release five more Artisans in the coming year.

Source

More Exciting AI News

• Businesses, tech groups warn EU against over-regulating AI foundation models

• OpenAI Engineers Earning $800,000 a Year Turn Rare Skillset Into Leverage

• Motor racing-Formula One trials AI to tackle track limits breaches

• Off/Script launches an app to create and buy AI-designed fashion

Welcome to the innovative world of GitHub projects!

Fooocus: Fooocus is an offline, open-source image generation software inspired by Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, simplifying user interaction by automating optimizations and requiring minimal installation effort.

Generative AI for Beginners by Microsoft: Learn the fundamentals of building Generative AI applications during 12-lesson comprehensive course by Microsoft Cloud Advocates. Each lesson covers a key aspect of Generative AI principles and application development. Throughout this course, you will be building your own Generative AI startup so you can get an understanding of what it takes to launch your ideas.

Latest AI Tools

VmakeAI offers a wide range of AI image tools for e-commerce business owners and content creators to edit stunning product photos, create AI-generated clothing models, removing & changing product backgrounds and more! Within seconds, all just in your browser.

Unscreen helps you remove background from your videos.

Visionary.ai empowers cameras to achieve the next generation of image quality.

Typper BI helps increase your data team productivity with AI.

Sonia is a fully AI-powered cognitive behavioural therapist (CBT).