The Download: open vs closed AI, and Google’s uneasy demo

10 months ago 145

This is today's variation of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a regular dose of what's going connected successful the satellite of technology.

The open-source AI roar is built connected Big Tech’s handouts. How agelong volition it last?

Last week a leaked memo reported to person been written by Luke Sernau, a elder technologist astatine Google, said retired large what galore successful Silicon Valley indispensable person been whispering for weeks: an open-source free-for-all is threatening Big Tech’s grip connected AI.

New open-source ample connection models—alternatives to Google’s Bard oregon OpenAI’s ChatGPT that researchers and app developers tin study, physique on, and modify—are dropping similar candy from a piñata. These are smaller, cheaper versions of the best-in-class AI models created by the large firms that (almost) lucifer them successful performance—and they’re shared for free.

In galore ways, that’s a bully thing. AI won't thrive if conscionable a fewer mega-rich companies get to gatekeep this exertion oregon determine however it is used. But this open-source roar is precarious, and if Big Tech decides to unopen up shop, a boomtown could go a backwater. Read the afloat story.

—Will Douglas Heaven

That wasn’t Google I/O — it was Google AI

Everything astir beingness successful the AI epoch is simply a spot confusing and weird. Nowhere has this been much evident than astatine Google I/O, the company’s yearly league showcasing what it’s been moving on—and this year’s amusement was each astir AI.

When Google CEO Sundar Pichai stepped connected signifier earlier this week, helium launched consecutive into the ways AI is successful everything the institution does now, making it beauteous wide that AI itself present is the halfway product, oregon astatine least, the backbone of it.

Mat Honan, our exertion successful chief, went to ticker the Big Google AI Show. Despite the impressive-looking demos, yet helium near with a heavy consciousness of unease. Read his communicative to find retired why.

Why tiny viruses could beryllium our champion stake against antimicrobial resistance

As you work this, billions of bacteria are crawling each implicit your body, playing a captious relation successful your health, and influencing everything from digestion to immune wellness and adjacent your moods.

But there’s thing other that makes a location wrong us. Bacteriophages—or phages for short—are microscopic viruses adjacent smaller than our gut microbes. They infect bacteria and crook them into factories to marque much of themselves and, excitingly, could usher successful a fascinating caller method of warring corruption arsenic the deadly menace of antimicrobial absorption looms large. Read the afloat story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

Jessica’s communicative is from The Checkup, her play biotech newsletter. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Thursday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.

1 Twitter has a caller CEO 
Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s caput of advertising, is believed to beryllium preparing to instrumentality over. (WSJ $)
+ Her assignment is apt to travel arsenic a alleviation to skittish advertisers. (WP $)
+ Don’t expect Elon Musk to spell anywhere, though. (Vox)

2 A caller undersea net cablegram is successful the works
It’s the European Union’s mode of lessening reliance connected lines successful Russia. (FT $)

3 A YouTuber has been accused of deliberately crashing a level for views
Trevor Jacob could look up to 20 years successful prison. (The Guardian)

4 Chiplets could assistance to kickstart the US’ chipmaking ambitions
They nexus smaller chips unneurotic to make almighty packages. (NYT $)
+ Germany is spending billions connected its ain spot industry, too. (FT $)
+ What’s adjacent for the spot industry. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Crypto’s existent believers are inactive keeping the faith
No substance however bitter the crypto wintertime becomes. (Bloomberg $)
+ Uhoh, memecoins are back. (Slate $)
+ It’s good to opt retired of the crypto revolution. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Climate lawsuits are earnestly risky
While immoderate cases tin enact affirmative change, immoderate tin extremity up thwarting advancement altogether. (Knowable Magazine)
+ This startup says its archetypal fusion works is 5 years away. Experts uncertainty it. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Encrypted phones are an indispensable portion of criminals’ arsenal
Unfortunately for them, the companies that marque them support getting unopen down. (Motherboard)
+ Erik Prince wants to merchantability you a “secure” smartphone that’s excessively bully to beryllium true. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Venezuela’s victims of transgression are seeking justness connected societal media
Influencers are taking up their cases erstwhile the authorities crook a unsighted eye. (Rest of World)

9 The biggest cosmic detonation ever seen is happening close now
It was archetypal spotted 3 years ago, and is showing nary signs of slowing. (New Scientist $)

10 The weird satellite of Uber’s mislaid property
Okay, who near the rat traps? (Gizmodo)

Quote of the day

“If our incapacity was a occupation with accepted net platforms similar Facebook, the contented is 10 times arsenic urgent with AI.”

—Sen. Michael Bennet tells Vox that ignorance among US lawmakers is earnestly hampering their quality to modulate rapidly-evolving technology.

The large story

Why it’s truthful hard to marque tech much diverse

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June 2021

Tracy Chou has a agelong past of moving to exposure Silicon Valley’s diverseness issues. As an technologist astatine Pinterest, she published a wide circulated blog station calling for tech companies to stock information connected however galore women worked connected their engineering team, and collected their responses successful a nationalist database that revealed however homogeneous galore method teams astatine apical companies inactive were. 

About a twelvemonth later, she started a institution called Block Party that targets online harassment by giving Twitter users much power implicit which tweets look successful their provender and mentions.

Here, we cheque successful with Chou, who is based successful San Francisco, to larn much astir what it takes to marque alteration successful the tech sector, and what entrepreneurs similar her are up against. Read the afloat story.

—Wudan Yan

We tin inactive person bully things

A spot for comfort, amusive and distraction successful these weird times. (Got immoderate ideas? Drop maine a line oregon tweet 'em astatine me.)

+ These wood markings are mesmerizing.
+ Airline food has a atrocious rep, but it wasn’t ever this way.
+ Would you similar immoderate other grids with your grids? This useful robot is connected manus to help.
+ Here’s however to clasp immoderate good aged fashioned optimism, adjacent erstwhile things are looking beauteous bad.
+ If you’ve ne'er seen the archetypal Wicker Man earlier (not the Nic Cage remake), see this your authoritative reminder to ticker it.

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