Artificial intelligence (AI) has been one of the biggest buzzwords of 2023, like crypto was last year. The rise of OpenAI and its powerful chatbot ChatGPT have been a catalyst for the nascent industry centred around AI technology. Meanwhile, countries like the US and India are working towards building safeguards to protect users and regulate the growth of AI technology. Minister of State for Information and technology Rajeev Chandrashekar recently stated in an interview that we could see artificial general intelligence (AGI) in the coming years.
According to the minister, while AGI is something that has been discussed by people for several years, it is likely that the technology — that would allow an intelligent agent to perform intellectual tasks with general human cognitive abilities — will be developed during our lifetime. He also stated that the disruption caused by AI would not throw people out of work (as feared by people) as it would compel them to adapt and learn new skills.
UK AI Summit Brings Elon Musk, Other Political and Tech Leaders for Talks on AI Risk
Political leaders, academics, and tech industry leaders are set to meet in the UK for a two-day summit on artificial intelligence. This year, several businesspersons and leaders, including Telsa’s Elon Musk (who also owns the microblogging platform X, formerly known as Twitter), OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and US Vice President Kamala Harris will also be present at the summit that will be held at Bletchley Park.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is also expected to be present at the UK AI summit, and the topics of discussion also include the risks of AI and possible remedies to the challenges posed by the burgeoning technology. The summit, however, will focus on more immediate risks posed by AI, instead of larger concerns related to the technology, according to critics.
AMD Shares Rebound as Firm Forecasts $2 Billion Sales of AI Chips
Despite a quarterly outlook that missed expectations, chipmaker AMD on Tuesday forecast that it would sell $2 billion worth of its new MI300X chip that is designed to compete with offerings from rival Nvidia, allowing the company’s shares to recover after a 4.6 percent drop. A company executive also stated that its MI300X chip would be used by large-scale cloud firms and other tech companies.
AMD also predicted that it will earn $400 million in revenue from the new MI300X chip in Q4 2023, days after rival Intel claimed that the next few quarters would see demand from the segment drop. In order to export its advanced chips to China, AMD might also have to acquire licences to sell its high-end chips, following the recent expansion of US sanctions on the country, according to analysts.
Siemens and Microsoft Team Up to Boost Generative AI Adoption
Microsoft and Siemens have renewed a partnership to expand access to generative AI to the manufacturing sector, the software giant announced on Tuesday. The firms introduced a new AI powered assistant created by both firms dubbed the Siemens Industrial Copilot. According to Microsoft, the AI copilots will be capable of working alongside frontline workers in not just manufacturing but also infrastructure, healthcare, and transportation.
Touting the human-machine collaboration of the new Siemens Industrial Copilot, Microsoft states that the chatbot will be able to cut down on the time taken for tasks such as running simulations — from weeks down to minutes. The firm also stated that it would not use customer data to train the underlying data models used by the AI chatbot, and that users would have full control over their own data.
US President Joe Biden Signs Executive Order to Regulate AI
Many countries like the US and India are yet to formulate rules and regulations to govern the use of AI technology, as governments look to build global consensus on keeping abuse and other negative effects of the technology in check. On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden brought the US one step closer to the regulation of AI technology after he issued an executive order on safe, secure, and trustworthy AI. An executive order is a rule issued by the US President to the executive branch of government which has the same weight as a US law.
The latest executive order sets guidelines that require developers to share safety test results with the US government, aside from other critical information. The guidelines also seek to establish an advanced cybersecurity program to prevent AI enabled fraud, while blocking the risks of engineering dangerous biological materials. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will also develop tools to ensure AI systems are trustworthy, safe and reliable.
