EPISODE 006 Show Notes

"March of the Machines: AI's Accelerating Trajectory" - The AI News Now Podcast (Episode 006)

P006-A01: "How Close to the Terminator Are We?"

- Source: AIBusiness.com, Berenice Baker, 9/22/23

- Synopsis: Examination of the implications of combining AI with quantum computing. Discussions emphasize ethical AI development, potential societal impacts, and calls for collective responsibility.

P006-A02: “Telling AI model to “take a deep breath” causes math scores to soar in study”

- Source: Ars Technica, Benj Edwards, 9/19/23

- Synopsis: Study findings on how natural language prompts influence AI performance. Debate revolves around ethical foundations versus control through prompts, and human-AI collaboration potentials.

P006-A03: “Agility’s New Factory Can Build Thousands of Humanoids a Year At full scale, over 10,000 Digit robots will be built in Oregon annually”

- Source: IEEE Spectrum, Evan Ackerman, 9/19/23

- Synopsis: Exploration of a factory mass-producing humanoid robots. Concerns include ethical deliberation, overautomation, and the preservation of human-centric values in emerging robotics.

P006-A04: “A Disney director tried—and failed—to use an AI Hans Zimmer to create a soundtrack”

- Source: MIT Technology Review, Melissa Heikkilä, 9/19/23

- Synopsis: AI's failed attempt to emulate composer Hans Zimmer. Debates around AI's role in art, potential commoditization of artists, and the balance between AI augmentation and human creativity.

P006-A05: "Confessions of a Viral AI Writer"

- Source: Wired, VAUHINI VARA, 9/21/23

- Synopsis: Reflections on AI's role in literature. Discussions around human creativity versus AI assistance, preserving narrative voice, and the essence of human life experiences in storytelling.

P006-A06: "DeepMind is using AI to pinpoint the causes of genetic disease"

- Source: MIT Technology Review, Antonio Regalado, 9/19/23

- Synopsis: DeepMind's AI model identifies disease impacts of DNA variants. Emphasis on ethical precautions, transparency, and broader stakeholder involvement in the AI-medical field.

P006-A07: "Smarter AI Assistants Could Make It Harder to Stay Human"

- Source: Wired, Steven Levy, 9/19/23

- Synopsis: Considerations of autonomous AI assistants' influence. Discussions on maintaining human control, wisdom, and ensuring AI serves as an augmentation rather than a control mechanism.

P006-A08: "Amazon's enhancements to Alexa using generative AI"

- Sources: TheVerge.com, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, 9/21/23 & Venturebeat.com, Sharon Goldman, 9/21/23

- Synopsis: Amazon's Alexa improvements using generative AI. Concerns raised about privacy, bias, and over-reliance on technology, juxtaposed with the excitement of technological advancement.

P006-A09: "Anthropic’s new policy takes aim at ‘catastrophic’ AI risks"

- Source: Venturebeat.com, Michael Nuñez, 9/21/23

- Synopsis: Anthropic's policy on AI risks using tiered safety levels. The focus on challenges in evaluating evolving AI and the need for sustained diligence and alignment with human values.

P006-A10: "How Google taught AI to doubt itself"

- Source: Platformer.com, Casey Newton, 9/19/23

- Synopsis: Google's Bard chatbot revises responses, indicating progress yet with concerns. The emphasis on ethical deployment, transparency, and addressing AI risks.

P006-A11: "Enough Talk, ChatGPT—My New Chatbot Friend Can Get Things Done"

- Source: Wired, Will Knight, 9/21/23

- Synopsis: Insights on AI chatbots like Auto-GPT that actively browse the web. Concerns revolve around manipulation, potential job loss, and the balance of convenience versus human oversight.

P006-A12: "Get Ready for AI Chatbots That Do Your Boring Chores"

- Source: Wired, Will Knight, 9/19/23

- Synopsis: Analysis of AI chatbots managing tasks. The focus on the importance of deploying autonomous systems cautiously, maintaining human oversight, and ensuring AI aligns with human values.