AI Rogue On The Streets?
August 7, 2023
Good morning. As Pony.ai and Toyota join forces to unleash driverless robotaxis, they might want to consider a trial run in New York's Union Square, where the only thing more unpredictable than autonomous vehicles is a Twitch streamer's ability to incite a riot. It's the perfect chaos for testing whether AI can outmaneuver human unpredictability.
In today’s newsletter:
🚗 A Glimpse into the Future: Autonomous Vehicles Take the Streets
🗽 Connecticut's AI Adventure: Innovation, Bias, and Lessons Learned
🌍 IBM, NASA, Hugging Face Unveil Open-Source Geospatial AI Model
📱 Apple's $22.6 Billion Research Spend: Generative AI at the Forefront
💻 AI Chip Pioneer Tenstorrent Secures $100M from Hyundai, Samsung
🎶 Meta AI Unleashes AudioCraft: A Revolutionary Library for Audio Generation
NEWS
Steering Towards the Future: Pony.ai and Toyota's Ride into the Driverless Era
Midjourney
A Future with Autonomous Vehicles
Imagine a bustling city where steering wheels are a thing of the past, and streets are filled with sleek, driverless vehicles, effortlessly gliding to their destinations. With one tap on your phone, a safe and efficient car arrives at your location, ready to whisk you away at an affordable price… not the 3x surcharge pricing you see today which makes your 15-minute Uber cost $40. This is no longer confined to the realms of science fiction; it's on the brink of becoming our reality.
A significant step towards this future has been through a partnership between Pony.ai, a leading global autonomous driving company, and automotive giant Toyota.
The Partnership: A Leap Towards Mass Production of Robotaxis
Pony AI and Toyota have announced a joint venture (JV) to advance the mass production and large-scale deployment of fully driverless robotaxis. The collaboration will see an investment of more than USD 139 million, with the establishment of the JV in 2023. Toyota will provide electric vehicles equipped with systems suitable for L4 autonomous driving, while Pony.ai will integrate its advanced autonomous driving technology. Together, they aim to deliver safe, convenient, and scalable robotaxi services, marking a significant milestone in the commercialization of autonomous mobility.
Here’s a video back from 2021 when the Pony Toyota vehicle was just being teased to the public 👇
Challenges and Triumphs: A Closer Look at Pony.ai
The road to autonomous driving is not without its bumps… Pony has faced challenges, including a permit suspension for driverless-vehicle testing in California and legal battles with former staffers over alleged trade secret theft. The company also consolidated its R&D teams and recalibrated its autonomous trucking ambitions. Despite these hurdles, Pony has raised over a billion dollars since its founding in 2016 and continues to be a prominent player in the autonomous vehicle industry.
Risks and Rewards: Toyota's Strategic Investment
The partnership with Pony presents both potential risks and rewards for Toyota. The significant investment and collaboration with a company that has faced regulatory and legal challenges could pose risks in terms of reputation and financial outcomes, however, by aligning with a pioneer in autonomous driving technology, Toyota positions itself at the forefront of an industry poised for exponential growth. The JV may not only accelerate the realization of a driverless future but also solidify Toyota's role as a key innovator in the rapidly evolving landscape of transportation.
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NEWS
Connecticut's AI Adventure: A Tale of Innovation, Bias, and Lessons Learned
Midjourney
The Nutmeg State's Tech Embrace:
Connecticut's diving into the AI pool, using algorithms to enhance everything from school assignments to bail settings, but a study by Yale Law School has sounded the alarm. Lack of oversight? Check. Flawed algorithms? Check. Urgent questions about transparency, accountability, and ethics? Triple check.
The Bias Boomerang:
Connecticut's algorithms aren't just crunching numbers; they're reflecting societal prejudices. If you train an algorithm on biased data, you might just create a bias boomerang, where that low-quality data comes back to haunt you. If Connecticut's government algorithms reflect racial or socioeconomic biases, they could turn into tools of injustice, hitting marginalized communities the hardest. It's a domino effect but with real-world consequences.
Bias-Busting Lessons:
While Connecticut seems to have started off on the wrong foot, it’s not all doom and gloom as they’re now taking steps to ensure that training data is free from historical biases. The state is also inventorying and reviewing its AI systems, focusing on product liability and impact assessments. Add in collaboration with AI experts, ethicists, and community reps, and you've got a recipe for mitigating the bias boomerang.
Last week, we had our very first Real or AI poll, and boy was it close! The real image was …drumroll… Image 1 as seen below, but nearly half of you all got it wrong! Is this a sign AI is getting too good? If you want to try again or feel like you can add to your winning streak, play again below.
The results of today’s poll will be revealed on Wednesday.
Image 1
Which image do you think is real?Pick from one of the options below |
Image 2
🌍 IBM, NASA, Hugging Face Unveil Largest Open-Source Geospatial AI Model
IBM, with Hugging Face and NASA's data, has launched the watsonx.ai geospatial model, advancing climate science and Earth research. The model intends to broaden AI access and spur innovations in environmental studies, handling datasets expected to reach 250,000 terabytes by 2024. By offering the model on Hugging Face, the collaboration aims to enhance cooperation in the AI community, speed up the creation of impactful solutions, and aid global researchers in addressing environmental challenges
📱Apple's $22.6 Billion Research Spend: Tim Cook Reveals Generative AI Focus
Apple's R&D spending hit $22.61 billion this year, up $3.12 billion, partly due to a focus on generative AI, says CEO Tim Cook. Even with declining revenue and iPhone sales, Apple's investment in AI continues, where it's been quieter than rivals like Meta, Microsoft, and Google. Cook stressed that AI and machine learning are vital to all products, and the company is developing new AI tools, including a large language model.
💻 AI Chip Pioneer Tenstorrent Secures $100M from Hyundai, Samsun
Tenstorrent, an AI chip startup headed by Jim Keller, raised $100 million in funding from Hyundai Motor Group and Samsung Catalyst Fund. Half the investment is from Hyundai's car-making units, aiming to collaborate with Tenstorrent on chips for future vehicles and robots. The Toronto company, founded in 2016, has moved from hardware to licensing and services, and the new funds will support product development, AI chiplet design, and improving Tenstorrent's machine learning software.
🎶 Meta AI Unleashes AudioCraft: A Revolutionary PyTorch Library for Audio Generation
Meta AI has released AudioCraft, a PyTorch library for deep learning in audio generation. It includes three models: MusicGen for music from text; AudioGen for audio from text; and EnCodec, an AI-driven encoder, quantizer, and decoder. AudioCraft aims to create professional sound, improving current audio generation design, and opens opportunities for both amateur and professional musicians, as well as applications like enriched bedtime story readings with sound effects and music.
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