Meta’s stylish AI
Plus Sam Altman spills some OpenAI tea
Meta is rolling out early access to multi-modal AI features for users of its $300 smart glasses.
The company formerly known as Facebook has opened beta access for US owners of Meta Ray-Bans, allowing them to identify real-world objects, text, and more.
In a video posted on Instagram, Meta overlord Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated the assistant identifying a striped shirt he was holding. He then asked Meta AI to suggest the kinds of pants to wear with it. (Dark-wash jeans or solid-colored pants for those interested in Meta AI’s sartorial advice.
Meta says the AI feature will become fully available for Meta Ray-Ban customers some time next year.
Why it matters: First there was Humane’s AI Pin, and now AI-enhanced Meta Ray-Bans. It seems the wearable AI era is on its way.
While just about every major tech company is shilling a large language model right now (LLM), Microsoft thinks there’s scope for small language models (SLM) as well.
The Redmond-based giant has announced Phi-2, an SLM that it says is “small enough to run on a laptop or mobile device.” Put another way, Phi-2 can run locally, rather than piping in from the cloud.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Phi-2 is Microsoft’s claim that the SLM is powerful enough to compete with Google’s recently announced Gemini Nano (which also runs on-device), as well as LLMs from the likes of Meta and Mistral.
While the heady bragging will certainly get Microsoft column inches, it seems Phi-2 won’t be a public-facing product anytime soon; the company states Phi-2 is for researchers only and explicitly can’t be used for commercial purposes.
Why it matters: On-device models could quickly become the next battlefield in the fight for AI supremacy.
Firefox-maker Mozilla has launched an early version of Solo, an AI-powered website builder aimed at freelancers.
As Mozilla notes in a blog post announcing Solo, almost 40% of workers in the US do some form of contractor work. And - thanks to the rise of social media and review platforms - many of those “solopreneurs” don’t have a customer-facing website.
Solo works by asking a few questions about a freelancer’s line of business, including details of any relevant Facebook pages or Yelp listings. Users then pick a font and a color scheme, then Mozilla’s AI gets to work building a comprehensive website.
Solo is available now as a free beta. Mozilla notes it plans to add more features over time, including the ability to add a custom domain.
Why it matters: Solo could be great for freelancers whose eyes water at the price of no-code web building platforms. Of course, Solo might not be so good for freelance web designers.
OpenAI’s boomerang CEO Sam Altman has made an appearance at Time's "A Year in Time" event, where he touched upon the tumultuous events surrounding his firing and rehiring last month, calling the situation "painful and exhausting."
Altman explained to Time editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs that as OpenAI has gotten “closer and closer to super intelligence,” the team’s stress and anxiety has increased, and that he was ousted when “everything exploded.”
Altman also touched upon OpenAI’s responsibility to develop AI that benefits humanity, while acknowledging there are many risks to artificial general intelligence.
Altman was also dismissive of criticisms by Elon Musk, who has suggested OpenAI is effectively controlled by Microsoft.
Why it matters: As highlighted by Time naming Altman as CEO of the Year, what he says and thinks about the AI space carries a lot of weight. No if only OpenAI would give us full accounting on why they fired him in the first place, that would be great.
Meta opens access to smart glasses AI, while Sam Altman discusses his yo-yo experience at the top of OpenAI.
