Major AI Announcements This Week: Key Updates from Meta and Google

Google Develops AI for Chip Design

Designing the intricate layouts of modern computer chips is a daunting task that typically demands meticulous effort before any fabrication begins. However, this process has been transformed with the introduction of Google's AlphaChip AI. Similar to AlphaFold, which predicts protein structures for drug discovery, AlphaChip employs reinforcement learning to create new chip designs in mere hours instead of months. Google has utilized this AI to streamline the layouts for its last three generations of Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) and is now extending the technology's capabilities to companies like MediaTek, known for producing chipsets for mobile devices.

Microsoft Clarifies Recall Security: ‘User Control is Paramount’

Microsoft faced significant backlash when it attempted to implement its Recall feature, designed to let users search their computing history using natural language. Unfortunately, the tool automatically captured screenshots during work, raising privacy concerns among users and advocates. In response, Microsoft published a blog post outlining its commitment to user security, detailing measures such as limiting app tracking and hardware compatibility, while reinforcing that “the user is always in control” of their data.

Meta Introduces Natural Voice Interactions Feature

During Meta's Connect 2024 event, alongside the launch of new Ray-Ban smart glasses, the company unveiled its Natural Voice Interactions feature for Meta AI. This new capability allows users to engage in conversational exchanges with the chatbot, similar to Gemini Live and Advanced Voice Mode. Unlike the latter, Natural Voice Interactions is entirely free and available for users to experiment with immediately.

OpenAI Transitions from Nonprofit to For-Profit Status

In a notable shift, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is taking measures to centralize his control over the AI startup, now valued in the multibillion-dollar range. Reports reveal that OpenAI is contemplating a reorganization to operate as a for-profit entity, moving away from its nonprofit roots established in 2015. This change aims to enhance the company's appeal to investors, while also relieving Altman of oversight by the nonprofit board of directors that briefly removed him last November.

Modder Successfully Integrates ChatGPT into TI-84 Graphing Calculator

The expansive capabilities of ChatGPT, powered by the GPT-4 model trained on over 200 billion parameters, have now been impressively adapted to run on a TI-84 graphing calculator, thanks to YouTuber ChromaLock. While not directly installed to operate locally on the device, ChromaLock ingeniously accessed ChatGPT via a custom Wi-Fi module and an open-source software suite. This innovation stands in stark contrast to the less sophisticated projects typical of older calculators, like basic anatomical sketches.