🎤AI Gives Mona Lisa a Voice

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Today we will discuss-

• 👩🏻‍🎤Microsoft's AI makes Mona Lisa sing

• 🚙AI developer aims to bring fully autonomous cars to Japan by 2030

• 🌎US urges UAE to ditch China for AI partnership

• ⚙️9 amazing AI tools you might not have heard of

All this and more - Let's dive in!

👩‍🍳What’s cooking in the newsroom?

Microsoft's new AI makes Mona Lisa sing—netizens can't decide if it's 'fascinating' or 'creepy'

♨️News - Microsoft has unveiled a new AI model called VASA-1, capable of creating lifelike videos of talking human faces from still images. This image-to-video AI ensures that the resulting videos have synchronized lip movements, natural facial expressions, and realistic head movements to make them appear authentic.

A video showcasing the app's abilities recently went viral on social media, featuring the iconic Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci lip-syncing to Anne Hathaway's 'Paparazzi'. WATCH👀👇🏻

🤖The debate - The video, although incredibly realistic, sparked mixed reactions from the public, as is often the case with viral content on social media.

While some users were amused by the clip, with one writing, "The Mona Lisa clip had me rolling on the floor laughing," and another commenting, "Oh, man. If only Da Vinci could witness this," others expressed concerns about the technology's potential for unethical use, particularly in creating deepfakes. One user wrote, "Deepfake tech just took a terrifying leap forward and it's more convincingly deceptive than we ever imagined."

🥸Our take - Well, we think Microsoft made the right call by holding off on releasing an online demo, API, or product, until they're sure the technology will be used responsibly and regulated properly. 

Japan's top AI developer targets fully autonomous self-driving cars by 2030

⛽Context of the news - Issei Yamamoto gained widespread recognition in Japan in 2017 when his AI algorithm, Ponanza, defeated the top-ranked shogi player, Amahiko Sato. Now, at 38 years old, Yamamoto is stepping back into the spotlight with a new goal: developing a fully self-driving automotive system.

🚘News - Yamamoto's startup, Turing, which he co-founded in 2021, recently raised ¥3 billion ($19.4 million) in a seed round. The investment, which values the company at $100 million, came from major Japanese businesses, including a unit of Mizuho Financial Group and NTT Docomo Ventures.

Up until now, the Turing team has created Heron, a machine-learning AI model boasting 70 billion parameters. 

By next year, they plan to unveil a self-driving car with a minimum driving range of 30 minutes. Their goal is to develop a fully autonomous car by 2030 and roll out as many as 10,000 vehicles by that time.

😎What's more? The company is also exploring licensing its Heron model to automakers interested in adopting it. Additionally, they are developing chips to enable cars to run AI, aiming for potential mass production by 2028.

To achieve full automation, Turing's engineers are taking a more ambitious approach by training their AI to learn autonomously, avoiding rule-based algorithms. Yamamoto explained that although rule-based systems are easier to develop, they have limited capabilities in handling complex tasks and uncommon scenarios. He added that Heron's machine-learning program aims for sophistication comparable to human intelligence.

Biden administration pushes US-UAE tech alliance to outpace China in AI race

🏛️News - The Biden administration is seeking to form a partnership between US tech firms and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to gain an edge over China in the global artificial intelligence race. 

They are also actively encouraging the UAE to end its AI partnership with China and join forces with the US instead.

📖Contextual backdrop - This week, Microsoft made headlines by revealing a substantial $1.5 billion investment in G42, an AI company based in Abu Dhabi. Insiders familiar with the negotiations disclosed that the deal was brokered by the US government through a series of meetings over the past year, involving leading American tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI, among others.

Notably, this comes after US officials raised concerns about the UAE's previous engagements with Chinese technology, particularly Huawei's 5G hardware. They had apprehensions about China's involvement and how it could compromise US interests and security. In response, G42 promised to eliminate Chinese technology from its systems.

🤝🏻In conclusion - The Microsoft-G42 deal establishes a precedent for broader collaboration between the US and the UAE in the field of AI, with both parties committing to comply with mutually accepted regulations and international standards. The deal also reflects mutual confidence and sets the stage for future government-to-government partnerships in AI development.

Moreover, while the UAE continues to manage its relationship with China, its partnership with the US in AI represents a strategic shift towards aligning with American interests in technology innovation and security. 

🙆🏻‍♀️What else is happening?

• Former OpenAI leader has an easy trick for surviving AI in the workplace

• Sex offender banned from using AI tools in landmark UK case

• Meta is already training a more powerful successor to Llama 3

• Paris 2024 Olympics to embrace AI amid deepfake concerns

• Deepfakes of Bollywood stars spark worries of AI meddling in India election

🤭 Casual AI banter

In 1942, the famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov introduced the concept of the "Three Laws of Robotics" in his work "Runaround." The laws are:

• A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

• A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

• A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

The story of "Runaround" revolves around a robot named Speedy, which found itself in a situation where the third law completely contradicted the first two. This was one of the first works that made the world think about the emergence of machines endowed with intelligence—a concept that resonates even today, as AI developers continue to apply Asimov's laws.

👩🏼‍🚒Discover mind-blowing AI tools

1. Mixpanel Spark - A tool that allows users to ask questions in natural language and get answers about their product, marketing, and revenue data ($28/month)

2. GetGloby - Transcreate Ads & Marketing Assets into 100+ languages using AI ($8/month)

3. WPTurbo - A set of WordPress development tools designed to help developers create websites more efficiently ($9/month) 

4. codesnippets - Enables developers to create, share, and debug secure code snippets ($10/month) 

5. KeywordSearch - Uses relevant keywords to help users generate leads and sales through their video marketing campaigns ($97/month)

6. Pezzo AI - An open-source platform that allows users to build, test, monitor, and deploy AI models efficiently (Free)

7. Klenty - A sales engagement platform that helps sales teams streamline their outreach efforts ($50/month)

8. Dewey - An AI accountability buddy that helps users stay organized and productive (Free up to 3 open tasks at a time) 

9. HireMatch - An automated IT recruitment tool that saves time for HR managers by analyzing and scoring resumes based on job requirements (Free)

📯Mythbuster 

Myth - Understanding AI is too complex and requires technical expertise

Fact - While the inner workings of advanced AI can be technical, basic concepts and real-world applications are accessible to anyone with an interest in the field. Educational resources and engaging content are readily available to broaden understanding. Hence, the basis of AI technology can easily be understood by people from non-tech fields.