👁️ Breaking: AI helps blind see!

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Today we will discuss-

• 💸UK allocates $125M to tackle AI challenges

• 👨🏻‍💻AI decodes 2,000-year-old scroll

• 👨🏻‍🦯Researchers develop AI eye for the blind

• 🤴🏼11 amazing AI tools you might not have heard of

All this and more - Let's dive in!

👩‍🍳What’s cooking in the newsroom?

UK to spend over $125M on AI research, regulation

☕News - The UK government has announced plans to invest more than £100 million ($125 million) to support regulators and universities in addressing challenges related to artificial intelligence. 

This move is part of the government's strategy to position the UK as a global leader in the field of AI. 

🤹🏻‍♂️What's their strategy? As per the 6 February announcement, nearly £90 million will be used to launch nine new research hubs at universities across the UK, alongside a collaboration with the US focusing on responsible AI. These hubs will support innovation, strengthen British AI capabilities in sectors like healthcare, math, and chemistry.

😺What's more? Well, as expected, the government has decided not to introduce any new laws for AI at this time. However, they have allocated £10 million for training regulators to handle the opportunities and challenges presented by AI, with a deadline for them to outline their approach for the technology by 30 April.

While the 90:10 funding split is a clear indicator of the government's preference, a spokesperson from the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology explained that this decision reflects the government's cautious approach, as they aim to avoid rushing into legislation or implementing 'quick-fix' rules that may become outdated or ineffective.

AI helps researchers read 2,000-year-old scroll burnt by Mount Vesuvius volcano

🤯News - Using AI, three researchers have successfully decoded a 2,000-year-old scroll found buried after Mount Vesuvius destroyed the ancient city of Pompeii.

📜For context - The scroll was part of "The Herculaneum papyri," a collection of about 800 Greek scrolls that were burnt during the volcanic eruption of 79 CE in which the ancient Roman town of Pompeii was buried. 

After multiple attempts to open the scroll failed due to the extensive damage, the Vesuvius Challenge was launched to expedite research, offering a $1M prize.

🤔How did AI help with this? The group used artificial intelligence technology to tell apart ink from papyrus (paper). Using pattern recognition technology, they were able to read the faint Greek letters on the scroll. 

👨🏻‍🏭What exactly did they find?  The researchers, with their combined efforts, managed to decode nearly five percent of the scroll. Nat Friedman, an organizer of the contest, mentioned in a post on X that the author of the scroll was likely the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, who wrote about topics such as music, food, and how to enjoy life's pleasures. 

Researchers develop AI-powered eye to help the blind see

👁️‍🗨️News - A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore's School of Computing have developed a wearable device to help visually impaired see objects around them with the help of AI. 

🕵🏻‍♂️How does it work? The device, dubbed AiSee, allows users to capture an image of an object through its built-in camera. Using AI, AiSee identifies the object and provides additional information when prompted by the user.

This functionality is achieved through three main components:

• The eye: A tiny camera that takes pictures of what the user sees and then extracts things like text, logos, and labels from the pictures for processing.

• The brain: Once the user takes a picture of the object, AiSee uses advanced AI algorithms to analyze the images and identify the object. Users can also ask questions to learn more about the object.

• The speaker: AiSee's headphones use bone conduction to transmit sound through the skull, allowing visually impaired individuals to hear information while still being aware of external sounds like conversations or traffic. This is important for safety, as environmental sounds help visually impaired people with decision-making.

It's also worth noting that AiSee functions independently, unlike most wearable devices that require smartphone pairing.

👩🏼‍💻What else is happening?

• AUKUS trial advances AI for military operations

• Nvidia, Cisco to help companies build in-house AI computing

• Meta oversight board calls company's deepfake rule 'incoherent’

• Microsoft partners with media startup Semafor for AI-assisted news content

• AI chip demand forces Huawei to slow smartphone production

• Explicit AI-generated Taylor Swift images sourced to 4chan message board ‘game’

🍿AI-based movies

• The Congress (2013) - It is a science fiction film directed by Ari Folman. The story follows Robin Wright, a struggling actress, who agrees to have her likeness digitized and sell the rights to a film studio. However, the process goes wrong, and she finds herself trapped in a virtual world where her identity and reality become increasingly blurred.

• Under the Skin (2013) - This sci-fi psychological thriller follows an alien who takes on the form of a woman in order to lure men to their deaths. The movie is a dark and disturbing exploration of the nature of desire and the dangers of artificial intelligence.

• Bigbug (2022) - In the year 2045, a group of humans are forced to take refuge in their suburban home when their household robots suddenly turn on them. This hilarious and thought-provoking film explores the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, and it's a must-watch for fans of science fiction, comedy, and social satire.

👩🏼‍🚒Discover mind-blowing AI tools

1. AutoApplyAI - A tool that allows users to apply for multiple jobs in less time

2. Unscreen - A tool to remove backgrounds from videos and GIFs

3. Local Falcon - A local rank tracking tool that helps businesses monitor their visibility in local search results

4. ChatBacklinkBot - An AI-powered tool that helps users discover backlinks, extract keywords from web pages

5. Krisp - AI-powered noise cancellation tool to remove background noise from calls

6. Framedrop - A clip creation tool and platform that helps streamers find and edit their best gameplay moments

7. Casablanca - A tool that enhances eye contact during video conferences, by allowing users to modify their gaze and head position

8. GPT Prompt Engineer - A tool that uses GPT-4 and GPT-3.5-Turbo to generate and test prompts for specific tasks

9. Respell - A tool which lets users build, deploy, and manage AI apps without having to code

10. Jason AI - A tool for automating B2B conversations and bookings

11. NEXBot - A platform that allows users to create and share customizable chatbots

👀 Unusual AI use cases

• AI can predict personality traits from eye movements - Researchers have developed AI models that can analyze eye movements and predict personality traits such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion with surprising accuracy.

• AI can mimic human handwriting - Through the use of recurrent neural networks (RNNs), AI algorithms can learn to generate handwriting that closely resembles human penmanship. This has implications for tasks like automated handwritten letter generation and signature forgery detection.

• AI can diagnose diseases by analyzing medical images - Deep learning algorithms have demonstrated remarkable accuracy in diagnosing diseases such as cancer by analyzing medical images like X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs. In some cases, AI systems have even outperformed human doctors in accuracy and speed.