Sleep is important. For an AI too. Machines are evolving fast!

Hello-hello, AI enthusiasts! 🙋🏻‍♂️

It's that time again, reader! Welcome back to Max's weekly 3-minute newsletter. Don’t let February cover you in depression: better grab a blanket, add milk to your tea and let’s delve into the latest happenings in the world of AI.

I hope my findings will perk you up, so let's jump straight in without delay! 🤾

1. Sleep tight, my AI 🛌💤

They say that today’s generation treats pets like children and plants like pets. How, then, should we treat AI? Well, Concetto Spampinato and his colleagues at the University of Catania, Italy, suggest treating it as a human being with their innovative wake-sleep consolidated learning (WSCL) approach. Inspired by how human brains consolidate memories during sleep, researchers developed this method to address "catastrophic forgetting" in AI models, where learning new tasks interferes with previous ones.

WSCL involves training AI models with periods of "sleep" 🥱 and "dreaming" 😴, where they review past lessons and process novel data, mimicking human memory consolidation. Simply put, the short-term memories of experiences and lessons learned throughout the day are shuffled into long-term memories while sleeping. Potentially, this learning method can be applied to any existing AI.

By now, results showed significant accuracy improvements and better retention of old tasks compared to traditional training methods. While some experts caution against strictly mimicking human brain architecture, they find the approach intriguing and suggest alternative inspirations like dolphins' sleep patterns 🐬

I may not know how it helps AI, but it made me rethink my sleeping pattern. And so should you, my enthusiastic friend 😉

2. Shake it off (no) 👯‍♀️🪩

If you have not yet heard (or seen), there is a considerable buzz on the web regarding explicit images featuring Taylor Swift. Trigger warning: content for mature audiences 🔞. You will not find them if you missed them now, as all images were swiftly removed from X (formerly Twitter). Moreover, searching for 'Taylor Swift' gives no results – so Shake It Off (just joking).

On a personal level, I feel sorry for the celebrity. However, this extends beyond mere inappropriate content; tomorrow, anyone, including you and me, could find ourselves (at least bodies with our faces) posing similarly 😳

In response to this case, there is a growing call in Congress for new legislation to criminalise the creation of deepfakes. There are no federal laws against their sharing or production, though some US states are taking steps to address the issue. In the UK, the sharing of deepfake pornography became illegal under the Online Safety Act of 2023.

Nonetheless, a report from last year revealed that the vast majority of deepfakes shared online are pornographic, with women comprising 99% of the subjects. Democratic Representative Yvette D. Clarke noted on X that Taylor Swift's ordeal is not unique, highlighting that this technology has long targeted women. She stressed that as AI progresses, generating deepfakes becomes more accessible and cheaper.

Republican Congressman Tom Kean Jr agreed, highlighting that AI advancements are outpacing the implementation of necessary safeguards. He emphasised the importance of establishing measures to counteract this troubling trend, whether the victim is a celebrity like Taylor Swift or any young individual nationwide.

Swift's team is reportedly considering legal action against the sites hosting the AI-generated images. However, the broader issue is alarming: as technology improves lives, where do we draw the line when it can also destroy them? 😰

3. Microsoft hits historic $3tn valuation 💰

AI has become a vital tool for making a profit. Microsoft's recent earnings report showcased impressive growth, with revenue hitting $62 billion, up 18% year-over-year, exceeding analyst expectations. CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the company's success in applying AI at scale, driving customer acquisition and productivity gains across all its sectors.

Microsoft's stock market valuation soared to $3 trillion (!), making it the world's most valuable company, buoyed by its AI initiatives and ties to OpenAI. Large language models such as ChatGPT acquire knowledge through analysing extensive datasets often gathered online.

Microsoft has been integrating AI-assisted tools for coding and other purposes into its software and business offerings. Sales of Copilot 👨‍✈️ commenced in November. The programme can summarise meetings held in Teams for those opting not to attend. Additionally, Copilot can draft emails, generate Word documents, create spreadsheet graphs, and develop PowerPoint presentations.

Mr Nadella stated that these recent initiatives were proving successful and "winning new customers". However, amidst these triumphs, Microsoft has been streamlining its workforce, underscoring the ongoing evolution and challenges within the tech industry.

A new era is here, folks, the market has soared in valuation as it has been put to the test 🧑🏻‍💻

Enough for today. Hope my letter gave you a little something to think about! 💭

AI is a part of our life, in fact. Let's see what this life will bring us next week! 

Till then - stay curious! 🦾

Max 

xx