AI Update: Labyrinth Wizard

Welcome to the latest edition of FindBiometrics’ AI update. Here’s the latest big news on the shifting landscape of AI and identity technology:

OpenAI rival Anthropic is in talks to raise $750 million in a funding round led by Menlo Ventures. The deal would give Anthropic a pre-money valuation of $15 billion, a tripling of its valuation compared to where it sat in the spring of 2023.

Lightmatter Inc. has reached a valuation of $1.2 billion through a $155 million funding round led by GV (formerly “Google Ventures”) and Viking Global Investors. The startup specializes in chip technology that uses light instead of electrical wires to communicate signals, and says its approach could train AI systems more efficiently in terms of power consumption.

NEC plans to launch its own lightweight Large Language Model in the spring of 2024. While the Japanese company is well known for its cutting-edge facial recognition tech, it is now looking to make a splash in generative AI, promising a “new architecture” that will allow small AI models to be combined for specific tasks. Meanwhile, it has begun work on a “large-scale model” that will have 100 billion parameters.

The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court has ruled that AI cannot be named as an inventor of a patent. “We conclude that an ‘inventor’ must be a natural person,” said Justice David Kitchin. “Only a person can devise an invention.”

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a robot that can beat humans at Labyrinth, a game in which a small metallic ball must be guided through a physical maze by tilting the gaming board. The “CyberRunner” AI system is notable for learning to physically manipulate an object in order to win at a game, in comparison to the thought-based games like chess and checkers.

The startup STXT gas teamed up with a porn actress, Sophie Dee, to create an AI double of herself that can act as a kind of virtual girlfriend on a subscription basis. For Dee, “SophieAI” offers an opportunity to continue to make money without having to produce as much new content herself.

A deepfake of Imran Khan, the former Pakistani Prime Minister who is now serving a three-year prison sentence, has been used in a promotional campaign for his political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The video campaign features a likeness of Khan’s voice, and depicts a synthetic image of him seated before a Pakistani flag.

Proposed legislation in Florida would require political campaigns to disclose any use of AI in their ads, or else face possible fines. A handful of other states have introduced similar legislation. Florida’s bill SB 850 would take effect July 1 of 2024.

The chatbot’s take: We wanted to see how confident ChatGPT was about its own gaming abilities, and got a surprisingly flattering answer for human beings.

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December 21, 2023 – by Alex Perala