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Vectara is continuing to grow as an AI powered conversational search platform with new capabilities announced today that aim to improve generative AI for business data.

The Santa Clara, Calif.- based startup emerged from stealth in Oct. 2022, led by the former CTO and founder of big data vendor Cloudera. Vectara originally branded its platform as a neural search-as-a-service technology. This approach combines AI-based large language models (LLMs), natural language processing (NLP), data integration pipelines and vector techniques to create a neural network that can be optimized for search.

New advancements in automation, AI, connectivity, sustainability, and more propel research forward.

Cybersecurity researchers are warning about CAPTCHA-breaking services that are being offered for sale to bypass systems designed to distinguish legitimate users from bot traffic.

“Because cybercriminals are keen on breaking CAPTCHAs accurately, several services that are primarily geared toward this market demand have been created,” Trend Micro said in a report published last week.

“These CAPTCHA-solving services don’t use [optical character recognition] techniques or advanced machine learning methods; instead, they break CAPTCHAs by farming out CAPTCHA-breaking tasks to actual human solvers.”

“The idea that this stuff could actually get smarter than people… I thought it was way off… Obviously, I no longer think that,” Geoffrey Hinton, one of Google’s top artificial intelligence scientists, also known as “the godfather of AI,” said after he quit his job in April so that he can warn about the dangers of this technology.

Baidu Inc. is investing 1 billion yuan ($140 million) to nurture Chinese startups that explore generative AI, leveraging its Ernie AI model to help drive innovation.

Baidu Inc., China’s internet search leader, is investing 1 billion yuan ($140 million) to incubate Chinese startups that focus on generative AI. As reported in Bloomberg, the move makes Baidu a part of the global investment wave centering on ChatGPT-like services.

Baidu’s $140 Million Venture into Generative AI Startups

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“We can foresee applications in a wide variety of scenarios, such as search and rescue.”

One difficult challenge in robotics is to make them move smoothly across rough surfaces. Researchers have been experimenting with various methods, including the ones inspired by nature, to make robot movement more flexible.

By taking cues from nature, engineers have created a new centipede-like robot that can easily switch from straight walking to curved motion.

In a special report by Reuters, various industry experts were asked their opinions on the looming issue of AI deep fakes for the upcoming 2024 US elections.

As reported by Reuters, next year’s elections in the United States are likely mired with ever-sophisticated deepfake videos and audio. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools like Midjourney and FakeYou have made it nye-on child’s play to generate realistic-looking images, videos, and audio files that are very difficult at times to distinguish from reality.

Continue reading “Experts worry about how AI deep fakes may impact 2024 US elections” »

The Barkour benchmark is customizable and can be adapted to larger course areas with different configurations, similar to real dog agility competitions.

In the world of robotics, quadrupedal robots are becoming increasingly impressive with their abilities and tricks. However, comparing these robots and evaluating their capabilities is challenging due to the absence of standardized metrics.

To address this issue, a team of research scientists at Google has come up with an innovative solution: robot obstacle courses inspired by dog agility competitions. This new approach, known as Barkour, aims to establish a benchmark for assessing the agility and mobility of quadruped robots, a blog post said.

Neil Gershenfeld is the director of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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Continue reading “Neil Gershenfeld: Self-Replicating Robots and the Future of Fabrication | Lex Fridman Podcast #380” »