🦆 Maverick and AI-Goose

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Happy Monday, fellow humans. 👋

AI is great. But you know what else is great? Starting the week of right.

Let’s get after it today, and while we’re at it, let’s dive into some AI news…

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🧵 In today's edition:

• 🦆 Maverick and AI-Goose

• 📰 Can news outlets build a ‘trustworthy’ AI chatbot?

• 🧠 Is ChatGPT conscious?

• 🤑 AI Fundraising News

🤖 Top AI News

🦆 Maverick and AI-Goose

Maverick and Goose, but make Goose an AI bot.

That’s what an Air Force program and the Pentagon are trying to do as they embrace this rapidly emerging AI technology.

XQ-58A Valkyrie, the experimental aircraft developed by the US Air Force powered by AI, is poised to revolutionize air warfare, bolstering the USAF’s capabilities.

With a price tag as low as $3 million apiece—compared to an $80 million F-35—the "affordable mass" program is about using AI-enhanced drones to complement traditional fighters.

But, this progress raises ethical questions: How much decision-making power should AI wield in combat?

The Pentagon grapples with this concern, emphasizing that humans remain the ultimate decision-makers, and collaborative combat aircraft, like the Valkyrie, can't replace a human pilot’s intuition and moral compass.

The goal isn't total autonomy but seamless human-AI collaboration. The Valkyrie faces unique challenges, from sim-to-real discrepancies to combating enemy deception, but as its AI learns, it'll navigate moral dilemmas and strive for peak performance.

Overall: While we're not in a "Terminator" scenario, AI Valkyries are reshaping warfare. They promise unpredictability, cost-efficiency, and deterrence, ensuring safety, building trust, and fostering competition among AI developers.

As the skies shift toward AI-augmented combat, we're witnessing history unfold—a journey where human judgment and machine precision converge.

Read more: NY Times

📰 Can news outlets build a ‘trustworthy’ AI chatbot?

The realm of AI in journalism is evolving, but the goal isn't to replace writers with machines; it's about enhancing reader experiences.

In that regard, a consortium of tech outlets, including Macworld, PCWorld, Tech Advisor, and TechHive, introduced an AI chatbot called Smart Answers. This chatbot, developed by media/marketing company Foundry, empowers readers to seek tech-related answers from AI, drawing exclusively from articles by human experts.

Unlike some AI content generation initiatives that have sparked criticism, Foundry emphasizes that Smart Answers isn't meant to replace human journalists. Instead, it is a valuable aid to guide reporting and cater to readers' information needs.

By analyzing user queries and responses, journalists can identify gaps in coverage and tailor their reporting to meet readers' demands.

Overall: The foray into AI-driven assistance showcases a harmonious synergy between AI and human journalism, suggesting that while technology evolves, the indispensable role of skilled journalists remains intact.

Read more: The Verge

🧠 Is ChatGPT conscious?

Remember HAL 9000, the iconic AI-gone-rogue from '2001: A Space Odyssey'?

Well, the realm of science fiction is inching closer to reality as AI evolves. Ilya Sutskever of OpenAI hinted that cutting-edge AI networks might be "slightly conscious,” raising a riveting question: How do we even recognize AI consciousness?

A dream team of 19 experts, spanning neuroscientists, philosophers, and computer scientists, has unveiled a checklist that could signal if AI is awakening to awareness.

The team defines consciousness in AI as 'phenomenal consciousness,' otherwise known as subjective experience, i.e., the experience of “being.”

Discerning AI consciousness carries ethical weight and is more than an intellectual puzzle. Imagine an AI bot is designated as 'conscious' - how does that alter our treatment?

It’s a surprisingly absent conversation in AI development circles and one that the team urges AI creators to have.

How will we know if chatbots make the leap to consciousness? Well, according to the paper:

• Look for seamless integration of information across the system.

• Examine whether it subjectively experiences and adapts to the world.

• Check if it displays imagination and self-awareness.

This theory-heavy approach assumes that consciousness hinges on information processing, a process dubbed “computational functionalism.”

But while this theory opens the door to rudimentary understanding, it underscores the need for more refined theories.

Overall: While not definitive, the framework dares us to evaluate current AI models. Astonishingly, it suggests that certain AI traits resonate with theories of human consciousness, inviting us to ponder the line between fiction and the future.

Read more: Nature

🤑 AI Fundraising News

EvolutionaryScale raises $40 Million in seed funding to develop an AI model that predicts the structure of proteins, which can help develop drugs, clean up pollution, and manufacture industrial chemicals.

Hugging Face secures $235 Million Investment from tech giants Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and Salesforce.

🗞️ AI Quick-Bytes

What else is going on?

1. UK's $125M AI chip investment not enough to keep pace in tech race, experts warn: 'Go big or go home’

2. Teachers turn to AI to make workload more manageable, chart lesson plans

3. A real opportunity: How ChatGPT could help college applicants

4. AI helps robots manipulate objects with their whole bodies

5. VFX artists show that Hollywood can use AI to create, not exploit

6. Arm’s IPO will tell us how much AI hype matters

7. AMD Acquires French AI Software Company Mipsology

🐦️ Tweet of the day

🧑‍💼 This is becoming more important than ever

And that does it for today's issue.

As always, thanks for reading. Have a great day, and see you next time! ✌️

— Haroon: (definitely) Not A Robot and @haroonchoudery on Twitter

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