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- 🥣Yo, R2-D2? 'Name's SIMA'
🥣Yo, R2-D2? 'Name's SIMA'
PLUS: Stability AI's Bots Raid Midjourney
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Read time: 3.0 minutes
Hey AI enthusiasts! Mr. Byte here, ready to launch into another electrifying edition of The AI Crunch. Think of it as unearthing hidden gems in the vast world of technology. We've got some incredible AI updates to share, so let's dive right into the heart of today's most thrilling tech revelations. Ready for the ride? Let's go!
Top Stories
SMIA: DeepMind's Gaming Co-op AI, Akin to R2-D2's Versatility
SMIA, Google DeepMind's latest AI creation, resembles a tech-savvy R2-D2 in the gaming universe. Unlike traditional game-playing AI, which typically focus on mastering one game, SMIA is designed to learn and adapt across multiple 3D games, akin to how R2-D2 navigates through different scenarios. What sets SMIA apart is its ability to not only play games but also understand and act upon verbal instructions, much like how R2-D2 communicates and interacts with its human counterparts.
SMIA was trained on vast amounts of video gameplay data provided by humans. By associating visual representations with actions and interactions observed in these videos, SMIA learns to understand commands and perform tasks across various games. This approach allows SMIA to generalize its learning, enabling it to perform well even in games it hasn't been exposed to before.
Just as R2-D2 evolves and adapts to different environments in the Star Wars saga, SMIA aims to become a cooperative companion for gamers, capable of receiving and executing instructions in real-time. Its ability to learn from human behavior and adapt to different game mechanics mirrors R2-D2's versatility and problem-solving skills. While SMIA's development represents a significant advancement in AI-driven gaming companionship, ongoing research into similar open-ended AI collaboration promises even more exciting possibilities for the future of gaming.
Midjourney Bans Stability AI Staff Over Alleged Bot Data Scraping
Midjourney has taken drastic action against Stability AI, banning all of its employees from its service due to alleged data scraping activities that caused a significant outage. The outage, which lasted nearly 24 hours, was attributed to "botnet-like activity" from two accounts linked to Stability AI employees, according to Midjourney's investigation. The ban comes as Midjourney introduces a new policy to prevent similar incidents, targeting any company engaging in "aggressive automation" or causing disruptions to its service. Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque has responded, denying the allegations and stating that the actions were unintentional if carried out by an employee, sparking ongoing investigations into the matter. The situation highlights the ongoing tensions and ethical concerns surrounding data scraping practices in the generative AI industry, drawing attention to the need for stricter regulations and consent protocols.
News
Quick bites to start your morning:
Midjourney debuts feature for consistent characters (VB)
Cognition Labs released Devin, an autonomous AI software engineer (CL)
Meta is reportedly buying $3B-$10B worth of Nividia GPUs (M)
Google starts rollout of AI guardrails ahead of global elections (Y)
Perplexity adds Yelp reviews to its search chatbot (TV)
GPT-4.5 rumored to be coming soon (X)
Ahead of US elections, Midjourney blocks photos of Biden and Trump (AP)
AI Funding
Thomson Reuters: Reportedly has an $8B war chest for AI-focused deals (FT)
Prescient AI: Startup providing media measurement raised $10M (PRN)
Milu Health: Startup using AI to drive cost savings in healthcare raised $5M (BW)
Theia Insights: AI-driven investment platform raised $7M (VB)
AI Tools
Newest AI tools (AI Tool Leaderboards):
Dola: Sync your calendar and life in seconds on a messaging app
AirDraw: Paint in 3D with your hands, using AirDraw’s augmented reality
Sonauto: Turn prompts, lyrics, and melodies into full songs
Vmaker Video Editor: Turn raw video into publish-ready content
Bland Web: Automate your calls with Bland’s AI voice assistant
Other
Same prompt - 3 different versions of the video. Realistic, pixel, and Claymation. This was made with @LTXStudio (I've partnered with them to help show it off).
Notice the character consistency, the voiceover, sound effects, and even the text at the end... All done with a… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
— Matt Wolfe (@mreflow)
2:23 AM • Mar 8, 2024
Reverie around Chinese prints ❣️
Images :Midjourney
Upscaler :Magnific AI
Animation :Pika, Gen2, PixVerse
Editing :Capcut— Déborah (@dvorahfr)
1:25 PM • Mar 13, 2024
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