Beginners in AI

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Welcome to this week's edition of Beginners in AI, where we explore the latest trends, tools, and news in the world of AI and the tech that surrounds it.

This week, we get into the expanding world of real-time AI with OpenAI’s “SearchGPT” launch, Google’s Gemini update, and Perplexity's steady rise in the search competition. Hugging Face brings powerful AI to your smartphone with SmolLM2, while Runway pushes boundaries with 3D video controls.

Perplexity’s new election tracker keeps you in the know, and Claude AI introduces desktop apps with dictation mode for seamless use. Meanwhile, Meta’s latest robotics tools give machines a human touch, promising breakthroughs in precision handling.

Stay tuned as we unpack these stories and more!

AI TOP STORY
OPENAI’S CHATGPT BRINGS REALTIME WEB SEARCH WITH “SEARCHGPT’

Expanding the AI’s Reach

OpenAI has equipped ChatGPT with live web search capabilities through its new feature, “SearchGPT,” powered by Microsoft’s Bing. This update allows ChatGPT to respond based on the latest data available online, providing up-to-date information for everything from current events to trending topics—making ChatGPT more relevant for everyday inquiries.

Search Competition Heats Up

Interestingly, Google’s Gemini AI also rolled out live search capabilities just hours before OpenAI’s announcement, bringing it into direct competition with ChatGPT’s new feature. Alongside OpenAI and Google, Perplexity has quietly emerged as a polished competitor. Known for consistent, high-quality answers and real-time search integration, Perplexity has gained traction as a reliable, user-friendly option for daily search needs. With these three platforms now vying for dominance, we’re seeing a new era of web-connected AI assistants, each pushing the envelope on accuracy, speed, and user experience.

What This Means for Users

For users, this means AI assistants are no longer limited by static training data, enabling more practical and flexible use in daily life, such as staying updated on news or quickly answering time-sensitive questions. As these AI models evolve, they’re expected to become indispensable tools for those seeking on-demand information. Read more here.

A WEEK IN AI AND TECH

“AI in Your Pocket”: Hugging Face’s SmolLM2 Brings Models to Smartphones
Hugging Face has unveiled SmolLM2, a new lightweight language model designed to run efficiently on smartphones, making it one of the most accessible on-device AI solutions yet. It promises improved performance in tasks like text generation and translation, directly on handheld devices. Read more here.

Tracking Elections with AI: Perplexity Launches New Tool
Perplexity introduces an AI-powered elections tracker, combining real-time updates and analytics to monitor election trends and outcomes. Designed to present clear data and projections, it aims to offer voters a level of transparency in political races. Read more here.

Runway Goes 3D with AI-Powered Camera Controls
Runway introduces new 3D capabilities to its Gen-3 Alpha platform, allowing users to manipulate video with AI-driven camera angles and effects. This tool targets creators interested in immersive storytelling, providing cinematic control that transforms 2D content into engaging 3D visuals. Read more here.

Defense Chatbots: Chinese Researchers Adapt Meta’s AI
A team of Chinese military researchers has reportedly adapted Meta’s AI for a defense-focused chatbot capable of complex strategic conversations. This raises questions about AI’s evolving role in military applications and data use regulations across borders. Meta’s AI is open source, so this action was not illegal. Read more here.

Claude AI Adds Desktop Apps and Dictation Mode
Anthropic’s Claude AI now features desktop applications and a new dictation mode for hands-free interaction, aiming to make AI support more accessible and versatile for users on the go. This shift to multi-platform access enhances user experience by making AI more available for daily tasks. Read more here.

TECH TERMS TO KNOW

Real-Time Search: The ability for AI systems to access live, current data from the internet. Unlike static AI models that have inbuilt knowledge only up until the date of their training, real-time search allows tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini to provide up-to-date answers based on the latest online information

TOOL SPOTLIGHT (non-sponsored)

Podcastle: Podcastle is an AI-powered platform designed to simplify the creation of audio and video content, particularly for podcasters and content creators. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools that enables users to create, edit, and publish professional-quality podcasts and videos with ease.

Key Features

• Recording Studio: Allows local recording for up to 10 participants, ensuring high-quality audio and video even during internet disruptions.

• Audio and Video Editors: User-friendly interfaces equipped with AI tools for noise removal, equalization, and text editing, along with custom branding options for videos.

• AI Voice Generation: Users can create content using AI-generated voices or clone their own voice for seamless narration.

• Publishing Hub: Facilitates easy distribution of content across major podcast platforms, enhancing audience reach.

• Additional Tools: Includes features like AI silence removal, filler word detection, transcription services, and access to a library of royalty-free music.

COURSE
Join the growing community of AI enthusiasts starting from the ground up right here

ROBOTICS AND AI

Meta has unveiled a suite of AI tools designed to improve how robots interact with the physical world by simulating human-like touch and precision. These tools, built around reinforcement learning and sensory feedback, aim to give robots the capacity for delicate tasks previously challenging for machine operations, like picking up fragile items or navigating complex environments. Meta’s advancements could bring more robots into healthcare, customer service, and manufacturing roles that require nuanced, human-like interactions. Read more here.

DID YOU KNOW?

John von Neumann, a legendary mathematician and physicist, laid the groundwork for modern computing and AI. His concept of a "stored-program architecture" — where a computer’s instructions are stored in its memory rather than hard-wired into its circuitry — became the blueprint for almost all computers today. This design made it possible for machines to be programmed and reprogrammed, an essential feature that allowed the development of AI as we know it. In essence, without von Neumann’s contributions, the flexible, programmable systems needed for AI might not exist today!

AI-GENERATED IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Thank you for reading. We’re all beginners in something. With that in mind, your questions and feedback are always welcome and I read every single email!

-James

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