Beyond Directions: The Exciting Evolution of Maps towards Immersive and Sustainable Solutions. ¹

Google Maps has launched a new feature called “Immersive view” that lets users explore a place virtually and get a feel of what it’s like before visiting. It uses AI and computer vision to create a rich, digital model of the world and provides helpful information like weather, traffic, and how busy a place is. The feature is rolling out in major cities and will soon launch in more cities.

This new update is part of Google Maps’ vision for an immersive and sustainable navigation experience that reimagines how people explore and navigate while helping them make more informed choices. With this feature, users can plan their visits with more accurate and detailed information and explore nearby restaurants to get a sense of their vibe before booking a reservation.

Revolutionizing Cancer Research: How AI is Helping Detect Genes that Fuel Cancer Growth. ²

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been used to identify genes critical to cancer cell survival, which could aid in the development of personalized cancer treatments. The University of Sussex researchers developed an algorithm that analyses genetic changes in tumors to identify essential genes, and using this technology, actionable targets could be identified to personalize treatments. Currently, cancer treatments are prescribed based on cancer type and location, but personalized treatment could improve life expectancy and reduce side effects. Targeting protein products of tumor-specific genes can kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed.

Bard: Unleashing the Power of AI-Language Models to Expand Your Knowledge and Imagination. ³

Google CEO Sundar Pichai highlights the importance of AI in unlocking human potential and improving lives. He introduces Bard, an experimental conversational AI service powered by Google’s Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), which draws information from the web to provide high-quality responses. Pichai also discusses Google’s latest AI advancements, including PaLM, Imagen, and MusicLM, and their potential to create new ways of engaging with information. Google plans to introduce AI-powered features in Search that will distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats. Additionally, Google will onboard developers to try their Generative Language API and provide a suite of tools and APIs to build more innovative AI applications. Pichai emphasizes Google’s commitment to developing AI responsibly and making it safe and useful for everyone.

The Making of ChatGPT: An Inside Look from the Team behind the AI-Language Model. ⁴

In late November 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT with little fanfare, intending it as a “research preview” of a two-year-old technology that needed public feedback to polish it. However, the chatbot became a viral sensation and one of the most popular internet apps ever, catching OpenAI off guard. Since then, the company has been working hard to capitalize on its success and push the technology forward by updating ChatGPT several times. OpenAI uses adversarial training to prevent users from tricking ChatGPT into behaving badly. OpenAI has also signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Microsoft and an alliance with Bain, which plans to use OpenAI’s generative AI models in marketing campaigns for its clients, including Coca-Cola. The buzz around ChatGPT has led to a gold rush around large language models, with companies and investors worldwide getting into the action.

Exploring the Potential of Artificial Intelligence in Addressing Global Challenges. ⁵

A study has investigated the potential of artificial intelligence to address societal mega-trends and analyzed its proposed solutions in dealing with these global challenges. Artificial intelligence can offer understandable insights into the complex and cross-cutting issues of mega-trends, and how they could change and benefit different areas if AI systems are deployed. a more powerful version of the currently popular ChatGPT chatbot, to analyze the potential of AI for societal megatrends.

These are major global issues such as digitization, urbanization, globalization, climate change, automation, mobility, global health issues, aging population, emerging markets, and sustainability. The study concluded that AI can significantly improve understanding of these megatrends by providing insights into how they might evolve over time and what solutions might be implemented.

Gen-1: Transforming Videos with Text and Image Editing in Generative AI. ⁶

The new model presented in this work is a structure and content-guided video diffusion model that allows users to edit videos based on visual or textual descriptions of the desired output. The model overcomes conflicts between user-provided content edits and structure representations, which have previously arisen due to the insufficient disentanglement of the two aspects. The authors propose a solution to this problem by training the model on monocular depth estimates with varying levels of detail, which provides control over structure and content fidelity.

The model is trained jointly on images and videos, which also allows for explicit control of temporal consistency through a novel guidance method. The authors demonstrate the success of their model through various experiments, including fine-grained control over output characteristics, customization based on a few reference images, and a strong user preference towards the results produced by the model.