The Information reports many of Meta’s researchers left for rival companies or other AI startups.
The researchers allegedly blamed internal competition for computing power as the company developed competing large language models and felt the Llama model, which was eventually released in July, was being ignored.
[The Information]
A school administrator in charge of complying with Iowa’s book ban argues in The New York Times that using ChatGPT has kept more books on the shelves than other school districts.
Bridgette Exman, the administrator, told The Verge in August that using ChatGPT was a way to show “a good faith effort” to follow the law, which she calls “misguided” and “destructive” in the Times.
I’d argue that we used A.I. to try to keep books. The technology allowed us to zero in only on those books that violated the precise letter of the law without collateral damage to other books, enabling us to keep on the shelf more than 30 titles we feared might be questionable.
[The New York Times]
In a Wired report exploring OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman discusses the company’s history and pursuit of creating true artificial general intelligence — even if it doesn’t know what AGI is just yet.
“It’s not a single Turing test, but a number of things we might use,” he says. “I would happily tell you, but I like to keep confidential conversations private.”
[WIRED]
SAG-AFTRA members will vote on whether or not to authorize a strike against the gaming industry, the guild says, as negotiations with major companies have reached a “stalemate” over issues like pay, safety, and the “unrestrained use” of AI (via Deadline).
Authorization doesn’t guarantee a strike but does permit the guild to declare one if negotiations fail. SAG is currently on strike in Hollywood over similar issues.
Incoming college students might be using ChatGPT to help write personal essays, which have become more important for university applications with the end of affirmative action programs.
Admissions officers and colleges remain divided on how to think about the AI tools: if they hinder students’ ability to argue and tell a story, or if they democratize access to writing coaches.
[The New York Times]
A lot of people want to buy their domains these days. See this chart from Bloomberg:
