Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the intensifying-race department: Meta debuted a new version of its powerful Llama AI model, its latest effort to keep pace with similar technology from companies like OpenAI, X and Google. The company describes Llama 3 8B and Llama 3 70B, containing 8 billion and 70 billion parameters respectively, as a "major leap" in performance compared to their predecessors.
Meta claims that the Llama 3 models, trained on custom-built 24,000 GPU clusters, are among the best-performing generative AI models available for their respective parameter counts. The company supports this claim by citing the models' scores on popular AI benchmarks such as MMLU, ARC, and DROP, which attempt to measure knowledge, skill acquisition, and reasoning abilities. Despite the ongoing debate about the usefulness and validity of these benchmarks, they remain one of the few standardized methods for evaluating AI models. Llama 3 8B outperforms other open-source models like Mistral's Mistral 7B and Google's Gemma 7B on at least nine benchmarks, showcasing its potential in various domains such as biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and commonsense reasoning.
TechCrunch adds: Now, Mistral 7B and Gemma 7B aren't exactly on the bleeding edge (Mistral 7B was released last September), and in a few of benchmarks Meta cites, Llama 3 8B scores only a few percentage points higher than either. But Meta also makes the claim that the larger-parameter-count Llama 3 model, Llama 3 70B, is competitive with flagship generative AI models including Gemini 1.5 Pro, the latest in Google's Gemini series.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced substantial internal reorganizations on Thursday, including the creation of a new team called "Platforms and Devices" that will oversee all of Google's Pixel products, all of Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Photos, and more. From a report: The team will be run by Rick Osterloh, who was previously the SVP of devices and services, overseeing all of Google's hardware efforts. Hiroshi Lockheimer, the longtime head of Android, Chrome, and ChromeOS, will be taking on other projects inside of Google and Alphabet. This is a huge change for Google, and it likely won't be the last one. There's only one reason for all of it, Osterloh says: AI. "This is not a secret, right?" he says.
Consolidating teams "helps us to be able to do full-stack innovation when that's necessary," Osterloh says. He uses the example of the Pixel camera: "You had to have deep knowledge of the hardware systems, from the sensors to the ISPs, to all layers of the software stack. And, at the time, all the early HDR and ML models that were doing camera processing... and I think that hardware / software / AI integration really showed how AI could totally transform a user experience. That was important. And it's even more true today."
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the gaining-momentum department: U.S. lawmakers have moved closer to enacting a countrywide ban on TikTok. From a report: Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill by a wide margin that would ban distribution of TikTok in U.S. unless TikTok's Chinese parent, ByteDance, sells its ownership in the app within 165 days of the law's enactment. On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson issued a new proposal that would extend the sale requirement deadline to nine months, with a potential for a 90-day extension -- addressing a key concern of Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate's Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, that the divestiture timeline was too short.
The revised TikTok ban proposal is tied to a broader bill providing emergency aid for Ukraine and Israel; the House is expected to vote on the measure Saturday, and if it passes would move to the Senate. President Biden has said he will sign the TikTok divest-or-ban legislation into law. On Wednesday evening, Cantwell said she supported the revised TikTok ban bill. "I'm very happy that Speaker Johnson and House leaders incorporated my recommendation to extend the ByteDance divestment period from six months to a year," she said in a statement. "As I've said, extending the divestment period is necessary to ensure there is enough time for a new buyer to get a deal done. I support this updated legislation."
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the moving-forward department: Researchers in Canada got most of what they were hoping for in the country's 2024 federal budget, with a big boost in postgraduate pay and more funding for research and scientific infrastructure. From a report: "We are investing over $5 billion in Canadian brainpower," said finance minister Chrystia Freeland in her budget speech on 16 April. "More funding for research and scholarships will help Canada attract the next generation of game-changing thinkers."
Postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers have been advocating for higher pay for the past two years through a campaign called Support Our Science. They requested an increase in the value, and number, of federal government scholarships, and got more than they asked for. Stipends for master's students will rise from Can$17,500 (US$12,700) to $27,000 per year, PhDs stipends that ranged from $20,000 to $35,000 will be set to a uniform annual $40,000 and most postdoctoral-fellowship salaries will increase from $45,000 to $70,000 per annum. The number of scholarships and fellowships provided will also rise over time, building to around 1,720 more per year after five years.
"We're very thrilled with this significant new investment, the largest investment in graduate students and postdocs in over 21 years," says Kaitlin Kharas, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, Canada, and executive director of Support Our Science. "It will directly support the next generation of researchers." Although only a small proportion of students and postdoctoral fellows receive these federal scholarships, other funders tend to use them as a guide for their own stipends. Many postgraduates said that low pay was forcing them to consider leaving Canada to pursue their scientific career, says Kharas, so this funding should help to retain talent in the country.
It is official: Netflix’s series based on The Witcher has been renewed for a fifth and final season. The fourth season is currently in production and both seasons will be shot back-to-back. Get ready to bid the Continent farewell, folks. 
This Company Will Give You A Fortnite Batman Skin If You Generate Enough AI Porn 2024-04-18 10:30:02
Salad, a cloud computing and AI tech company, is renting high-end graphics cards found in gamers’ computers and using all that power to create AI-generated pornography. In return, the gamers who lend the company their GPUs are paid in Fortnite skins, Minecraft cosmetics, Roblox bux, and other gaming-related gift cards… 
Hades is famously known for its tight action gameplay, unmatched ability to weave narrative into a run-based roguelike, and for Supergiant Games making the pantheon of Greek gods fine as hell. The team said that beauty was a virtue in its character design, but the fact that the original game lacked body diversity… 
Helldivers 2 has spent the last several months on fire. On one hand, it’s easily one of the most popular games of the year, and folks have loved jumping into the exciting co-op shooter and keeping up with its galactic war story. Players log on for a few hours at a time, fighting off bugs or robots and propelling one… 
Destiny 2 is gradually getting closer to ending a 10-year-old story saga with The Final Shape. The expansion, releasing on June 4, isn’t the last we’ll see for developer Bungie’s online shooter, but it will close a few long-standing character arcs and story lines, like pitting you against The Witness, an entity that… 
Starfield’s updates have been sporadic and underwhelming since it arrived over seven months ago. It’s clear the team at Bethesda has been diligently fixing bugs and adding small improvements, but it doesn’t feel like the open-world RPG has gotten the same amount of post-launch love as some of its peers. Director Todd… 
Larian Studios has given a few details on what it’s up to after Baldur’s Gate 3. And it’s projects plural! The team is apparently working on two new games after the success of its Dungeons & Dragons RPG last year. 
The hottest show right now, aside from FX’s Shogun—which has been living rent-free in my head since its February 27 debut—is Amazon Prime’s Fallout. The series is great, hitting on the game’s comedy and drama in interesting and surprising ways. Everyone’s loving it, myself included. So, too, are the celebrities, like B… 
Pretty much every change Niantic makes to Pokémon GO results in enormous backlash from its vast community of players. That’s usually because pretty much every change Niantic makes to Pokémon GO is disastrous and stupid. The latest is a new avatar creator, and guess what. 
The second DLC pack for Final Fantasy 16, The Rising Tide, is officially playable around the world. Compared to its predecessor, Echoes of the Fallen, The Rising Tide promises a longer campaign and new Eikonic powers for Mr. Clive Rosfield to bring into battle. That said, if you’re still early in your journey across… 
< This article continues on their website >