🤟 BARD is BACK!

Hey TEDchats Fam!

Happy Friday! Imagine a dinner party with 40 people speaking different languages, creating a linguistic battleground. Envision a daring soul navigating this babel, resulting in only sheer confusion. In the tech realm, AI has mastered this linguistic dance, translating across 40 languages, turning chaos into harmony. Whether fluent in Spanish, a Mandarin maestro, or decoding Telugu for fun, let's explore the wonders and quirks of this linguistic rendezvous in the age of AI, alongside other advancements.

👀 SNEAK PEEK

🚨FEATURE STORY

Google's Bard Now Masters 40+ Languages!

Did you know that Google's Bard, once a fledgling AI chatbot, has now taken a giant leap with the Gemini Pro update? This pivotal transformation is not just a technical upgrade, it's reshaping how we interact with AI globally.

Bard's Journey

In the early days of 2023, Bard was powered by the LaMDA model, a cutting-edge innovation in its own right. As 2023 unfolded, Google introduced the PaLM 2 model, further enhancing Bard's capabilities. But the real game-changer came in December when Bard was upgraded with Gemini Pro — the newest family of multimodal large language models developed by Google DeepMind. Initially, Bard's upgrade to Gemini Pro was available only in English, marking the beginning of a significant transformation (read more about it here).

Breaking Language Barriers

The challenge for Google was not just in advancing the technology but in making it universally accessible. Language barriers, cultural nuances, and the diverse demands of global users posed a significant hurdle. How could Google ensure that Bard caters to a global audience without losing its efficiency and accuracy?

The turning point has just arrived with Google's latest announcement: Bard, powered by Gemini Pro, is now globally available in over 40 languages, including major ones like Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish, as well as regional languages like Tamil and Telugu. This update isn't just about language inclusion; it's about making advanced AI accessible to diverse populations worldwide (see list of languages and countries here).

Beyond Chatbots

With this global rollout, Bard has become more than just a chatbot. It's a global AI companion capable of understanding, summarizing content, brainstorming, and even planning in a multitude of languages. Google's inclusion of the "Double-check" feature, leveraging Google Search for accuracy, and the integration of image generation capabilities using the Imagen 2 model, further solidify Bard's position as a leader in AI chatbot technology. It is also worth noting that Bard with Gemini Pro is now recognized as one of the most preferred chatbots, according to the LMSYS Chatbot Arena Leaderboard (see leaderboard).

This is just the beginning. The future holds immense possibilities for Bard and AI technology at large. As language barriers continue to diminish and AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives, we might soon be interacting with AI in ways we never thought possible. Google's next steps, particularly in expanding the capabilities of Bard and integrating AI into other services, will be closely watched by both technology enthusiasts and the global community. Stay tuned, the future is unfolding right before our eyes (read Google’s announcement here).

🍕 QUICK BITES

Universal Music Group Accuses TikTok of Bullying and Fights Back!

In a landmark move, Universal Music Group (UMG) plans to pull its extensive catalog of music artists from TikTok, including stars like Taylor Swift and Drake. This is a bold move given that “music is at the heart of the TikTok experience”. The decision follows a heated dispute over the video platform's proposed licensing terms, which UMG deems unfairly low, especially in the context of AI-generated music. UMG claims that TikTok allows its platform to be flooded with AI-generated recordings, while also developing tools to enable, promote, and encourage AI music creation directly on the platform. Additionally, TikTok has offered "no meaningful solution" to this issue and other issues, such as the circulation of pornographic deepfakes featuring artists. Instead, UMG claims that TikTok has "attempted to bully" them into a subpar deal. This tug-of-war highlights the growing tensions between major music labels and digital platforms over fair compensation and the ethical use of AI in the creative industry (read UMG’s full complaint here).

AI-Powered Precision in Agriculture

Verdant Robotics' breakthrough in agricultural technology is reshaping the farming landscape. Their innovative AI-powered Sharpshooter™ smart sprayer, attachable to standard tractors, zeroes in on weeds with unparalleled accuracy, covering up to 3.75 acres per hour. Utilizing artificial intelligence for remarkable precision, the Sharpshooter™ ensures effective treatment, even for weeds close to crops. This high-tech tool not only reduces herbicide use to kill weeds by an impressive 96% but also enhances the economic viability of organic farming. Such advancements offer a sustainable and cost-effective solution for farmers, contributing to the reduction of agriculture's environmental impact (read more).

AI2 Releases Open Source Text-Generating AI Models

The Allen Institute for AI (AI2) has introduced a new series of open-source text-generating AI models named OLMo (Open Language Model) with the goal of advancing AI through open research (click here for the latest OLMo models). Additionally, AI2 has released training code and the pre-training data, named DOLMA, along with the open language model evaluation tool Paloma. In contrast to previous practices of training AI models, these tools are designed for open use in training, experimentation, and commercialization, with a focus on democratizing access to advanced AI technology (read a nice overview here).

🧰 AI TOOLBOX 

🤯 MIND SPARK

Fishy Business Made Smarter with AI: FishID, developed by The Global Wetlands Project (GLOW) at Griffith University, Australia, is an AI-powered tool for identifying, counting, and measuring aquatic life. It supports coastal and marine conservation efforts, operating in diverse ecosystems, including challenging environments where traditional monitoring methods face limitations (read more).

Optimizing Machine Learning with Nature-Inspired Algorithms: Metaheuristic algorithms, utilized in various AI applications, mimic nature's efficient strategies to find effective solutions for optimization problems, particularly when traditional methods fall short. For instance, the cheetah optimizer, inspired by cheetahs' hunting strategies, successfully tackles complex engineering problems such as the economic load dispatch problem (read more).

AI Tools for Oral Health: As per the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Dental AI tools are already in use for various purposes. These tools analyze oral photos submitted by patients via their smartphones to detect signs of declining oral health. Additionally, AI-guided 3D simulations expedite orthodontic fittings and illustrate post-treatment outcomes, offering a comprehensive solution for remote dental care (read more).

🎨 AI ART