AI has been around for decades, shaping how we search the web and transforming how we work, learn, and create. However, a breakthrough moment came with the publication of the “Attention Is All You Need” paper by eight (now former) Google employees, which kickstarted the AI revolution. As Wired noted,
The authors started with a thriving and improving technology—a variety of AI called neural networks—and made it into something else: a digital system so powerful that its output can feel like the product of an alien intelligence. Called transformers, this architecture is the not-so-secret sauce behind all those mind-blowing AI products, including ChatGPT and graphic generators such as Dall-E and Midjourney.
Within a few short years, AI was transformed into something different – not machine learning but a form of ever-expanding interactive intelligence. We have no idea where Generative AI will take us, but rest assured, the AI revolution is only in its infancy.
Below are some key moments and seminal talks that help us understand where we are today. We’ll continue to add to this—most recent talks first—as we chart the progress of a world-changing development. Check back often, as we will regularly update our resources on the AI revolution.
With Spatial Intelligence, AI Will Understand the Real World | Fei-Fei Li (May 16, 2024)
Fei-Fei Li takes you on a remarkable AI journey that begins with the Cambrian Explosion – when the first organisms let in light and began to respond to the world. As she puts it,
What began as a passive experience, the simple act of letting light in, soon became far more active. The nervous system began to evolve. Sight turning to insight. Seeing became understanding. Understanding led to actions. And all these gave rise to intelligence.
We have been on this journey ever since, and in many ways, AI is just its culmination. With the new developments in generative AI, we are teaching computers to see, learn, and do in ways never thought possible before. For Fei-Fei Li, the AI revolution is a revolution in spatial intelligence.
OpenAI’s Spring Update (May 13, 2024)
OpenAI’s spring 2024 update brought a wealth of news and new controversies with the rollout of GPT-4o (or Omni). Essentially, we got a faster and cheaper version of GPT-4. But the most remarkable aspect was the near-instant voice response that the update promised. No more talking to our devices and waiting for them to process and respond; the new version will incorporate near-instant human-like response times. You couldn’t miss the echoes of the movie “Her.”
The Infamous Apple AI Ad “Crush” (May 7, 2024)
Apple doesn’t often miss the mark in its advertising, but its “Crush” ad drew a sharp reaction from creatives and others. Ironically, it wasn’t even an ad focusing on AI but was done for the release of the new iPad Pro. But it touched a nerve, revealing some of our deep-seated apprehension about the impact of the AI revolution on the arts and society in general. The ad was quickly pulled with a (sort of) apology from Apple.
Mark Zuckerberg – Llama 3, $10B Models, Caesar Augustus, & 1 GW Datacenters (April 18, 2024)
Whatever you think of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, never count him out. He continues to push XR developments, manage the world’s most popular social media platform, and recognize how the AI revolution will be integral to everything Meta does in the future. In this interview, he covers:
- Interacting with multiple AI agents
- The road toward AGI
- Open source AI
- The struggle between good and bad AI . . . and much more.
Highlights of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s March Conversation at Stanford (posted April 30, 2024)
Here are highlights of Nvidia Founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s speech at Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). Highlights include why Nvidia dominated generative AI and how we are moving from a world of pre-recorded content to generative content in our AI future.
Sam Altman Keynote Recap at the First OpenAI DevDay (November 6, 2023)
Here is the quick three-minute recap of Sam Altman’s keynote at the first OpenAI DevDay. Happening just short of a year after the first release of ChatGPT, it shows how rapidly OpenAI is pushing the AI revolution forward. The full 45-minute keynote is here.
More to come!