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| Here's a look at today's AI briefing: - Democratic consultant hired New Orleans man to create fake Biden audio.
- Google says tuning issues caused Gemini to create historically inaccurate images.
- Nvidia tops $2 trillion in market cap.
- Tyler Perry pauses studio expansion due to Sora concerns.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | A New Orleans man claims he was recruited by a consultant for U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, a Democratic presidential candidate, to create an AI voice call imitating Joe Biden. The AI robocall targeted thousands of New Hampshire voters last month, discouraging them from voting in the Jan. 23 primary. More: - Paul David Carpenter, who works as a street magician, gave NBC News text messages, call logs, and payment records to support his claims.
- Carpenter said he was hired by Steve Kramer, a Phillips campaign consultant, to create the AI robocall audio but didn't distribute it.
- He shared the robocall's original audio, made using ElevenLabs software, which can clone voices from speech samples.
- Carpenter said he produced the fake audio in under 20 minutes for $1, for which he was paid $150.
Zoom out: - The robocall, potentially breaching state and federal laws, has triggered law enforcement investigations and led to a U.S. ban on AI-voiced robocalls.
- Carpenter and Kramer have not been identified as targets in the probes.
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| 2 | | Google says tuning problems caused its Gemini AI app to generate historically inaccurate images or, in some cases, refuse to generate images altogether. Google, in a blog post today, explained why Gemini's image generator produced pictures of the U.S. Founding Fathers and Nazi soldiers as people of color. More: - Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan said the company tuned Gemini to make sure it showed different people but failed to take into account "cases that should clearly not show a range."
- In addition, the model became overly cautious over time, mistakenly treating benign prompts as sensitive and refusing to respond to some prompts entirely, he wrote.
- Gemini could sometimes overcompensate or become too conservative, refusing to generate certain images of "a Black person" or a "white person."
- However, prompting Gemini with specific scenarios like "a Black teacher in a classroom" or "a white veterinarian with a dog" should generate accurate responses, Raghavan said.
- For now, Google has temporarily disabled Gemini's image generation of people and is working to "improve it significantly," a process that will involve "extensive testing," he wrote.
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| 3 | | Nvidia briefly reached a $2T market value on Friday, becoming the third U.S. company to pass the milestone after Apple ($2.83T) and Microsoft ($3.06T). The chipmaker's rapid growth from the AI boom boosted its market value from $1T to $2T in just nine months. More: - Nvidia's stock surged 16% on Thursday, adding a record $277B to its stock market value in a single day, the largest valuation increase in Wall Street history.
- By Friday, Nvidia's market value had topped $2T, two days after its record earnings revealed a 580% increase in full-year profits for 2023.
- Demand for Nvidia's chips has surged during the AI boom, leading the company to project a 233% increase in revenue for the current quarter.
- Nvidia is now the largest semiconductor manufacturer worldwide and the fourth largest company overall, behind only Microsoft, Apple, and Saudi Aramco. Its record surge has boosted the chip sector and driven global stock indices to record highs.
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| 4 | Tyler Perry is pausing an $800M expansion of his Atlanta studio, citing concerns over OpenAI's video generator, Sora, and trends in the larger AI industry. Perry told The Hollywood Reporter that he thinks "a lot of jobs" will be lost in the film industry due to AI. More: - "I had gotten word over the last year or so that this was coming, but I had no idea until I saw recently the demonstrations of what [Sora is] able to do," he said.
- Perry said he's not opposed to AI, having used it to digitally age himself in two upcoming films.
- The producer believes AI can streamline filmmaking by creating sets through text but is concerned about potential job losses.
- "There's got to be some sort of regulations in order to protect us," Perry said.
Zoom out: - Others, like film artist Reid Southen, oppose the idea that Hollywood is done, pointing out the complexities of production and current flaws in AI video generators.
- OpenAI launched Sora to a limited number of creators last week. Sora still has weaknesses when it comes to complex scene physics, cause and effect, and spatial details, including confusion over directions and precise camera movements, the company noted.
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| 5 | | Pittsburgh AI startup Abridge, known for its tool that transcribes and summarizes doctor-patient conversations, secured $150M in a Series C funding round to expand its AI models and team. The financing comes as investors have been keen on funding generative AI healthcare startups, with the market expected to surpass $21.7B by 2032. 
How it works: Abridge, founded in 2018, specializes in automating clinical notes and medical transcriptions from patient-doctor visits with its proprietary AI, including large-language models and speech recognition. Offering its services in 14 languages across 55 specialties, the goal is to free up doctors to spend less time filling out paperwork and more time with patients. Abridge said it currently collaborates with hospitals like the University of Kansas Health System and Yale New Haven Health System. What the numbers show: Abridge announced a $30M Series B funding round in October. The latest Series C, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Redpoint Ventures, brings valuation to $850M. CEO Shiv Rao, who is also a cardiologist, plans to use the new funds to hire and develop more medical AI models to power its products. What companies should care: Microsoft, along with competitors Suki, Corti, and Nabla, is also working to streamline clinical note-taking with AI, with Microsoft's Nuance used by over 75% of U.S. hospitals. Nabla, offering an ambient AI assistant for practitioners, completed a $24M Series B round in January, while Ambience Healthcare just raised $70M for its generative AI tools for clinicians, including one that writes up patient notes in real-time. | | | |
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| 7 | | QUICK HITS - The Georgia House of Representatives voted 148-22 to pass legislation designed to curb the spread of deepfake videos ahead of elections. The bill now moves to the state Senate for consideration.
- AWS is adding two Mistral AI models to Amazon Bedrock, making it the seventh foundation model provider alongside AI21 Labs, Anthropic, Cohere, Meta, Stability AI, and Amazon itself.
- Samsung updated its Try Galaxy app with AI features like live translate, chat, and photo assist. The app, previously exclusive to iOS, is now available for all Android devices.
- GM's self-driving car unit, Cruise, plans to resume testing its robotaxis on public roads, possibly in Houston and Dallas, after suspending operations in October following a pedestrian accident in San Francisco.
- Reabble launched a "My Writing Style" AI assistant in the Spark app to generate emails mirroring a user's unique voice, tone, and personality.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a contributing editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters. She has written for publications including USA Today, the Arizona Business Gazette, and The Arizona Republic, where she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for collaborative reporting on state pension cost increases. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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