AI

Nym co-founder and Chelsea Manning discuss decentralization and privacy

Nym co-founder Harry Halpin and security and hardware consultant Chelsea Manning chat with The Agenda about privacy and the benefits of a decentralized VPN.

Users’ data privacy and the growing need for it to be protected is a topic that people worldwide are reminded of on a near daily basis. For example, just two days ago, on Dec. 11, Toyota warned customers about a potential data breach, stating that “sensitive personal and financial data was exposed in the attack.” 

Hacks, breaches and exploits happen so often that one could jokingly say that user data breaches rival the rugs and protocol exploits that crypto is infamous for. To name a notable few, there was the Kid Security parental control app hack, which resulted in 300 million data records being compromised.

Consumer genetics and research company 23andMe had a breach in October that put 20 million records at risk. Even MGM was hacked in September, and estimates suggest that the hack cost the production studio at least $100 million.

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What is Midjourney, and how can you use it to create AI art?

Uncover what Midjourney is and learn the essentials of using this innovative AI tool to create stunning and unique art pieces.

Midjourney is a generative artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform that allows users to generate unique artwork such as characters, images and depictions through short text prompts. 

A generative AI platform is an artificial intelligence system that can generate new and unique content, often in images, text or other creative outputs. Unlike traditional rule-based AI systems designed for specific tasks, generative AI platforms use advanced algorithms, typically based on deep learning techniques, to autonomously produce novel and contextually relevant outputs.

Midjourney AI is one such innovative generative AI platform that opens up new possibilities for creative expression and can produce outputs that go beyond what was explicitly programmed, introducing an element of unpredictability and creativity into the AI landscape. This can be applied to various artwork domains to create realistic images that do not exist in the real world.

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What is Midjourney, and how to use it to create AI art?

Uncover what Midjourney is and learn the essentials of using this innovative AI tool to create stunning and unique art pieces.

Midjourney is a generative artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform that allows users to generate unique artwork such as characters, images and depictions through short text prompts. 

A generative AI platform is an artificial intelligence system that can generate new and unique content, often in images, text or other creative outputs. Unlike traditional rule-based AI systems designed for specific tasks, generative AI platforms use advanced algorithms, typically based on deep learning techniques, to autonomously produce novel and contextually relevant outputs.

Midjourney AI is one such innovative generative AI platform that opens up new possibilities for creative expression and can produce outputs that go beyond what was explicitly programmed, introducing an element of unpredictability and creativity into the AI landscape. This can be applied to various artwork domains to create realistic images that do not exist in the real world.

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Bitcoin new high set for late 2024, Binance to lose top spot, predicts VanEck

Next year will see Binance lose its leadership position, a U.S. recession, new stablecoin market cap highs and a new peak price for Bitcoin, according to asset manager VanEck.

Bitcoin (BTC) will hit a new all-time high in late 2024 on the backdrop of a long-feared United States recession and regulatory shifts after the next U.S. presidential election, asset manager VanEck predicts.

On Dec. 8, VanEck made 15 crypto predictions for 2024, including price forecasts, timings of a spot Bitcoin ETF launch, the impact of the Bitcoin halving, and emerging dominant crypto platforms.

Magazine: Asia Express: HTX hacked again for $30M, 100K Koreans test CBDC, Binance 2.0

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Bitcoin new high set for late 2024, Binance to lose top spot — VanEck

2024 will see Binance lose its leadership position, a U.S. recession, new stablecoin market cap highs and a new peak price for Bitcoin, according to asset manager VanEck.

Bitcoin (BTC) will hit a new all-time high in late 2024 because of a long-feared United States recession and regulatory shifts after the next U.S. presidential election, asset manager VanEck predicts.

On Dec. 8, VanEck made 15 crypto predictions for 2024, including price forecasts, the timing of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) launches, the impact of the Bitcoin halving, and emerging dominant crypto platforms.

Magazine: Asia Express: HTX hacked again for $30M, 100K Koreans test CBDC, Binance 2.0

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Google’s ‘GPT-4 killer’ Gemini is out, here’s how you can try it

Google has deployed its newest weapon in the AI arms race, a new artificial intelligence model that it claims is smarter and more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4.

Tech giant Google has officially rolled out Gemini, its latest artificial intelligence (AI) model that it claims has surpassed OpenAI’s GPT-4.

On Dec. 6, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google DeepMind CEO and co-founder Demis Hassabis announced the launch of Gemini in a company blog post.

The AI model has been optimized for different sizes and use cases (Ultra, Pro, Nano) and built to be multimodal to understand and combine different types of information.

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Crypto Biz: EU looks under the hood of Big Tech algorithms, Musk’s TruthGPT and more

This week’s Crypto Biz explores the fast-growing AI market, MicroStrategy’s integration with Bitcoin Lightning Network, and Microsoft’s efforts to power AI development.

Whether the intelligence can provide truthful answers will have to be seen, but the move would undoubtedly strengthen Musk’s business portfolio, which already includes SpaceX and Twitter, both companies sharing Musk’s curiosity about the universe and his approach to truth.

Speaking of facts, European authorities are strengthening regulations on AI projects by launching a new research hub to investigate Big Tech algorithms. A team of multidisciplinary experts will be in charge of looking “under the hood” of large search engines and online platforms to examine how those algorithms contribute to the spread of illegal and harmful content.

This week’s Crypto Biz looks at the latest developments in the fast-growing AI market, MicroStrategy integration with the Bitcoin Lightning Network, and Microsoft’s efforts to power AI development.

Artificial intelligence (AI) might soon answer a profound philosophical question. Finding what the truth is will be the focus of Elon Musk’s new endeavor TruthGPT, an AI dedicated to finding the fundamental nature of the universe and addressing an alleged “left-wing” bias in the industry. 

Microsoft is developing its own AI chip to power ChatGPT

Since 2019, Microsoft has been developing its own artificial intelligence chips to cut down growing costs for both its own and OpenAI projects, reducing its reliance on Nvidia’s GPUs. The move reflects a chip shortage that affected many industries worldwide during the pandemic. One of the most popular GPUs for training machine learning systems, the Nvidia H100 can be purchased for $40,000 on reseller services such as eBay amid increasing market scarcity.

MicroStrategy’s Saylor fuses work email address with Bitcoin Lightning

MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor disclosed the integration of email addresses with the Bitcoin Lightning Network, allowing transactions using emails instead of wallet addresses. In a screenshot, Saylor showed a few transactions sent to his corporate email account in the form of satoshis, the smallest unit of Bitcoin (BTC). It’s unclear if the solution is available for other MicroStrategy email addresses. The Lightning Network is a popular Bitcoin scaling solution capable of processing 1 million transactions per second at the cost of 1 satoshi per transaction.

Elon Musk to launch truth-seeking artificial intelligence platform TruthGPT

Elon Musk is developing a ChatGPT rival known as “TruthGPT,” a large language model that will be trained to explore the “nature of the universe.” During an interview with American cable network Fox News, Musk said that the truth-seeking AI would also push back against what he perceives as “left-wing” bias in the industry. ChatGPT “is programmed by left-wing experts, which train the chatbots to lie,” according to Musk. That is not the first time Musk has attacked ChatGPT; he recently spearheaded a letter calling for the halt of advanced AI development claiming societal concerns.

Before you go: OpenAI has until April 30 to comply with EU laws, ‘next to impossible’ say experts

OpenAI faces its biggest regulatory challenge as Italian authorities insist the company has until April 30 to comply with local and European data protection and privacy laws. Under the EU’s laws, tech outfits must solicit user consent to train with personal data. Companies operating in Europe must also allow Europeans to opt out of data collection and sharing. According to experts, this will be difficult for OpenAI since its models are trained on massive data troves, which are scraped from the internet and conflated into training sets.

Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse of the business behind blockchain and crypto, delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.

Microsoft is developing its own AI chip to power ChatGPT: Report

The software giant is reportedly developing its own machine learning chips to power AI projects for OpenAI and its own internal teams.

Microsoft has secretly been developing its own artificial intelligence (AI) chips to deal with the rising costs of development for in-house and OpenAI projects, per a report from The Information.

Reportedly in the works since 2019, Microsoft’s recently revealed hardware venture appears to be designed to reduce the Redmond, Washington company’s reliance on Nvidia’s GPUs.

A Google search reveals that the Nvidia H100, one of the more popular GPUs for training machine learning systems, costs as much as $40,000 on reseller services such as eBay amid increasing market scarcity.

These high costs have pushed several Big Tech companies to develop their hardware, with Meta, Google and Amazon all developing machine-learning chips over the past few years.

Details remain scarce as Microsoft hasn’t officially commented yet, but The Information’s report claims that the chips are being developed under the code name “Athena” — perhaps a nod to the Greek goddess of war, as the generative AI arms race continues to heat up.

Related: Italy ChatGPT ban: Data watchdog demands transparency to lift restriction

The report also mentions that the new chips are already being tested by team members from Microsoft’s internal machine-learning staff and OpenAI’s developers.

While one can only speculate at this time as to how OpenAI intends to use Microsoft’s AI chips, the company’s co-founder and CEO, Sam Altman, recently told a crowd at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that the infrastructure and design that got the company from GPT-1 to GPT-4 is “played out” and will need to be rethought:

“I think we’re at the end of the era where it’s going to be these, like, giant, giant models. We’ll make them better in other ways.”

This comes on the heels of a busy news cycle for the AI sector, with Amazon recently entering the arena as a (somewhat) new challenger with its first self-developed models leaping onto the scene as part of its Bedrock AI infrastructure rollout.

And, on April 17, tech mogul and world’s richest person Elon Musk announced the impending launch of TruthGPT, a supposed “truth-seeking” large language model designed to take on ChatGPT’s alleged left-wing bias, during an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.

EU legislators call for ‘safe’ AI as Google’s CEO cautions on rapid development

A group of EU politicians called for a united front in developing artificial intelligence while tech executives expressed concerns about its societal impacts.

A dozen European Union politicians have signed a letter calling for the “safe” development of artificial intelligence as Google’s CEO cautioned against releasing powerful AI tech before society has had a chance to adapt.

An April 16 open letter shared on Twitter by EU Parliament member Dragoș Tudorache called for a collaborative effort and a universal set of rules around the development of AI.

Tudorache, along with 11 other EU politicians named in the letter, asked the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and United States President Joe Biden to convene a summit on AI and to agree on a set of governing principles for the development, control and deployment of the tech.

“Recent advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) have demonstrated that the speed of technological progress is faster and more unpredictable than policymakers around the world have anticipated,” the letter reads.

”We are moving very fast.”

The letter further asks the principals of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC), a forum for the U.S. and EU to coordinate approaches to economic and technology issues, to agree on a preliminary agenda for the proposed AI summit and for companies and countries worldwide to “strive for an ever-increasing sense of responsibility” while developing AI.

“Our message to industry, researchers, and decision-makers, in Europe and worldwide, is that the development of very powerful artificial intelligence demonstrates the need for attention and careful consideration. Together, we can steer history in the right direction,” the letter said.

CBS’Google CEO Pichai Sundararajan, better known as Sundar Pichai, also expressed caution around the rapid development of AI in an April 16 interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, saying that society might need time to adapt to the new tech.

“You don’t want to put a technology out like this when it’s very, very powerful because it gives society no time to adapt. I think that’s one reasonable perspective,” he said.

“The pace at which we can think and adapt as social institutions compared to the pace at which the technology is evolving, there seems to be a mismatch,” he added.

However, Pichai also noted that while there are causes for concern, he does feel “optimistic” because of the number of people worrying about the implications of AI so early in its life cycle compared to other technical advancements in the past.

“I think there are responsible people there trying to figure out how to approach this technology, and so are we,” he said.

Related: Elon Musk to launch truth-seeking artificial intelligence platform TruthGPT

The European Union is already looking at AI with its Artificial Intelligence Act, while the European Data Protection Board has created a task force to examine the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT.

The letter from the EU politicians echoes the same concerns put forward by more than 2,600 tech leaders and researchers who called for a temporary pause on further AI development, fearing “profound risks to society and humanity.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and other AI CEOs, chief technology officers and researchers were among the other signatories of the letter, which was published by the United States think tank Future of Life Institute (FOLI) on March 22.

While the EU politicians agree with the “core message” of the FOLI letter and share “some of the concerns,” they have come out in disagreement with “some of its more alarmist statements.”

Musk has continued to highlight the risk he believes AI could pose in an April 16 interview with Fox News, saying that just like any other technology, AI has the potential to be misused if it is developed with ill intentions.

Magazine: ZK-rollups are ‘the endgame’ for scaling blockchains: Polygon Miden founder

All eyes are on stablecoins: Law Decoded, April 10–17

A week before a hearing in Congress, the United States gets stablecoin regulatory framework.

Last week came in preparation for April 19, when the United States House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on stablecoins. The hearing will include information collected by various federal government agencies over the last year. Among the participants are Jake Chervinsky, the chief political officer at the Blockchain Association, and Dante Disparte, the chief strategy officer of Circle. 

On the hearing threshold, a new draft bill appeared in the House of Representatives document repository. The draft provides a framework for stablecoins in the United States, putting the Federal Reserve in charge of non-bank stablecoin issuers. According to the document, insured depository institutions seeking to issue stablecoins would fall under the appropriate federal banking agency supervision, while non-bank institutions would be subject to Federal Reserve oversight. Failure to register could result in up to five years in prison and a fine of $1 million. Foreign issuers would also have to seek registration to do business in the country.

Among the factors for approval is the ability of the applicant to maintain reserves backing the stablecoins with U.S. dollars or Federal Reserve notes, Treasury bills with a maturity of 90 days or less, repurchase agreements with a maturity of seven days or less backed by Treasury bills with a maturity of 90 days or less, and central bank reserve deposits.

SEC targets DeFi in a vote to revisit proposal concerning the definition of ‘exchange’

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced it will be revisiting the proposed redefinition of an “exchange” under the agency’s rules — a move that could include crypto market participants in decentralized finance (DeFi). Under the proposal, an “exchange” would be more closely defined as a system that “bring[s] together buyers and sellers of securities through structured methods to negotiate a trade” and explicitly include DeFi.

The commission proposed similar amendments in January 2022, keeping the comment period for the public open until June. Some crypto advocacy groups criticized the SEC’s actions at the time, suggesting it was an overreach of the commission’s authority.

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Arizona governor vetoes bill targeting taxes on blockchain node hosts

Katie Hobbs, the governor of the American state of Arizona, has vetoed legislation that would have largely stopped local authorities from imposing taxes on individuals and businesses running blockchain nodes. The governor vetoed Arizona Senate Bill 1236, first introduced in January. The legislation aimed to revise sections of statutes pertaining to blockchain technology, mainly reducing or eliminating regulation and taxation of node operators at the state level.

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The Italian regulator sets strict guidelines for OpenAI’s ChatGPT

Italy’s data protection agency, known as Garante, has specified the actions that OpenAI must take to revoke an order imposed on ChatGPT. OpenAI must increase its transparency and issue an information notice comprehensively outlining its data processing practices. Additionally, the statement requires OpenAI to implement age-gating measures immediately to prevent minors from accessing its technology and adopt more stringent age verification methods. 

In addition, the regulatory agency mandated that OpenAI allow users to object to processing their data to train its algorithms. Also, OpenAI is required to conduct an awareness campaign in Italy to inform individuals that their information is being processed to train its AIs.

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