Archive 22.09.2024

New Service Auto-Selects Best AI Engine for Your Next Writing Project

A San Francisco startup has just released what could be one of the smartest AI services of the year: An app that promises to auto-select the best AI engine for your next writing or other project.

Essentially, instead of wondering if you should turn to ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude — or any number of other AI chatbots — to write your next article, for example, the new service, dubbed Martian, will do all that analysis and choosing for you.

Says Shriyash Upadhyay, co-founder, Martian: “We can automatically choose the right model, not even on a task-by-task basis, but a query-by-query basis. This allows for lower costs and higher performance — because it means that you don’t always have to use a single model.”

Besides promising to be the perfect selection coach, Martian — and similar services — help keep AI writing costs low by offering access to a wide array of AI chatbots with just one click or tap.

In other news and analysis on AI writing:

*Google’s Latest Sleight-of-Hand: Transforming Your Article Into a Co-Hosted Podcast: Google AI has come-up with a remarkable new feature that auto-transforms your article, blog post or other text into an extremely engaging, co-hosted podcast.

Essentially, the new tech studies your text, then uses two, extremely lifelike and animated robot voices — one male, one female — to discuss the key points and themes in your piece.

Far from a gimmick, the new feature of Google’s Notebook LM platform can enhance any text-based digital property looking to add co-hosted, audio podcasts to its mix.

Click here to listen to an article transformed into a co-hosted podcast, courtesy Google.

*900+ Universities Bet On Grammarly: Let’s Just Auto-Correct Everything: More than 900 universities and colleges have waved the white flag on AI and are now all-in on introducing the tech into their curriculums.

Essentially, the association has agreed to work with Grammarly AI to infuse its technology into college classes.

Observes a Business Wire press release: “This effort will drive research and dialogue on how higher education institutions can incorporate AI technologies in ways that are ethical, effective — and aligned with educational goals.”

Sounds good in theory.

*PR Newswire Ditches Human Writers for AI Writing:
Public relations juggernaut PR Newswire has released a new suite of AI tools designed to help customers write and distribute press releases.

The AI undergirding the company’s new tools is Google Gemini.

A historical note: In the olden days, before the advent of AI, human writers were the ones who wrote press releases for PR Newswire.

*Microsoft Copilot’s New Unified Database: From Chaos to Clarity in a Click: Microsoft is out with a key, new feature for its Copilot that consolidates everything it knows about your company — as well as everything else you’d like included from the Web — into a single database.

The pitch: With the unified database, you’ll have much greater flexibility in creating articles and other text on-the-fly with Copilot.

Observes writer Graham Barlow: “So you could prompt Copilot with something like ‘make a report similar to that one we did last month for Eric –but with the new data’ — and it will compile it for you.”

*New Auto-Essays: Without the Annoying Learning Part: Yet another AI startup has released a new auto-writing app promising to auto-write tough-to-beat, instant essays.

Dubbed PerfectEssayWriter.ai, the tool is also designed to engage in Q&As with you and also revise your own writing.

Still no definitive word if this AI essay app is currently the best essay writer the planet has ever seen.

*Customer Chat Gets A Mood Ring: For Humans Who Can’t Read a Room: Customer chat reps who are tone-deaf when it comes to assessing customer mood now have new help from AI.

The Talkdesk customer-to-chat-rep system is out with a new feature that auto-assesses customer mood in the chat — and then auto-creates an appropriate reply based on that mood.

The tech is also designed to work with email or smartphone texts.

*Snapshot: Key Players in AI Email Writing: Mastering The Art of ‘Per My Last Email:’ HTF Market Intelligence is predicting healthy growth in the AI-powered email writing market with a new report.

Key players in that market, according to HTF, are:

~Grammarly

~Boomerang

~Crystal

~Phrasee

~Textio

~WriteSonic

~Persado

~Friday

~Toolsaday

~Mailmeteor

~WriteMail.ai

~YAMM

~AImReply

~Nanonets

~HubSpot

~Rytr

~Mailmodo

~Botowski

~Flowrite

~Hyperwrite

~CopyAI

~Remail

~Smartwriter AI

~Ellie

~Jasper AI

~GMPlus

~WriteMail

~Mailr

~SmartWriter

~Ghostwrite

*Snapshot: Key Players in AI Editing and Proofreading: Fixing Typos So You Can Plot World Domination: HTF Market Intelligence is predicting major growth in the AI-powered editing and proofreading market with a new report.

Key players in that market, according to HTF, are:

~Grammarly

~ProWritingAid

~Hemingway Editor

~Ginger Software

~WhiteSmoke

~Slick Write

~PaperRater

~Autocrit

~Zoho Writer

~LanguageTool

~SmartEdit

~Microsoft Editor

~Turnitin

~QuillBot

*AI Big Picture: No End in Sight on Corporate AI Spending Spree: Apparently, SpendFest 2024 — wherein major investors from across the world throw gobs and gobs of money at the concept of AI — is still in full swing.

Observes writer Nate Rattner: “Generative artificial intelligence has sparked one of the biggest spending booms in modern American history, as companies and investors bet hundreds of billions of dollars that the technology will revolutionize the global economy and one day lead to massive profits.

“The question is when, and even whether, all those investments will pay off.”

Share a Link:  Please consider sharing a link to https://RobotWritersAI.com from your blog, social media post, publication or emails. More links leading to RobotWritersAI.com helps everyone interested in AI-generated writing.

–Joe Dysart is editor of RobotWritersAI.com and a tech journalist with 20+ years experience. His work has appeared in 150+ publications, including The New York Times and the Financial Times of London.

The post Wheel of AI Fortune appeared first on Robot Writers AI.

Large language models (LLMs) have developed rapidly in recent years and are becoming an integral part of our everyday lives through applications like ChatGPT. An article explains the opportunities and risks that arise from the use of LLMs for our ability to collectively deliberate, make decisions, and solve problems.

This robot represents a significant advancement in the company's mission to develop cutting-edge solutions that address persistent operational challenges faced by businesses worldwide.

Sample language model responses to different varieties of English and native speaker reactions.

ChatGPT does amazingly well at communicating with people in English. But whose English?

Only 15% of ChatGPT users are from the US, where Standard American English is the default. But the model is also commonly used in countries and communities where people speak other varieties of English. Over 1 billion people around the world speak varieties such as Indian English, Nigerian English, Irish English, and African-American English.

Speakers of these non-“standard” varieties often face discrimination in the real world. They’ve been told that the way they speak is unprofessional or incorrect, discredited as witnesses, and denied housing–despite extensive research indicating that all language varieties are equally complex and legitimate. Discriminating against the way someone speaks is often a proxy for discriminating against their race, ethnicity, or nationality. What if ChatGPT exacerbates this discrimination?

To answer this question, our recent paper examines how ChatGPT’s behavior changes in response to text in different varieties of English. We found that ChatGPT responses exhibit consistent and pervasive biases against non-“standard” varieties, including increased stereotyping and demeaning content, poorer comprehension, and condescending responses.

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Our autonomous systems have completed over 50,000 operational hours across 150,000 acres in the US. By operating tractors precisely and remotely, we also are seeing improvements in worker safety, and exposure to hazardous materials and chemicals.

While roboticists have introduced increasingly sophisticated robotic systems over the past decades, most of the solutions introduced so far are pre-programmed and trained to tackle specific tasks. The ability to continuously teach robots new skills while interacting with them could be highly beneficial and could facilitate their widespread use.

A set of knee exoskeletons, built with commercially available knee braces and drone motors at the University of Michigan, has been shown to help counteract fatigue in lifting and carrying tasks. They helped users maintain a better lifting posture even when tired, a key factor in defending against on-the-job injuries, say the researchers of a new paper published in the journal Science Robotics.

Scientists at MPI-IS have developed electrically driven robotic components, called HEXEL modules, which can snap together into high-speed reconfigurable robots. Magnets embedded along the outside of the modules allow them to electrically and mechanically connect to other modules, forming robots with diverse shapes and capabilities. HEXEL modules are a promising technology for use in resource-limited environments, such as on space or rescue missions, and can be used to construct versatile robots from redundant parts, altogether promoting a sustainable robot design.

Scientists at the Max-Planck-Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) have developed hexagon-shaped robotic components, called modules, that can be snapped together LEGO-style into high-speed robots that can be rearranged for different capabilities.

Researchers have developed a new framework to make complex AI tasks more accessible and transparent to users. The framework specializes in providing solutions to deep reinforcement learning (DRL) requests. The framework pairs developers, companies and individuals that have specific but out-of-reach AI needs with service providers who have the resources, expertise and models they require. The service is crowdsourced, built on a blockchain and uses a smart contract -- a contract with a pre-defined set of conditions built into the code -- to match the users with the appropriate service provider.

A new review shows that this process of thinking is not exclusive to humans. Artificial intelligence, too, is capable of self-correction and arriving at new conclusions through 'learning by thinking.'

New video generation technology in YouTube Shorts will help millions of people realize their creative vision

New video generation technology in YouTube Shorts will help millions of people realize their creative vision

Through its Cultivate Next venture fund, Chipotle has invested in Vebu, a product development company that has co-created Autocado, and Hyphen, a foodservice platform that automates kitchen operations and has co-developed Chipotle's Augmented Makeline

At the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) 2023, I had the opportunity to interview Jerry Tan from Lattel Robotics, a company dedicated to promoting AI-focused robotics education and training. They work closely with the RoboCup@Home Education initiative, supporting schools and institutions in introducing AI and service robot development to students. Their goal is to equip learners with practical AI application skills in computer vision, autonomous navigation, object manipulation and speech interactions.

Through their AI robotics and AI applications workshops, Lattel Robotics offers an introduction to robot operating system (ROS)-based AI applications development in service robotics. As a hardware partner for the RoboCup@Home Education initiative, they assist schools and institutions in competing in AI robotic challenges by developing applications that address real-world problems. Their AI learning solutions include setting up AI laboratories, designing curriculums and developing courseware.

Andrea: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Could you please tell me more about who can benefit from the Jupiter2 platform, and what exactly it is designed to do?

Jerry: Just about anyone can use it with a programming background to get started to develop their own AI applications via service robot development, using open source software.

Andrea: What kind of sensors do your robots use? Just microphones and cameras, or is there more?

Jerry: Yes, so we use a range of sensors, including RGB-D cameras and LIDAR sensors for depth perception. Besides, we have microphones and speakers for speech interaction, along with robotic arms for object manipulation and mobile platforms for navigation.

Andrea: So, I have a little question about this. Do you have an API (Application Programming Interface) that students and researchers can work through?

Jerry: It’s not always necessary, as the robot is equipped with its own laptop, acting as a central processing unit. Getting started is easier, as we have integrated the hardware platform with open-source software like OpenCV and YOLO, using the Robot Operating System (ROS1 and ROS2). These are popular tools among AI researchers and developers.

Andrea: It sounds intriguing, but the setup process seems complicated. Integration often takes time.

Jerry: The robotic platform is already integrated and ready to be deployed. For our AI learning device, Juno2, all you need to do is to connect it to a laptop via a USB port and you can straight away boot up the Linux (Ubuntu) environment with ROS, without any software installation.

AI learning device, Juno2.

Andrea: How do you work with schools?

Jerry: We’re an education solution provider, supporting schools and institutions that want to introduce practical AI applications learning in a classroom. Programming experience in Python or C++ is a prerequisite in doing AI applications development. So we provide Python introduction workshop for complete beginners. Then using a train-the-trainers approach, we offer 3-day AI robotics workshops using Jupiter2 or 2-day AI applications workshops using Juno2. Through these workshops, educators are given an overview of the AI applications modules which would enable them to customise the material accordingly for education, training or even research purposes.

Andrea: What if someone doesn’t have direct access to the robot? Can they work remotely?

Jerry: Absolutely. You can connect via a remote desktop software from your computer and continue programming. As mentioned just now, we also have a smaller device called Juno2, designed for classroom use. You don’t need the full robot setup in this case; you can use this device to do computer vision and speech interactions applications. It’s a plug-and-play solution that works with any laptop or operating system, automatically loading Ubuntu, ROS and our Jupiter software development frameworks. It’s perfect for conducting online classes, as students can continue learning from home or wherever they are.

Andrea: If you have a robot like this, can additional components, like speakers, be added to your robots?

Jerry: Yes, definitely. That’s a good question. Jupiter2 is an open platform that is
customisable and reconfigurable. If you have an engineering background, you can modify the hardware based on the requirements. This flexibility allows both beginners and advanced users to focus on their specific areas of interest, whether it is software programming or hardware customisation.

Andrea: Have you exported these gadgets before?

Jerry: Yes, we have exported to Europe, Africa, South and North America before. So far there are more than 30 over schools, universities and institutions globally that have adopted our learning platforms for education, training, research and/or robotic competitions.

Andrea: Fantastic, thank you for your time and insights. I wish you continued success in the future!

You can find more information on the Lattel Robotics website.

Jerry Tan is the Managing Director of Lattel Robotics. A German-trained engineer turned entrepreneur, Jerry is currently running the AI robotics education and training companies in Malaysia and Singapore. Striving to empower anyone in getting started to learn AI applications practically, Jerry works closely with schools and academic institutions in setting up laboratories and developing courseware.