Black Forest, Writers & Minds

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Black Forest Labs' tech secretly powers Grok-2

Elon Musk's company, xAI, unveiled Grok-2, an image generator that pushes boundaries.

Unlike other AI image generators, Grok-2 allows for creating controversial content. However, the true powerhouse behind Grok-2 is Black Forest Labs, a German startup. Black Forest Labs' image generator, Flux 1, forms the core of Grok-2 and has already surpassed other benchmark options. This under-the-radar startup has attracted investment from big names like Andreessen Horowitz.

AI revolutionizes writing with ultra-long text generation

Researchers have created a " LongWriter " method that shatters the limitations of AI language models.

Traditionally, these models could only produce outputs of around 2,000 words. LongWriter extends this limit to a staggering 10,000 words, translating to over 40 pages! The secret lies in a specially designed dataset, "LongWriter-6k," containing 6,000 extra-long texts reaching up to 32,000 words. By fine-tuning existing models with this dataset, researchers achieved ultra-long generation capabilities without sacrificing quality. They even developed a new benchmark to evaluate these extended outputs, where a nine-billion-parameter model by the team achieved top performance, surpassing much larger proprietary models like GPT-4o.

DeepMind's leader cautions against both underestimating and overhyping AI

Demis Hassabis, the leader of DeepMind, sheds light on the public's complex perception of AI.

The widespread interest signifies AI's potential to impact daily lives positively. However, this attention also brings a wave of unrealistic expectations. Hassabis believes AI's capabilities are overestimated in the short term, with many companies making inflated claims. On the other hand, the long-term potential, particularly concerning Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), needs to be considered. He speculates that AGI might be achievable within the next decade, aligning with DeepMind's original 20-year timeline of reaching 2030. Hassabis envisions a future where AGI tackles critical challenges like curing diseases, developing clean energy solutions, and combating climate change. However, he warns of the risks of human misuse and uncontrollable AI systems. To address these concerns, Hassabis advocates for international collaboration on AI regulation. He even proposes a global team of top researchers, akin to a scientific "Avengers" team, to guide the final stages of AGI development.

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