The Leading Edge #5

Welcome to Leading Edge, Edition 5! ??

Berlin had a long weekend due to International Women's Day this friday and i took some well deserved break and did a road trip to Vienna and Graz. But fear not, i am back and i do have updates.

I hope you enjoy this weeks updates on what we have for AI, leadership, and imporving our real brain.

Is Claude 3 the GPT-4 killer? Not at that price... ????

Clause 3 was annouced last week with much fanfare .

Yes, it beats GPT4 in a lot of benchmarks.

?(Hint: benchmarks don't awlays translates to real world performance)

But the thing we need to talk about is the Pricing!

But here's the wallet-walloping catch: Claude 3 Opus is 2.5x more expensive that GPT4 Turbo!

Yes, that’s right - the output tokens of the highest model cost $75/million tokens, whereas GPT4 turbo costs just $30.

Check the pricing table below for details.

So, is it 2.5x better?

I did some basic testing - and it seems pretty good, but I don’t see it as exceeding GPT4 substantially. I would say based on the costs alone, Opus would be difficult to justify for 95% of use cases.

However the good news is that it comes in 3 versions - Haiku, Sonnet and Opus.

Claude 3's smaller models intrigue me. Haiku promises speed. I could see real use cases there. Besides, I like Haikus ??

Haiku is supposed to be really fast and would be requiring a detailed review later. I can definitely think of some solid use cases for it.

I would be looking for detailed tests from others. Particularly in coding where, at least on benchmarks it seems to perform far better.

Better Call... GPT

The research conducted by a team from Onit Inc., New Zealand, has some interesting findings that might just redefine the traditional legal workflow.

For years, the legal sector has relied on the keen intellect of lawyers to navigate the complex maze of contract review.

But what if machines could do it faster, cheaper, and just as accurately?

The study pitted LLMs against human legal practitioners in a high-stakes showdown of precision, speed, and cost-efficiency.

The results? Staggering.

?? LLMs not only matched but in some instances, surpassed human accuracy in identifying legal issues within contracts.

?? LLMs turned hours of human labor into seconds of processing time.

?? And if that wasn't impressive enough, the cost reduction offered by LLMs was a whopping 99.97% compared to traditional methods.

But this isn't just about replacing humans with machines.

It's a sure sign that that legal services will be democratized, and even commoditized - allowing a wider reach.The legal landscape will be transformed.

Taking Care of Your Real Intelligence

In an era where AI's writing poetry and there’s a GPT (Generative Pretrained Transformers) for anything - we might be tempted to offload all cognitive tasks to our silicon-based counterparts. Maybe one day we will trade all our neurons for a shiny new LLM - but our organic gray matter isn't ready for retirement just yet. And that’s exactly why I am still fascinated by books on the brain, and why I think books on it still have a place in this blog.

So with that cautionary intro - let me introduce you to David Eagleman's "The Brain: The Story of You ".? It's a fascinating and informative book that will teach us about the inner workings of our brain.

And it will remind us why it's so important to take care of our most important organ.

Now: ideally you recommend you to read the complete review . It should be a quick one here, and that's the whole point, isn't it - giving your brain a workout?

But here's 7 things you can do every day (or most days to increase your brain's neuroplasticity.

1. Learn New Things: Challenge your brain regularly with new skills or knowledge. Take a language class, learn to play an instrument, dive into a new subject – this forces the brain to create fresh neural pathways.
2. Shake up your everyday habits: Take adifferent route to work, try a new recipe,or brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand. These small shifts makeyour brain work harder and stayadaptable.
3. Physical Exercise: Aerobic exerciseincreases blood flow tothe brain and promotesthe growth of newneurons. Aim for at least30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise mostdays.
4. Mindfulness & Meditation: These practices help calm the mind,improve focus, and enhance brainconnectivity. Even a few minutes of dailymeditation can make a difference.
5. Get Enough Sleep: During sleep, the brain consolidatesmemories, repairs itself, and prunesaway unused connections. Aim for 7-8hours of quality sleep.
6. Nutrition: A healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and helathy fats nourishes the brain. Omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish, nuts) are especially beneficial for the brain function.
7. Social Interaction: Meaningful social connections stimulate the brain and promote well-being. Engage in conversations, join clubs or groups, or volunteer your time.

Until next week...

And that's a wrap for this week's edition of The Leading Edge! ??

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