Read Before Monday #9

This week edition is mix between new tech and nostalgia - as it should! :) From a Trustworthy Language Model that evaluates the reliability of language model responses, crucial for high-stakes environments, to Nokia's lunar 4G network, part of NASA's Artemis program, aiming to enhance Moon-based communications. But also, about Kilby and Noyce's independent development of the integrated circuit catalyzed modern electronics. The nostalgic Microsoft's release of MS-DOS 4.0's source code which revitalizes interest in vintage software, while Linus Torvalds discusses security and AI's role in open source at the OpenSource Summit. Lastly, "The Forgotten War on Beepers" details the historical backlash against beepers, likened to today's smartphone concerns in schools - and me owning the CocaCola beeper!

See you next week!

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Cleanlab has introduced a tool, the Trustworthy Language Model, aimed at identifying reliable responses from large language models (LLMs), addressing their tendency to generate incorrect or "hallucinated" information. This tool scores outputs from LLMs on a scale from 0 to 1 to gauge their trustworthiness, offering a solution especially for high-stakes business contexts where accuracy is crucial. The model's efficacy is demonstrated through its application in reducing manual document checks significantly in sectors like healthcare compliance and insurance claims, showing potential for broad use in mitigating risks associated with LLM outputs.

• My take: One of the key issues when dealing with LLM is trying to understand if the answer is real or not. if it hallucinated when generating content and went outside of the grounded data. Implementing a Responsible Framework when using GenAI should be mandatory and actually having this way of verifying if there's hallucination is a good step forward. I talked about this on my "Unlocking the Generative AI Journey" presentation at the Hitachi Digital Services launch event in London this week.

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Nokia, in collaboration with NASA, is developing the first-ever cellular network on the Moon, incorporating LTE/4G technology to support both current and future lunar missions. This network will be integrated with a highly compact and durable LTE base station and user equipment designed to handle the extreme conditions of space, such as temperature fluctuations, vacuum, and radiation. his pioneering technology is part of NASA's Artemis program, with the goal of establishing sustainable operations on the Moon by the end of the decade as a step toward future missions to Mars.

• My take: This is a cool thing to happen! Having internet in the Moon. Now we can see TikTok's there too! Yay! Now on a serious note, I would much appreciate that we put the same amount of effort and money into figuring out the UK network that is pretty much crap wherever you are in the country. If you're inside a building, it's crap, if you're outside it's crap, if you're on a train, oh boy, don't get me started!?

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The Chip Letter has another interesting article about Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce that independently developed the integrated circuit (IC), which revolutionized electronic miniaturization. Kilby, at Texas Instruments, created the first working IC using germanium in 1958 and displayed it in 1959. Meanwhile, Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor developed a more manufacturable silicon-based IC around the same time. Their contributions laid the groundwork for modern electronics, leading to widespread commercial and military applications, ultimately transforming technology across various sectors.

• My take: I simply love each Chip Letter edition! It has very in-depth articles about tech and how it started. This week is another gem! Also, the integrated circuit had a profound impact on space exploration. It made possible to reduce the size and weight of spacecraft's onboard systems significantly. Before ICs, space vehicles like satellites and probes required large, heavy, and power-consuming electronic components.

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Microsoft has recently released the source code for MS-DOS 4.0, exciting many enthusiasts with a wave of nostalgia. This release allows the public and developers to explore and interact with the historic operating system's code, fostering a deeper understanding of its structure and operations. This gesture by Microsoft is part of a broader trend of making old software codes available, which can be educational and beneficial for those studying the evolution of computing technologies.

• My take: Back in the days, I took a MS-DOS 6.22 course. It was a thing back then, as the only operating system that we could 'do' something with it. It's still a long way from the 4.0 version, but I hope one day we'll have Windows 95 opensource and then Linux could improve its GUI :) But jokes aside, it's good to see Microsoft opening the museum doors and letting us peak inside the details, even if now no one cares anymore...?

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Linus Torvalds, in an interview at the OpenSource Summit, discussed various topics including the role of AI in open source and the foundational trust in opensource systems. He emphasized the security vulnerabilities in opensource software, pointing out the challenge of ensuring security without compromising the openness and collaborative nature that define the sector. Torvalds also highlighted the evolving landscape of AI tools in development, suggesting a cautious approach towards integrating AI within trusted opensource frameworks.

• My take: Today's edition wasn't planned to have linked articles, trust me! But this Linus interview is quite interesting and worth paying attention to in detail. Tackling recent security issues to the GenAI situation, Linus is always a good voice to hear.? Glad to see is optimism towards the future of Linux - as it powers now pretty much everything in the cloud and phones, but also the integration of Rust into Linux - maybe that's why Google fired their entire Python dev team?

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The article "The Forgotten War on Beepers" explores the widespread bans on beepers during the 1980s and 1990s, driven by concerns that they were associated with drug trafficking. Schools and lawmakers enforced strict rules, sometimes leading to severe consequences like jail terms for minors. The narrative highlights the overreaction to a technology largely misunderstood at the time, comparing it to the more recent apprehensions around smartphones in schools. It also touches on Motorola’s efforts to counteract the negative perceptions of beepers through promotional campaigns.

• My take: There's nothing better than ending this week edition with some hardcore nostalgia! Beepers were a thing back in the days. I had a few, the special one for me was a Coca-Cola version that was launched in Portugal in partnership with Telecel (now Vodafone Portugal).

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This week in GenAI

• Humanoid robot learns tasks in 24hrs and Sanctuary AI Unveils the Next Generation of AI Robotics
• An Electric New Era for Atlas
• Ikea plans to train thousands of its employees to use AI
• Apple releases eight small AI language models aimed at on-device use
• Tiny but mighty: The Phi-3 small language models with big potential
• Microsoft’s New AI Makes Convincing Deepfakes Worryingly Easy