Links for 2024-10-01

AI:

1. Biologically inspired liquid time-constant RNNs? Might this dethrone the transformer architecture? “This is the first time a non-GPT architecture significantly outperforms transformer-based models. LFMs advance the Pareto frontier of large AI models via new algorithmic advances we designed at Liquid: Algorithms to enhance knowledge capacity, multi-step reasoning, and long-context recall in models + algorithms for efficient training and inference.” https://www.liquid.ai/liquid-foundation-models

2. “Entropy based injection of CoT tokens to tell the model to re-evaluate (o1 style) and inject entropy based on branching to arrive at the correct value.” https://x.com/_xjdr/status/1840782196921233871

3. A new theory explains how unconventional computing architectures solve complex optimization problems. Using statistical physics and probability theory, scientists detail how optical computers navigate dynamic energy landscapes to find the deepest valleys. https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.14.031054

4. PhysGen: A novel image-to-video generation method that converts a single image and an input condition (e.g., force and torque applied to an object in the image) to produce a realistic, physically plausible, and temporally consistent video. https://stevenlsw.github.io/physgen/

5. Introducing Helpful DoggyBot🐕, a legged mobile manipulation system: Open-world object fetching using VLMs. No real-world training data required! https://helpful-doggybot.github.io/

6. “Refusing harmful requests is not a novel behavior learned in chat fine-tuning, as pre-trained base models will also refuse requests (48% of all harmful requests, 3% of harmless) just at a lower rate than chat models (90% harmful, 3% harmless)” https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/YWo2cKJgL7Lg8xWjj/base-llms-refuse-too

7. “GPT-4o’s performance as a CEO was remarkable. The LLM consistently outperformed top human participants on nearly every metric.” https://hbr.org/2024/09/ai-can-mostly-outperform-human-ceos

8. Microsoft is launching a new redesigned Copilot this morning. It incorporates the new Voice and Vision interface as well as 'Think Deeper' which uses Chain of Thought. The new version is more personable, and agentic. They are promising it will ultimately 'act on your behalf'. Copilot will "accompany you to that doctor’s appointment, take notes and follow up at the right time ... planning and preparing for your child’s birthday party ... help you think through a tricky life decision." Personal assistant. https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2024/10/01/an-ai-companion-for-everyone/

9. Google NotebookLM now summarizes YouTube videos and provides key insights directly from the video transcript. https://blog.google/technology/ai/notebooklm-audio-video-sources/

10. Evaluation of OpenAI o1: Opportunities and Challenges of AGI https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.18486

11. Direct Judgement Preference Optimization: “…our generative judge achieves the best performance on 10 out of 13 benchmarks, outperforming strong baselines like GPT-4o and specialized judge models.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.14664

12. Meet Tesla Bot’s Biggest Competitor: Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock says robotics is now an AI business and they have access to all the H100s they can use from Microsoft, while their partnership with OpenAI will lead to robots that can reason and plan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv1TD2TGnvM

13. Peak Human Capital: AI will soon reverse a big economic trend. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/S4fA2bKG27cfLi52f/peak-human-capital

14. WebLLM: A High-Performance In-Browser LLM Inference Engine https://blog.mlc.ai/2024/06/13/webllm-a-high-performance-in-browser-llm-inference-engine

15. “Wispr Flow 🚀 Just speak, and Flow writes for you, everywhere on your computer. No BS, no waitlist.” https://www.flowvoice.ai/

16. AI, policy, and the weird sci-fi future with Anthropic’s Jack Clark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1-OuHWu88Y

17. Secret calculator hack brings ChatGPT to the TI-84, enabling easy cheating https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/secret-calculator-hack-brings-chatgpt-to-the-ti-84-enabling-easy-cheating/

18. “Someone gave NotebookLM a document with just "poop" and "fart" repeated over and over again. I did NOT expect the result to be this good.” https://x.com/kkuldar/status/1840680947873718396

https://x.com/sama/status/1841132386068677020

Technology:

1. Even Gamma Rays Can't Stop This Memory: Memristors self-heal even when struck by intense radiation https://spectrum.ieee.org/memristor-2669280762

2. This Biohybrid Robot Is Made of Human Cells and Controlled by a Machine ‘Mind’ https://singularityhub.com/2024/09/30/this-biohybrid-robot-is-made-of-human-cells-and-controlled-by-a-machine-mind/

3. Peter Thiel is funding a HALEU (High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium) startup, staffed in part by some former Space X engineers—fuel for the next generation of nuclear power plants. https://www.ft.com/content/6472a19d-0011-444f-a57a-3d11f143f291 [no paywall: https://archive.is/BhUjN]

Brains:

1. Is Cryonics free? https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WE65pBLQvNk3h3Dnr/cryonics-is-free

2. Synchron Announces Positive Results from U.S. COMMAND Study of Endovascular Brain-Computer Interface https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240930433219/en/Synchron-Announces-Positive-Results-from-U.S.-COMMAND-Study-of-Endovascular-Brain-Computer-Interface

Chemistry:

1. In step toward solar fuels, durable artificial photosynthesis setup chains two carbons together https://news.engin.umich.edu/2024/09/in-step-toward-solar-fuels-durable-artificial-photosynthesis-setup-chains-two-carbons-together/

2. From Thin Air to Valuable Molecules: Japanese Innovation in Chemical Synthesis https://www.riken.jp/en/news_pubs/research_news/rr/20240905_1/index.html

Optimization:

1. Optimizing crop planting with mixed integer linear programming in Stardew Valley https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/rEZqP7K4MG6waC2zf/optimizing-crop-planting-with-mixed-integer-linear

2. 'Absurdly fast' algorithm solves 70-year-old logjam — speeding up network traffic in areas from airline scheduling to the internet https://www.livescience.com/technology/communications/absurdly-fast-algorithm-solves-70-year-old-logjam-speeding-up-network-flow-in-areas-from-airline-scheduling-to-the-internet

Psych:

1. Predicting future promotions from police cadets’ facial traits https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/10/predicting-future-promotions-from-police-cadets-facial-traits.html

2. “A parent’s enlistment in the Army increases their children’s military service propensity by between 58% and 110%.” https://www.nber.org/papers/w33009

Science:

1. "Instead of nurturing their sick young, ant queens eat their infected offspring at the first sign of illness then 'recycle' them into producing new eggs, a new study led by the University of Oxford has shown." https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-09-24-ant-queens-cannibalise-their-sick-offspring-then-recycle-them

2. Retracing walrus ivory trade of Viking Age reveals early interactions between Europeans and Indigenous North Americans https://phys.org/news/2024-09-retracing-walrus-ivory-viking-age.html

Ukraine:

1. Execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russians. Pokrovsky Front, 30 of September 2024. https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1841138565285024004

2. Meanwhile, Russians shelled a grocery market in downtown Kherson this morning. https://x.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1841024497052185009

3. Classic Russian Meat Armor: Here's the catastrophic outcome of Russia's recent attempted meat grinder counterattack at the Vovchansk machinery factory, which was recently retaken by Ukrainian special task teams. https://x.com/Danspiun/status/1840795034620137885

4. Paratroopers of the 77th Brigade, together with fighters of the National Guard of Ukraine, repelled an assault by a column of 50 enemy vehicles. https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1840734683107127497

5. “Confirmed. Russia has fully occupied Vuhledar. Russian units from the 36th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade raised their flag over the Vuhledar City Council. Ukrainian forces have withdrawn to Bohoyavlenka, north of Vuhledar.” https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1841089171349197205