Good morning everyone!
This week has been interesting and I have learned some new things, so lets get into it!
Whats Been Cooking?
Meta Makes Llama 2 Open Source
So, this week, Zuck released Llama to the public. Fortunately, it’s not the furry animal from South America but rather the LLM (Large Language Model) kind.
Llama 2 is Meta's LLM, which has now been made open source and can be found directly on GitHub, as well as AWS, Huggingface, and Azure, with the help of Microsoft.
Now, the question on everyone's mind is: why? Well, reading between the lines, it appears that Meta is trying to create a 'fairer' competition within the Generative AI space and reduce the chance of OpenAI monopolising the market.
By making Llama 2 open source, Meta is letting smaller players to access this technology and encourage more innovation, potentially leading to a more competitive AI landscape.
To be honest, what I found most breathtaking about this story is that Nick Clegg is Head of Global Affairs at Meta!
AI in the White House
Nevertheless, this commitment between Washington and the leaders in AI may indicate that we might get ‘real’ legislation in the future.
The top 7 leading AI companies: Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI, were all at the White House this week to 'voluntarily' sign some general AI safe-guarding rules.
These safeguards revolve around ensuring AI safety, disclosing AI-generated content through watermarks, and testing of AI systems, among others. These are all the classic things that people have been worrying about this year.
The most interesting one for me was that Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, hinted at the implementation of watermarks in their AI-generated content.
This commitment made by the AI industry leaders and President Biden suggests that there might be future 'real' legislation concerning AI regulations and its safety.
Learning Highlights
Squashing Commits
This week, I learned how to squash commits using git! I know what you are all thinking: How does this amateur not know how to do this?
Squashing commits is the process of combining all your commits into a single commit for better historical tracking and, in general, to keep things tidy.
To squash commits, you can use a git rebase with the interactive flag (-i). It's a fairly straightforward process, although it can be a bit fiddly in the terminal when using Vim. I have linked the tutorial here that I followed, in case anyone is interested in trying it out!
Reading & Listening
Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology
I am currently reading ”Chip War” by Chris Miller, which delves into the world of computer chips. It explores the origins of the 'real' Silicon Valley that started with transistors, and how they have influenced global politics since. Although I'm only halfway through, it's a great read for anyone interested in technology or politics.
Strike it Big Podcast
Recently, I have been listening to the Strike it Big podcast, which focuses mainly on starting and a running a business. What I like most about this podcast is the range of the hosts ages. The oldest is 55, whereas the youngest, is in his mid-20s. This mix of ages gives it a nice balance and adds maturity that sets it apart from other similar podcasts out there. I highly recommend it if you're interested in the entrepreneurial world!