In today’s issue:
- How can we do better? And ARM, what a star!
- Apple’s secret not-so-secret releases
- Substitute Scoob
Editor’s note: Today, we bring you a guest piece by Sam Volkering from his publication AI Collision which was first published on Tuesday 11 June.
You can hear from Sam more often at AI Collision and learn more about the latest developments in AI by simply clicking here to sign up for free on Substack.
Welcome to AI Collision 💥,
The last few days I’ve been thinking about the core purpose of our work here at AI Collision and importantly, how we can improve and do better.
I’m going to try some new stuff (that you’ll see in our next section) but also would love some feedback from… YOU.
Therefore, please indulge me and hit the survey below, where you’ll have your chance to tell me what you like, what you don’t like, what you’d like to see more of in AI Collision 💥. Nothing is too harsh, nothing is too nice, everything is fair game!
OK, that said, as I was thinking about what we do and how we do it, I also came to the conclusion that I’d like to think what we send you is somewhat of a lifeline from all the s*** going on in the world.
You are bombarded with scary, uncertain things from all angles – from social media, from the “news”, from everywhere.
Geopolitical uncertainty, the brink of war, END OF DAYS IS COMING!
Well I guarantee you this…
GUARANTEE YOU THIS…
In ten years’ time, the sun will still shine, and the scary stuff you’re bombarded with today will be the same scary stuff they bombard you with in a decade.
It will paralyse some people.
But for others, like you, you will understand that the world is a wonderful place, full of mainly wonderful and amazing people doing wonderful and amazing things.
And it’s those wonderful things that actually level up the world, level up our lives. While yes, sometimes life is tough, on the balance it’s actually pretty good.
It’s the goodness that you can find, and even invest in from time to time, that makes things interesting and exciting.
So that’s what we aim to be. The interesting. The exciting. The optimism and injection of “hopium” that I feel is kind of lacking in the world today.
And when I think of hopium, I often turn back to some of the stuff I was writing about a decade ago. That’s because if I’m writing about some of this stuff a decade ago, and then today it’s a part of the fabric of our world, then I can only conclude that what I write about today that’s interesting and exciting will become a part of the fabric of our world in the next decade.
Here’s something I wrote on 25 February 2014:
The last 30 years were all about COMPRESSING technology – packing more and more transistors onto a chip.
The next 30 years will be all about COMPOUNDING technologies.
Think about two technologies combining together to create a whole new technology. And that technology spawns an entire new industry. And then innovation and technology in THAT industry combines to create even better newer and more exciting technology.
It’s a growing, expanding network of technology working together, building on each other to grow.
And it’s happening at a pace that’s almost impossible to keep up with.
Up until now technology has been limited by the constrains of computing power. But now the shackles of the computer chip are about to be broken.
Exponential growth now doesn’t just apply to computer power.
It applies to ALL TECHNOLOGY.
Immersive technology… 3D printing… bio-fabrication… carbon nanotubes… quantum computing – you name it. Every new discovery is enabling scientists to use that new technology to create better technology and push the world forward.
It’s no longer compressing.
It’s COMPOUNDING.
Technology built on technology built on technology.
This is ‘The Law of Technological Compounding’.
It’s a world-changing theory that will impact your life in ways you can’t imagine.
Let me give you a really good early example of ‘Tech Compounding’ in action…
There’s a way of computing something called parallelisation.
Parallelisation is trying to pick up where Moore’s Law breaks down. We are getting close to maximum capacity of conventional computer chips.
But the world’s most powerful computer is actually the human brain.
This power comes from something called PARALLEL COMPUTING: the ability to solve simultaneous problems with different parts of the brain.
A company called ARM Holdings is working on a computer chip that does the same thing.
This is where the COMPOUNDING… rather than COMPRESSING… comes into play.
Because ARM is doing this by compounding three technologies at the same time:
Robotics, Computer Science and Neuroscience.
In doing so ARM Holdings has created a chip that simulates a neural network. It processes data from silicon retinas in the same way as neurons in the brain do.
Only three years ago the idea of reverse engineering the brain into a computer chip wouldn’t even have seemed like a plausible moon-shot.
It would have been pure science fiction.
Fast-forward to December 2013, and Forbes calls it:
‘One of the most advanced neuroscience projects in the world’.
This is the core point of The ‘Law of Technological Compounding’.
It’s speeding everything up.
Now in there I talk about ARM Holdings.
This was a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, then taken private, then listed more recently on the New York Stock Exchange.
It’s a company that’s been working at the edge of semiconductor technology for decades. And it’s of course continuing to innovate and develop its tech around the way in which AI can be more efficient, both from a processing perspective and energy efficiency perspective.
It is a critical piece of our future puzzle, even a decade after I was writing about the company. Its relevance over the next decade as the AI revolution rolls out, I have no qualms in saying, will likely be equally as important as a company like Nvidia.
In fact, it was only a couple of years back that Nvidia wanted to buy ARM. As I wrote to you in February this year, Nvidia disclosed it even owns a massive chunk of ARM stock.
That’s probably a good sign that if Nvidia thinks it’s good enough to own, it’s probably an important company to its long-term plans too.
Either way, while the world talks about elections, instability and the “rise of the right” I’m researching parallel computing and decentralised distributed AI processing and pondering the new innovations and developments from companies like AI.
I guess you choose the path you want to follow, but for me, optimism and a positive outlook as to what’s coming over the next decade and beyond is way more fun than the other path.
AI gone wild 🤪
I tried once again to utilise the help of AI to illustrate what I’m going to talk about below… but again AI failed me.
For a start, insert the word “Trump” into any AI image generator and it’s pretty much going to respond with…
It certainly seems to me that AI, particularly for images, is getting worse. At least the free stuff is. Of course, if you’re prepared to pay through the teeth, then it’s probably quite good.
But therein lies perhaps the direction of AI – the same way the internet has gone. You get some good stuff, until you’re then having to pay for 15 different subscriptions and then jailed into a platform (like Adobe).
Anyway, I think what I say below I explain better than an image anyway.
So yes, it’s a video from me. This is something new(ish) I want to try – doing video for you on a more regular basis. Check out what I’ve got to say today about Siri, phantom Alexa timers and what Apple has in store today!
Just go to the Substack article here to view.
Would you like to see more regular videos like the above? Let me know in the comments.
And then….
Boomers & Busters 💰
AI and AI-related stocks moving and shaking up the markets this week. (All performance data below over the rolling week.)
Boom 📈
- Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) up 8%
- Oddity Tech (NASDAQ:ODD) up 25%
- Taiwan Semi (NYSE:TSM) up 10%
Bust 📉
- Brainchip (ASX:BRN) down 11%
- Veritone (NASDAQ:VERI) down 13%
- Predictive Oncology (NASDAQ:POAI) down 16%
From the hive mind 🧠
- Microsoft is an AI consultant. That’s because most of its AI R&D is through OpenAI. Interesting take. It’s correct to say that a lot of the AI we do see now is thanks to Google. But this might be a poor take on Microsoft.
- The buzz is all about Apple today, and tomorrow, and probably all week. It’s been slow, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be last. Apple is big, cashed up and still a powerhouse, so never write it off.
- You know what, I agree with Bruckheimer. AI will change and disrupt some jobs and the fears that it will replace a load of others, I think, is grossly overestimated.
Weirdest AI image of the day
Ok class, your substitute teacher for today is… – r/Weirddallee
ChatGPT’s random quote of the day
“The Web does not just connect machines, it connects people.” – Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Thanks for reading, see you next time!
Sam Volkering
Editor-in-Chief, AI Collision
PS If you enjoyed this article, remember that you can sign up for free to AI Collision and you’ll receive a double dose each week on Tuesdays and Thursdays straight to your inbox. Just click here to sign up for free on Substack.
