Two researchers from Virginia Tech recently published a study: “Representations and Consequences of Race in AI Systems.“

I'm thrilled that the co-authors of the study, Dr. Broderick Turner (Assistant Professor of Marketing at Virginia Tech) and Angela Yi (Doctoral Candidate at Virginia Tech) could join AI-Curious to discuss the takeaways from their study, and more broadly, help us unpack the complicated intersection between AI and race. When should AI models include race? When should they *ignore* race?

Or more to the point, how should AI developers be thinking about race?

Dr. Turner and Angela get into all of this, offering concrete advice for those building AI.

https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/08/pamplin-race-ai.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X24000447?dgcid=author

https://www.jointhetrap.com/

Welcome to the debut episode of The Weekly AI Edge!

This is part of the AI-Curious podcast. Each week you'll be getting short, punchy roundups of key AI news. We'll get you in and out.

This week:

A company called Weave Robotics announced that it's now taking pre-orders for humanoid robots that can do household chores -- like fold laundry, feed your dog, etc. This is just the latest development in humanoid robots, coming fast on the heels of other updates from companies ranging from OpenAI to Tesla.

And 3 quick things:
1. Apple gets ready to launch Apple Intelligence... and why this is a sneaky-big deal.
2. Trump gets AI-pic treatment with kittens and ducks...in more AI-fueled election misinformation.
3. OpenAI ready to release its biggest update since ChatGPT4?

Enjoy the ep!

https://www.weaverobots.com/

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/new-details-on-openais-strawberry-apples-siri-makeover-larry-ellison-doubles-down-on-data-centers

Fun announcement!

Starting next week, AI-Curious will be serving up two episodes each week:

1) One long-form interview with thought leaders in the space (what we've been doing for the past week), and..

2) "The Edge," a weekly roundup of AI news. This will be short, punchy, and fun(ish). Each week we'll have one headline topic, and then three quick things. That's it. No muss, no fuss. For busy people who want to stay abreast of key developments in the AI space, but don't want to devote a ton of time to do it.

Gonna be a fun ride!

Happy Anniversary!

Exactly one year ago, we launched AI-Curious. We've published an episode every week since, rain or shine, work or holiday, human or AI. We've spoken with CEOs, philosophers, artists, inventors -- but it all started with a conversation with two Hollywood producers: John Attanasio and Luisa Huang, the cofounders of Toonstar studios.

Toonstar has been using AI for years to make technology -- particularly animation -- easier, cheaper, and faster for creators. This makes it more inclusive. And in the past year they have been VERY busy. So for our one-year anniversary, I wanted to invite John and Luisa back on the pod as our first-ever repeat guests.

Since we spoke, Toonstar launched the hit series StEvEn & Parker, which now has over 30 million weekly YouTube videos. AI is a big part of the story.

We get into the current vibes of AI and Hollywood (the good, the bad, and the contrarian), how projects like StEvEn & Parker help "expand the pie," and much of the nuance of how the industry is thinking about artificial intelligence.

Enjoy the episode and Happy Anniversary.

StEvEn & Parker
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT62Tu2qTUQUsHfo4E0X9_Q

Deadline's story on StEvEn & Parker
https://deadline.com/2024/03/steven-parker-random-house-toonstar-parker-james-deal-1235848736/

Toonstar
https://www.toonstar.com

AI, as even its supporters acknowledge, has many problems today. Just a few: Concerns over data privacy, creators not getting compensated for supplying the data that trains the AI models, lack of trust of Big Tech AI, a shortage of the high-powered chips needed to train AI, debates over censorship, and on and on.

Could Decentralized AI be the answer?

I'm joined today by Mark Rydon, cofounder of Aethir, one of the leading companies in Decentralized AI. Aethir is working, essentially, to make it easier for more people to gain access to the GPUs needed to train AI -- wherever they are on the globe.

Mark and I walk through the current challenges of "centralized" (or Big Tech) AI, consider the merits of a Decentralized approach, take a sober look at the challenges that need to be overcome, and then hear about how Aethir is working to crack the problem.

Fun episode - enjoy!

Aethir:
https://aethir.com/

Mark Rydon on Twitter/X:
https://x.com/MRRydon

Mark Rydon on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrydon/?originalSubdomain=sg

Can AI help us live forever?

Okay, that's the click-baitey version of the question, but the real version is far more nuanced. Our guest today is a leader of the transhumanism movement -- Dr. Natasha Vita-More -- and she explains what it is, what it's *not*, how AI is involved, and why we are likely to see a dramatic improvement to our lifespan...

Dr. Vita-More dispels some common misconceptions, that transhumanism is just trying to turn us into cyborgs. The roots of transhumanism, at heart, go back to the birth of philosophy -- she's as inspired by Plato as she is the latest tech.

We get into all of this, from advancements in data analysis to nano-robots that can repair our cells.

Super fun conversation - hope you enjoy.

Dr. Natasha Vita-More on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natasha_Vita-More

https://www.natashavita-more.com/

https://x.com/NatashaVitaMore

Is AI going to replace writers? Or is AI just terrible at writing?

Maybe neither of these viewpoints is accurate. Instead, AI can be a tool to help people write -- whether that's fiction or academia or emails to your boss.

Today's guest, Mushtaq Bilal, PhD, is a master at using AI to assist with writing projects. He writes about this prolifically on Twitter/X and LinkedIn, and he's widely regarded as being at the forefront of writing and AI. A postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern Denmark, he's also the co-founder of Research Kick, an AI-powered tool designed specifically for academic researchers.

Mushtaq and I get deep into the nuance of using AI to assist with writing projects -- from helping with structure to identifying blind-spots to critiquing our own work. We also get into the merits of Custom GPTs, which can be sneakily leveraged to help with our writing.

If you do any writing of any kind, I suspect you'll get something out of this. Enjoy the show!

Mushtaq Bilal
https://x.com/MushtaqBilalPhD
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mushtaqbilalphd/

Research Kick
https://www.researchkick.com/