5 things about AI you may have missed today: Alibaba launches AI models, Microsoft President warns against AI, more

AI Roundup: Microsoft President Brad Smith today warned against the rapid development of AI as it could lead to tech companies making similar mistakes as the early years of social media. On the other hand, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna claimed that AI could not only increase productivity, but also lower business costs.

All this, and more in our today’s AI roundup.

1. Alibaba launches two AI models

With the growing demands in the field of AI, Alibaba launched two AI models on Friday. As per a CNBC report, the two models, named Qwen-VL and Qwen-VL-Chat, will be open source, allowing developers around the world to utilize them. The Qwen-VL-Chat bot is capable of carrying out more complex conversations than its predecessor and it can answer a multitude of questions. It can also generate images from image inputs. On the other hand, Qwen-VL can create captions for images and respond to open-ended questions.

2. AI hologram generator ProtoGPT to launch on September 8

Holographic communications platform Proto announced on Friday that it will be launching ProtoGPT on September 8. This program can generate conversational AI avatars for enterprises. As per the release, ProtoGPT would offer holographic visuals with advanced AI conversational capabilities, and its first creation will be ProtoBot, an AI hologram chatbot that will be bundled with every Proto hologram unit.

3. Viz.ai to commercialize AI algorithms for automated detection of diseases

Viz.ai, a company that specializes in AI-powered disease detection and intelligent care coordination, on Friday, announced that it has signed an exclusive agreement with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to commercialize three AI algorithms for the automated detection of cardiovascular diseases. As per the release, the algorithms would help in the detection of cardiac amyloidosis, pulmonary hypertension, and supraventricular tachycardia by analyzing electrocardiograms (ECGs).

4. Microsoft President says AI could repeat social media era’s mistakes

With controversies surrounding AI and its regulation, Microsoft President Brad Smith suggested that the rapid developments in AI could risk the same mistakes that happened during the early years of social media. Speaking at a business forum on Friday, Smith said, “We need to be clear-eyed, we need to be excited about the opportunities, but thoughtful, perhaps even concerned, about the downside. And we need to construct the guardrails from the outset”, as per a report by AFP.

5. AI could lead to more productive jobs, says IBM’s CEO

While one of the biggest dangers of AI has been the loss of jobs, IBM’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said that it could free up people for more productive jobs. Speaking at the B20 Summit India 2023 on Friday, Chandra highlighted that responsible development of AI could not only lead to more productivity but could also lower business costs, as per a PTI report.

“Inside IBM, we think about 20 per cent of the total activity, which we call lower order cognitive work, about 30 per cent of that can be easily made productive through AI. That frees up more people to do more value adding work. It's not that there aren't jobs. If you have productivity then you can access way more clients. You can provide things at a lower cost point”, Krishna said.