071 | How OpenAI got its name

Like my music vibe?

A few days ago I wrote about MusicLM, Google’s AI-generating music model. Well, I got early access today and I literally spent 5 minutes playing with it.

This was my prompt:

bass pedals, synths, slow driving beat, reminiscent of driving in a car at night

Ok, likely not going to win me a Grammy, but it is fun and fascinating.

Let’s keep vibin’.

A special welcome 👋 to my NEW SUBSCRIBERS! 

To read previous posts, go here.

In this edition we will

1. extract US Senate hearing outtakes and bombshells

2. dig into a great resource re: other great historic inventions

3. see how a professor misuses ChatGPT to fail his students

4. hear Elon talk about origins of OpenAI

5. get scared by AI robots

Senate Hearing Update: Informative, Not Transformative

Yesterday we had a 3-hour long Senate hearing on if and how to regulate AI. It was a fascinating dialogue with many interesting parts. Here are some takeaways:

• Everyone agrees AI should be regulated

• Nobody know exactly how

• US election interference via AI is a huge concern

• National Security issues were left for another time

• Copy right and jobless is of keen interest but few know right way to address

• Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, shared some ideas on potential regulations such as having something like “nutrition labels” for AI models so we know what is in them and how they were trained. He also suggested safety requirements should be in place before any company deploys a new model (similar to car crash and safety testing).

• Sen. Durbin stated “I can’t recall when we’ve had people representing large corporations or private sector entities come before us and plead with us to regulate them“

• Both OpenAI, IBM and other witnesses present were genuinely praised by many lawmakers for coming to the hearing with concert ideas and striking a contrast between themselves and other BigTech leaders.

For some of the, shall we say, entertaining or bombshell moments, let’s use Twitter.

🤖Senate Chairman Richard Blumenthal, actually used his own AI-generated voice recording and ChatGPT for the opening remark.

🤑Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, “needs a lawyer or an agent” as he admitted he has zero equity in OpenAI and only gets paid enough for health insurance.

🍿For those who want to watch the full hearing go here. If you want jut the highlights condensed down into a 23 minute version this is a cool recap 👇

FREE 5-day email course.

🆓 ⭐️ FYI I built this for anyone brand new to ChatGPT

• Beginners Introduction to ChatGPT
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Sign up here: https://brainyacts.joshkubicki.com/course

Tool you can Use: Presentation Material

If you have to give talks or explain GenAI to folks, this is a nice collection of other historic inventions and how society reacted to them at first.

This resource can be used in several ways to introduce people to generative AI. Here are some suggestions:

1. Drawing Parallels: By highlighting the initial reluctance and eventual acceptance of innovations such as the printing press, the telephone, and the personal computer, one can draw parallels with generative AI. This helps contextualize AI as part of the ongoing evolution of technology that continually transforms society, even if it is met with initial resistance.

2. Demonstrating Impact: Each invention mentioned in the resource revolutionized its respective field, and in some cases, society as a whole. Similarly, generative AI has the potential to reshape many sectors, from creative writing and art to problem-solving and decision-making. By drawing comparisons between the impact of these past inventions and the potential impact of generative AI, one can help others understand its significance.

3. Educating Through Historical Precedents: The resource provides useful information about the development of each invention, including the challenges and breakthroughs involved. This can serve as a precedent to discuss the development of generative AI, highlighting the scientific advances and challenges that have been overcome to reach its current state.

4. Fostering Open-mindedness: The resource illustrates how skepticism towards new technologies is a recurring pattern throughout history. This can foster open-mindedness towards generative AI by encouraging individuals to recognize this pattern and consider the potential benefits of embracing this new technology.

5. Encouraging Exploration: The resource's approach of revealing the evolution of each invention could be replicated to introduce generative AI. By guiding individuals through the development and capabilities of generative AI, one can encourage exploration and discovery, helping to demystify the technology.

News you can Use: 

This is not how ChatGPT (err Chat GTP) works

Let's look at a recent case that has caused quite a stir online. A screenshot shared by a Texas A&M student reveals that their professor, lacking a proper understanding of ChatGPT, used it incorrectly. As a result, some students failed their course, which in turn blocked them from graduating. This event has gained significant attention on Reddit in the past 24 hours, and major news outlets have also started covering it.

The exact circumstances of the situation are still a bit murky, but one thing is clear: the professor is far from being an expert in using ChatGPT. His lack of familiarity with ChatGPT's quirks and tendencies in generating responses led him to accept its outputs at face value - something any seasoned user, like you, our dear Brainyacts reader, would avoid doing.

So, what exactly did the professor do? He decided to check the authenticity of each student's papers by feeding them into ChatGPT and asking the model if it had written the paper. However, this approach is flawed. ChatGPT does not have the capacity to remember what it has written before, and moreover, it often claims authorship of texts it didn't actually produce. The professor's mistaken belief that ChatGPT is a reliable fact-checker underscores the potential dangers of human errors when heavily relying on AI.

Elon Musk on OpenAI, Google, and why he broke from OpenAI

This is worth a listen to help understand where OpenAI comes from.

News you can Lose: 

Rise of the Robots

This might be freaky. It might be cool. But for right now it is nothing to get too hyped up about. But something to monitor.

DISCLAIMER: None of this is legal advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not legal advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any legal decisions. Please /be careful and do your own research.8