Tech leaders meet with U.S. Senate

Good morning, and happy FRY-day! Our deep fryer is piping hot with the latest AI news, so let’s dig in. 🍟

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AI USES RETINAL IMAGES TO IMPROVE MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS 👀

Scientists are “looking” for ways to use AI to improve medical diagnostics.

What’s new? Scientists are improving medical diagnostics by developing an AI tool called “RETFound,” capable of diagnosing and predicting multiple health conditions based on retinal images.

How does it work? This publicly available tool employs self-supervised learning, eliminating the need for painstakingly labeling millions of retinal images as 'normal' or 'abnormal.' Instead, it learns from a vast dataset of retinal photos to predict missing image portions. These insights can reveal systemic cardiovascular diseases like hypertension and evaluate neural tissue.

TECH LEADERS MEET WITH U.S. SENATORS 🏛️

The much anticipated meeting between tech leaders and U.S. Senators took place, and nobody is quite sure if anything was done … 🤔

What happened? Senators and tech industry leaders gathered at Chuck Schumer's “AI Insight Forum” in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, sparking urgent discussions about the need for AI legislation. This closed-door meeting brought together over 60 senators and influential figures such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Altman. The consensus emerging from the event was clear: Washington must play a significant role in regulating AI, despite the complex challenges it presents.

What was said? Schumer told reporters, "I asked everyone in the room, does government need to play a role in regulating AI? And every single person raised their hands, even though they had diverse views. That gives us a message—we have to try to act, as difficult as the process is." One central theme that emerged was the importance of maintaining U.S. leadership in AI on the global stage. Industry leaders argued that American companies working in tandem with the government should set the standards for AI, rather than ceding ground to foreign competition.

What does this mean going forward? Schumer believes that AI legislation might be able to follow a bipartisan model similar to the CHIPS and Science Act. This approach involves committees relying on scientific and technical input gathered from forums like the AI Insight Forum. Elon Musk said the meeting "may go down in history as very important to the future of civilization." However, the public still waits for some definitive action.

JAPAN TO CREATE ITS OWN VERSION OF CHAT-GPT 🇯🇵

“French Fries” in Japanese: フライド ポテト 🍟

What’s up? While ChatGPT has garnered global attention, Japan recognizes the need for AI systems that can operate effectively in the Japanese language and understand its unique intricacies. Japan's response to these challenges is to invest heavily in creating its own Japanese large language models (LLMs).

What’s the difficulty? One significant challenge is the stark contrast between the English language, on which most AI language models are based, and Japanese. Japanese text relies on complex characters and various pronunciations. This linguistic complexity often leaves ChatGPT generating unfamiliar characters and words when faced with Japanese queries. Moreover, AI chatbots must not only speak the language but also embody cultural norms. For Japanese users, it's crucial that these bots understand and convey the nuances of Japanese etiquette and customs in conversation.

How are they doing this? Researchers are harnessing supercomputers like Fugaku to develop LLMs tuned specifically for Japanese. These efforts, backed by organizations like the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Fujitsu, aim to release advanced Japanese LLMs in the near future. Shotaro Kinoshita, a researcher in medical technology at the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo, said, “If a Japanese version of ChatGPT can be made accurate, it is expected to bring better results for people who want to learn Japanese or conduct research on Japan. As a result, there may be a positive impact on international joint research.”

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