World champions lose drone race to AI

Good morning, and happy FRYday! Today, we celebrate French fries and explore the freshest and crispiest updates in the world of AI. 🍟

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AI-OPERATED DRONES BEAT WORLD CHAMPIONS IN RACES 🦾

AI-powered drones are capable of flying with extreme accuracy and speed, which might make French fry delivery that much more efficient! 😀

What happened? An algorithm, developed by researchers at the University of Zurich, managed to outperform three expert drone racers on a 3D race course.

How did the drone perform? This algorithm, known as Swift AI,secured victory in 15 out of 25 races against reigning world champions. It even set a new record for the fastest lap on a track where drones reach mind-boggling speeds of 50mph (80km/h) and endure accelerations of up to 5g, which is a force powerful enough to cause blackouts in many individuals.

How was the drone trained? Swift AI harnesses the power of deep reinforcement learning, a sophisticated technique that enabled it to determine the most effective commands for gracefully maneuvering around the race circuit. Throughout its training—which relied heavily on trail and error—Swift AI endured countless crashes as it honed its skills. Fortunately, these crashes occurred within a simulation, giving the researchers the ability to easily restart the learning process.

Why is this significant? Elia Kaufmann, a researcher who helped to develop Swift AI, said, “Our result marks the first time that a robot powered by AI has beaten a human champion in a real physical sport designed for and by humans.”

What did the racers think? Losing the races left the world champions with mixed feelings. One remarked, “This is the start of something that could change the whole world. On the flip side, I’m a racer, I don’t want anything to be faster than me.”

U.S. GOVERNMENT BANS CHIP EXPORT TO MIDDLE EAST 🚫

The U.S. government is banning “chips” left and right … but they haven’t yet banned fries! 🍟

What’s new? The United States has extended restrictions on the export of advanced AI chips manufactured by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) beyond China, including select Middle Eastern countries.

Why? This move signifies a broader effort to regulate the global distribution of these sophisticated chips for “national security reasons.” While Nvidia's A100 and H100 chips—geared towards accelerating machine-learning tasks—are subject to these curbs, the company has stated that these limitations won't immediately impact its financial outcomes due to deals being made with the U.S. government. AMD has also confirmed similar restrictions but assured that there would be no significant impact on its revenue.

What does this mean? While this move highlights the effects of AI development to transform military operations and civilian life, it also underscores the government’s continued attempt to restrain worldwide AI development rather than learn more about safe innovation and cooperate globally in this domain.

UBER-EATS DEVELOPING CHATBOT FEATURE 🍔

UberEats is using AI to make ordering your favorite salty snacks much easier! 🍟

What’s up? As part of a race to integrate AI into popular apps, UberEats is developing a chatbot that will help customers get more personalized recommendations and help them place orders more efficiently.

How will this work? Upon launching the chatbot, the user will see a message that reads, “This AI assistant was designed to help you find relevant restaurant dishes and more.” This will allow users to type in their food budget and preferences about the type of food they desire and their ideal delivery time, offering a conversational style of searching for the most convenient, delicious meal.

FRY-AI FANATIC OF THE WEEK 🍟

Congrats to our subscriber, Marty! 🎉

Marty gave us a fresh and crispy and commented, “It’s a hot potato filled to the top with mounds of valuable information that can easily be digested. Hold the bacon.”

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