Last week, two remarkable events occurred: Meta announced its Llama 3, the most capable and highly anticipated open large language model (LLM) to date, and Boston Dynamics introduced its new fully electric Atlas robot platform — a stark departure from their hydraulic robots! At first glance, these developments may seem unrelated, but they are actually deeply interconnected, with the potential to synergistically drive each other forward and reshape how we work with and implement AI.

At the heart of this connection is the transformative power of advanced AI. Breakthroughs in natural language processing and machine learning, exemplified by Llama 3, extend beyond language alone. These techniques, from deep neural networks to reinforcement learning, are also propelling significant advancements in computer vision, motion planning, and robot control. As language models like Llama 3 continue to expand the boundaries of AI’s ability to understand and interact with the world, they also lay the groundwork for more intelligent and capable robots.

The implications, of course, extend beyond communication. The same techniques used to train LLMs on vast amounts of text data are also applicable to learning from massive datasets of sensor readings, images, and simulations for robots. Moreover, the open-source nature of models like Llama 3 democratizes access to state-of-the-art AI, enabling a broader spectrum of researchers and companies to integrate these capabilities into their robotic systems. At least start playing on that field!

Every successful (and unsuccessful) attempt by Atlas to manipulate an object, navigate a cluttered factory floor, or assist a human worker becomes a valuable data point for the model, just as it does for Llama 3. Using this innovative model, Meta developed a standalone app, meta.ai, and embedded it into WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, collecting vast and highly personalized data. This could lead us toward synthetic social networks or — which is more likely — an extremely personalized, embodied AI experience. As Llama 3 and the electric Atlas converge, they may accelerate each other’s development, blurring the lines between software and hardware, bits and atoms. As language models become more proficient at understanding and interacting with the world, robots will become more capable of applying that knowledge.

This doesn’t necessarily mean evil. More capable and advanced robots, which can be fine-tuned and improved with your personal data and specifics, could take over mundane tasks at home. Imagine, instead of hundreds of text editors, finally having a robot that can load and unload the dishwasher and do the laundry.

Currently, launches like Llama 3 are seen as enhancing AI’s understanding and processing capabilities, but in the long term, they will be one of the milestones in building and deploying machines that are finely attuned and aligned with us to assist in our daily lives.

https://youtu.be/29ECwExc-_M?si=UyexFH1jOfd5TGY9&embedable=true

Other Impressive Models:

(I didn’t send you the FOD digest last Monday because I was at a conference dedicated to citizen diplomacy. Therefore, today, we have an extensive list of recently launched models that are worth checking out, along with other relevant research papers.)

News from The Usual Suspects ©

Google

Hugging Face

https://x.com/QGallouedec/status/1782430246957994422?embedable=true

Stanford

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I write a weekly analysis of the AI world in the Turing Post newsletter. We aim to equip you with comprehensive knowledge and historical insights so you can make informed decisions about AI and ML.