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- The Awful State of AI in California
The Awful State of AI in California
Yohei Nakajima Interview, Robots Could Save Japan, Microsoft AI PC, How AI will reinvent Marketing
Hi everyone,
This is Lore, the techno-optimist newsletter.
Every week, I share 5 interesting things, blending insights from Life, Techno-optimism, and Business. From personal growth and inspiration for the future to groundbreaking AI advancements, I offer my perspective to help you stay informed and ahead of the curve.
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P.S. Check out the latest episode of The Next Wave. In this episode, we talked about AI agents with Yohei Nakajima. Watch it here!
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1) The Awful State of AI in California
Today, California took a massive step backward by passing the âAI Safety & Innovation Billâ in the Senate.
Senator Scott Wiener, infamous in my old home of San Francisco for pushing questionable legislation, has outdone himself.
The Senate passed our AI safety & innovation bill, SB 1047.
SB 1047 promotes innovation & ensures developers of the largest, most powerful AI models keep safety in mind.
I look forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders to make sure this bill is as good as it can be.
â Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener)
2:10 AM ⢠May 22, 2024
Wild to see him gleefully cheering for the destruction of progress and prosperity in California.
Iâd like to think heâs not doing it on purpose and doesnât understand that heâs helping pass a bill that could choke the life out of open-source innovation in California.
Innovation Killing Bill
My understanding of the bill is that it essentially forces creators of large language models (LLMs) to sign under penalty of perjury that their LLMs can't cause harmâŚ
How do we define harm?
Do we hold hammer makers accountable for the potential misuse of their tools?
It also makes it so that if your model could be modified to be dangerous, the model itself is considered dangerous. Iâm no legal expert, but that sounds like a ban on open-source AI.
Silicon Valley Speaks Out
This is such an awful bill.
Weiner chooses to listen to two Canadian academics and a fringe group in Berkeley over many Ca. voices who will have to deal with this nonsense.
This is absolutely anti little tech, anti open source, and anti AI research and innovation.
Expecting developers to prevent âunsafe modificationâ or âmalicious useâ of an AI model. Requiring them to enable âfull shutdownâ of all copies of a model. This bill was either written by someone who doesnât understand open source development or is determined to kill it.
Regulationâs 2nd & 3rd Order Effects
I always hear the argument that âplanes are heavily regulated, and thatâs why they donât crash.â So, we should regulate AI. But planes werenât heavily regulated at the beginning, were they?
Imagine if the Wright Brothers were prevented from conducting their flight experiments in the fields of Ohio. Because some clueless politician with no real-world experience was worried that their gravity-defying marvels might crash sometime.
What if they had to sign under penalty of perjury that their airplane experiments could cause no harm? Weâd still be taking boats everywhere.
And without the invention of flying, there are so many things we wouldnât have invented. Spaceships, rockets, satellites, solar panels, water purification systems, etc.
Thatâs the kind of thing these Senators arenât thinking about. When you slow down technological progress, you prevent the invention of new things that move humanity forward. Which is the basis for our modern, thriving civilization.
Weâre either moving forward, or weâre sliding backward.
Call To Arms
AI is a bigger invention than even the airplane. And we are just now at the beginning of its birth.
We have yet to discover all the progress and inventions it will bring to America and the world. We cannot allow this better future to be squandered by politicians who don't respect builders or understand the foundations upon which our society stands.
It's time for us to stand up, make our voices heard, and protect the future of AI innovation in Silicon Valley, no matter where you live.
I urge you to contact Governor Gavin Newsom's office to express your thoughts on this bill and protect innovation in California. You can also call his office at (916) 445-2841.
2) The Next Wave with Yohei Nakajima
In this weekâs episode of The Next Wave, Matt Wolfe and I spoke with Yohei Nakajima about the state of AI agents, how Yohei played a key role in giving me the confidence to start the podcast, the future of AI agents, and much more.
I hope youâll check it out!
It would also help if you subscribed to The Next Wave on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify. Thatâd make HubSpot and me very happy. If you enjoy the show, please leave a comment or review. If you have any negative feedback, feel free to DM me. đ
3) Robots Could Save Japan
This week, the yen continued its downward spiral, which I previously wrote about on X.
The most likely reason? Japan's rapid population decline, as seen in this chart:
Modern economies depend on growth, typically from productivity and population increases. So, when the population declines, the current system doesn't work.
But, hey, letâs stay positive. There is a lot of hope for Japan!
AI could bring enough productivity gains to help Japan (and other nations) offset the decline. Having called Japan home for almost two years, I'm rooting for Nihon.
Japan's secret weapon that no one talks about is its absolute cultural obsession with everything that beeps and boops. They freakin love robots.
In San Francisco, people are burning Waymo cars and trying to Mike Tyson KO robots.
But in Japan, robots are everywhere in pop culture. I mean, theyâve got a giant Gundam statue in Yokohama. If anyone accepts robots into their daily lives, it will be Japan.
Given recent tensions with China, I believe the USA and Japan will become major allies in manufacturing robots.
As Japan's population ages and there aren't enough caregivers for the elderly, robots could be the saving grace. They're already making strides in this area, with companies like SoftBank Robotics developing AI-powered companions to assist seniors.
Lately, there have been a ton of exciting developments in robotics that give me hope.
I created a thread showcasing some examples, and it's already been seen by over 2.3 million people. Check it out:
ROBOTS are getting insanely good.
I predict 2025 will be when robots explode in popularity. Humanity's future is bright.
10 incredible examples:
â Nathan Lands â Lore.com (@NathanLands)
11:41 AM ⢠May 20, 2024
Personally, I plan to live out my days in the robot wonderland of Kyotoâand who knows, maybe I'll even get involved in making that robot-assisted future a reality...
So, while Japan faces severe challenges, I believe their embrace of AI & robots will save the land of the rising sun Iâve come to love.
4) Microsoft AI PC
Microsoft made several major announcements about its AI initiatives this week from its Redmond campus. The big one was Copilot+ PCs that integrate AI features into the OS.
For a detailed breakdown, I recommend watching Matt's video:
Much like Google's recent announcements, Microsoftâs felt like information overload.
They even talked about adding AI to Microsoft Paint. Do we need that? I didnât even know Microsoft Paint still existed.
The one product that did catch my attention, though, was Recall.
Recall allows users to search across time to find content on their PC by creating an explorable timeline of the PCâs past. It takes snapshots of your screen every five seconds when the content changes, stores these locally and allows for natural language searches to retrieve specific moments, such as a photo, link, or message.
I know what youâre thinkingâscary Black Mirror stuff. But this could be amazing and a great first step towards having AI proactively help you because it knows a lot about you. Instead of needing constant prompts.
I worry a bit about if that data got hacked, but Microsoft says all of it is being processed on your local PC, not in the cloud, so itâs somewhat safe. Hopefully.
Microsoft and Devin
One of Microsoft's biggest announcements was its deal with Cognition, the creators of Devin, which they call âthe first AI software engineer.â
This partnership, in combination with their efforts at GitHub, could have major implications for the future of coding.
I am bullish on OS-level integration with AI, and Microsoft's announcements are a step in the right direction. However, their current implementation still feels half-baked.
5) Things Iâm Reading Or Watching
How To Use The New ChatGPT Desktop App Right Now - This video from my co-host Matt Wolfe shows how to use the new ChatGPT app on Mac.
How AI will reinvent MarketingâAndrew Chen's article is great about the future of marketing with AI. And of course, I had to include it since he included one of my suggestions, âinstant internationalization.â
Windows CEO on How They're Gonna Spy On You - Funny reaction video from Asmongold. Itâs good to hear how different kinds of people react to AI news outside of my AI Twitter bubble.
BONUS) Inspiration
Here we go. My exclusive interview with Neuralink's first patient Noland Arbaugh @ModdedQuad
â Ashlee Vance (@ashleevance)
11:11 AM ⢠May 16, 2024
Thatâs all for today.
Letâs keep accelerating together!
-Nathan Lands
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