Author HubMaximilian Schreiner

Max is managing editor at THE DECODER. As a trained philosopher, he deals with consciousness, AI, and the question of whether machines can really think or just pretend to.
AI research

Study reveals AI models have hidden capabilities they can't access through normal prompts

AI in practice

Tesla unveils Cybercab robot taxi, but robot Optimus is the bigger deal

AI and society
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman denies rumors of giant equity stake as company considers restructuring

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AI and society
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The German Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament representing the 16 federal states, is pushing for stricter laws against deepfakes. It has proposed a bill to protect personal rights from such realistic-looking media content, which is increasingly being generated using AI. The core of the draft is a new paragraph 201b of the German Criminal Code (StGB), which would punish the dissemination of computer-generated or altered recordings that violate personal rights with a fine or imprisonment of up to two years. Those who make such content publicly accessible or distribute deepfakes related to highly personal matters could face up to five years in prison. The Bundesrat justifies its proposal by stating that deepfakes pose "considerable dangers both to individual personal rights and assets and to the democratic process of forming opinions." The bill will now be introduced in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, which will then decide on it. The government has previously acknowledged that instruments to combat AI-generated videos have not been sufficient so far and that action is needed.

AI in practice
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RX1 is a humanoid open-source robot that can be built for under $1,000. RX1, the first project from Red Rabbit Robotics, is a human-sized two-armed robot that can grip and place objects. It can be controlled remotely via a connection to a computer using machine learning or a VR headset. The project uses 3D-printed and commercially available components. With the RX1 Humanoid Servo, plans for the first component are now available on GitHub. More build plans, software, and instructions will be released in the coming weeks.

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AI and society
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Germany is a leader in AI research, but lags behind the US and China when it comes to translating it into products, according to an analysis by KfW. According to chief economist Fritzi Köhler-Geib, Germany is struggling to translate research into applications. Germany imports significantly more AI products than it exports and is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign providers, Köhler-Geib told DW. Germany also lags far behind China (29 percent) and the US (27 percent) in terms of AI patent applications (6 percent). Professor Alexander Löser of the Berlin University of Applied Sciences also sees Germany primarily as a customer for AI services from abroad. Many local talents would work abroad. Strict regulations also hinder access to training data. KfW and Löser call for better access to data, more investment in AI research and development, and more training opportunities.

DW
AI in practice
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Google Deepmind has launched Multimodal Canvas, an experimental testing console for developers. With a valid API key, they can use Gemini 1.5 Flash to quickly test multimodal prompts with text, drawings, camera shots, and other images. Gemini 1.5 Flash is faster and less expensive than the larger Gemini 1.5 Pro, and supports a 1 million token context window.

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AI in practice
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According to Android Authority, Google is planning to introduce a number of new AI features under the "Google AI" brand for the Pixel 9 series. In addition to existing features like Circle to Search and Gemini, there are three new ones: "Add Me" is designed to make sure everyone is in a group photo, and builds on the Best Take feature. "Studio" could become an AI image generator similar to Apple's Image Playground. The most interesting new feature is "Pixel Screenshots", a more privacy-friendly alternative to Microsoft's controversial Recall feature. Instead of automatically recording everything, it only works with self-created screenshots that are enriched with metadata and analyzed by a local AI. The screenshots can then be searched for content and questions can be asked.

AI in practice
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Perplexity AI has released an enhanced version of Pro Search. Pro Search can now answer questions with multiple steps, perform advanced math and programming tasks through the integration of the Wolfram|Alpha engine, and perform intelligent actions based on search results, such as follow-up searches. Pro Search is available free of charge to all users five times every four hours. The startup and its "answer engine" are currently being criticized for possible copyright infringement and questionable data collection practices.

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AI and society
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Apple is sending App Store boss Phil Schiller to the board of OpenAI. According to Bloomberg, Schiller will be given an observer role without voting rights. As an observer, he will not become a full member of the board, but will have insight into the company's decision-making processes. This puts Apple on an equal footing with Microsoft, OpenAI's largest financial backer and technology partner. The agreement follows Apple's announcement in June that it would also integrate ChatGPT into its devices with Apple Intelligence. At present, the partnership is not of a financial nature. Instead, OpenAI gains access to hundreds of millions of potential users, while Apple gains access to the technology. Apple is also in talks with Google, Anthropic, Baidu and Alibaba about further AI offerings.

Google News

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AI and society

US court ruling backs schools' right to penalize students for AI cheating

AI research

Study reveals AI models have hidden capabilities they can't access through normal prompts

AI research

Scaling laws for precision: AI researcher sees "perfect storm" for the end of scale

Google News