• Future Perfect
  • Posts
  • #48. 📜 AI constitution | 💨 US' largest offshore wind turbine farm | 🚘 Porsche's Mobileye-powered AVs

#48. 📜 AI constitution | 💨 US' largest offshore wind turbine farm | 🚘 Porsche's Mobileye-powered AVs

Plus: OpenAI's LLM explainer tool | China's AI | EV battery supply chain | China's deep-sea floating wind farm | Nikola's fuel cell trucks | Tesla's new lithium refinery

🤖 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

OpenAI is developing a tool to shed light on the functionality of large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, which are often viewed as opaque. The tool aims to identify which parts of an LLM are responsible for specific behaviors. Using a language model, it attempts to determine the functions of simpler LLMs, like GPT-2. The tool works by simulating the behaviors of neurons in an LLM, breaking models into individual pieces, and having GPT-4 generate explanations for highly active neurons. The accuracy of these explanations is assessed through their ability to predict a neuron's behavior. Despite its early-stage development, the tool has produced explanations for all 307,200 neurons in GPT-2. Its creators suggest it could potentially enhance LLM performance, for example by reducing bias or toxicity, although they acknowledge it has a long journey to reach substantial usefulness.

Anthropic, an AI startup, has unveiled its unique approach to training text-generating AI systems, dubbed as "constitutional AI". This technique aims to instill "values" defined by a "constitution" into AI systems, making their behaviors both more comprehensible and easier to adjust. To tackle the biases and flaws common in AI systems, Anthropic uses a constitution of principles that guide the AI model in making judgments about the text it generates. These principles are applied in two stages of training. Firstly, one model uses the principles to critique and revise its own responses. Secondly, another model is trained using AI-generated feedback based on the first model and the set of principles. The startup argues that this approach is superior to systems like ChatGPT, as it eliminates the need for human feedback, which does not scale well and can vary in quality and consistency. Anthropic also suggests that constitutional AI offers greater transparency. The principles used by Anthropic are drawn from various sources, including the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights and guidelines from AI labs like Google DeepMind.

This article discusses the competition between the US and China in generative AI. Despite leading in some AI research areas, China lags behind in developing foundation models, the core of generative AI systems. This is due to three factors: data availability, hardware constraints due to US export controls, and lack of expertise. To overcome these issues, China is releasing more data, finding ways around hardware restrictions, and leveraging open-source models. However, despite possible technological advancements, China's ability to implement AI widely in its economy may be hindered by its regulatory environment and a lack of tech-savvy professionals.

🤖🔗🤯 COOL AI TOOLS, APPS, VIDEOS, PODCASTS, LINKS, AND MORE!

  • LearnPrompting.org: A guide to communicating with AI chatbots like ChatGPT.

  • Kadoa.com: AI-powered website scraping.

  • Ora.ai: Use and build your own custom chatbots incorporating Stable Diffusion.

🌡️ CLIMATE CHANGE & CLEAN ENERGY

The article discusses the critical role that batteries play in the electric vehicle market, and outlines the various stages of the battery supply chain, from mining and processing minerals to battery manufacturing and recycling. It notes that the EV battery supply chain is a complex and important part of the transition to a greener transportation system, and that improvements in battery technology and production are key to the mass adoption of electric vehicles.

China's first deep-sea floating wind platform, Haiyou Guanlan, is ready to become operational. Constructed by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the platform's installation of a 5,000-meter undersea cable has been completed. The cable, expected to have a 25-year lifespan, connects the wind platform to offshore oil and gas platforms in Hainan Province, southern China. The 7.25 MW wind turbine of Haiyou Guanlan is anticipated to generate around 22 million kWh annually, meeting the equivalent yearly electricity demand of 30,000 people, while reducing CO2 emissions by 22,000 tons.

The Port of Long Beach has unveiled plans for the largest offshore wind turbine facility at any U.S. port. The project, named Pier Wind, will feature floating wind turbines as tall as the Eiffel Tower, assembled at the port and towed by sea to various locations in California. Each 1,100-foot-tall turbine is expected to generate up to 20 megawatts of energy, contributing to California's renewable energy goals. The ambitious initiative requires the creation of approximately 400 acres of new land and is projected to cost nearly $5 billion. While construction won't start for over three years, the facility could be operational by 2035.

🚗 AUTONOMOUS & ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Nikola (NKLA) has announced a strategic pivot towards North America and fuel cell trucks following its Q1 earnings report. The EV and FCEV maker, which produced 63 Tre battery electric trucks in Q1, plans to concentrate on its strengths, including hydrogen fuel cell trucks and the North American market. Consequently, Nikola is selling its stake in its European joint venture with Iveco Group, gaining $35 million in cash and a return of 20.6 million shares. Despite recently revealing the Nikola Tre BEV truck for the European market with Iveco, Nikola believes its first-mover advantage in North America offers a greater opportunity in the commercial trucking market. The company's Q1 earnings missed Wall Street estimates, reporting $11.1 million in revenue and a net loss of $169.1 million.

Tesla has begun construction on its new lithium refinery near Corpus Christi, Texas, aiming to produce enough battery-grade lithium to support the manufacturing of one million electric vehicles annually. Initially announced in September 2022, the facility is intended to generate lithium hydroxide for Tesla's own battery cell production at Gigafactory Texas in Austin. The $365 million project, expected to employ around 165 full-time staff plus 250 construction workers, is set to complete construction in 2024 and commence production in 2025. CEO Elon Musk said the factory will leverage a new production technology to enhance industry efficiency, while also planning to import lithium ore and utilize lithium from recycled batteries.

Porsche has partnered with Mobileye, Intel's autonomous driving unit, to incorporate hands-free automated assistance and navigation functions in future sports cars. Mobileye's SuperVision technology platform will underpin the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in Porsche's upcoming vehicles. SuperVision can autonomously follow navigation routes, change lanes, and overtake slower vehicles on multi-lane roads, allowing drivers to remove their hands from the steering wheel on certain roads, provided they remain alert. The collaboration follows Volkswagen's and Ford's withdrawal from autonomous vehicle tech company Argo AI. Porsche will integrate Mobileye's ADAS fully into its future models, with its own engineers developing custom systems to monitor driver attention.

🎉 THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY! PLEASE VOTE BELOW BEFORE LEAVING!

What'd you think of today's newsletter?

This helps me improve them for you!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Thanks for reading! If you're a fan of Future Perfect, please be sure to share it with your friends and colleagues with this link.

Thanks! 🙏-Marc 👋

Looking for past newsletters? You can find them all here.

Reply

or to participate.