🤖 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

OpenAI, DeepMind will open up models to UK government

• Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic have agreed to give the UK government access to their AI models for research and safety assessment purposes, as announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at London Tech Week.

• The priority access to these AI models aims to build better evaluations of AI systems, understand their opportunities and risks, and ensure their safe deployment.

• The UK government published an AI white paper earlier this year outlining a "pro-innovation" approach, while PM Sunak recently emphasized the need for regulatory "guardrails."

• The UK is planning a global summit on AI safety to be held in the fall, aiming to position itself as the "geographical home of global AI safety regulation."

• A Foundation Model Taskforce, backed by £100 million of funding, will be launched to pioneer research on AI safety and assurance techniques.

• Both Anthropic and OpenAI recently opened European headquarters in the UK, and Palantir announced it will establish an AI research hub in the country, indicating a growing AI industry presence in the region.

The AI feedback loop: Researchers warn of ‘model collapse’ as AI trains on AI-generated content

• As AI increasingly trains on AI-generated content rather than human-generated content, researchers from the UK and Canada have observed a phenomenon they call "model collapse," wherein AI models degrade over time and misperceive reality.

• "Model collapse" is described as a degenerative process where AI models, when learning from data produced by other models, progressively deviate from the original data distribution and thus distort reality, with the models forgetting the original data they learned from.

• Researchers found that generative models tend to overfit for popular data, leading to misinterpretation or misrepresentation of less common data. This issue compounds over time, causing models that learn from AI-generated data to produce more errors and exhibit less variety in their responses.

• To avoid "model collapse," the researchers suggest retaining a "prestige copy" of the original human-produced dataset and periodically retraining the model on this data. Another strategy is to regularly reintroduce new, clean, human-generated datasets into the training process.

• The researchers emphasized the importance of fair representation of minority data in training datasets, to avoid the model's reinforced bias and the resulting discrimination. They also highlighted the increasing value of human-created content in the future as a source of pristine training data for AI.

Artificial intelligence threat similar to nuclear war risk, says UN chief

• UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warns that artificial intelligence (AI) poses an "existential threat to humanity" comparable to nuclear war, focusing particularly on generative AI.

• Guterres suggests that the UN may set up a new global watchdog for AI, similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which promotes safe, secure, and peaceful nuclear technologies.

• The UN is already developing an advisory body for trustworthy, human rights-based, safe, and sustainable global cooperation on AI technology. The rise of apps like ChatGPT has added urgency to these efforts.

• Concerns are escalating about the potential spread of disinformation, including fake imagery produced by generative AI, causing "grave global harm."

• Guterres calls for an international code of conduct and guidelines to promote facts, expose conspiracies and lies, and safeguard freedom of expression and information, despite the challenge of defining truth and lies among member states.

• When asked about the risk of governments using these guidelines to suppress journalism, Guterres underlined the importance of supporting and protecting independent media, promising active condemnation of human rights violations against journalists.

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• MusicGen: Facebook’s AI-powered text-to-music generator.

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🌡️ CLIMATE CHANGE & CLEAN ENERGY

100% Wind Energy To Propel A Cargo Ship That Looks Like A Racing Yacht

• French startup VELA aims to cut the shipping industry's carbon footprint by using 100% wind power, with a trimaran design that utilizes three hulls for stability. The startup was established in 2021, aiming to transfer the principles of high-performance sailboat racing to cargo shipping.

• In contrast to conventional shipping, VELA's trimaran doesn't use shipping containers but instead loads goods on pallets. This method reduces weight and corresponding CO2 emissions, with each pallet offering a reduction of 200kg in weight compared to standard shipping containers.

• The company claims that its wind-powered trimaran will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 99% compared to traditional container ships, with the remaining 1% covered by on-board solar power and a battery for non-sailing energy.

• VELA guarantees a 10-15 day warehouse-to-warehouse timeline for a trip between Europe and the US, a timeline that includes loading and unloading, as well as transit. The company claims that this model can beat conventional cargo ships on speed when the entire journey is taken into account.

• The company plans to focus on shipping luxury goods, particularly French luxury goods to the US, to capitalize on the increasing desire of luxury brands to reduce their carbon footprint.

• VELA plans to launch its first trimaran in 2025 and have a fleet of trimarans traveling between France and the US every nine days by 2028.

Strong Euro 7 Emissions Standards Will Deliver Better Air Quality In European Cities

• Research by Transport & Environment (T&E) reveals that strong Euro 7 air pollution regulations could reduce NO2 pollution from road transport by approximately 50% by 2035. This could lead to up to 24% lower NO2 concentrations in pollution hotspots in five major European cities by 2035.

• The research challenges the car industry's argument that stricter Euro 7 standards would not significantly improve air quality. It emphasizes that without the new standards, heavily trafficked areas in cities like Brussels, Madrid, Paris, and Warsaw may not comply with the proposed NO2 air pollution limit by 2035.

• The study also suggests that stricter limits on brake pollution could rapidly decrease particle pollution. A limit of 3mg/km for brake particles by 2025 could almost double the reduction in brake particle pollution from 19% to 34% by 2030 and from 34% to 55% by 2035. The technology to achieve these reductions is reportedly affordable, costing around €100 per car.

• The research argues that stronger Euro 7 standards would save thousands of lives and improve air quality for tens of millions of European citizens, despite industry claims of unaffordability. The additional cost per vehicle is estimated to be around €200.

• Euro 7 is set to introduce legal limits for almost 100 million petrol and diesel cars sold in Europe after 2025, and 3.1 million large diesel trucks after 2027. If these new standards are delayed or weakened, the health of citizens could be negatively impacted for decades.

El Niño Is Here

• El Niño conditions have developed, characterized by warmer-than-average tropical Pacific sea surface, with a strong likelihood of persisting into the winter.

• The presence of El Niño changes global atmospheric circulation, influencing weather and climate patterns worldwide. Stronger El Niño events cause more pronounced changes.

• The Niño-3.4 index, tracking the temperature of the tropical Pacific ocean surface, is now above the El Niño threshold, indicative of a shift from the recent La Niña conditions.

• El Niño's impact involves a weakened Walker circulation, affecting rainfall and wind patterns. The ocean and atmospheric systems have now coupled, establishing El Niño conditions.

• Although El Niño conditions are now present, there is still a small possibility (4-7%) that they may not persist. Nonetheless, current subsurface ocean temperatures suggest the likely continuation of El Niño.

🚗 AUTONOMOUS & ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Tesla’s NACS connector gains support from a bunch of other companies

• Tesla's NACS connector is gaining traction among charging station manufacturers and operators, following Ford and GM's decision to adopt it for their future electric vehicles in North America.

• This is expected to result in a domino effect, making the NACS connector the official standard for electric vehicles in the region.

• Several charging station companies including ABB, Blink Charging, Chargepoint, EVgo, FLO, Tritium, and Wallbox have announced their support for the NACS connector.

• ChargePoint plans to offer a NACS connector option for all its products, with cost-effective upgrades available for chargers already in service.

• It's anticipated that more companies will announce their support for the NACS connector in the near future, and Electrify America's position is awaited given its suppliers, ABB and Tritium, have already declared support.

Rivian (RIVN) will lose its spot in the Nasdaq-100 index next week, Nasdaq confirms

• Rivian (RIVN) is set to be removed from the Nasdaq-100 index after its stock price plummeted over 90% from its peak, which was reached shortly after the company went public.

• JP Morgan analyst Min Moon previously predicted this outcome, stating that the Nasdaq-100 generally removes the smallest member if the company's weight is less than 0.1% for two consecutive months - a condition Rivian met on April 28 and May 31.

• Rivian will be replaced by On Semiconductor Corp. (ON) on the Nasdaq-100 index.

• In addition to the Nasdaq-100 index, Rivian is also losing its position on the Nasdaq-100 ESG index, the Nasdaq-100 Equal-Weighted index, and the Nasdaq-100 Ex-Tech sector index, effective June 20, 2023.

• Despite the removal, Rivian's stock increased almost 9% during Tuesday's trading session.

• Despite its stock performance, Rivian affirmed its annual production goal of 50,000 units after Q1, having produced 9,395 EVs and delivered 7,946 in the first three months of the year. It aims to improve margins with simplified manufacturing for its second-generation EV models (R2) due in 2026.

Toyota claims solid-state EV battery tech breakthrough could offer +900 miles driving range

• Toyota has announced a breakthrough in solid-state EV battery technology, potentially offering over 900 miles of driving range.

• The automaker has unveiled several new technologies, including manufacturing upgrades, aerodynamic improvements, and a new generation of EV batteries, during a recent technical briefing.

• To ensure profitability, Toyota plans to implement a slim and simple vehicle body structure through Giga casting and use self-propelling assembly lines. These improvements are projected to reduce production lead times, processes, and factory investment for mass-produced EVs by 50%.

• Toyota is also exploring technologies to reduce aerodynamic drag in its EVs, including hypersonic tech used in rockets, through a collaboration with the Space Systems Division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

• The automaker will offer two next-gen battery types in 2026 and 2027: a performance version with a 20% increase in driving range and a 20% cost reduction, and a popularized version with a 20% increase in range and a 40% cost reduction.

• Toyota is aiming to start mass production of solid-state EV batteries between 2027 and 2028, providing a 20% improvement in range and a 10-minute quick charge. A higher-performance version of the battery is in development, promising a 50% increase in range, translating to over 900 miles.

🎉 THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY!

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-Marc 👋

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