Robots Learn, Chatbots Visualize: How 2024 Will Be AI’s ‘Leap Forward’

Credit: Victor Arce
Credit: Victor Arce
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Robots Learn, Chatbots Visualize: How 2024 Will Be AI’s ‘Leap Forward’

Credit: Victor Arce
Credit: Victor Arce

By Cade Metz

New York - At an event in San Francisco in November, Sam Altman, the chief executive of the artificial intelligence company OpenAI, was asked what surprises the field would bring in 2024.

Online chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT will take “a leap forward that no one expected,” Mr. Altman immediately responded.

Sitting beside him, James Manyika, a Google executive, nodded and said, “Plus one to that.”

The AI industry this year is set to be defined by one main characteristic: a remarkably rapid improvement of the technology as advancements build upon one another, enabling AI to generate new kinds of media, mimic human reasoning in new ways, and seep into the physical world through a new breed of robot.

In the coming months, AI-powered image generators like DALL-E and Midjourney will instantly deliver videos as well as still images. And they will gradually merge with chatbots like ChatGPT.

That means chatbots will expand well beyond digital text by handling photos, videos, diagrams, charts and other media. They will exhibit behavior that looks more like human reasoning, tackling increasingly complex tasks in fields like math and science. As the technology moves into robots, it will also help to solve problems beyond the digital world.

Many of these developments have already started emerging inside the top research labs and in tech products. But in 2024, the power of these products will grow significantly and be used by far more people.

“The rapid progress of AI will continue,” said David Luan, the chief executive of Adept, an AI start-up. “It is inevitable.”

OpenAI, Google and other tech companies are advancing AI far more quickly than other technologies because of the way the underlying systems are built.

Most software apps are built by engineers, one line of computer code at a time, which is typically a slow and tedious process. Companies are improving AI more swiftly because the technology relies on neural networks, mathematical systems that can learn skills by analyzing digital data. By pinpointing patterns in data such as Wikipedia articles, books, and digital text culled from the internet, a neural network can learn to generate text on its own.

Here’s a guide to how AI is set to change this year, beginning with the nearest-term advancements, which will lead to further progress in its abilities.

Instant Videos

Until now, AI-powered applications mostly generated text and still images in response to prompts. DALL-E, for instance, can create photorealistic images within seconds off requests like “a rhino diving off the Golden Gate Bridge.”

But this year, companies such as OpenAI, Google, Meta and the New York-based Runway are likely to deploy image generators that allow people to generate videos, too. These companies have already built prototypes of tools that can instantly create videos from short text prompts.

Tech companies are likely to fold the powers of image and video generators into chatbots, making the chatbots more powerful.

‘Multimodal’ Chatbots

Chatbots and image generators, originally developed as separate tools, are gradually merging. When OpenAI debuted a new version of ChatGPT last year, the chatbot could generate images as well as text.

AI companies are building “multimodal” systems, meaning the AI can handle multiple types of media. These systems learn skills by analyzing photos, text, and potentially other kinds of media, including diagrams, charts, sounds, and video, so they can then produce their own text, images, and sounds.

That isn’t all. Because the systems are also learning the relationships between different types of media, they will be able to understand one type of media and respond with another. In other words, someone may feed an image into chatbot and it will respond with text.

Better ‘Reasoning’

When Mr. Altman talks about AI’s taking a leap forward, he is referring to chatbots that are better at “reasoning” so they can take on more complex tasks, such as solving complicated math problems and generating detailed computer programs.

The aim is to build systems that can carefully and logically solve a problem through a series of discrete steps, each one building on the next. That is how humans reason, at least in some cases.

Leading scientists disagree on whether chatbots can truly reason like that. Some argue that these systems merely seem to reason as they repeat behavior they have seen in internet data. But OpenAI and others are building systems that can more reliably answer complex questions involving subjects like math, computer programming, physics, and other sciences.

“As systems become more reliable, they will become more popular,” said Nick Frosst, a former Google researcher who helps lead Cohere, an AI start-up.

If chatbots are better at reasoning, they can then turn into “AI agents.”

‘AI Agents’

As companies teach AI systems how to work through complex problems one step at a time, they can also improve the ability of chatbots to use software apps and websites on your behalf.

Researchers are essentially transforming chatbots into a new kind of autonomous system called an AI agent. That means the chatbots can use software apps, websites, and other online tools, including spreadsheets, online calendars, and travel sites. People could then offload tedious office work to chatbots. But these agents could also take away jobs entirely.

Chatbots already operate as agents in small ways. They can schedule meetings, edit files, analyze data, and build bar charts. But these tools do not always work as well as they need to. Agents break down entirely when applied to more complex tasks.

This year, AI companies are set to unveil agents that are more reliable. “You should be able to delegate any tedious, day-to-day computer work to an agent,” Mr. Luan said.

This might include keeping track of expenses in an app like QuickBooks or logging vacation days in an app like Workday. In the long run, it will extend beyond software and internet services and into the world of robotics.

Smarter Robots

In the past, robots were programmed to perform the same task over and over again, such as picking up boxes that are always the same size and shape. But using the same kind of technology that underpins chatbots, researchers are giving robots the power to handle more complex tasks — including those they have never seen before.

Just as chatbots can learn to predict the next word in a sentence by analyzing vast amounts of digital text, a robot can learn to predict what will happen in the physical world by analyzing countless videos of objects being prodded, lifted, and moved.

This year, AI will supercharge robots that operate behind the scenes, like mechanical arms that fold shirts at a laundromat or sort piles of stuff inside a warehouse. Tech titans like Elon Musk are also working to move humanoid robots into people’s homes.

The New York Times



Saudi Transport Minister Launches Initial Operational Phase of Autonomous Vehicles 

Officials are seen at the launch ceremony in Riyadh. (SPA)
Officials are seen at the launch ceremony in Riyadh. (SPA)
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Saudi Transport Minister Launches Initial Operational Phase of Autonomous Vehicles 

Officials are seen at the launch ceremony in Riyadh. (SPA)
Officials are seen at the launch ceremony in Riyadh. (SPA)

Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services and Chairman of the Board of the Transport General Authority Eng. Saleh Al-Jasser launched on Wednesday the Initial Operational Phase of Autonomous Vehicles in Riyadh.

This milestone marks a significant step aimed at enabling advanced technology and expanding the development of a smart and safe transportation ecosystem in the Kingdom.

The initiative aligns with the objectives of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy and is an extension of Saudi Vision 2030 towards adopting sustainable mobility solutions powered by the latest artificial intelligence technologies.

This project is the result of an integrated partnership that brings together the transport and logistics ecosystem and relevant stakeholders, including the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology ecosystem, the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA), the General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information, and the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO), in addition to private sector partners represented by technology and operations partners Uber, WeRide, and AiDriver.

The autonomous vehicles in this phase will operate within a real-world environment covering King Khalid International Airport and several key locations across Riyadh, including major highways and selected city center destinations.

This phase is implemented under the direct regulatory and technical supervision of the Transport General Authority. The vehicles will transport passengers with a safety officer onboard each vehicle to ensure safety and monitor the performance of smart systems in actual operating conditions.

Al-Jasser stressed that the launch of the initial operational phase reflects the Kingdom’s ambitious vision to build a smart and integrated transport system that supports economic growth and enhances quality of life.

Enabling modern technologies and developing regulatory and operational frameworks are key pillars to expanding the implementation of this technology and supporting the transformation of the transport sector, he added.

The initiative is an extension of the Kingdom’s efforts to promote sustainability, improve mobility efficiency, and localize innovation. This project represents a pioneering model of public-private partnership, paving the way for a future of safer and smarter mobility, he stated.