Daily Digest: Local AI & Personal AI

PLUS: Everyone's raising funds.

January 10, 2024

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Daily Digest #322

Hello folks, here’s what we have today;

PICKS

  1. Nvidia’s new PC chips want to run local AI. On Monday, I mistyped the subject as Tailwinds for Nvidia (instead of Headwinds). Turns out I just saw the future. Nvidia has also expanded developer support for local models and developer tools to make it easy to run local LLMs.🍿Our Summary (also below)

  2. Rabbit launched its AI hardware device called r1. R1 reimagines phones in half its size and with a new OS that doesn’t have apps. It’s the cheapest of the bunch at $199 and shipping starts Easter 2024.

  3. Fast Company did a profile on Avi and Tab announcing a $1.9M funding to replace God with his Tab AI necklace. Avi’s Tab has a different approach from Humane’s Ai pin and Rabbit’s R1. It’s not competing with a phone, instead, it’s about making AI personal to you: your companion, your helper and your guide.🍿Our Summary (also below)

  4. Quora has raised $75 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz's growth fund. Quora is now valued at $500M and this funding will be used to pay bot creators on Poe.🍿Our Summary

TOP TOOLS

  • Harmonic.ai - Source interesting startups from their database

  • Query Pipelines by Llamaindex - API to create simple-to-advanced query workflows over your data.

  • MultiOn - Integrate AI agents into your app. (they just came out of stealth)

  • Cognosys 2.0 - An assistant that autonomously creates workflows, uses tools and finishes tasks. (example)

  • Fixkey - One key to forget about correcting typos manually.

  • Genie 1.0 by Luma Labs - Create any 3D object in under 10 seconds in all standard file formats.

  • AI godfathers - Wall of 10000 spots of early difference makers.

  • Sendspark - Shoot just one video. Then, automatically personalize each video for each viewer with AI.

NEWS
QUICK BITES

Nvidia has announced AI-ready versions of its consumer-grade chips. To top that up, they have shared multiple resources and developer tools to bring AI to your local computer in 2024.

What is going on here?

Nvidia announced three new consumer AI chips and local AI tools.

What does this mean?

The three new chips are the “super” version of Nvidia’s RTX 40 series. RTX 4060 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super and RTX 4080 Super range between $599 and $999. These GPUs have additional tensor cores that can run generative AI applications. Nvidia will also provide these in Laptops from companies such as Acer, Dell and Lenovo.

Using Nvidia’s TensorRT-LLM inference backend you can run these models locally or change a single line of code to seamlessly run models in the cloud or locally on the PC, with the TensorRT-LLM OpenAI Chat API Wrapper. Nvidia offers end-to-end developer tools to train LLMs with custom data in the cloud and quantize them for best performance on RTX PCs, all stitched together with AI Workbench.

Why should I care?

The demand for Nvidia’s larger GPUs such as A100s and H100s are through the roof already. But those chips are for AI companies to train and serve their models for mass usage via the cloud. It felt like AMD and Nvidia will take the cake in consumer AI hardware but Nvidia has deep plans there too.

With new AI-ready graphics cards and developer tools to make it easy to build with local LLMs, we could see Nvidia being the first choice of many people as we go ahead.

QUICK BITES

Tab, a new wearable AI necklace created by Avi Schiffmann wants to be like a personal AI buddy. Tab is a voice-powered necklace that listens to your conversations and gives you insights about your life and relationships. It has just raised $1.9 million in funding.

What is going on here?

Tab wants to be an always-on AI friend that replaces stuff like life coaching and therapy by understanding users' lives through constant listening.

What does this mean?

Tab works by hanging around your neck and recording sound of your chats. It uses AI like ChatGPT to type up these convos and track details about you. The goal is for Tab to learn your context and give you personalized insights without you asking specific questions.

Avi’s Tab has a different approach from Humane’s Ai pin and Rabbit’s R1. It’s not competing with a phone, instead, it’s about making AI personal to you: your companion, your helper and your guide.

Schiffmann thinks Tab can build a deeper bond than regular apps by being there all the time. He envisions it evolving into a virtual therapist, coach or someone you confide in. Tab only records sound, not video, to balance privacy and collecting useful data.

Why should I care?

If Tab works well, it could start a new way of ambient, assistive AI. Instead of needing to ask a chatbot questions, Tab aims to understand your life patterns and needs more naturally. This raises interesting questions around constant surveillance, but also potential upsides like self-improvement and emotional support.

While new, Tab represents a vision of AI as a life enhancing companion versus just a tool. Its impact spans areas like mental health, productivity and relationships. Tab's launch will be an important test case for passive, intimate AI in people's daily lives.

Ben’s Bites Insights

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