Today was an interesting day for artificial intelligence developments. New research reveals that AI helped a stroke patient who lost the ability to speak. The technology converted the patient’s brain signals into words. In other news, MediaTek announced today that it is leveraging Meta’s Llama 2 large language model to build an edge computing system that does not require cloud computing for heavy processing. This and more in today’s AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.
Patient with stroke speaks with the help of AI
According to a New York Times report, a 30-year-old woman, suffered a cataclysmic stroke that paralyzed her and took away her ability to speak recently spoke once again with the power of AI. In a research that was published today in the Nature journal, scientists demonstrated that the first words to come out of her since the stroke were produced by synthesizing her brain waves and converting them into words through a complex algorithm powered by artificial intelligence.
“What’s quite exciting is that just from the surface of the brain, the investigators were able to get out pretty good information about these different features of communication,” Dr. Parag Patil, a neurosurgeon and biomedical engineer at the University of Michigan, who was asked by Nature to review the study before publication told NYT.
MediaTek collaborates with Meta for AI
MediaTek today announced that it is working closely with Meta’s Llama 2 to build a complete edge computing ecosystem designed to accelerate AI application development on smartphones, IoT, vehicles, smart home, and other edge devices. MediaTek’s use of Llama 2 models will enable generative AI applications to run directly on-device instead of entirely through cloud computing. MediaTek said that doing so provides several advantages to developers and users, including seamless performance, greater privacy, better security and reliability, lower latency, the ability to work in areas with little to no connectivity, and lower operation costs.
AI writing tool that helps writers get past blocks raises $2.75 mn
Lex, an AI-powered writing tool, that was spun out of Every, a media platform, has raised $2.75 million in its seed round which was led by True Ventures. The company’s CEO Nathan Baschez describes the AI tool as a “modern writing platform,” that helps in the practice of writing, as per a report by TechCrunch.
The platform uses AI to smoothen and speed up workflows for those who write a lot and struggle with writer’s block (a term for when writers struggle to come up with ideas).
You.com introduces AI-powered Search on WhatsApp
You.com, a platform that uses AI chat for Search, today announced it’s now available on WhatsApp, enabling more people to experience AI chat and search seamlessly where they text daily, as per a Businesswire report. With just a message, users can experience AI chat and search and get answers accompanied by sources and direct web links. To begin a conversation with You.com on WhatsApp, text +1 585-496-8266 (+1 585 4 YOU COM).
Chandrayaan-3 uses AI for Moon landing
Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully completed its soft landing on the Moon today. In the final phase of the journey, which was called power descent, AI was used to control the spacecraft for the final 17 minutes. The AI program is called Autonomous Landing Sequence (ALS) and it was capable of handling the thrusters, adjusting altitude, reorienting the spacecraft, as well as making minute changes to fix the direction.