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AI Dispute Ignites Major Hollywood Strike

Also: Google’s 53-Qubit Quantum Computer and The Future of AI

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AI KATANA
July 16, 2023

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In today's AI KATANA, a Hollywood strike is ignited by AI disputes as screenwriters and actors demand better pay, increased royalties, and safeguards against the use of AI. In the technology realm, the "Great GPU Squeeze" is upon us due to surging demand for GPUs in high-performance computing, cryptocurrency, and generative AI. Legal battles heat up as Chinese fast-fashion company Shein faces allegations of using AI to duplicate designs of independent creators. Meanwhile, Google's 53-qubit quantum computer promises to revolutionize the future of AI, offering unprecedented computational power and potential benefits, though concerns about security vulnerabilities and transparency issues also arise. On the tools front, Stability AI introduces Stable Doodle, a transformative sketch-to-image tool on the Clipdrop platform, while in venture capital news, open-source AI model creator Nomic secures $17 million in a funding round. Dive in to learn more about these fascinating developments.

Deep into slicing:

  • 🕴️ AI Dispute Ignites Major Hollywood Strike

  • 🍪 The Great GPU Squeeze is Upon Us

  • 👩🏻‍⚖️ Designers sue Shein over AI ripoffs of their work

  • 🤖 Google’s 53-Qubit Quantum Computer and The Future of AI

In the largest Hollywood strike in over 60 years, thousands of actors including Jason Sudeikis and Susan Sarandon have joined screenwriters, halting major film productions and promotion activities. The actors and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are protesting over inadequate pay, working conditions, and the industry's use of AI, with demands for better pay, increased royalties, higher contributions to their pension and health plans, and safeguards against AI use. Negotiations with studios and streaming services, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), broke down due to their alleged unwillingness to offer a fair deal. The shift to digital streaming and broader technological changes have significantly impacted contracts and earnings, resulting in an industry-wide unrest. The strike may last until the end of the year, affecting both the cinema business and viewers' choices, despite the U.S. President's support for the strikers and hopes for a mutually beneficial agreement.

The unprecedented demand for Graphic Processor Units (GPUs) in high-performance computing (HPC), cryptocurrency, and generative AI has led to what is being termed as the "Great GPU Squeeze." GPUs, crucial for speeding up matrix operations in many HPC applications, are expected to become increasingly expensive and hard to find due to this surge in demand. This trend has been further exacerbated by the rise of large language models like ChatGPT and companies such as Inflection AI, which uses thousands of GPUs for developing AI chatbots. While the gaming market has helped offset some costs, the booming crypto and AI market have significantly altered market dynamics. This pressure might cause HPC practitioners to consider CPU-only solutions, while also sparking new innovations in search for "GPU cycles". For instance, the AMD ROCm GPU libraries now provide support for integrated GPUs, potentially adding unused and available FLOPs to the HPC mix.

A group of independent designers are suing Chinese fast-fashion company Shein, alleging that Shein uses AI to create copies of their designs. Designers Krista Perry, Larissa Martinez, and Jay Baron argue in their lawsuit that Shein's design algorithm is generating replicas that could harm an independent designer's career. It is still unclear how exactly Shein uses AI in its design process. The lawsuit alleges that Shein's practices violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a law initially used against the American Mafia. Despite a history of alleged misconduct, including violations of local labor laws and negative environmental impacts, Shein continues to market itself as an environmentally and socially conscious company.

Google has developed a 53-qubit quantum computer, bringing substantial changes to the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Unlike traditional bits, quantum bits or 'qubits' can hold a 1 and 0 state simultaneously due to superposition, and can interact instantaneously even at a distance due to entanglement. This breakthrough increases computational power exponentially, which could supercharge AI and machine learning (ML) models, allowing them to process vast amounts of data quickly and efficiently. Looking ahead, quantum computing could lead to more powerful AI models, democratize AI by reducing the cost of training models, and pose new challenges such as breaking current encryption methods. However, potential risks include security vulnerabilities, lack of transparency in AI decision-making, job displacement, data privacy issues, global inequality, and the danger of 'quantum supremacy' where rapid technology acceleration outstrips our capacity to understand and control it.

🛠️ AI tools updates

Stability AI has introduced Stable Doodle, a transformative sketch-to-image tool on their Clipdrop platform, providing infinite imaging possibilities for professionals and enthusiasts alike. Available for free trial, the user-friendly tool is designed to convert simple drawings into dynamic images, streamlining the creative process in industries such as education, design, arts, and fashion. By leveraging the advanced image-generating technology of Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion XL and Tencent ARC's T2I-Adapter, Stable Doodle enables anyone with basic drawing skills to generate high-quality images.

💵 Venture Capital updates

AI startup Nomic, creator of open-source AI model GPT4ALL and data visualization tool Atlas, has secured $17 million in a funding round led by Coatue, with participation from Contrary Capital and Betaworks Ventures. This investment values the four-member team at $100 million, highlighting the venture capital community's continued interest in betting on small teams that develop popular AI products. Nomic, founded in 2022, aims to enhance visibility of datasets in model training and democratize access to AI models. The funding will be used for team expansion and product development. The firm's products are already used by over 50,000 developers and have partnerships with MongoDB and Replit. Open-source models such as Nomic's are gaining traction as potential competitors to proprietary models from AI labs like OpenAI and Google.

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