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GPT-4: OpenAI releases yet another language model as the AI competition heats up

By
Obrian
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0

It has not been an entire year or 9 months since OpenAI released another Artificial intelligence model which some are claiming is already better than ChartGPT. Time will tell if such words are true but this is just another indicator to show how fast these technologies are developing.

Competition also plays a role as well; Google has a huge AI infrastructure and they are allocating a lot of resources to this area. Recently high-level meetings have been taking place to shift Google’s focus onto AI only and develop the core of the company from there.

That was always the mission of founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, over the years they have shifted their focus onto many different axes and thus diluting the quality of certain products. Now that the focus has been narrowed down, we are going to see huge developments from them.

Google recently released Bard which is deemed to be a competitor for ChatGPT. It’s a very interesting technology and the similarities are there.

At the moment, OpenAI is leading the charge in terms of large and powerful language models. In OpenAI’s announcement, they claimed that:

“GPT-4 is more creative and collaborative than ever before. It can generate, edit, and iterate with users on creative and technical writing tasks, such as composing songs, writing screenplays, or learning a user’s writing style.”

As for Safety & Alignment, they state that they have worked with more experts to ensure that the model complies with safety measures. Also, they incorporated more humans into the model to give it more of a human touch.

“We incorporated more human feedback, including feedback submitted by ChatGPT users, to improve GPT-4’s behavior. We also worked with over 50 experts for early feedback in domains including AI safety and security.

We’ve applied lessons from the real-world use of our previous models to GPT-4’s safety research and monitoring system. Like ChatGPT, we’ll be updating and improving GPT-4 at a regular cadence as more people use it.

GPT-4’s advanced reasoning and instruction-following capabilities expedited our safety work. We used GPT-4 to help create training data for model fine-tuning and iterate on classifiers across training, evaluations, and monitoring.”

Similar to ChatGPT this model will definitely get an audience of customers and enthusiasts alike who would want to try these systems. Microsoft who recently invested billions into OpenAI will become the main beneficiary of such these developments.

They have already started integrating these systems across their products as they are doubling on the technology to reap the necessary benefits that come with it.

Decade of chaos: capitalizing on opportunities when there are no playbooks

By
Obrian
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0

Here we are in the year 2023 nothing much has changed since 2020, it has gotten better for some and a bit difficult for most. We are seeing that a lot of companies have been laying off employees and employees are even quitting their jobs.

I am still sticking to my main premise which I have written about a year ago which states that a lot of challenges and opportunities will come this decade.

We are seeing how the current war in Ukraine is reshaping the world geopolitically. The United States of America is quickly losing its hegemonic status to China and at the same time, de-dollarization is taking place as countries are slowly trading in local currencies instead of the US dollar.

The world in 2050 will owe a lot to this very period and a little beyond.

Technology is continuing to change the way how we work and view the world. We can throw all the buzzwords into the mix such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things, Biotechnology, and others. AI currently is the king of the hill, ChatGPT at the moment is allowing us to rethink the way how the mind works. The implications of such technologies haven’t even been realized and internalized as a whole by the mass population as yet.

Central Banking Digital Currencies (CBDC) are now becoming mainstream and banks are becoming more receptive to digital currencies. Regardless of what the bitcoin maximalists might think about such moves, overall, it’s still a major one and the adaptation of Bitcoin helped changed the ethos.

Despite these changes, it will come with its own set of challenges and there are no playbooks depending on the path that you are trying engulf on. For example, let’s say that you as an individual want to know how to capitalize on all these technologies and opportunities that are available. It’s going to be long and hard, there is no way around it.

None of it might work in the end too, that’s just the nature of the beast. Despite the drawbacks which are inevitable, it is still worth a shot. If you know deep down that you can achieve an objective it’s best to give it your very best.

As it relates to the playbook which is a collection of strategies and techniques you are going to need to be successful, you have to be flexible because things are changing so quickly that what might work this year might not work the next.

One of the major things is to have an open mind and always be researching on new and interesting things. A lot of people who got successful in tech weren’t even software engineers or knew anything about computers. They saw it in the media, researched about and dive right in. Lots of technologies are worth digging into these days if you are into that kind of stuff.

Another thing is, it’s not worth it to compare yourself to others, everyone has different backgrounds, networks, information, capital, etc. This is something that is hard to do for most of us at times, myself included. In the world of social media which most of us are a part of to certain degrees, it’s easy to see an individual getting to point X, and you are still at point B or E.

But if you dig deeper beyond that snapshot and map out exactly how that happened, you would’ve seen that some of the opportunities that were available for that person are different than yours. Additionally, I often look at it as success is not linear, you can get from B to point T in a year which is a big leap and brings you closer to point X within the next year.

You just have to stay the course and be disciplined along the way, it’s easy to get distracted and hard to get back on track because momentum is very important.

Hopefully, you find this post helpful. It was just a short observation.

Meta scales back on NFTs

By
Obrian
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0

It seems as if Meta has been going through a wide restructuring. They have been cutting out the non-essentials within the organization and focusing on the key areas that are deemed important enough to sustain the business.

The very name Meta is now just another name of a company given the fact that the whole push into the Metaverse came out to be quite catastrophic.

Recently Meta’s head of commerce and financial technologies broke the news that they are winding down operations in NFTs across most of the social platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.

They started testing features allowing users to trade NFTs and digital collectibles last May on Instagram and Facebook. They expanded the testing and features based on the results which at the time looked promising and crypto was trending up.

Given the fact that the hype around crypto has mainly faded it just feels like a bad investment to have currently.

They are now shifting back to the focus on empowering creators it seems and not buzzwords. Products like Meta Pay are now a very important feature they are banking on. This will allow creators to earn money directly on Meta platforms, for example, a person could tip another individual for various reasons.

Meta has been investing heavily in the whole “Metaverse” idea but it seems either the ideas are not there as yet or the market is just not ripe for such innovations. Reality Labs, one of the critical areas for Meta that develop AR and VR lost approximately US$13.7 billion last year.

Silicon Valley Bank collapse brings back fresh memories of last financial crisis

By
Obrian
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0

They say that history doesn’t usually repeat itself but it rhymes, well in this case that might be true. Today we got a glimpse of what is to come if the FED doesn’t intervene and help mitigate the situation. Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse came as a result of the failure to raise funds in a short period of time when the bank was in need of money.

It’s the largest lender to collapse since Washington Mutual in 2008.

The company’s assets have been seized by US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and will more than likely liquidate the current assets to recuperate funds for customers, creditors, and depositors.

The FDIC, an independent government agency that insures bank deposits and oversees financial institutions, said all insured depositors will have full access to their insured deposits by no later than Monday morning. It said it would pay uninsured depositors an “advance dividend within the next week.”

The back story of this overall fiasco came on Wednesday when the company reported that it had made some bad bets and is currently in the red and in need of money to balance out the business.

This was a tell-tale sign that something was wrong within the organization coupled with the fact that they state that they would sell US$2.2 billion in new shares to help the business stay afloat. Venture capitalists who were then connected to SVB began to inform their clients and others to withdraw funds from SVB which triggered a bank run.

Things went from bad to worse as the stock plummets the following day and things got even worse on Friday morning when shares were halted and the news started to circulate everywhere. Other bank stocks were also affected including the likes of First Republic, PacWest Bancorp, and Signature Bank whose shares were halted.

A classic bank run situation was taking place hence why the closure of operations and seizure of assets happened so quickly.

Silicon Valley Bank’s decline stems partly from the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes over the past year. When interest rates were near zero, banks loaded up on long-dated, seemingly low-risk Treasuries. But as the Fed raises interest rates to fight inflation, the value of those assets has fallen, leaving banks sitting on unrealized losses.

Higher rates hit tech especially hard, undercutting the value of tech stocks and making it tough to raise funds, Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi said. That prompted many tech firms to draw down the deposits they held at SVB to fund their operations.

SVB bank was among the top 20 American commercial banks, with US$209 billion in total assets at the end of last year, according to reports from FDIC.

Let’s see how this story develops over time, we have seen a lot of different financial institutions collapsing mainly from the crypto high-risk space. It seems it has now spread into the “conservative” brick-and-mortar space.

Sagicor X Fund had a difficult 2022

By
Obrian
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0

Sagicor Real Estate X Fund had a difficult year through the period of 2022. Specifically, a significant portion of the losses is because of poor results from financial assets and liabilities. The figure for liabilities and financial assets for the year 2022 came in at J$238.26 million which is a far cry from 2021 numbers where they recorded a net capital gain of J$1.19 billion.

Profitability was also on the downtrend with a recorded figure of approximately J$465.91 million compared to J$720.87 million in 2021. Net profit for the fourth quarter ending December came in at J$254.31 million which is quite some distance from the J$441.94 million they earned in 2021.

We saw a sharp decline in operating profit for the year which amounted to J$731.02 million, which declined from the J$990.60 million prior. There was an increase in operating expenses which grew by 33% to J$6.39 billion compared to J$4.80 billion in 2021.

Overall income for the year came in at J$2.51 billion relative to a profit of J$978.05 million the prior year.

As for revenue, during the entire 2022 they actually had an increase, the figure reported is approximately J$7.12 billion relative to the J$5.79 billion they had recorded in 2021.

Grace Kennedy partners with Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust Corporation to launch GK Mutual Funds

By
Obrian
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0

Over the last couple of years, we have seen GraceKennedy steadily pivoting into new directions. As the world around them starts to change, they are now finding new ways to adapt, expand and provide value to both existing and new customers.

The other development which has been taking place within the organization is to widen its influence in the financial sector. We have seen a lot of developments from them over the years; the current one is GK Mutal Funds, a joint partnership between GraceKennedy and Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust Corporation (TTUTC).

This fund will consist of mainly three main segments or funds, GK US Dollar Income Fund, GK Jamaican Dollar Money Market Fund, and GK Jamaican Dollar Income & Growth Fund. This partnership seems pretty interesting, especially when you look at the amount of money that sits between these two players. TTUTC, TTUTC manages the equivalent of US$3.75 billion in assets in Trinidad, and GK Capital manages over J$14 billion of institutional assets in Jamaica.

GraceKennedy Group CEO, Don Wehby states that both companies share common values and converge on a lot of ideas, as a result, he sees this partnership flourishing over the long haul.

“The core values of the Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust Corporation – integrity, respect, performance excellence, leadership, and robust corporate governance – align with our own GK values- honesty, integrity, and trust. These values are the fundamental principles that drive our respective teams’ success to the benefit of our customers, our communities, our countries, and our Caribbean,” He states.

Nigel Edwards, executive director of TTUTC, also showed that he is very optimistic about the partnership, “We at TTUTC are no strangers to blazing new trails. But we’re also conscious of the need for regional coordination and cooperation. And what we were looking for we found in GK: a partner whose commitment to thoughtful, measured engagement with the needs and ambitions of its clients matched our own.”.

Overall, this is a very interesting partnership I am excited to see how it evolves over time, especially in a local market where there are already established players with their own spin to things.

Tesla cut prices for Model X and Model S for car owners in United States

By
Obrian
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0

Tesla has decided to cut the prices of its Model S Sedan and Model X SUV in the U.S. This marks the second time the company has slashed prices for the year. It will probably not be the last either given the current economic climate and the cost of living on the rise for most people in the US.

The problem is that Tesla always positions itself as a luxury car maker. One of the problems now is that a lot of automakers new and old are now pushing into that pool of customers and it’s getting a bit competitive for most automakers who are within that market.

The Model S all-wheel drive is now available for $89,990, which is down 5.2% or about $5,000 from $94,990. The Model S Plaid is now $109,990, down 4.3% from $114,990.

The Model X all-wheel drive is going for $99,990, down 9.1% or $10,000 from $109,990. The Plaid is now $109,990, down 8.3% from $119,990.

Last week at Tesla’s investor day, held at the company’s Austin factory, CEO Elon Musk, and other leaders discussed the importance of efficient manufacturing and cost-cutting.

“The desire for people to own a Tesla is extremely high,” said Musk. “The limiting factor is their ability to pay for a Tesla.”

Tesla Models 3 and Y are still available for the $7,500 federal tax incentive in the U.S. for the rest of this month.

One of the main challenges of Tesla is to make reliable and affordable vehicles. They have been working hard on that problem over the last couple of years.

There are indeed various prototype models that have not been rigorously tested and ready for market yet but when they do and most people can afford them, Tesla will grow astronomically.

Swarm is now paying for SpaceX after nearly two years after purchase

By
Obrian
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0

Recently, SpaceX delivered more data about the new argon Hall engines that will power the Starlink V2 small-scale satellites, a development that probably has a lot to do with the organization’s acquisition of Swarm Technologies in 2021.

The arrangement shutting in July 2021 was a very unusual move for SpaceX. Swarm — which makes and works minuscule satellites for IoT gadgets — stays the organization’s just obtaining in its 21-year history. It was likewise prominent on the grounds that, moderately speaking, Multitude was still a seriously youthful organization: When the arrangement shut, the startup had around 30 representatives, 120 sandwich-sized satellites in a circle, and had just barely gone live with its leader item prior that year.

However, in the space business, ability is above all else, and it appears to be that SpaceX has benefited immensely from engrossing Multitude’s group.

Swarms’ two co-founders, Sara Spangelo and Benjamin Longmier were introduced as ranking executives of satellite design at SpaceX. Both are essential for Starlink’s immediate cell group — which is expecting to use the Starlink star grouping to carry satellite network to cell phones all over the planet.

In any case, Longmier likewise states on his LinkedIn that he drives Starlink’s electric propulsion group — that is, the gathering answerable for designing the new argon Hall Thrusters declared for this present week.

Hall Thrusters themselves are not new. The name alludes to an overall drive tech that is many years old. Basically, these thrusters utilize an attractive field to ionize a charge and produce plasma. Satellites utilize thrusters all through their helpful life — to change the mentality, keep away from impacts with different items or de-orbit toward the finish of the life expectancy.

“The transition to argon was tricky, but necessary, as krypton is too rare,” SpaceX President Elon Musk made sense of it on Twitter. As indicated by specs shared on the web, these new engines will likewise produce 2.4 times the push and 1.5 times the particular motivation (a proportion of how proficiently the unit utilizes fuel, versus the push created) than past Starlink engines.

As soon as 2011, Longmier was lead writing specialized papers on electric impetus frameworks that utilize argon gas. He additionally co-wrote different papers on engines involving argon and xenon as charges.

On Twitter, Longmier said that it was 556 days from engine clean-sheet to circle: That would mean SpaceX would’ve begun work on the push around the finish of August 2021, soon after Multitude was procured. Longmier didn’t answer TechCrunch’s solicitation for input.

USA government is deeply considering the decision to ban TikTok

By
Obrian
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0

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has cast a ballot to propel regulation that would empower President to boycott TikTok in the US alongside other applications claimed by Chinese organizations. The panel approved the Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries (DATA) Act in a 24-16 vote.

All Republicans on the panel were in favor while every Democrat voted against the bill.

There are a few additional means that the bill needs to go through before it becomes regulated. The full House and the Senate would need to pass it, and Biden would need to sign the bill. In any case, it’s a striking step in the right direction for the furthest-down-the-line endeavor to completely boycott TikTok in the US.

Republican board seat Michael McCaul presented the Information Act barely a week ago. McCaul anticipates that the bill should go to a full house vote not long from now.

The regulation would allow the president the ability to institute sanctions, including boycotts, on any organization that the Depository Secretary considers “purposely gives or may move delicate individual information of people subject to US ward to any unfamiliar individual that is dependent upon the purview or bearing” of China.

The very applies to an unfamiliar individual or organization that “is possessed by, straightforwardly or by implication constrained by, or is generally dependent upon the impact of China.”

Democratic members of the Foreign Affairs Committee guaranteed that the regulation was excessively wide. It would “harm our devotions across the globe, bring more organizations into China’s circle, annihilate occupations here in the US and undercut center American upsides of free discourse and free endeavor,” Rep. Gregory Meeks, the positioning leftist part, said.

He proposed that the regulation as is could prompt authorizations against organizations in Korea and Taiwan that supply semiconductors and different parts to Chinese organizations.

“A US ban on TikTok is a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide,” TikTok wrote on Twitter. “We’re disappointed to see this rushed piece of legislation move forward, despite its considerable negative impact on the free speech rights of millions of Americans who use and love TikTok.”

“Congress must not censor entire platforms and strip Americans of their constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression,” American Civil Liberties Union senior policy counsel Jenna Leventoff said in a statement. “Whether we’re discussing the news of the day, live streaming protests, or ​​even watching cat videos, we have a right to use TikTok and other platforms to exchange our thoughts, ideas, and opinions with people around the country and around the world.” Leventoff called the bill “vague, overbroad and unconstitutional.”

TikTok has confronted a developing reaction lately over worries that the Chinese government might get client information from the application. Proprietor ByteDance is settled in Beijing, yet TikTok claims it doesn’t impart information to the Chinese government. By the previous summer, TikTok was steering all US information to Prophet servers situated in the country. It vowed to erase US clients’ confidential information from its own servers.

In any case, the US government has prohibited the application from governmentally claimed gadgets this week, allowing organizations 30 days to ensure it’s gone from telephones and tablets they work. Most US expresses, the European Association, Canada and Quebec are likewise keeping their workers from utilizing TikTok on state-possessed gadgets.

TikTok has been pursuing for a really long time to persuade US authorities that it’s anything but a danger to public safety trying to sidestep a total boycott. The organization’s Chief Shou Zi Chew is set to affirm before the Energy and Commerce Committee on Spring 23rd to examine security, as well as TikTok’s effect on kids and its connections to China.

Norbrook is making a larger push in the luxury real estate market with US$75 million investment

By
Obrian
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0

Norbrook Realty Limited is on the verge of investing approximately US$75 million in a group of real estate projects at various locations within Jamaica. These projects will be mainly luxury commercial and residential properties. A commercial tower will be built in Kingston and two luxury beachfront communities in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.

Norbrook equity partners Executive Chairman and Norbrook Realty Limited founder, Khary Robinson states these current undertakings are a result of diligent research over years of continuous effort, along with strategic partnerships with different agencies who were deemed supplementary to achieve the overall goals.

“For years, we observed the real estate industry and, like any of our other business lines, we spent time and effort to understand the market and identify gaps,” said Robinson.

“Thereafter, we strategically accumulated key parcels of land, formed partnerships with proven industry experts, and developed a unique product set for a niche audience. Given our conservative nature, we then presold units to further reduce our risk. Today, we are excited to unveil three projects that we are very proud of and that will form the backbone of our formal entry into real estate development.”

It is to be noted that this is not Norbrook’s first ever realty project, earlier they constructed Bohia Villas located in Mammee Bay which completely sold out pre-construction. If assumptions were to be made it would be safe to say that this success was pivotal to where the company is at now.

Overall these projects are important for a larger push the company is making to become a leading provider in the luxury real estate market in Jamaica.

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