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Intelligent Apples
🍎 Apple Intelligence, Super Intelligence, and the Rise of Humanoids
Share With Your Smart Friends, They Will Thank You For It 😉
In This Edition
🍎 Apple Intelligence
📱 Social Network for Humans and AI
🛟 Safe Superintelligence Inc.
🤖 The Rise of Humanoid Robots
☄️ Good & Bad News From Space
AI
Apple WWDC 2024:
What You Need To Know
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote had major updates across its devices and operating systems, especially with AI. Here's a detailed breakdown of the biggest announcements:
1. Apple Intelligence
Apple's new AI system, Apple Intelligence, integrates powerful generative models into iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This system enhances native apps with capabilities like image generation and text summarization, emphasizing security through on-device processing or Apple’s private cloud.
2. Siri's AI Boost
Siri now features deeper AI integration, appearing as a pulsating light on the device edge. It offers advanced control over apps, finding information within emails and photos. Using LLMs, Siri better understands queries and follows up requests effectively.
3. ChatGPT Integration with Siri
Siri now includes OpenAI’s ChatGPT, determining the best approach for queries and seeking permission before using ChatGPT. Users can access ChatGPT through Siri for free without an account.
4. AI Features in Core Apps
New AI features across iOS 18 apps include email summarization in Mail, custom emoji creation with Genmoji, and AI image generation in Image Playground. The Photos app gains natural language search and background object removal, similar to Google’s Magic Eraser. AI-powered transcriptions and summaries are added to Notes and Phone apps.
5. iOS 18 Customization
iOS 18 introduces a customizable Control Center and free app icon placement on the home screen. Users can lock specific apps, preventing unauthorized access. Additional updates include a redesigned Photos app and a new Game Mode to optimize gameplay by minimizing background activity.
6. RCS Support and iMessage Upgrades
iOS 18 confirms RCS support, enhancing messaging capabilities. iMessage improvements include scheduling texts, SMS via satellite, colorful Tapback options, and text formatting with bold, underline, and italics.
7. Apple TV Plus “inSights”
A new feature for Apple TV Plus allows users to swipe down on their remote to see actors and characters on screen, identify the current song, and add it to their Apple Music playlist. Automatic subtitles appear when a show is muted, and support for 21:9 projectors is included.
8. Passwords App
Apple introduces a Passwords app for managing login details across devices, generating and storing passwords similar to LastPass and 1Password. It will be available on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS, and even Windows.
9. iPadOS 18 Calculator and Smart Script
iPadOS 18 finally brings a Calculator app with Apple Pencil support for solving equations using Math Notes. The new Smart Script feature uses machine learning to enhance handwriting appearance and spell-check notes.
10. macOS 15 iPhone Mirroring
macOS 15 allows users to mirror their iPhone on their Mac, providing direct interaction with iPhone notifications and audio. Safari's new Highlights feature uses machine learning to highlight interesting parts of a webpage.
11. watchOS 11 Widget Automation
watchOS 11 introduces automatic widget surfacing based on user needs, a new Vitals app for key health metrics, advanced cycle tracking, Live Activities, and Check In support for workout tracking.
12. visionOS 2 Updates
visionOS 2 features spatial photos, an ultrawide virtual Mac display, more intuitive gestures, and travel mode for trains. The Vision Pro expands to China, Singapore, Australia, Canada, France, and the UK.
13. AirPods Pro Update
The next AirPods Pro update includes Siri Interactions, allowing users to shake their head to respond to Siri. Voice Isolation improves call quality by reducing background noise.
Butterflies: A New Social Network for Humans and AIs
Butterflies, a new social network, is now available on iOS and Android after five months in beta. This platform allows humans and AI personas, called Butterflies, to interact through posts, comments, and DMs. Users can create these AI personas in minutes, each with unique backstories, opinions, and emotions. Once created, Butterflies automatically generate posts, enriching the social experience.
🌐 Vu Tran, former Snap engineering manager, founded Butterflies to bring more creativity to human-AI interactions. Noticing a lack of engaging AI products beyond text-based chatbots, Tran envisioned AI personas with more depth and substance.
🦋 The app goes beyond chatting, allowing AI personas to live and interact in a social media-like environment. The feed is filled with updates from both humans and AIs, such as a Butterfly woodworker's latest creation or a fictional Butterfly CEO's quirky updates. Beta users spent an average of one to three hours daily interacting with these AI personas.
💬 Users have found innovative ways to use Butterflies, creating AI personas to interact on their behalf or embodying characters from popular media. Vu Tran observed people forming connections over their unique creations.
🤖 While primarily for entertainment, Butterflies aims to offer discovery features similar to Instagram. The app is free at launch, with potential plans for a subscription model and brand interactions. Butterflies secured $4.8 million in a seed round led by Coatue, with participation from SV Angel and former Snap leaders.
Ilya Sutskever Launches
Safe Superintelligence Inc.
Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and former chief scientist at OpenAI, has unveiled his new AI venture: Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI). Announced on Wednesday, SSI aims to develop a powerful AI system with safety as its primary focus, avoiding the typical commercial pressures faced by other tech giants.
SSI's mission is clear: advance AI capabilities while maintaining stringent safety standards. Unlike AI teams at companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, SSI will not be distracted by management overhead or product cycles. "Our business model means safety, security, and progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures," the announcement reads.
Joining Sutskever in this endeavor are co-founders Daniel Gross, former AI lead at Apple, and Daniel Levy, a former member of the technical staff at OpenAI. This leadership trio emphasizes that SSI’s singular focus on safety will allow the company to scale its AI advancements peacefully.
The move follows a tumultuous period at OpenAI, where Sutskever spearheaded efforts to oust CEO Sam Altman. His departure in May hinted at new projects, and shortly after, AI researcher Jan Leike and policy researcher Gretchen Krueger also left OpenAI, both citing safety concerns.
Tech
Tesla’s Optimus: Elon’s Next Big Bet
Elon Musk is betting big on Tesla’s Optimus robot program. Here are the key points from the latest Tesla shareholder meeting:
Ambitious Vision: Musk believes Optimus robots, potentially on sale as early as next year, could make Tesla a $25 trillion company.
Factory Integration: More than 1,000 humanoid robots could be working in Tesla factories next year, with a target of 2,000 by year-end.
Valuation Goals: Musk envisions Tesla being worth "10 times more than the currently most valuable companies," which are valued at ~$3 trillion each.
Product Potential: Optimus is seen as Tesla's most crucial product. The company already has two robots working autonomously in its main US factory.
Market Forecast: Musk predicts the market for humanoid robots will reach 1 billion units annually, with Tesla capturing at least 10%.
Financial Projection: Manufacturing cost per robot is expected to be $10,000, with a selling price of $20,000, potentially generating $1 trillion in profit.
Humanoid Robotics:
The Leap Towards Generalization
Humanoid robotics often focuses on hardware design. However, the term "general purpose humanoids" suggests a need to shift our attention. Moving from single-purpose to generalized systems is a significant leap, and we're not quite there yet.
Key research areas include creating robotic intelligence that can harness the full range of movements of bipedal designs. Generative AI is a hot topic, with recent MIT research highlighting its potential impact.
Training remains a major hurdle. Unlike the well-established methods for human training, robotic training is fragmented. Promising approaches like reinforcement and imitation learning, combined with generative AI models, show potential.
MIT's method, policy composition (PoCo), uses diffusion models to combine task-specific strategies into a general policy. This method improved task performance by 20%, enabling robots to handle multiple tools and adapt to new tasks.
The goal is to develop intelligence systems that allow robots to switch tools and perform various tasks, moving closer to the dream of general-purpose humanoids.
Space
Voyager-1 Comes Back to Life
Voyager 1, the farthest human-made craft from Earth, is once again sending data from all four of its scientific instruments! 🌌📡
🔬 NASA is now receiving valuable readings on plasma waves, magnetic fields, and space-bound particles from over 15 billion miles away.
🛠️ After a data blackout in November, engineers faced a 45-hour communication delay to fix it. In April, health and status updates resumed, followed by science data from two instruments in May.
📅 Now, Voyager 1 is "conducting normal science operations" with only a few maintenance tasks left, including resyncing its timekeeping software.
🤯 Not bad for a 47-year-old probe! Launched in 1977 for a five-year mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 continues to defy expectations. NASA's ingenuity, like tapping reserve power and reviving decades-old thrusters, keeps this iconic spacecraft alive and exploring.
Space: A Tough Frontier For Human Kidneys
A new study reveals a serious challenge in space exploration: kidney damage. 🩺🩸
Led by experts from University College London (UCL), the study shows that prolonged exposure to space radiation may cause significant kidney issues. Dr. Keith Siew warns, “Astronauts might make it to Mars but may need dialysis on the way back.”
Earth’s magnetic field protects us from harmful space radiation, but space travel exposes astronauts to constant galactic cosmic radiation (GCR). GCR can alter kidney structure and function, increasing the risk of kidney stones and permanent damage.
The study analyzed data and samples from 40+ space missions and 11 simulations involving humans, mice, and rats. Mice subjected to GCR for 2.5 years showed irreversible kidney damage, suggesting severe risks for astronauts on long missions.
Understanding these risks is the first step toward developing protective measures. Dr. Stephen B. Walsh highlights the potential for new technologies or drugs to protect astronauts’ kidneys, which might also benefit Earth-bound patients, like those undergoing cancer treatment.
The journey to Mars is full of challenges, but with continued research, we can overcome them and reach for the stars. 🌟