**Robotaxis May Soon Hit the Streets of New York State – But Not NYC (Yet)** In a major development for the future of transportation, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to advance the state’s autonomous vehicle pilot program, paving the way for robotaxis to operate commercially outside of New York City. As part of her State of the State address, Hochul outlined the next phase of the program, which would allow for the “restricted deployment of commercial for-hire autonomous passenger vehicles”. While the details are thin on the ground, it sounds like companies wanting to operate robotaxis will need…
Author: Naveed Ahmad
**Microsoft Tries to Win Hearts (and Minds) with “Community-First” Approach to AI Infrastructure** So, have you noticed how everyone’s been talking about AI infrastructure lately? I mean, it’s been a hot topic ever since the whole controversy erupted over public backlash against knowledge facilities. And, honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. But, apparently, Microsoft is trying to do its part to ease some of that tension. Yesterday, Microsoft announced a new approach – a “community-first” strategy, if you will – aimed at making its data center builds more, well, neighborly. And from what I can…
Here’s a rewritten version of the article in a more conversational tone: Roblox’s AI-Powered Age Verification System is a Total Hot Mess I’m still trying to wrap my head around Roblox’s latest move: an AI-powered age verification system that’s supposed to keep predators away from kids. But, um, yeah, it’s not exactly working as planned. Just a few days after launching the system in several countries, including the US, it’s already causing chaos among users. The system uses facial recognition tech to estimate users’ ages before letting them access the chat function on the platform. The idea is to keep…
**The Dark Side of AI-Powered Shopping: Google’s Surveillance Pricing Protocol Raises Concerns** I’m not sure about you, but I’m getting a little spooked by the latest development from Google. The tech giant has just rolled out a new AI-powered shopping protocol, but it’s got consumer advocates sounding the alarm. According to Groundwork Collaborative, a consumer economics watchdog, Google’s new protocol could lead to “surveillance pricing” – a system where retailers use AI to analyze our purchasing patterns and charge us higher prices. Apparently, Google’s Common Commerce Protocol uses AI to facilitate purchasing transactions, and retailers can use this system to…
**Red-Teaming LLMs with Garak: A Step-by-Step Guide to Evaluating Model Safety** Hey everyone, welcome back to my blog! In this tutorial, we’re going to dive into how to build a multi-turn crescendo-style red-teaming pipeline using Garak to test large language model (LLM) safety. We’ll explore how to simulate lifelike conversational escalation patterns and assess whether the model maintains its security boundaries throughout the interaction. Instead of focusing on single-prompt failures, we’ll take a closer look at multi-turn robustness and discuss practical, reproducible ways to analyze it. To get started, let’s set up the execution environment and load the required dependencies.…
**Robotics Breakthrough: 1X Unveils AI Model that Teaches Robots New Skills from Videos and Text Prompts** I’m still trying to wrap my head around the latest innovation from 1X, the robotics firm behind the Neo humanoid robot. They’ve just announced a new AI model that’s going to change the game for robots. Meet the 1X World Model, a physics-based AI that uses a combination of video and text prompts to teach Neo robots new skills. Imagine being able to teach a robot to perform a task without having to program every step. That’s what this technology can do. The video…
Here’s the rewritten text with a more natural tone and flow: **Introducing Cowork: The Newest Addition to the Claude Family** If you’re a fan of Claude, the intelligent AI assistant, you’re in for a treat. The team at Anthropic has just launched Cowork, a brand new feature that lets you automate non-coding tasks with ease. Yes, you read that right – you can use Claude to automate tasks without writing a single line of code! **What is Cowork?** Cowork is a game-changer. It’s a dedicated mode within the Claude desktop app that lets you select a folder on your system…
Apple’s Creator Studio Bundle: A Total Game-Changer for Artists and Creatives? So, Apple just dropped a bombshell with the launch of Apple Creator Studio, a new subscription bundle that’s sure to send shockwaves through the artistic and creative communities. For a mere $12.99 a month or $129 per year, you’ll get access to six top-notch apps, plus premium content in iWork apps. That’s a whole lotta creative power for your hard-earned cash! So, what’s in this fantastic bundle? Well, for starters, you’ll get Last Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Pixelmator Pro on Mac and iPad, as well as Motion, Compressor,…
**The Layers of AI Observability in the Age of LLMs: Unlocking Transparency and Reliability** As Large Language Models (LLMs) continue to transform industries and revolutionize the way we live and work, understanding the inner workings of these complex systems has become more crucial than ever. AI observability, a concept borrowed from software engineering, has emerged as a vital tool for ensuring the transparency, reliability, and trustworthiness of AI systems. In this article, we’ll delve into the layers of AI observability and explore how it can be applied to LLMs. **The Hidden Challenges of AI Observability** AI systems, especially those powered…
**Voice AI Just Got a Whole Lot Louder: Deepgram Scores $130M in Series C Funding** The voice AI space is officially on fire. We’re seeing a surge in demand, investor interest, and some serious cash flowing into the tech. The latest example is Deepgram, which just raised a whopping $130 million in a Series C round led by AVP, valuing the company at a staggering $1.3 billion. So, who’s behind the hype? Well, existing investors Alkeon, In-Q-Tel, Madrona, Tiger, Wing, and Y Combinator, as well as new investors Alumni Ventures, Columbia University, Princeville Capital, Twilio, and SAP, all jumped on…