Devin Coldewey
Writer & Photographer
The Latest from Devin Coldewey
The week in AI: OpenAI attracts deep-pocketed rivals in Anthropic and Musk
Keeping up with an industry as fast-moving as AI is a tall order. So until an AI can do it for you, here’s a handy roundup of the last week’s stories in the world of machine learning, along with n
Elon Musk reportedly rushing to assemble a rival to OpenAI
Not satisfied with dismantling Twitter, Elon Musk is reportedly planning to take on his erstwhile ally OpenAI, and is currently attempting to collect the money and people necessary to do so. The busy
OpenAI looks beyond diffusion with ‘consistency’-based image generator
The field of image generation moves quickly. Though the diffusion models used by popular tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion may seem like the best we’ve got, the next thing is always com
Prohibition of AI that ‘subverts state power’ in China may chill its nascent industry
Chinese regulators have proposed restrictive rules around AI models like ChatGPT being built in the country, requiring user identification and security reviews, and prohibiting “any content that
Researchers populated a tiny virtual town with AI (and it was very wholesome)
What would happen if you filled a virtual town with AIs and set them loose? As it turns out, they brush their teeth and are very nice to one another! But this unexciting outcome is good news for the r
YC’s latest batch sure was a lot of ‘maybe AI can do… this?’
Sitting through hundreds of startups on YC Demo Days, you’re not always sure whether you are actually perceiving patterns or if your brain, as coffee battles with monotony, is inventing them in
Anthropic’s $5B, 4-year plan to take on OpenAI
AI research startup Anthropic aims to raise as much as $5 billion over the next two years to take on rival OpenAI and enter over a dozen major industries, according to company documents obtained by Te
Our favorite startups from YC’s Winter 2023 Demo Day — Part 2
Over 20,000 applications flew into Y Combinator, which ended up plucking out 282 startups for its latest batch. Now we’re getting our first look at them through Demo Day. The first day’s demos inc
Can AI commit libel? We’re about to find out
The tech world’s hottest new toy may find itself in legal hot water as AI’s tendency to invent news articles and events comes up against defamation laws. Can an AI model like ChatGPT even
Our favorite startups from YC’s Winter 2023 Demo Day — Part 1
Here’s a crazy statistic: More than half of the companies in Y Combinator’s latest cohort were accepted to the accelerator with only an idea, no minimum viable product or revenue strategy needed.
The takeaways from Stanford’s 386-page report on the state of AI
Writing a report on the state of AI must feel a lot like building on shifting sands: By the time you hit publish, the whole industry has changed under your feet. But there are still important trends a
The Great Pretender
There is a good reason not to trust what today’s AI constructs tell you, and it has nothing to do with the fundamental nature of intelligence or humanity, with Wittgensteinian concepts of langua
The week in AI: The pause request heard ’round the world
Keeping up with an industry as fast-moving as AI is a tall order. So until an AI can do it for you, here’s a handy roundup of the last week’s stories in the world of machine learning, alon
Ethicists fire back at ‘AI Pause’ letter they say ‘ignores the actual harms’
A group of well-known AI ethicists have written a counterpoint to this week’s controversial letter asking for a six-month “pause” on AI development, criticizing it for a focus on hyp
NASA’s DAGGER could give advance warning of the next big solar storm
There’s enough trouble on this planet already that we don’t need new problems coming here from the sun. Unfortunately, we can’t yet destroy this pitiless star, so we are at its mercy
That was fast! Microsoft slips ads into AI-powered Bing Chat
Microsoft is “exploring” putting ads in the responses given by Bing Chat, its new search agent powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4. While these sponsored responses are clearly labeled as such,
Saildrone takes the wraps off its Voyager autonomous research vessel
Saildrone has quickly risen to the surface of the growing field of autonomous seagoing vehicles — a category you could be forgiven for not knowing about but that is increasingly important across num
Krisp expands from noise canceling to on-device transcription
Krisp got its start as an AI-powered noise-cancellation service, but now the startup is moving beyond that with instant on-device transcription of all your calls and meetings — and of course it inte
Framework refines its laptops and adds a cute way to reuse old parts
Framework is one of a few companies leading the charge against disposable electronics, in particular laptops. It just showed off some new models, but also a unique case that you can slot your old part
Blue Origin releases report on launch anomaly and plans to fly again ‘soon’
It’s been nearly six months since Blue Origin’s 23rd suborbital launch experienced an anomaly, and the company has finally released the results of its investigation. The good news is the e