Welcome back, my AI-obsessed friends.

Crack open those eyelids—it’s Tuesday, and a lot happened in the AI world! This is the latest issue of /Imagine, your go-to source for the freshest news and developments in AI. Let’s dive in…

High Level: Gemini Ultra: Google’s Next AI Leap Rumored for Launch 🚀

The Bytes:

✣ AI’s New Frontier: Big shoutout to @evowizz on X for spilling the beans. The AI world is abuzz with rumors that Google’s shiny new AI, Gemini Ultra, may make its grand entrance this week (keep your eyes peeled around February 8th).

✣ A Step Above: Gemini Ultra is supposed to surpass the capabilities of OpenAI’s GPT-4, and reignite the model wars.

✣ Exclusive Access: Speculation suggests that Gemini Ultra will be a premium offering, available through a subscription service - potentially in the $20/month range.

✣ Bard’s Transformation: Alongside the launch of Gemini Ultra, Google is likely to rebrand its Bard chatbot to align with the Gemini suite, streamlining its AI tools under one umbrella.

Why You Should Care: If the rumors hold (please note none of this is official until announced), Gemini Ultra’s release could mark a significant milestone in AI, offering users an even more powerful tool for various applications. Expect OpenAI to respond and ship ChatGPT 5 soon after.

High Level: AI Unlocks the Secrets of the Ancient World 🏺

The Bytes:

✣ Historic Victory: The Vesuvius Challenge, a groundbreaking competition started by former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, has culminated in a remarkable achievement: the reading of the Herculaneum Papyri, ancient scrolls that have been unreadable for over 2000 years.

✣ The Challenge: Launched in March 2023, the challenge aimed to decipher the scrolls using high-resolution CT scans and a global collaboration of experts in computer vision and machine learning, and it only took a year to succeed.

✣ AI’s Role: Competitors utilized advanced AI techniques to virtually unwrap the scrolls and read the text within. The winning team’s AI was able to detect the subtle textures of ink on the carbonized papyrus, despite the lack of X-ray contrast, revealing texts on music, food, and the enjoyment of life’s pleasures.

✣ Why It’s Amazing: This AI-driven method allows for non-invasive reading of the scrolls, preserving their fragile state while unlocking the thoughts and culture of our ancestors. It’s a monumental step in historical research, made possible by the fusion of technology and human ingenuity.

✣ The Future: With roughly 95% of the scroll still to be read, and still others to be discovered, this success opens the door to further discoveries and a deeper understanding of our forgotten history.

Why You Should Care: The success of this AI-powered wizardry exemplifies the power of AI to help us transcend time, offering us a precious link to our past and enriching our cultural heritage. What will it discover next? This is just too damn cool.

High Level: Hugging Face’s Chat Assistants: A New Era of Open Source AI 🤖

The Bytes:

✣ Open Source Innovation: Hugging Face has launched a new chat assistant offering, a free and open-source alternative to OpenAI’s custom GPTs.

✣ Benefits Over ChatGPT:

Cost-Effective: It’s free!

Model Diversity: Users can choose from a variety of open-source large language models (LLMs) to power their chatbots, providing flexibility.

Community-Driven: The platform encourages community contributions, allowing for continuous improvement and customization.

✣ Drawbacks:

Model Limitations: While offering a range of models, the performance of these open-source LLMs may vary, and some may not match the capabilities of OpenAI’s proprietary models.

Support and Resources: It’s missing a lot of functionality including web search, and actions.

Why You Should Care: Hugging Face’s new chat assistant continues to democratize AI, providing users with the tools to build personalized AI experiences without the cost barrier. I’ve tried it, and it is pretty impressive thus far. Let me know if you want a tutorial to learn more.

/Imagination of The Day: Let's finish the day with something creative. Midjourney has released an amazing reference tool that is really impressive. I want to show you an example of what it can do. A friend asked for Alice in Wonderland-inspired art for a fun project but wanted it to be unique. Using the new tool, I made her look more like an anime character and added tattoos. Check it out:

Prompt Share From Video: a portrait of Alice in Wonderland covered in playing card tattoos --sref [insert image reference link here] --sw 100 --stylize 750 --niji 6

I opted for the Niji 6 model of Midjourney to achieve the anime look.

Join Us: Don't forget to follow me on Twitter/X at @jake_joseph and the brand on its fresh new page @slashimagineai. Let’s be friends.

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