☕️ Chinese AI Model Development Ramps Up With Alibaba's Qwen 2.5

Alibaba's Qwen Team looks to shake up both domestic and international rivals with the launch of over 100 open-source models in its Qwen 2.5 collection. Other key takeaways of the week include:

• Microsoft and BlackRock pool $30 billion in initial capital for its AI infrastructure fund

• Snap releases a beta version of Snap AI Video, an in-app video generation tool, for Snapchat

• LinkedIn opted accounts of its platform into training its generative AI models without any explicit consent

Join us at AI Tangle as we untangle this week's happenings in AI!

Alibaba launches more than 100 open-source AI models as part of the Qwen 2.5 collection

China hasn't exactly been on the heels of the US in terms of AI model development just yet, but its companies are rapidly approaching, and Alibaba's recent release of over 100 open-source AI models is a clear sign of that. Aimed for use in various applications and industries ranging from automobiles to gaming and scientific research, Alibaba looks to ramp up competition with domestic rivals Huawei and Baidu, along with international competitors like Microsoft and OpenAI.

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Let's elaborate a bit

Releasing just three months after its Qwen 2, the Qwen 2.5 open-source collection of AI models was announced by Alibaba at the opening of the annual three-day Apsara Conference. The densely-packed models, ​available on Hugging Face​, range from sizes of 0.5B to 72B parameters, offering a mix of base and instruct variants with a separate group for code-specific and math-specific models. Though not open-source, Alibaba also upgraded its proprietary flagship model Qwen-Max, which it offers through its cloud computing products, and launched a new text-to-video tool based on its AI models, working similarly to OpenAI's Sora.

Microsoft and BlackRock form a massive investment group that aims to pool $100 billion for AI infrastructure

BlackRock and Microsoft are launching a $30 billion fund to invest in AI infrastructure as part of the Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP), focused on building data centers and energy projects. GAIIP aims to strengthen AI supply chains and energy sourcing, with Nvidia providing expertise and Abu Dhabi-backed MGX as a general partner. Though $30 billion was the initial capital benchmark, GAIIP is eyeing an end goal of $100 billion, including debt financing. The fund's investments will mainly target the US with further ventures in partner countries.

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Snapchat users can say hello to Snap AI Video, an in-app AI video generation tool

Snapchat unveiled a new AI video-generation tool at its annual Snap Partner Summit, allowing select creators to produce videos from text prompts, with image prompts on the horizon. Available in beta on the web, Snap AI Video includes watermarks and safety measures to prevent harmful content. Snapchat has gotten the drop on competitors like TikTok and Instagram who haven't tested the waters with similar features yet as Snapchat is likely looking to compete with other AI video-generation tools like OpenAI's Sora and Adobe's Firefly.

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LinkedIn faces criticism for silently opting in its userbase to train its generative AI models

According to ​a report from 404Media​, LinkedIn has quietly opted users into using their data to train generative AI models without explicit consent or much notification. LinkedIn recently ​updated its privacy policy to reflect this​, allowing users to opt out through their account settings. However, any training the models have undergone in the past, be it generative AI or otherwise, can't be undone. The platform claims to use privacy-enhancing technologies for this purpose and excludes EU, EEA, and Swiss users from AI training.

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Apple Intelligence will come with a wide selection of languages over the next year

Apple has announced that its AI feature set, Apple Intelligence, which was recently announced to be launching in US English this October as part of iOS 18.1, will support a wider array of languages over the next year. This includes localized English versions for many countries by December and German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Vietnamese, "and others" in the coming year. Though the iPhone 16 focuses heavily on AI, its AI features will not be available at launch, with a phased rollout continuing through next year, and the company is struggling to get its Apple Intelligence to Chinese or ​European Union markets​ in the first place.

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Amazon launches Amelia as a beta to address the difficulties of account troubleshooting among its third-party sellers

As part of a beta test for select US sellers, third-party sellers on Amazon are being given early test drives to Amazon's Amelia, an AI-powered, RAG-based tool designed to help sellers quickly resolve issues with their accounts and fetch sales and inventory data. The idea for Amelia stems from years of complaints by merchants regarding the difficulties of account troubleshooting and the need for swift resolution. Amazon says a broader release should be coming later this year.

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Fal.ai raises $23 million in funding to scale up its media-generation AI model hosting platform

The developer-focused platform for content generation ​Fal.ai​ recently raised $23 million from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, ​Black Forest Labs​ co-founder Robin Rombach, and Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Launched in 2021 by Burkay Gur and Gorkem Yurtseven, the company offers scalable cloud infrastructure for generative AI models with customers like Perplexity, Photoroom, and Freepik. While Fal has seen rapid growth and profitability, the usual expected concerns around deepfakes and copyright risks remain, as the platform is currently taking a fairly hands-off approach to moderation and legal liabilities.

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ChatGPT is Upgrading Itself (4-min read)

OpenAI's groundbreaking o1 has many asking questions about its underlying technology and what it means for future AI model development, and the company's CEO, Sam Altman, hasn't been shy about promising revolutionary advancements in AI and unlocking new opportunities.