Andrew Bosworth, director of technology at Meta, which has shown a lag behind other major technology companies in Silicon Valley in the field of generative artificial intelligence, confirmed that “the majority of the world’s population will have their first experiences in this field on our platforms.”
On Wednesday, Meta unveiled chatbots that include tools that can create images and texts and interact with the user in a common language.
These releases come after months of intense racing between companies to develop the latest generation of artificial intelligence.
The most prominent of these companies is OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and the Google and Microsoft groups, which compete with programs designed to help people conduct online research, be more productive, or educate their children.
Andrew Bosworth, in an interview with Agence France-Presse during the annual developers conference organized by Meta, confirmed that the major technology company is not behind others in the field of generative artificial intelligence.
He said: “There are many useful tools, including StyleDeffusion, which creates images. But these programs require extensive experience and take a long time to use.”
He continued: “We wanted the results to be amazing and fast, even on smartphones,” when users create avatars directly in messages, as they can ask the program to create an image of a hedgehog on a bike or another wishing a happy birthday to a marathon runner.
Artificial Intelligence – Reuters
From “Galactica” to “Llama”.»
In November 2022, two weeks before the launch of ChatGPT, Meta launched its own chatbot specializing in scientific research.
This program, called Galactica, can “write articles,” “solve mathematical problems,” or invent answers.
However, Meta quickly withdrew it from circulation.
“If the decision had been mine, I would not have withdrawn it,” Bosworth said, adding, “We said that the chatbot we created could say anything, and the idea was specifically to help researchers understand this technology better.”
But after years of controversy over content moderation on its platforms, Facebook’s parent company has less room for error than its competitors, “GPT Chat,” “Bing” (from Microsoft), and “Bard” (from Google).
Lessons learned from Galactica helped Meta improve Llama 2, the second version of its text creation software.
Companies should set editorial limits for applications, because if they give them complete freedom to create texts, they are likely to create dangerous sentences. If it is too restricted, it will become boring.
As for her virtual characters (such as Becca, a mother who cares for her little one, and Max, the experienced sous chef), Mita is likely to show caution towards her at first, before “giving her freedom over time,” Bosworth says.
The OpenAI and ChatGPT logo appears in an illustration – Reuters.
Feet and eyes
Bosworth was employed at Facebook in 2006, then in 2017 he created the department that became “Reality Labs,” dedicated to virtual and augmented reality, which became famous at the end of 2021 when the company changed its name to “Meta” out of a desire to stand out in the world of “Metaverse.”
This strategy sparked ridicule and comments from many analysts and observers, because progress was not as fast as expected.
“We should have had legs faster,” Bosworth joked about Horizon Worlds user avatars.
He acknowledged that the adoption of this virtual social network was somewhat slow, adding, “But most of the time the user spends in virtual reality is for social networking.”
On Wednesday, Meta focused on “mixed” reality. Its new connected glasses allow users, for example, to live broadcast what they see.
As for its new $500 Quest 3 helmet, it now better manages movement between the physical environment and the immersive world.
Creating life-like interactions, virtually or in the real world, requires a large number of trade-offs between technology and costs.
Apple has developed its first mixed reality helmet, a highly advanced device that will be sold for $3,500 in early 2024.
“I can make a similar helmet,” Bosworth said with a smile. “But we don’t think it will give our developers access to enough users to be useful.”