Westworld in real life

Plus Uncertain business models and more Sci-Fi

Author

The Alignment
April 10, 2023

AI is enabling a Sci-Fi world faster than we can imagine. Imagine casually talking to Generative Agents that have minds of their own. Well, that is now a reality.

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Here’s what we have lined up for you today - 

  1. Generative Agents = Westworld in real life ?

  2. Stability AI is burning through Cash as it tries to figure out revenue model

  3. Black Mirror literally predicted the future

Stanford researchers have just shared how they used AI to make Generative Agents. 

By using LLMs, generative agents were used to simulate human-like behaviour. The researchers essentially created video game characters and gave them the ability to - 

  • Communicate with each other and interact with their environment 

  • Have a memory and ability to recall what they did and the observations they made

  • Synthesise and reflect on their actions and observations

  • Plan and act on their plans for each day

25 characters were given an identity (name, occupation, priorities), context about other characters, their relationship to these characters and how they should be spending their day all trained using LLMs. 

The results were mind blowing, here’s a few of them :  

  1. The agents shared information with each other and shared it around the group

  2. They formed new relationships 

    1. Characters that did not know each other, introduced themselves. Some even became friends 

  3. They could coordinate, one character was responsible for organising a party. She proceeded to invite her friend and ask for help organising it. Her friend jumped at the opportunity and used it as an excuse to invite her crush.

The researchers successfully created a world of dynamic characters that essentially have a mind of their own. The full paper and demo are 1000% worth checking out. 

These generative agents will eventually expand beyond computer simulations to possibly-

  • Virtual worlds in AR/VR

  • Real Life physical robots 

  • Bots perfectly imitating humans online  

We’re not too far from Westworld in real life 

Stability AI made news last summer with the launch of Stable Diffusion.

The single most talked about AI startup in the world for a good part of last year has been burning cash rapidly to train its AI models. 

The company which prides itself in being completely open source and highly distributed is building multiple AI models for all sorts of use cases. The only problem, people previously involved with the company have expressed frustrations of an unorganised company structure. 

The company has been trying to raise fresh capital at a valuation of $4 billion, the status of which is unconfirmed at the moment.  

Stability has been a key player in the AI ecosystem and it’s important that they figure out their business roadmap as soon as possible. Their ambitions of competing with OpenAI and Google are commendable and their approach of pursuing open-source is important for users who need and want that option. 

But with no exclusive partnership with a major cloud provider (that can bankroll cloud computing costs), a business model that’s unclear and a corporate structure that for now looks more like a research lab it’s best for Stability to tighten up as its competitors gear up.  

Open Source’s potential is massive and Stability has a massive opportunity in front of it, we hope they can figure it out sooner rather than later. 

Around the industry - 

Product Corner - 

There are way too many cool products to showcase just one !

  • Cohesive - Create magical content with the most powerful AI editor

  • Landing AI - Make beautiful websites in seconds 

  • AgentGPT - Configure and deploy autonomous ai agents. Name your custom AI and have it embark on any goal imaginable.

  • GhostWryter - Content Writer, Idea generator and Writing Assistant made for Google Docs

  • Vizcom - See your drawings come to life in seconds.

  • Image Computer - Generate your next image with Image Computer

Black Mirror in real life 

Sticking to the theme of Sci-Fi, here's one freakishly “real” demo from Steve Jobs to check out !