The SEC Newgate AI Weekly

Week after week, the AI industry continues to deliver ground-breaking news, as it introduces products that have the potential to revolutionise and redefine the way we work. The past week has been no exception, with developments ranging from non-invasive mind-reading enabled by AI to the 'Godfather of AI' quitting Google and cautioning against the dangers of misinformation in the field. It's becoming a regular occurrence to find ourselves asking the question, "what's next in the world of AI?"  

In an advance we couldn’t have imagined five years ago, neuroscientists are in awe of an AI-based decoder that can translate brain activity into a continuous stream of text. To test the precision of the AI decoder, three volunteers imagined a story they might tell while the language decoder attempted to match brain activity with meaning.  

Remarkably, the generated text accurately reflected the intended meaning of the original words about 50% of the time, with some instances being an exact match. While this is a very exciting and substantial breakthrough, scientists say there is still much to discover.  

Move over human investors, ChatGPT is making waves in the stock market. An experiment conducted by finder.com found that a portfolio of more than 30 stocks picked by ChatGPT performed better than some of the UK’s top investment funds, with a rise of 4.9% over eight weeks.  

The portfolio was based on investing principles used by leading funds and compared to the top 10 most popular funds on UK platform Interactive Investor, which lost an average of 0.8% during the same period. AI’s influence in investing is growing, and it seems ChatGPT is leading the charge. However, CEO of finder.com Jon Ostler, argued ‘it was too early for consumers to trust it when it came to their own finances’. 

In more shocking news, Geoffrey Hinton, often referred to as the godfather of AI, has quit Google and spoken out about his concerns over the dangers of AI, including the flood of misinformation, the potential for it to replace jobs, and the existential risk posed by creating a true digital intelligence. 

In a statement released after Hinton’s departure announcement, Jeff Dean, Google’s chief scientist stated that he was appreciative of Hinton’s contributions and bids him well. Chief scientist also added that despite Geoffrey Hinton’s concerns Google remains ‘committed to a responsible approach to AI. We’re continually learning to understand emerging risks while also innovating boldly’. 

What else is happening in AI this week you might ask?  

1. Microsoft opens up Bing access and adds chat history and export features 

2. ‘ChatGPT is the new crypto’: Meta warns hackers are exploiting interest in the AI chatbot 

3. Microsoft economist warns of A.I. election interference from ‘bad actors’ 

4. ‘We’re not at the moon yet’: Human-like A.I. is still some way off. 

5. Slack’s getting an A.I. chatbot that can summarize messages, take notes and more 

6. ChatGPT is giving therapy. A mental health revolution may be next