AI to transform workspace with new model created by Aramco Digital and Groq

Groc claims to make the fastest AI chips in the world, with their language processing unit running at 544 tokens per second. (GAIN/File)
Groc claims to make the fastest AI chips in the world, with their language processing unit running at 544 tokens per second. (GAIN/File)
Short Url
Updated 3 min 25 sec ago
Follow

AI to transform workspace with new model created by Aramco Digital and Groq

AI to transform workspace with new model created by Aramco Digital and Groq
  • Semiconductor company Groq will provide the scalable infrastructure needed to bring Aramco Digital AI model Norous to life

RIYADH: A hands-free computer and intent seamlessly translated into action — the future of the workplace is “completely customizable,” Aramco Digital CEO Tareq Amin said on a panel at the Global AI Summit, GAIN, in Riyadh on Tuesday.

In partnership with Groq, the second-largest semiconductor company in artificial intelligence providing advanced AI chips, Aramco Digital unveiled Norous, an advanced generative AI model that uses vocal commands to increase productivity in the workspace.

AI chips process large amounts of data needed for AI workloads.

Take, for example, building an organization structure for a new start-up company; when prompted, Norous will create the structure based on existing models instead of suggesting an answer in a textual format.

Rather than move from application to application, employees will be able to complete all their daily tasks on one smarter platform.

“If you want to be able to establish web conferencing and collaboration, you should be able to declare intent,” Amin said, explaining that commands like “preview weekly calendar” or “schedule meetings” should be made hands-free in order to optimize office efficiency.

Groq will come in to provide the scalable infrastructure needed to bring Norous to life.

Deploying in Saudi Arabia with the commitment to build the world’s largest AI inferencing data center, Jonathan Ross, CEO and founder of Groq, said that the Kingdom is an ideal hub for the project due to its very active business climate, plentiful energy reserves, and strategic location — being “at the nexus of 4 billion people,” Ross said.

Groc claims to make the fastest AI chips in the world, with their language processing unit running at 544 tokens per second. One token is roughly one word.

“Question I get a lot is: Is AI the next internet? The answer is absolutely not, because AI is a generative age technology,” Ross said.

Artificial intelligence is “not about copying or replicating,” he added but rather “about creating something new … and it runs on compute.”

Aramco Digital and Groq plan to deliver 25 million tokens by the end of the first quarter of 2025. With a new supply chain management system capable of generating a billion tokens per second, 20 percent of the 25 million is ready to be deployed this year and the rest is due for the next.

Deployment refers to moving software files from a development space to a production space.

“That’s going to be enough to support neighboring continents that allow us to support parts of Europe, parts of Africa, maybe even a little bit of India,” Ross said.

“When we get to a billion tokens … it’s going to turn the Kingdom into a net exporter of compute that will be able to reach about 4 billion people from this country.”


Toronto festival drops Russian war film screenings over threats

Toronto festival drops Russian war film screenings over threats
Updated 13 September 2024
Follow

Toronto festival drops Russian war film screenings over threats

Toronto festival drops Russian war film screenings over threats
  • Desicion was taken after receiving ‘significant threats to festival operations and public safety’
  • Film features a Russian battalion as it advanced across eastern Ukraine in February 2022

OTTAWA: The Toronto International Film Festival said Thursday it was pausing all upcoming screenings of controversial documentary “Russians at War” after receiving “significant threats.”
“We have been made aware of significant threats to festival operations and public safety,” festival organizers said in a statement, pointing to reports they received “indicating potential activity in the coming days that pose significant risk.”
“This is an unprecedented move for TIFF,” read the statement.
“Given the severity of these concerns, we cannot proceed as planned.”
Anastasia Trofimova first presented “Russians at War” at the Venice Film Festival.
In the film, she embedded with a Russian battalion as it advanced across eastern Ukraine after Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022.
It was to have its North American premiere in Toronto on Friday, followed by additional screenings on Saturday and Sunday.
Both in Venice and Toronto it has sparked outrage in Ukrainian cultural and political circles against what many consider a pro-Kremlin film that seeks to whitewash and justify Moscow’s assault on its neighbor.
Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said he felt the festival should have dropped the film.
“The threat is Russian propaganda,” he wrote on Telegram, adding that the film should be “banned.”
Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, criticized the planned screening in Toronto.
“There can be no moral equivalency in our understanding of this conflict,” she said.
Canadian public broadcaster TVO, which had helped fund the documentary, pulled its support for the film and said it would not be airing it.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s state film agency appealed to TIFF to drop the film, which it said was “a dangerous tool for public opinion manipulation.”
Trofimova has rejected the criticisms, telling AFP the Canada-France production was “an anti-war film” that showed “ordinary guys” who were fighting for Russia.
The soldiers depicted appear to have little idea of why they have been sent to the front, and are shown struggling to make Soviet-era weapons serviceable.
Others chain-smoke cigarettes and down shots of alcohol amid the deaths and wounds of their comrades.
Producer Sean Farnel said on X that the decision to cancel the screenings was “heartbreaking.”
He blamed officials’ public criticisms for having “incited the violent hate that has led to TIFF’s painful decision to pause its presentation of ‘Russians at War.’“


Investigation casts doubt on Israeli forces’ account of US-Turkish activist’s death

Investigation casts doubt on Israeli forces’ account of US-Turkish activist’s death
Updated 13 September 2024
Follow

Investigation casts doubt on Israeli forces’ account of US-Turkish activist’s death

Investigation casts doubt on Israeli forces’ account of US-Turkish activist’s death
  • Washington Post investigation suggests Aysenur Ezgi Eygi’s was the result of a ‘mischaracterization’ of events by soldiers
  • Reconstruction of events reveals Eygi was shot about 20 minutes after protesters had retreated

LONDON: Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi’s death was the result of a “mischaracterization” of events by Israeli forces, raising fresh doubts about the official account, according to an investigation by the Washington Post.

Eygi was fatally shot in the head in early September while participating in a protest against Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Although Israeli authorities initially described her death as likely “indirect and unintentional,” the Post’s investigation, based on 13 eyewitness testimonies and over 50 videos and photos provided by the International Solidarity Movement, paints a different picture.

The report indicates that the protests had largely subsided before Israeli soldiers opened fire.

Eygi was shot roughly 30 minutes after the height of confrontations, and about 20 minutes after protesters had retreated down the main road, some 200 yards (183 meters) away from Israeli forces.

Eygi herself had withdrawn to an olive grove far from the soldiers, approximately 180 meters away, before being struck by a bullet.

Witnesses claimed that a Palestinian teenager standing about 18 meters away from Eygi may have been the intended target of Israeli fire.

The Israeli army declined to comment on the investigation.

According to one of her colleagues, Eygi had explicitly decided beforehand she did not want to be “near any action.”

The report described chaotic scenes of violence following Friday prayers in the town of Beita, near Nablus, in the West Bank.

After young Palestinians erected barricades and threw rocks, Israeli soldiers responded with teargas and live ammunition.

Eygi, however, had moved to an olive grove far from the confrontation when she was hit by the fatal bullet.

The Post’s findings cast doubt on the justification for using live fire in this case, highlighting concerns about the broader use of excessive force by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.

Israeli rights groups have noted that soldiers are often given broad discretion to open fire, even based on perceived future threats from suspects.

The incident has prompted international criticism, including from US President Joe Biden, who expressed sadness and anger over the death, though he echoed the Israeli account that the shooting was accidental.

Eygi’s family, however, has rejected this explanation, accusing the US government of accepting Israel’s narrative without independent investigation.

“President Biden is still calling her killing an accident based only on the Israeli military’s story. This is not only insensitive and false, it is complicit in the Israeli military’s agenda to take Palestinian land and whitewash the killing of an American,” the family said in a statement earlier this week.

Tensions between the US and Israel have grown more strained in recent months, particularly as violence in the West Bank has surged since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks.

At least 634 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during this period, according to the UN.


Musk calls Australian government ‘fascists’ over misinformation law

Musk calls Australian government ‘fascists’ over misinformation law
Updated 13 September 2024
Follow

Musk calls Australian government ‘fascists’ over misinformation law

Musk calls Australian government ‘fascists’ over misinformation law
  • Australia’s Labor government unveils legislation which could fine Internet platforms up to 5 percent of their global revenue
  • The proposed law would require tech platforms to set codes of conduct to stop dangerous falsehoods spreading and be approved by a regulator

SYDNEY: Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X, on Friday called Australia’s center-left government “fascists” over proposed legislation to slap fines on social media firms for failing to prevent the spread of misinformation online.
Australia’s Labor government on Thursday unveiled legislation which could fine Internet platforms up to 5 percent of their global revenue for enabling misinformation, joining a worldwide push to rein in borderless tech giants.
The proposed law would require tech platforms to set codes of conduct to stop dangerous falsehoods spreading and be approved by a regulator. The regulator would set its own standard if a platform failed to do so and fine firms for non-compliance.
Musk, who views himself as a champion of free speech, responded to a post by an X user linking the Reuters story about the misinformation law with one word: “Fascists.”
A spokesperson for Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said by email that companies operating in Australia must comply with Australian laws.
“This bill improves the transparency and accountability of platforms for users and the Australian people,” Rowland said.
Musk’s comment on the push against misinformation drew criticism and ridicule from other government lawmakers.
“Elon Musk’s had more positions on free speech than the Kama Sutra. When it’s in its commercial interests, he is the champion of free speech and when he doesn’t like it ... he’s going to shut it all down,” Government Services Minister Bill Shorten told Channel Nine’s breakfast show.
Social media platforms should not publish scam content, deepfake materials and livestream violence in the name of free speech, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones told ABC television.
In a previous clash with the Australian government, X in April went to court to challenge a cyber regulator’s order for the removal of some posts about the stabbing of a bishop in Sydney, prompting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to call Musk an “arrogant billionaire.”
The regulator later dropped its challenge against X after a setback in the federal court.
X had blocked Australian users from viewing the posts about the stabbing but refused to remove them globally on the grounds that one country’s rules should not control the Internet.


Seeing isn’t believing: AI Summit’s warning on deepfakes

Seeing isn’t believing: AI Summit’s warning on deepfakes
Updated 12 September 2024
Follow

Seeing isn’t believing: AI Summit’s warning on deepfakes

Seeing isn’t believing: AI Summit’s warning on deepfakes

RIYADH: The use of deepfakes — images or recordings that have been altered or manipulated to depict real or nonexistent people — raised worrying ethical questions, but could also bring positive, life-changing benefits, the Global AI Summit in Riyadh was told on Thursday. 
In a panel titled “Deepfakes: Navigating Ethical, Technical, and Social Implications” Thomas Schneider, ambassador and director of international affairs at the Swiss Federal Office of Communications, said that definitions of a “deepfake” can have a political, technical, or legal basis.

The technology has deep ethical implications depending on “whether it’s a piece of art or (if it is) insulting someone.” 

On the same panel, Jennifer Williams, assistant professor at the University of Southampton, said that deepfakes could have “minuscule edits, minor alterations.” 

“It only takes three to five seconds of your voice in order to create a deepfake that can bypass automatic speaker verification systems that we use, for example in the UK,” she said.

Williams said that deepfakes are not always designed to be misleading or illicit.  

The rise of speech synthesis technology, a form of deepfake, is leading to growing demand in a number of companies, she said.  

Benefits of the technology include use in voice reconstruction, voice privacy that involves sourcing biometric information from the speech signal, and screening readers for those who are visually impaired through speech synthesis technology. 

Williams warned that deepfake technology could also lead to a rise in mental health issues due to fake media consumption.  

“One of my concerns is that we might see various new types of mental health issues surrounding how we question our reality. I don’t know if the younger generation is going to come up to speed as quickly as we have with the changing world and how that might impact how they handle information or just each other,” she said.

Walid Magdy, co-founder and CTO at Alan AI, said that deepfakes have been put to negative use on social media platforms, such as a TikTok account operated by a man impersonating US actor Tom Cruise.  

The slow response in removing deepfakes from platforms poses problems, he said. 

“To convince the people to remove the harm will take even longer. It’s the same with fake news — it propagates among people, and they think it’s true and act on it. 

“Don’t believe everything you see; you have to double check many times.” 

At the end of the panel, Schneider discussed the future of AI, saying: “We need to learn and step up. It’s a mix of measures. We need to technically develop standards that help us. We need to legally develop standards that help us. We need to develop our own skills and common sense. We have no choice.” 


Israeli army investigates claims of fabricated stories in The Jewish Chronicle

Israeli army investigates claims of fabricated stories in The Jewish Chronicle
Updated 13 September 2024
Follow

Israeli army investigates claims of fabricated stories in The Jewish Chronicle

Israeli army investigates claims of fabricated stories in The Jewish Chronicle
  • Experts and media organizations debunked stories about Gaza that appeared in the London-based newspaper under the byline Elon Perry
  • Claims about Perry’s reported experience with the Israeli military and as a former professor at Tel Aviv University have also been called into question

DUBAI: The Israel Defense Forces are investigating stories published by The Jewish Chronicle, amid claims that they were not true.

The London-based newspaper published an exclusive story on Sept. 5 that said Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning to flee to Iran through the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, along with other leaders of his organization and Israeli hostages.

The claim was said to be based on details provided by “intelligence sources,” and information obtained “during the interrogation of a captured, senior Hamas official” and “documents seized” on Aug. 29.

The story gained traction online but was quickly debunked by several experts, media organizations and other critics.

Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 said that “all of the relevant sources in the security establishment are unaware of the supposed intelligence.”

Israeli news website Ynet published a story in which four sources from the country’s intelligence community and the army’s prisoners and missing persons division were quoted as saying that the newspaper’s claims were “100 percent lies” and a “wild fabrication”.

The story is not the only one published by The Jewish Chronicle that has been called into question. Several other reports carrying the same byline, Elon Perry, are now alleged to have been fabricated.

Perry’s biographical information on the newspaper’s website states he is “a former commando soldier of the elite Golani Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, which he served in for 28 years” and he has been “a journalist for 25 years covering wars and terrorist attacks.”

The Guardian newspaper found no record of any significant published stories written by Perry as a reporter in English or Hebrew, other than the recent series of articles in The Jewish Chronicle.

On his personal website, Perry said that during his military service he was part of the Israeli army’s mista’arvim units, the members of which go undercover as Palestinians. He also said he participated in Operation Entebbe, the 1976 Israeli military raid in Uganda to rescue the passengers of a plane that had been hijacked by Palestinian and German militants.

Perry is also a published author. Pen and Sword Books, the publisher of his second book, “Children in War,” describes him as having been a political science and history professor at Tel Aviv University between 1998 and 2014

These claims are false, Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 reported on Sept. 9 in its program “Hazinor.” It said it could find no record of Perry working at the university or participating in Operation Entebbe.

During an interview with a Channel 13 reporter, Perry confirmed he had not been a professor at Tel Aviv University or an undercover Israeli army operative.

Other publications and journalists, including Israeli-Palestinian magazine +972 and Simi Spolter, a tech journalist with Israel business newspaper The Marker, also highlighted inconsistencies and outright falsehoods in Perry’s claims.

The Jewish Chronicle published a statement on Thursday in which it said it was “aware of allegations concerning a freelance journalist, which we take very seriously.”

It added: “The Jewish Chronicle is the oldest Jewish newspaper in the world and has always maintained the highest standards of reporting and integrity. An investigation is underway and there will be an update in due course.”