OpenAI CEO Sam Altman：GPT-5 将带来「巨大飞跃」
On July 1, according to an interview at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Sam Altman mentioned that it will take some time to develop "GPT-5". "We are optimistic at the moment, but there is still a lot of work to be done." Sam Altman said.
It's unclear what GPT-5's release date will be, but Sam Altman says it will be a "significant leap forward," perhaps compared to its predecessor, GPT-4. Previously, Sam Altman had publicly stated that GPT-4 was "somewhat bad" and euphemistically called it "a little embarrassing at best."
Sam Altman further explained, "I hope it will take a big leap forward. GPT-4 often makes a lot of mistakes, such as being poor at reasoning, and sometimes going completely off the rails, making low-level mistakes, like not even a six-year-old would make."
Sam Altman's remarks about GPT-5 suggest that this model may still be in the early stages of development. This may be due to complex algorithms, data problems, and the sheer size of GPT-5 itself. Sam Altman likened the development of large language models to the release of the iPhone, "The first iPhone still had a lot of bugs, but it was enough for people to use it." (Source: IT House)
Musk announced that xAI will launch the Grok-2 large model in August, with Grok-3 expected by the end of the year
On July 1, according to foreign media reports, after the launch of Grok-1.5 in March and Grok-1.5V in April, xAI, an artificial intelligence startup founded and led by Musk, will also make two major updates to the Grok series of large models this year, successively launching Grok-2 and Grok-3.
The Grok-2 and Grok-3 models, which will be launched this year, were revealed by Musk on social media, with the Grok-2 being launched in August and the Grok-3 being launched by the end of the year.
In addition, Musk also revealed that the Grok-3, which is scheduled to be launched at the end of the year and will be trained on 100,000 pieces of Nvidia's H100, has the potential to surpass the current AI benchmark and truly capture the imagination of AI enthusiasts around the world.
In the field of artificial intelligence, xAI is a startup that was announced on July 13 last year and will turn one year next month. (Source: TechWeb)
Beijing insureds can buy drugs online at Meituan and JD.com, with the steps for purchasing drugs under medical insurance
On July 1, the official account of the Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau released a message that from today, 300 pharmacies in Beijing will use medical insurance personal accounts to purchase drugs online, supporting the use of medical insurance personal accounts among family members who have been registered in the city.
At present, Meituan and JD.com, two drug purchase platforms, support the use of medical insurance personal accounts to purchase over-the-counter drugs online at designated retail pharmacies under medical insurance.
The insured person purchases relevant drugs through the above-mentioned platform, and the drug cost is paid by the medical insurance personal account, the delivery fee and packaging fee are paid by the individual, and the drug purchase platform delivers the drug immediately after placing an order online.
At present, insured people in Beijing can search for "medical insurance" in Meituan to find online pharmacies that support medical insurance account payment. Medical insurance covers most of the over-the-counter drugs, including cold and cough medicines, nutrition and health care drugs, etc. (Source: TechWeb)
U.S. tech giants scramble for nuclear power resources, drawing regulatory attention
About one-third of U.S. nuclear power plant owners are in talks with technology companies to power new data centers, media reports on July 1. Among them, Amazon AWS is close to a direct power supply agreement with Constellation Energy, the largest nuclear power plant operator in the United States. In March, AWS also acquired a nuclear-powered data center in Pennsylvania for $650 million.
On the one hand, the combination of nuclear power and data centers can match the most reliable power on the grid with the wealthiest customers, and this new "plant-grid" approach means that data centers could be built much faster, as there is little need for new grid infrastructure. Data centers may also avoid paying the majority of electricity bills for transmission and distribution.
On the other hand, such power supply agreements also mean that instead of adding new green energy sources to meet their soaring electricity demand, tech companies are actually diverting existing power resources. Data centers could drain steady generation from the grid, exacerbating growing power reliability issues in many parts of the U.S. and driving up electricity prices. (Source: Wall Street News)
Gurman: In the future, some Apple Intelligence features may require a paid subscription
On July 1, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, Apple plans to follow the form of the iCloud+ subscription service and turn some artificial intelligence functions into paid services.
In his latest issue of the Power On newsletter, Gurman said that while Apple Intelligence features will be free at first, Apple's long-term plan is to launch a subscription service like "Apple Intelligence+" that will provide users with additional features that can be unlocked for a monthly fee.
Gurman believes that by turning AI capabilities into a revenue stream for services, Apple can respond to the slowdown in hardware upgrades and reduce its reliance on hardware upgrades, thereby driving the company's business.
In addition, Apple will also receive a portion of the benefits from users using features offered by its AI partners, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. Gurman expects Apple to reach an agreement with Google and Anthropic to roll out their AI services with iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia when they launch this fall. (Source: IT House)
UBTECH has reached a cooperation with FAW-Volkswagen to build a "humanoid robot" super unmanned car factory
On July 1, according to UBTECH's official news, today, UBTECH Beijing and FAW-Volkswagen reached a cooperation, and the two sides will jointly explore the in-depth application of humanoid robots in industrial scenarios in FAW-Volkswagen's national intelligent manufacturing demonstration factory in Qingdao, and build a highly intelligent and flexible production line and a super unmanned automobile factory.
According to the official introduction, in this cooperation, FAW-Volkswagen will open its "National Intelligent Manufacturing Demonstration Factory" production line application scenarios in Qingdao to UBTECH, and introduce the industrial version of the humanoid robot Walker S to carry out bolt tightening, parts installation, parts transfer and other work in the automobile manufacturing process. In addition, the two parties will also cooperate in industrial logistics robots, supply chain and other fields to help reduce the cost of humanoid robot hardware.
At present, UBTECH's industrial version of the humanoid robot Walker S has entered the final assembly workshop of NIO's second advanced manufacturing base, Dongfeng Liuzhou Automobile assembly workshop and other car factories for on-site "training".
According to UBTECH's official website, the new industrial version of the humanoid robot Walker S is 1.7 meters tall, with a more human-like appearance and proportions, and is equipped with a new generation of fusion control algorithms. The Walker S can communicate with the factory system to obtain the status and information of the production line, and send back the collected data in real time and transmit it to the factory system to realize the real-time sharing of information.
In addition, the Walker S is equipped with 41 high-performance servo joints and a comprehensive perception system such as multi-dimensional force sense, multi-eye stereo vision, omnidirectional hearing and inertia, and distance measurement. (Source: IT House)
Google will launch the Pixel 16 phone next month ahead of the iPhone 9 release
Google will update its lineup this year in mid-August instead of the usual October, which means its latest flagship, the Pixel smartphone, will be unveiled for the first time ahead of Apple's annual iPhone upgrade cycle. Last week, Google began sending out invitations to the press for the Aug. 13 hardware conference, which will "showcase the foundations of Google's AI, Android software, and Pixel device portfolio."
Google usually holds its annual "Made by Google" event in early October to announce its latest Pixel phones, smartwatches, and Nest-branded devices.
Google is rumored to be rolling out three devices in the upcoming Pixel 9 lineup, with a new larger 6.2-inch Pixel 9 Pro XL device in addition to the regular Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro. Leaked information reveals that the Pixel 9 Pro will come with a triple rear camera. In addition, Google is expected to launch Android 15, Gemini AI enhancements, and other services.
In addition to the new phones, Google is also expected to release the Pixel Fold 2 tablet, the Pixel Watch 3 series, and the new Pixel headphones, all of which will compete with Apple devices. (Source: cnBeta)
Starting at 399 yuan, the Fujifilm instax mini SE primary imaging camera was released
On July 1, Fujifilm (China) Investment Co., Ltd. announced today that its primary imaging camera family ushered in a new member - instax mini SE.
This new product has a cute appearance and white, pink, and blue colorways, as well as a Minion co-branded model, and the China-limited accessory box will be launched at the same time, and will be available on July 16, with instax mini SE pricing information:
- Stand-alone + "Cloud Time" or "Beautiful Freeze Frame" accessory box, suggested retail price: 399 yuan
- Stand-alone + Minion Accessories Box, suggested retail price: 429 yuan
- The instax mini SE inherits the easy-to-use characteristics of the series, and supports four shooting modes: bright, sunny, cloudy, and indoor, and consumers can adjust the flash intensity according to the ambient light. The rest of the camera's configuration information has not yet been announced. (Source: IT House)
Musk praised Jensen Huang for cleaning toilets: absolutely correct work attitude
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's tireless work has not only made the chip giant one of the world's most valuable companies, but has also earned praise from his client, another billionaire, Elon Musk.
In March, Huang returned to his alma mater, Stanford University, and was interviewed at the business school about his experience working at the breakfast chain Denny's, which included cleaning toilets.
"There's no task I can't do for me, because remember, I used to be a dishwasher. I used to clean the toilet. I've cleaned a lot of toilets. I've cleaned more toilets than all of you combined." He said.
Huang said the experience shaped his work style, allowing him to work hands-on with employees to solve problems. This management style of his struck a chord with Musk. "Absolutely correct work attitude. There was a shortage of toilet paper before, and I have been making sure that we have toilet paper in our factories and offices." Musk said in a post on X on Sunday.
Musk is equally hands-on. He said he had slept in a Tesla factory for a while, personally inspecting cars that rolled off the assembly line. "I didn't sleep on the floor because I couldn't cross the road to the hotel, it was because I wanted to be worse off than anyone in the company," Musk said in an interview with Bloomberg in 2018. (Source: Phoenix.com Technology)