Rami's Readings #27
The latest on LLMs, AI Grant, Foundation Models, Japanese Convenience Stores, Technology Diffusion, Canada-Lebanese Heritage Month, and more.
Welcome to Rami’s Readings #27 - a weekly digest of interesting articles, videos, Twitter threads from my various sources across the Internet. Expect a list of reads covering technology, business, culture, fashion, travel and more. Learn about what I do at ramisayar.com/about.
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🤖 AI Reads
Inside OpenAI, the Architect of ChatGPT | The Circuit
Notes: Two weeks old but worth a watch: interview with Mira Murati, OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer.
Hope, fear, and AI
Notes: Interesting survey results from The Verge.
AI Grant 2023 is Open!
Notes: $250,000 uncapped SAFE for your AI startup. No credentials needed. Apply by July 10th, 2023.
Long Sequence Modeling with XGen: A 7B LLM Trained on 8K Input Sequence Length
Notes: New LLM model from Salesforce with a 8192 context window and can generate code.
Extending Context Window of Large Language Models via Positional Interpolation
Notes: New paper on extending context windows of LLMs.
A Very Gentle Introduction to Large Language Models without the Hype
Notes: Great introduction!
OptimalScale/LMFlow
Notes: Paper on arXiv.
An extensible, convenient, and efficient toolbox for finetuning large machine learning models, designed to be user-friendly, speedy and reliable, and accessible to the entire community.
Another open-source foundation model: MPT-30B
Notes: Another open-source commercially licensed foundation model from MosaicML which was recently acquired by Databricks. Competitive with the TII Falcon-40B model.
💼 Business Reads
A Peek into Japan's Convenience Stores
Notes: Great read on the economics and logistics behinds amazing Japan’s convenience stores. 7-Eleven was a highlight from my trip to Tokyo, an incredible selection of goods and services at every corner.
Self-Proclaimed ‘Wolf of Airbnb’ Admits to Defrauding NYC Landlords
Notes: I hope this will lead to fewer “rent arbitrage” à la TikTok easy money schemes moving forward.
The Diffusion Deficit in Scientific and Technological Power: Re-assessing China’s Rise
Notes: Interesting working paper from Jeffrey Ding around technology diffusion in China. One thing America does exceptionally well is diffuse technology from universities, corporate laboratories, and research centers to the broader economy extremely quickly.
Law Change Makes Everyone a Year or Two Younger in South Korea
Notes: Respect for your elders is embedded in South Korean culture. A law changing people’s age is notable with that context in mind.
Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2023
Notes: The WEF released their annual emerging technologies report.
🔀 Other Reads
Canada now has a Lebanese Heritage Month!
Notes: I am proud! The Private Member’s Bill (C-268) in Parliament.
During a reading of the bill in June 2022, Diab — whose parents are first-generation immigrants from Diman, a village in northern Lebanon — paid tribute to several Lebanese-Canadian historical figures, such as William Haddad, "a merchant's son who became one of Canada's first Arab judges," and Lieutenant Edward Francis Arab, who "gave his life for Canada" when he died in the 1944 Battle of the Scheldt during the Second World War.
Diab also cited Lebanese-Canadian athletes, artists and diplomats, noting that many Canadian "academics and advocates" are of Lebanese origin, as well as leaders from "all levels of government and political parties," including former senators and MPs.
Happy Canada Day! (July 1st) 🎉 🇨🇦 🇱🇧 🎉
That is all for this week. Signing off from Prince Coffee, Portland.
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