Rami's Readings #30
The latest on AI, LLMs, Code Llama, Python × Excel, Nvidia GPUs, Shadow AI, Olive Garden, Digital Art Archiving, and more.
Welcome to Rami’s Readings #30 - 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.
🤖 AI Reads
Code Llama: Open Foundation Models for Code
Notes: Meta continuing with the excellent free for commercial-use LLMs.
We provide multiple flavors to cover a wide range of applications: foundation models (Code Llama), Python specializations (Code Llama - Python), and instruction-following models (Code Llama - Instruct) with 7B, 13B and 34B parameters each.
SeamlessM4T—Massively Multilingual & Multimodal Machine Translation
Notes: More Meta speech advancements! Follows VoiceBox and MMS.
A single model that supports speech-to-speech translation, speech-to-text translation, text-to-speech translation, text-to-text translation, and automatic speech recognition for up to 100 languages.
Introducing Python in Excel: The Best of Both Worlds for Data Analysis and Visualization
Notes: I am classifying this news as AI reads. 😆
Saudi Arabia and UAE Race to Buy Nvidia Chips to Power AI Ambitions
Notes: TII from Abu Dhabi trained a great LLM which you can download from HuggingFace.
Beware the Emergence of Shadow AI
Notes: Fantastic article from friend, Abhishek Gupta, about an emerging AI cybersecurity issue.
💼 Business Reads
Rubbing Shoulders: Class Segregation in Daily Activities
Notes: New paper (long read)! Everyone loves Olive Garden.
Casual restaurant chains, like Olive Garden and Applebee's, have the largest positive impact on cross-class encounters through both scale and their diversity of visitors.
The Video Call Revolution Is Dead
Notes: Much optimism early in the pandemic dashed.
What Vivek Ramaswamy Doesn’t Understand About the Dollar
Notes: An opinion piece by Tyler Cowen on trying to stabilize the dollar by tying it to the price of commodities.
✈️ Travel & 🎨 Culture Reads
‘THE PALETTE’: Young Chinese Artists Create Meaning in a Diverse World
Notes: For my China-based friends, please visit this exhibit in Changshu.
Stitching Together an Archive of an Endangered Palestinian Art
Notes: Fantastic article on how digital mediums are used to conserve traditions around the world.
That is all for this week. Signing off from Redmond.