There’s bad news for Jon Snow fans. The Game of Thrones spinoff series that would bring more tales of the much-loved character is now “off the table”, Kit Harington recently revealed in an interview. ScreenRant. 

The show would have taken place after the events of Game of Thrones, in which Snow rode into the Haunted Forest to begin a new life. While it wasn’t confirmed, there were suggestions that other familiar faces such as Arya Stark and Sansa Stark would also appear. 

Apple researchers have published yet another paper on artificial intelligence (AI) models, and this time the focus is on understanding and navigating through smartphone user interfaces (UI). The yet-to-be peer-reviewed research paper highlights a large language model (LLM) dubbed Ferret UI, which can go beyond traditional computer vision and understand complex smartphone screens. Notably, this is not the first paper on AI published by the research division of the tech giant. It has already published a paper on multimodal LLMs (MLLMs) and another on on-device AI models.

The pre-print version of the research paper has been published on arXiv, an open-access online repository of scholarly papers. The paper is titled “Ferret-UI: Grounded Mobile UI Understanding with Multimodal LLMs” and focuses on expanding the use case of MLLMs. It highlights that most language models with multimodal capabilities cannot understand beyond natural images and are functionality “restricted”. It also states the need for AI models to understand complex and dynamic interfaces such as those on a smartphone.

As per the paper, Ferret UI is “designed to execute precise referring and grounding tasks specific to UI screens, while adeptly interpreting and acting upon open-ended language instructions.” In simple terms, the vision language model can not only process a smartphone screen with multiple elements representing different information but it can also tell a user about them when prompted with a query.

How Ferret UI processes information on a screen
Photo Credit: Apple

Based on an image shared in the paper, the model can understand and classify widgets and recognise icons. It can also answer questions such as “Where is the launch icon”, and “How do I open the Reminders app”. This shows that the AI is not only capable of explaining the screen it sees, but can also navigate to different parts of an iPhone based on a prompt.

To train Ferret UI, the Apple researchers created data of varying complexities themselves. This helped the model in learning basic tasks and understanding single-step processes. “For advanced tasks, we use GPT-4 [40] to generate data, including detailed description, conversation perception, conversation interaction, and function inference. These advanced tasks prepare the model to engage in more nuanced discussions about visual components, formulate action plans with specific goals in mind, and interpret the general purpose of a screen,” the paper explained.

The paper is promising, and if it passes the peer-review stage, Apple might be able to utilise this capability to add powerful tools to the iPhone that can perform complex UI navigation tasks with simple text or verbal prompts. This capability appears to be ideal for Siri.

In an effort to address what it sees as an increasingly chaotic world of online messaging, or in its own words, a “mess,” WordPress.com owner Automattic has announced its acquisition of Beeper, a universal messaging app designed to integrate 14 separate messaging apps into a single inbox.

The news follows the San Francisco-headquartered company’s acquisition of Texts.com late last year, and demonstrates Automattic’s commitment to simplifying messaging.

Prepaid plans have progressed by leaps and bounds in the past few years, while also steadily getting cheaper and cheaper. One of the most cost-effective options I’ve ever seen is US Mobile’s latest introductory ‘Light Plan’.

This plan at the well-known prepaid carrier costs just $72 upfront and will bag you 1GB of data and unlimited talk and text for a full year. Averaging out to $6/mo, this is easily one of the outright cheapest cell phone plans on the market right now and a perfect option for those who only need something to cover the basics.

Console modder Hairo Satoh has posted a video to Instagram that appears to show a working PlayStation gaming handheld constructed from an obscure PS1 controller.

As explained by IGN, this isn’t the first time that Satoh has tinkered with gaming tech. His Instagram profile is filled with photos or videos showing off interesting creations ranging from a custom Tamagotchi mobile phone to an incredibly bizarre looking Game Boy Advance SP with two folding displays. 

AI roundup: Microsoft is planning to make a huge investment in Japan to accelerate the country’s AI development. Additionally, the investment will also aid Japan in building strong cybersecurity defence to combat enemy countries. In other news, President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged Amazon and Nvidia to fund an AI research program. Know more about such AI news of today. 

1. Microsoft plans to invest $2.9 billion in Japan to support its AI ambitions

Microsoft announced a huge investment plan for Japan. The company will be investing $2.9 billion in the country for over 2 years to accelerate its AI development plans. The country is also aiming to expand its semiconductor industry with the help of foreign investments. Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft said, “This is Microsoft’s single largest investment in its 46-year history in Japan. These investments are essential ingredients for Japan to build a robust AI economy,” according to a press release. 

Also read: Google Vids- All details about this new AI video app and how to use it

2. Amazon and Nvidia asked for funds for an AI research program

President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have recruited Amazon.com Inc. and Nvidia Corp. to provide financial support for an AI research project. It is a $50 million project which will be conducted by the University of Washington in Seattle and Tsukuba University. The research aims to study the risks of AI technology and how the government and bring new enforcement, according to a Bloomberg report.

3. Innominds and Qualcomm collaborate for Edge AI Platform

Innominds announces the availability of its iDhi, which is an enterprise and industrial IoT Edge Compute box. This Edge AI platform is powered by Qualcomm QRB5165/QCS8250 processors. This platform can be used across various sectors and it can conduct complex AI/ML tasks. It also offers cloud integration and video management. Raj Ganti, President of Global Strategic Accounts at Innominds said, “As we harness the power of cloud-orchestrated edge AI, we’re revolutionizing data processing at the edge, empowering real-time insights and decision-making across diverse applications for enterprises,” according to a Press release.

Also read: Soon you may have to pay to use Google Meet if you want these AI features

4. AI-controlled fighter jet to fly Air Force secretary

This spring a top Air Force civilian Frank Kendall will be operating or we can say flying the artificial intelligence-operated warplane, F-16 as part of the test. Kendall said to the Senate Appropriations Committee defence panel members “There will be a pilot with me who will just be watching, as I will be, as the autonomous technology works. Hopefully neither he or I will be needed to fly the airplane,” according to an AP report.

Also read: Meta Leaders Say They’re Not Seeing AI Election Disinformation

5. AI model used to transcribe letters and words of ancient scripture

A group of Israeli students and researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev used AI to translate illegible letters and words in ancient Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions. This discovery will help researchers study the cultural and historical heritage of the region. Professor Mark Last said, “This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize the field of epigraphy,” according to an ANI report. 

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If you were hoping for a massive eye-catching redesign when the Beats Solo 4 headphones arrive this year, it looks like you’re going to be disappointed. Newly leaked images, which appear to be legitimate, show a design that’s very familiar indeed. But while the outside of the Beats Studio 4 might not be dramatically different, there are some important changes inside.

The images come via tech site MySmartPrice, which says it obtained the images from “a reputed tipster”. And they follow hot on the heels of another leak, in which the existence of the headphones was confirmed by filings with a US regulator. 

Google’s Magic Editor AI photo editing tool has pretty much made terrible phone snaps a thing of the past – at least for those who have access to it via Google One, or a Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro – by letting you change the sky, reposition your subject, and delete unwanted elements of your picture with ease. And it looks like it might be about to become much more widely available.

That’s because currently unused lines of code in the latest Google Photos app files – spotted by Android Authority – suggest that a free version of Magic Editor will be available at some point soon to all Google Photos users. Unfortunately, there’s a catch; unless you pay for Google One you’ll only be able to edit a handful of snaps every month.

Cybersecurity firm Keeper Security has unveiled the latest tools designed for encrypted record access and sharing, featuring time-limited access and self-destructing records.

Privileged access permissions can be granted and forgotten, leaving user accounts with greater access than they should have and putting businesses at risk.