Microsoft Releases New Phi-3.5 AI Models

Microsoft has released three new AI models under its Phi series, named Phi-3.5-mini-instruct, Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct, and Phi-3.5-vision-instruct. The models are designed for fast reasoning, powerful reasoning across multiple types of tasks, and advanced multimodal reasoning integrating text and images, respectively. All three models outperform competitors on certain benchmarks while being available under an open-source MIT license allowing for commercial use and modification.

The Phi-3.5-mini-instruct has 3.8 billion parameters optimized for constrained environments, while the Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct uses a mixture of expert architecture combining different model types and has 42 billion parameters but operates with 6.6 billion. The Phi-3.5-vision-instruct supports tasks like image understanding, OCR, and video summarization. Microsoft trained the models using hundreds of GPUs over several days on large datasets focused on reasoning, representing significant progress in multilingual and multimodal AI.

By releasing the models openly without restrictions, Microsoft aims to empower developers to incorporate cutting-edge capabilities into applications and further innovation. The new Phi series demonstrates state-of-the-art performance on benchmarks even outperforming competitors at times, with uses spanning code generation, math problems, conversations, and advanced visual tasks.

Procreate Publicly Declares its App’s Anti-AI Stand

Procreate, a popular iPad art and design app, has come out publicly against using generative AI in its products. In a statement on its website and a video posted online, Procreate CEO James Cuda strongly criticized generative AI and said the company would never incorporate such technologies. He emphasized Procreate's mission is to support human creativity through tools where artists are actively creating.

Procreate views AI as a threat to human creativity rather than an opportunity, even if it risks the app seeming outdated. The company believes it is taking the right approach in solely enabling human creation over machine generation. Its announcement has resonated positively with users who see generative AI tools as problematic for artists. How the story plays out remains uncertain, but Procreate is staking its identity on the unwavering support of human creative control rather than assisted or automatic creation through AI systems.

By taking a definitive anti-AI position, Procreate is bucking the trend of other digital art platforms at a time when they increasingly incorporate such technologies. This stance has also attracted praise from digital artists who are unhappy with other platforms' embrace of AI. While companies like Adobe have introduced generative features, Clip Studio Paint walked back plans for an image generator after user backlash.

Authors Sue Anthropic for Training AI Using Pirated Books

A group of authors has filed a class action lawsuit against Anthropic alleging the AI safety startup trained its models using pirated books. The lawsuit claims Anthropic built a multibillion-dollar business by incorporating Books3, a massive dataset contained within the open-source Pile library, which is comprised of copyrighted ebooks from thousands of authors illegally sourced from piracy sites. While Books3 has since been removed from the official Pile version, the authors accuse Anthropic of downloading this trove of pirated content to train models like Claude, in violation of copyright.

The writers are seeking damages and an injunction preventing future copyright infringement by Anthropic. Anthropic had acknowledged using The Pile for training but claims to have removed pirated content, though this suit argues versions remain available. It opens new questions about legal and ethical practices as firms leverage vast datasets to improve AI, highlighting tensions between open resources and intellectual property protections.

Similar lawsuits have previously targeted companies like Meta, Microsoft, and non-profit groups for allegedly scraping YouTube transcripts and other copyrighted works to train AI without permission. This lawsuit follows increased scrutiny of how companies obtain data to train language models. Last year, several high-profile authors sued OpenAI over alleged copyright infringement as well.

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Black Myth Wukong Launches with Over 2M Players

Black Myth: Wukong has seen unprecedented commercial success upon its release. According to reports, the action RPG broke Steam's concurrent user record for a single-player game with over 2 million players on launch day. It has now sold over 10 million copies worldwide in under a week across PC and PlayStation releases, though the Xbox version has been delayed.

The game draws from Chinese mythology and has become emblematic of the country's development scene. However, its studio Game Science has faced some criticism. An extensive IGN report detailed the company fostering a workplace culture rife with ingrained sexism that was reflected in public statements by studio leaders. This gave Game Science a notably negative reputation among many in the games industry, particularly female players and designers in China.

Additionally, Game Science issued demands to control influencer coverage of the game, requesting they avoid references to topics like "COVID-19, 'politics,' or 'feminist propaganda'." The studio did not comment on the report or demands. While Black Myth: Wukong has achieved huge popularity upon release, its developer will likely continue to face scrutiny regarding the workplace misconduct and censorship attempts that have been reported. The game's success has highlighted both the artistic talent within China's development scene and the room still left for fostering inclusiveness.

Dune Awakening MMO gets Release Window and Gameplay Trailer

Funcom has revealed that the much anticipated Dune: Awakening MMO will be released in early 2025. A new gameplay reveal trailer premiered at Gamescom's Opening Night Live, showing a five-minute glimpse of character progression from survivor to spice hunter on Arrakis.

Players can expect sandbox survival gameplay involving combat, exploration, building, crafting, and trade, with the ability to harness spice for its powers. MMO progression systems while embracing the politics and mystical elements central to the Dune lore can also be expected. The game will also feature politics and faction warfare as players align with House Atreides or Harkonnen and rise through the ranks of their chosen guild.

Funcom has also released key art wallpapers to represent and immerse players in the epic setting. An extended 30-minute gameplay video will be shown at the Gamescom booth and streamed by popular creators to provide deeper insights. Fans are encouraged to wishlist the game on Steam as it approaches its early 2023 launch window.

Pokémon TCG Pocket Opens Pre-registrations as Trailer and Release Date Revealed

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is set for international release on October 30, 2024. The mobile adaptation combines elements of the traditional TCG with a gameplay design unique to the digital format. Pre-registrations are now available on iOS and Android, giving players two months to prepare for the launch.

Like physical cards, the game will offer daily free booster packs to encourage regular engagement. However, it will also feature immersive cards extending beyond standard rectangular borders and into full illustrations transporting players to new scenery. Beyond collecting, users can battle with their rosters of digital Pokémon cards.

With over 50 billion physical TCG sales worldwide generating billions, the transition to mobile represents a major opportunity to further expand the IP's reach given the platform's accessibility and abilities.

Details shared at the Pokémon Worlds 2024 conference outlined core mechanics for Pocket that aim to stand out despite competing with the established physical TCG.

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Markets Rise as Fed Chair Jerome Powell Signals Incoming Rate Cut

Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled an interest rate cut is imminent based on cooling inflation and growing weakness in the labor market. In a keynote speech, Powell said policy needs to adjust as downside risks to employment have increased while upside inflation risks have diminished.

Lower rates are generally positive for risk assets as easier money expands investment appetite. Bitcoin and Ether rose following his comments, with markets now expecting the Fed to begin lowering rates in September.

Powell acknowledged challenges from supply chain issues and commodity shocks during the inflation fight. While navigating between preventing high inflation and not choking growth, Powell stated healing from pandemic impacts and demand moderation have put inflation on a sustainable downward path. Powell's remarks reassured markets that the Fed will change policy as data comes in as expected.

McDonald’s Instagram Account Gets Hacked & Promotes ‘Rugpull’

Hackers took over the Instagram account of McDonald's, as well as a senior marketing director's Twitter, to promote a fake Solana meme coin called GRIMACE.

Within minutes, the token's price surged 195,000% as the hackers purchased the majority of the supply ahead of time. They then "rug pulled" the liquidity, crashing the price to zero and announcing on Instagram they made $700,000 from the scam. The hackers also changed McDonald's Instagram bio to gloat. Despite red flags, the token saw over $20 million in volume as traders tried to get in early.

McDonald's eventually regained control of its Instagram over an hour later and removed all token-related posts, but did not comment to reporters. The brazen hack echoes recent incidents where scammers have also hijacked celebrity social profiles. It underscores the ongoing need for multi-layered security across all access points, as any soft spot can be utilized by scammers to front pump-and-dump schemes targeting large, trusted fanbases or customers.

Magic Eden’s ME Foundation Unveils ME Token

The Magic Eden Foundation has announced plans to launch the ME token to facilitate cross-chain trading of digital assets and drive the growth of its NFT platform and DApps. As Magic Eden now spans multiple chains including Solana, the ME token will improve cross-chain functionality. The ME token is intended to enhance the capabilities of decentralized applications by incentivizing users to trade any asset across different blockchain networks through a single currency.

The Foundation expects other third-party DApps may also integrate the protocol and the introduction of the ME token highlights Magic Eden's goal of developing their DAO ecosystem through community-led governance. Serving as the primary currency, it is planned as a key component of Magic Eden as the first major platform to officially adopt the token.

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