First “AI Software Engineer” Unveiled

Cognition Labs has unveiled Devin, believed to be the first fully autonomous artificial intelligence capable of working as a software engineer. Equipped like human developers, Devin aims to assist engineering teams by taking on complex coding tasks.

Devin demonstrates capabilities like any engineer, such as using common tools through a sandbox. With advanced reasoning, Devin can independently complete projects involving thousands of decisions by recalling context and learning from mistakes. It can also collaborate with humans by providing updates and feedback.

As an AI safety startup, Cognition created Devin to push beyond current AI limitations. It sees Devin as a step towards developing general reasoning to create beneficial tools through human-AI cooperation.

Cognition hopes Devin can help more people realize their ideas. As the first publicly disclosed project, Devin's introduction represents a milestone, with the company pursuing further technical achievements. With support from top investors, Cognition and Devin's potential to assist engineers through tasks like autonomous coding appears primed for development.

Midjourney Debuts Consistent Characters Across Multiple Images

Midjourney is testing a new feature that allows users to generate consistent characters across multiple images. Previously, AI image generators like Midjourney could not reliably recreate the same character in different scenes due to their nature of producing new images based on text prompts.

The new "–cref" tag allows pasting a URL of a previously generated character image to match its facial features, body type, and clothing in new prompts. This addresses a major limitation for applications like storyboarding where consistent characters are needed.

The workflow involves first generating a character image, copying its URL, and adding “–cref” plus the URL to new prompts. Early results show the character being recreated but not always exactly, as specific details may change. Multiple character URLs can also be combined.

The consistent character ability has applications for creators and could make Midjourney more of a professional tool. As an early release, precision is limited but it is already being tested by artists. The feature similarly works across Midjourney models and can be combined with style references.

EU Lawmakers Officially Approved Bloc’s Landmark AI Regulation

The EU has officially approved its landmark AI Act, regulating certain AI uses and demanding transparency. While some strict provisions were softened, the Act will take years to fully implement. The legal text now requires final approval in April/May before coming into force 20 days later. Countries will then have 6-36 months to comply based on the risk level of different AI systems. The Act creates a two-tier system for classifying and regulating general-purpose AI.

While the Act may not directly impact large US companies immediately, it sets an example that could pressure other regions to act. Some critics argue it hampers innovation and gives American companies an advantage. However, others see it as an important step reflecting public concerns around AI risks.

The Act avoids directly addressing issues like data collection and the use of copyrighted training data. It also does not apply penalties to open-source developers and smaller companies.

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Sipher Odyssey Featured in the App Store’s Editor’s Choice

Sipher Odyssey continues to expand after its Open Alpha launch on March 8th, 2024. Only 2 days after the Open Alpha, the game's official X account announced that Singapore had been unlocked as a new playable country. One day later, another announcement highlighted that Sipher Odyssey had already been a Featured New Game and received "Editor's Choice" recognition within the app stores of Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Strong visibility and exposure in key Southeast Asian mobile game markets bodes well for Sipher Odyssey's future user growth prospects. These are truly exciting news, especially as the team is yet to begin executing their user acquisition and marketing strategies.

As game director Thang Nguyen announced on Discord, the development team is focusing on optimizing player retention and testing the new user experience flow before ramping up widespread user acquisition. On this front, the team is actively resolving current issues with player concurrency, and wait times for certain features remain a near-term priority to ensure stable gameplay foundations ahead of scaling the player base further.

In keeping with its focus on testing and optimization, the development team assured interested players that ongoing communication would be provided around fixes and service improvements underway. This transparency should help manage expectations through Sipher Odyssey's ongoing open alpha phase as it works to refine the experience before a wider audience is onboarded.

RuneScape Creators Reveal New MMORPG ‘Brighter Shores’

Brighter Shores is a new MMORPG developed by Fen Research Ltd and unveiled by Andrew and Paul Gower, the original creators of the popular game RuneScape. The Gowers left Jagex, the studio behind RuneScape, in 2010 and have since worked on Brighter Shores independently. It is described as a point-and-click fantasy adventure RPG set in a vibrant magical world. Players take on the role of a town guard recruit who must master elemental magic classes like Cryoknight and Hammermage to confront a threatening force corrupting the land.

The game will feature over a hundred hours of gameplay at launch. Players can engage with professions spanning Fisher, Woodcutter, Alchemist, and more. Brighter Shores is being developed in an episodic format, with new playable content released regularly including unique questlines, professions, and main story progression. According to past tweets, the first three episodes are complete and undergoing testing/tuning. The developers plan to fully launch with four initial episodes.

There will be both free and premium versions available. The premium pass unlocks additional playable regions and customizable features not available in the free version, like exclusive character names and armor options. With the original designers reuniting at the helm, Brighter Shores looks to capture the spirit of their hugely popular MMO RuneScape while forging its high fantasy world for adventurers to explore.

Epic Games Unveils Unreal Engine Pricing Changes for Non-game Developers

Epic Games announced changes to its monetization model for the Unreal Engine, introducing an annual subscription fee of $1,850 per user for non-game developers. Previously, Epic used a royalty-based model for all developers using Unreal Engine. The changes do not affect game developers, who will continue paying a 5% royalty on products earning over $1 million. Instead, the per-user fee applies to developers working in areas like film, television, automotive infotainment systems, and theme park experiences.

Some non-game developers are exempt, including those earning less than $1 million annually, students, educators, and hobbyists. Additionally, plugin developers can continue using Unreal Engine for free through revenue sharing in the Marketplace.

The per-user subscription provides access to the Unreal Engine as well as Twinmotion and RealityCapture tools. Epic plans to integrate these directly into Unreal Engine by the end of 2025 but they are also available separately for yearly fees of $445 and $1,250, respectively. As with Unity's recently rolled-back pricing model, Epic's changes only apply to developers using the latest Unreal Engine 5.4 version—those on earlier versions are unaffected until upgrading.

Epic says the new pricing model comes after competitive changes by Unity and is intended to provide long-term funding to support continuous improvements and expansion of Unreal Engine capabilities for various industries.

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Ethereum’s Dencun Upgrade Substantially Reduces L2 Gas Fees

Ethereum's highly anticipated Dencun upgrade launched on March 13th. A key component was EIP-4844, which aimed to significantly reduce layer-2 transaction fees by enhancing data availability. This established Ethereum as a more scalable settlement layer. However, fee reductions may not have directly benefited those on Ethereum’s mainnet in the short term, as it was expected to spur more users to bridge to layer-2 rollups. Gas prices on the mainnet had also risen substantially recently.

Layer-2 networks like Optimism, zkSync, Base, Arbitrum, and Linea celebrated the upgrade and announced substantial fee decreases enabled by EIP-4844. Optimism noted transactions were now less than $0.001, representing drastic improvements. As networks implemented the protocol changes, some like Base saw over 100x cheaper costs for actions like sending ETH compared to before. This demonstrated how Dencun could boost Ethereum's scalability through more affordable layer-2 integration.

In particular, zkSync reported costs to send ETH on its platform were down to 4 cents, while Base gas averaged $0.0005. Arbitrum also intended additional reductions following the upgrade. The low costs enabled exchanges like swapping 1000 USDC for ETH on Optimism and zkSync to cost only 1 cent in fees.

Dencun's launch delivered base layer protocol upgrades while also readying layer-2 networks for greater utilization and lower fees. This supported Ethereum's long-term vision as a scalable platform underpinned by effective rollup solutions.

MapleStory Universe Moving to Avalanche Blockchain

The popular MMORPG MapleStory, created in 2003 by Nexon with over 180 million registered players, will expand to the Avalanche blockchain as MapleStory N through parent company Nexon's MapleStory Universe initiative.

MapleStory will utilize an Avalanche Subnet customized for its ecosystem. This will allow the game's large existing Web2 playerbase to experience new possibilities with user-generated content and incentives to build out the expansive MapleWorld like never before. The move to Avalanche also aims to seamlessly introduce MapleStory's millions of players to blockchain technologies.

MapleStory Universe selected Avalanche for its security, proven track record supporting games, and customizable Subnets that facilitate quick standalone development. Their partnership with Ava Labs will enable the building of a complete blockchain ecosystem to securely handle MapleStory N and future decentralized applications.

Through Avalanche Subnets, projects such as Gunzilla, Shrapnel, and Pegaxy have formed interconnected communities rather than isolated silos. This interconnected approach positions MapleStory Universe well for expanding beyond the initial MapleStory N launch.

MapleStory Universe targets a 2024 launch of MapleStory N on the Avalanche blockchain, introducing new content creation opportunities and incentivization structures to one of the longest-running gaming franchises in an ambitious Web3 transition.

Tensor Foundation Unveils the $TNSR Governance Token

The newly formed Tensor Foundation recently shared details on Twitter about its planned TNSR governance token for the Solana-based NFT marketplace Tensor. Currently Tensor holds over 30% of the Solana NFT market share, trailing behind leader Magic Eden. The Foundation envisions NFTs transitioning from a niche community to powering industries at a global scale. It highlighted Solana's high throughput and low fees as crucial for enabling mass NFT adoption.

To date, Tensor protocols have facilitated over $2 billion in Solana NFT trades, accounting for 70% of the blockchain's trading volume in recent months. Going forward, the Tensor Foundation plans to adopt the existing Tensor protocols and community using TNSR as the governance token.

In addition to managing core infrastructure, the Foundation intends to foster an ecosystem of creators and developers committed to NFTs through an emphasis on collaboration between projects.

The announcement did not provide specifics on a TNSR airdrop but the Foundation looks to establish TNSR as the token to govern the protocols and community supporting the large and fast-growing Solana NFT marketplace Tensor.

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