🤖 Robots on demand, oil exploration, and the chip wars heat up

Good morning and welcome to the latest issue of neonpulse!

Here are the AI headlines making waves:

🌊  Robots on demand

🌊  Hunting for oil with AI

🌊  The chip wars escalate

Let’s get into it!

Robots on Demand

In the not too distant future, robots could soon be doing all the stuff we'd rather not - scrubbing the floors, doing the dishes, or even assembling that painfully complicated IKEA furniture.

And while current generations of robots can be programmed to perform one specific task very well, the holy grail of robotics is a General Purpose Robots (GPR), which are robots that are designed to perform a wide variety of tasks that they learn on their own, rather than having to be programmed for each specific task.

There are a number of big companies working to develop this type of robot, including Tesla and Boston Dynamics, Canada based Sanctuary AI is pushing hard to come out with a GPR of its own.

“We designed Phoenix to be the most sensor-rich and physically capable humanoid ever, allowing it to perform the broadest set of work tasks possible,” said Geordie Rose, the startup’s co-founder and CEO.

The ultimate goal of the company is to utilize AI to create robots that can complete a wide variety of tasks without human supervision, which would open up the possibility of robots replacing a large number of human workers in the not too distant future.

And while these types of robots certainly won’t be cheap, the company plans to provide the robots as a subscription model, with companies paying an hourly rate for the robots depending on the complexity of the tasks being performed.

Curious how mcuh progress they’ve made?

You can check out a video of Phoenix in action here.

Hunting For Oil With AI

Shell Oil and SparkCognition have teamed up to revolutionize deep-sea oil exploration, with the company looking to harness the power of AI to analyze vast amounts of seismic data in order to identify new oil reservoirs.

The basic technology used in oil exploration involves the emission of sound waves to explore subsurface areas, and because the new generative AI system requires significantly fewer scans than traditional seismic exploration, Shell can achieve significant reductions in costs.

A recent EY study reported that 92% of oil and has companies are either currently investing in AI or plan to in the near future, with the value of the AI market for oil and gas companies projected to hit $3.5 billion dollars by 2026.

The AI Chip Wars

In response to the ongoing sanctions preventing China from accessing the latest AI microchips the Chinese have punched back, urging its citizens to stop buying products from Micron, the largest US memory chipmaker.

According to China's Cyberspace Administration, Micron products supposedly pose "serious network security risks" to China's information infrastructure and national security, although this could just be a convenient excuse to harm Micron’s business.

This latest development is part of a broader trend where the US, Europe, and Japan are limiting China's access to advanced chips and other technology, seeking to maintain their lead in the development of AI while justifying the chip embargo by claiming that China may use the technology for military purposes.

Amidst all this, China is determined to accelerate its chip development and reduce reliance on foreign technology, pouring billions of dollars into the cause, although given the sophistication of the manufacturing process for the latest AI chips, China still relies on imported important chips for a majority of its AI programs.

As the US-China relationship hits new lows on multiple fronts, from security disputes to trade imbalances, it's uncertain how this feud will end, but it’s not looking good.

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And now your moment of zen

That’s all for today folks! We hope you enjoyed today’s newsletter, and we’ll see you bright and early tomorrow!