The Uncanny Rise of the World’s First AI Beauty Pageant

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1. The Uncanny Rise of the World’s First AI Beauty Pageant

Fanvue, an AI-infused creator platform, has launched the world's first beauty pageant for AI creators. The contest's 10 semifinalists, drawn from over 1,500 applicants, are vying for the chance to make a liar out of John Keats and a prize package valued at about $20,000.

The finalists are all capital-B beautiful, possessing a supernatural combination of a buff body, a stunning face, and the kind of effervescent personality that only exists in influencer culture. Hilary Levey Friedman, a sociologist, believes that AI beauty pageants are not significantly different from real-life pageant participants, as they are products of their creators.

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2. Even the Raspberry Pi is getting in on AI

Raspberry Pi is partnering with chipmaker Hailo to launch an AI Kit, an add-on for its Raspberry Pi 5 microcomputer that runs Hailo's Hailo-8L M.2 accelerator. The kits will be available for $70 and will be available from the worldwide network of Raspberry Pi-approved resellers.

The Hailo-8L M.2 accelerator offers 13 tera operations per second (TOPS), lower than chips planned for AI laptops like Intel's 40 TOPS Lunar Lake processors. This trend is allowing laptops and phones to run AI-powered applications without needing an API call. Other hardware makers are also focusing on AI on portable devices.

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3. US delays AI chip exports to Middle East by Nvidia, AMD over concern that China can access the tech via data centres

US officials have slowed the issuing of licenses to chip makers like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices for large-scale AI accelerator shipments to the Middle East, as they conduct a national security review of AI development in the region.

The review is unclear in duration and there is no concrete definition of what constitutes a large shipment. The goal is to develop a comprehensive strategy for deploying advanced chips overseas.

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4. AI brain map could help demystify Alzheimer’s and autism

Neuroscientists at the University of South Florida have developed a method of brain mapping using virtual reality and AI to create a high-definition visual timeline of the journey of billions of neurons in the developing brains of newborn mice. The research focuses on the calyx of Held, the largest nerve terminal in the brains of all mammals, which processes sound.

The technology could help understand serious developmental disorders that happen when the brain doesn't develop properly early on, and offer hope for more effective treatments for traumatic brain injuries.

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5. Saudi Fund Joins $400 Million Financing for China AI Firm Zhipu

Saudi Arabia's Prosperity7 Ventures has joined the latest financing round for Zhipu AI, becoming the first foreign firm to back a major Chinese AI player. The investment, valued at around $3 billion, coincides with heightened US scrutiny over Middle Eastern wealth funds' activity and growing resistance towards entities with close ties to China.

Zhipu AI, one of the earliest AI startups in China, has secured backing from Alibaba and Tencent.

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