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Meta guru says ChatGPT-style AI is out-of-date

Yann LeCun, the chief scientist for Meta (formerly Facebook), declared that generative AI, such as ChatGPT, had reached a dead end and announced a new AI project called JEPA.

LeCun aims to move beyond generative models and develop AI that can conceptualize abstract ideas, challenging the existing hype around generative AI capabilities. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized the company’s focus on developing AI that better reflects human understanding of the world.

Meta has taken a more discreet approach to generative AI compared to its rivals, while also releasing open source AI models requiring less computing power.

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PARIS, FRANCE — The chief scientist for Facebook owner Meta on Tuesday said that generative AI, the technology behind ChatGPT, was already at a dead end, instead promising new artificial intelligence resembling human rationality.

“Today AI and machine learning really sucks. Humans have common sense, machines don’t,” Yann LeCun told reporters at a Meta launch event in Paris.

LeCun spoke as Meta announced its latest AI project — called image-based Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture, or JEPA.

The project seeks to move beyond ChatGPT-like generative AI and give machines the ability to conceptualize abstract ideas and not just regurgitate what exists online.

“Generative models are past, we will abandon them in favour of joint embedding predictive architecture,” LeCun said, touting the Meta project he will lead.

“My prediction is that in a few years, generative large language models will not be used any more, we will have a better thing to replace them,” he added.

LeCun is considered a major thinker on AI and has been a critic of the hype around the generative AI models that power ChatGPT or the image-based Dall-E since they launched last year.

LeCun believes that the fears and excitement surrounding generative AI grossly inflate its actual capabilities.

In a Facebook post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the JEPA tool was open source, meaning it would be available to researchers to tinker with.

He said the aim was to develop AI that “more closely reflects how people understand the world.”

“We need models that perceive the world and make predictions. This research is another step in that direction,” Zuckerberg added.

Compared to its rivals, Meta has taken a more discrete approach to ChatGPT-style AI for its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.

Meta infused generative AI in its products, but without the same publicity as Microsoft or Google.

In parallel, it has also released open-source AI models that require less computing power than the technology that powers ChatGPT.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

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26 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

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25 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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