Microsoft Builds Supercomputer for OpenAI

Some useful hints here about what is being contemplated.   And, of course, big companies like MS, Google, Amazon, Apple, IBM ....  have the access to huge amounts of data to work with, and exposure to rich problem types too.   So expect new things from them.  Note the statement that we are nowhere near 'AGI'  (Artificial General Intelligence)   yet, have been asked that several times lately.

Microsoft Just Built a World-Class Supercomputer Exclusively for OpenAI  By Jason Dorrier in SingularityHub

Last year, Microsoft announced a billion-dollar investment in OpenAI, an organization whose mission is to create artificial general intelligence and make it safe for humanity. No Terminator-like dystopias here. No deranged machines making humans into paperclips. Just computers with general intelligence helping us solve our biggest problems.

A year on, we have the first results of that partnership. At this year’s Microsoft Build 2020, a developer conference showcasing Microsoft’s latest and greatest, the company said they’d completed a supercomputer exclusively for OpenAI’s machine learning research. But this is no run-of-the-mill supercomputer. It’s a beast of a machine. The company said it has 285,000 CPU cores, 10,000 GPUs, and 400 gigabits per second of network connectivity for each GPU server.

Stacked against the fastest supercomputers on the planet, Microsoft says it’d rank fifth.

The company didn’t release performance data, and the computer hasn’t been publicly benchmarked and included on the widely-followed Top500 list of supercomputers. But even absent official rankings, it’s likely safe to say its a world-class machine.

“As we’ve learned more and more about what we need and the different limits of all the components that make up a supercomputer, we were really able to say, ‘If we could design our dream system, what would it look like?’” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. “And then Microsoft was able to build it.”

What will OpenAI do with this dream-machine? The company is building ever bigger narrow AI algorithms—we’re nowhere near AGI yet—and they need a lot of computing power to do it.  ... "

Meaning of Life without Work

The Singularity University Asks:   What Is the Meaning of Life If Society Doesn’t Need You to Work Anymore?    by David J. Hill   With several people involved that I have worked with on related topics.   " ... Paul Saffo, Jeremy Howard, Neil Jacobstein, and Kathryn Myronuk — explored these topics during the Future of Work panel. The issue at hand: What are people going to do in the face of these disruptive changes? ... " 

SmartStones Wins Singularity Grand Challenge Award

Been a while since I have mentioned Smartstones, have been slightly connected with their efforts for some time. Still awaiting some test versions of this to review.

Full Document.   Worth following.

September 7, 2016
Hi Franz,

It's been a while since I've updated you on our progress, and I have some special news to share with you. As always, I love to hear your questions and thoughts, and if you simply want to stay in touch via other means, just let me know.

Impact over a billion people!

Smartstones wins Singularity Global Grand Challenge
Singularity University, known for its focus on identifying exponential technology that impacts the lives of over a billion people across 12 areas called the Grand Challenges of Humanity - including access to water, energy, shelter, environment, health and education, has selected Smartstones :prose™ as a top 5 exponential technology for Accessing Education.

I'm thrilled to tell you that we won and were selected as the company with the highest potential to impact society through education using our sensory communication platform. The entire world is just a few degrees of separation socially to over 370 million people worldwide who cannot speak, and with 1-3 billion new people coming online over the next decade, many of these "new digital natives" have disabilities. ....

We're starting by augmenting reality for millions of nonverbal kids early in life via partnerships with K-12 schools, introducing a new interface for social communication (think Whatsapp or Skype for disabilities). With 1,500 attendees at the SU Global Summit including organizations like the United Nations, US Dept of Defense, Xprize, and many other organizations focused on making a huge impact, it is humbling to be part of this global community of impact organizations. We look forward to partnering with some of them to change the world - one child at a time (eventually thousands at a time with your help).  ..... ... 

All the best to you from the Smartstones team!

Andreas Forsland
Founder & CEO

Singularity University

I was reminded of Singularity University

" ... What is Singularity University?
Our mission is to educate, inspire and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity's grand challenges.  .... 

"Singularity University is an opportunity to bring people from every conceivable walk of life with people that share a common aspiration that is to do better, to be better, and to make a positive impact on people's lives."   ...  '

Kurzweil Joins Google

The futurist proposer of the approach of an inevitable people-machine singularity, Ray Kurzweil, has joined Google as an employee.   In GigaOM.   Apparently to work on machine learning and language processing.      Given the long time interest of the Google founders and the company itself on AI related topics, this sounds like a logical step.  Note also, the Singularity University.

Singularity University

Ray Kurzweil has launched the Singularity University. More on a technological Singularity. A futurist view driven by technological developments. Also being backed by NASA and Google.