AI Developments: Agents, Robots, Third Thumbs, And More

This week brought another wave of technology developments, from Agents to robots, to third thumbs, and more.

Agents, which are essentially assistants that have (limited, at least for now) autonomy to use tools and complete multiple tasks when given goals continue to develop.

Agents are not close to being completely autonomous yet, but there is continued progress and we are starting to see the ability of agents to produce tools (Anthropic, Cohere)

Robots. They are here/coming/close.

There is growing use of robots China that we are trying to make in our image.

ChatGPT5. It will almost certainly be in schools by late fall, with students ready to use for spring semester or earlier. 10X the capabilities of 4? Probably. New, emergent properties? Most likely.

And our AIs are getting ‘friendly,” gaining abilities to simulate human communication.

The connections between humans and AIs will certainly grow and become a normal part of everyday life. It can make you feel better.

And children will grow up expecting a hybrid connection, not a “uniquely human” one as they grow.

And Meta’s AI can now translate 200 languages, with the goal of getting to 7,000.

A third thumb. This third thumb can help you carry multiple beverage glasses and perform surgery.

In our book, Humanity Amplified, we wrote about the Cambrian Explosion. The Cambrian explosion was a pivotal period in the history of life on Earth, around 541-515 million years ago, when a remarkable diversification of complex organisms occurred relatively rapidly in geological time. During this period, most major animal phyla as we know them today first appeared in the fossil record.

Similarly, the idea of a "robotic third thumb" suggests that we may be on the cusp of a rapid proliferation and diversification of wearable robotic devices, augmented reality interfaces, brain-computer interfaces, and other technologies that could profoundly augment and extend human capabilities. These technologies could potentially lead to a metaphorical "explosion" of new forms of human-machine symbiosis and augmented human abilities, akin to how the Cambrian explosion led to the emergence of most major animal body plans.

The robotic third thumb could be just the beginning of a much broader and more rapid evolution of human-augmentation technologies, leading to a diverse array of augmented human forms and capabilities, much like the Cambrian explosion led to the emergence of a vast diversity of complex lifeforms on Earth.

Music. StabilityAI released StableAudio which empowers users to generate high-quality audio samples up to 47 seconds in length, encompassing a diverse range of sounds from drum beats and instrumental riffs to ambient soundscapes and foley recordings. Tailored specifically for music production and sound design, Stable Audio Open offers a remarkable opportunity for artists and creators to bring their auditory visions to life through the power of text descriptions. While focused on shorter audio clips, the model's flexibility allows users to fine-tune it with their own audio data, ensuring a personalized experience. Additionally, Stable AI has introduced Stable Audio 2, a commercial offering capable of generating entire songs.

Asthon Kutcher says OpenAI gave him access to a test version of their new AI video generator, Sora - and he's blown away by what it can do.

Kutcher says Sora can create realistic scenes, trailers or movie clips based on text prompts. While it still makes mistakes and doesn't fully understand physics, it's a huge step forward from previous video generators.

"There's footage in it that I would say you could easily use in a major motion picture or television show," Kutcher says.

Eleven Labs has added sound effects to its generator.

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What’s your educational institution doing to prepare students to live in a world where computer intelligence is at least in the ballpark of human-level intelligence?

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