Eliza Strickland

1 month ago | spectrum.ieee.org | Eliza Strickland

The large language models (LLMs) that power today’s chatbots have gotten so astoundingly capable, AI researchers are hard pressed to assess those capabilities—it seems that no sooner is there a new test than the AI systems ace it. But what does that performance really mean? Do these models genuinely understand our world? Or are they merely a triumph of data and calculations that simulates true understanding?

2 months ago | spectrum.ieee.org | Eliza Strickland

If you read the news about AI, you may feel bombarded with conflicting messages: AI is booming. AI is a bubble. AI’s current techniques and architectures will keep producing breakthroughs. AI is on an unsustainable path and needs radical new ideas. AI is going to take your job. AI is mostly good for turning your family photos into Studio Ghibli-style animated images. Cutting through the confusion is the 2025 AI Index from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

2 months ago | flipboard.com | Eliza Strickland

3 hours agoAva, the first human-like digital worker, was launched by Artisan AI in December 2023, just ahead of the blitzkrieg of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Two years since, the AI company has deployed several ‘Artisans’ trained as sales representatives that outpace humans. Ava, the sales agent from, not only …

2 months ago | spectrum.ieee.org | Eliza Strickland

In the past few years, AI has set Silicon Valley on fire. The new book AI Valley: Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion-Dollar Race to Cash in on Artificial Intelligence chronicles those blazing high times, telling the stories of the startups, venture capital firms, and legacy tech companies that are burning bright—and those that have already flamed out.

2 months ago | spectrum.ieee.org | Eliza Strickland

Self-driving cars were supposed to be in our garages by now, according to the optimistic predictions of just a few years ago. But we may be nearing a few tipping points, with robotaxi adoption going up and consumers getting accustomed to more and more sophisticated driver-assistance systems in their vehicles. One company that’s pushing things forward is the Silicon Valley-based Helm.ai, which develops software for both driver-assistance systems and fully autonomous vehicles.