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Texas replaces human graders with AI
News: Air Force to test fully autonomous F-16
Jack Shields
April 11, 2024
Welcome back!
Competition in the AI chip market is heating up despite Nvidia’s dominance. We’ll also take a look at some new insights into AI’s role in education and warfare.
In today’s Daily Update:
🗞️ Air Force to test AI-operated fighter jet this spring
🤖 Nvidia faces increased competition in the chip market
📸 Texas replaces human exam graders with AI
🚨 AI Roundup: Four quick hits
Read time: 2 minutes
TOP STORY
🗞️ Air Force to test AI-operated fighter jet this spring
Source: U.S. Air Force
U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall will fly in a fully autonomous F-16 fighter jet later this spring.
The details:
Kendall will fly alongside an emergency pilot to evaluate how the autonomous technology works.
The Air Force hopes that the technology will eventually power a fleet of more than 1,000 autonomous drones.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are already becoming primary weapons in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The Air Force requested $559 million in the 2025 budget to continue research and development of the project.
Why it matters: The U.S. military is continuing to invest heavily in autonomous drones as the future of warfare. Although this reduces the need to deploy human soldiers in dangerous combat zones, it raises numerous ethical questions like we saw with Israel’s Lavender system.
AI INSIGHT
🤖 Nvidia faces increased competition in the chip market
DALL-E 3
Major tech companies are building their own AI chips in hopes of reducing their reliance on Nvidia.
Key points:
Nvidia has dominated the AI chip market since the emergence of consumer-facing AI models like ChatGPT. The company’s revenue last quarter was up to $22 billion.
Google announced a proprietary chip Tuesday that is reportedly 30% better than “general purpose” chips.
Meta unveiled a next-gen MITA chip that triples AI performance.
Intel also introduced Gaudi 3, which it claims trains AI models 50% faster than Nvidia’s GPUs.
Why it matters: AI innovation relies on specialized hardware. Nvidia has struggled to meet the surging global demand for chips that are needed to train and deploy AI models. Increased competition spells good news for future advances in AI.
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
📸 Texas replaces human exam graders with AI
DALL-E 3
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is using a new AI-powered scoring system to grade state-mandated exams.
What you should know:
The system uses natural language processing (the technology behind ChatGPT) to grade open-ended questions on the STAAR exams.
It was trained on 3,000 exam responses that had already received two rounds of human grading.
TEA plans to hire under 2,000 human graders this year compared to 6,000 in 2023.
The system is expected to save $15-20 million per year.
Why it matters: AI essay-scoring systems are nothing new, but they have achieved varying degrees of success around the country. If Texas’ automated scoring system fairs better, it could mark a significant step toward reducing labor and modernizing educational assessments.
MORE TRENDING NEWS
🚨 AI Roundup: Four quick hits
DALL-E 3
OpenAI introduces flexible message limit for GPT-4 that leaves some users frustrated.
Dove promises to never represent “real bodies” with AI in advertising.
NYU professor says AI is problematic for hiring and firing.
Microsoft to invest $2.9 billion in AI and cloud infrastructure in Japan.
THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY