Nils Durner's Blog Ahas, Breadcrumbs, Coding Epiphanies

Open Source AI: A Reality Check

A WIRED article from August 2023 about “The Myth of ‘Open Source’ AI” resurfaced in my feed yesterday. The article, which focused on Meta’s Llama 2 release, raised concerns about the true openness of AI models. However, the field’s developments over the past 12+ months present a different picture. Read more...

Visual Bongard Puzzles & VLMs: Technical Review

A recent paper titled “Bongard in Wonderland: Visual Puzzles that Still Make AI Go Mad?” has garnered some attention through German tech media. The study claims to demonstrate fundamental limitations in visual language models’ (VLMs) reasoning capabilities. However, upon closer examination of their methodology and code implementation, several is... Read more...

[UPDATED] AI Awareness

For those who do NOT use AI or are skeptical, I’ve put together a short, no-frills 7:48 medley from recent OpenAI webinars for business. I’m not advocating the use of these tools, but I think it’s useful for everyone to get a quick yet faithful yet optimistic impression: Read more...

Pelican vs. Llama 3.1 405B and others

Motivated by starkly different results from different Llama 3.1 405B providers on one hand, and claims - particulary derived from the Chatbot Arena that quantized versions are no different on the other hand, I have been wishing for a telltale sign that 1) conclusively proves otherwise and 2) tells providers apart. Good news: Simon Willison has s... Read more...

German Studies on AI Adoption: Between Skepticism and Enthusiasm

Two recent studies provide insights into the adoption and perception of artificial intelligence in Germany. The Bitkom study on “AI Usage in Germany” and Deutsche Telekom’s international YouGov survey paint a nuanced picture that challenges some common assumptions. Read more...