GM! Welcome to Get Into AI (formerly The Status Code).
We're like culinary experts, preparing a delightful menu of AI advancements for you to taste.
Here’s what we have for today:
Alibaba’s big surprise
Another safety expert leaves OpenAI
A brand new way to create music
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What happened?
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, while most of China was celebrating with family, Alibaba dropped a bombshell: its new AI model, Qwen 2.5-Max, beats GPT-4 and other top models "across the board."
Why this matters
This surprise launch shows how competitive the AI race has become, especially after Chinese startup DeepSeek shook things up with its super-efficient, low-cost AI models. DeepSeek's approach—running lean with mostly young graduates and PhD students—challenges the idea that you need massive resources to compete in AI.
The numbers tell the story
DeepSeek's processing costs: just 1 yuan ($0.14) per million tokens
This has forced giants like Alibaba to slash their prices by up to 97%
Even ByteDance (TikTok's parent company) jumped in with their own model update.
The big news
Steven Adler, who spent four years leading safety research at OpenAI, has left the company. He says he's "pretty terrified by the pace of AI development."
Why people are paying attention
This isn't just one person leaving - it's part of a pattern
Other key safety researchers like Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike have also departed
About half of OpenAI's long-term risk research team has left
The core concern
Adler puts it: We're in a race toward AGI (artificial general intelligence), but no one has figured out how to keep super-intelligent AI systems aligned with human values.
It's like building a rocket without knowing how to steer it.
The breakthrough
A new AI model called YuE can now turn written lyrics into complete songs—up to five minutes long—with both vocals and instruments. Think of it as an AI band that works with your words.
What makes this special
Previous AI could only make short clips
YuE handles both vocals and instruments together
It's open source - meaning anyone can use and improve it
The potential
This could revolutionize music creation, letting anyone with lyrics become a songwriter. However, it raises interesting questions about creativity and copyright in the AI age.
What's Next?
AI is expanding in every direction, from government offices to recording studios. At the same time, these exciting developments highlight important questions about safety and responsible development.
That’s it for this week, folks! If you want more, be sure to follow my Twitter (@BarunBuilds)
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