AI, energy markets shocked
Microsoft model said to slash power needs by ‘up to 96%’
Energy market thunderstruck as demand picture takes a hit
The AI and energy markets got a severe jolt with Microsoft’s stunning claim of a new AI system that doesn’t need a supercomputer but can run on a desktop computer, Ars Technica reports.
The savings in power is “up to 96 percent,” and the efficiency is close to that of a supercomputer-powered AI system, researchers assert.
The sensational development challenges the whole political and investment program of promoting a vast step-up in energy production that was thought to be necessary for the burgeoning power-hungry AI industry.
The scientists say they beat the energy barrier by using a simpler mathematical basis for running programs. Instead of the usual 32-bit floating point numbers, their neural network model works with just three distinct weight values: -1, 0, or 1, thus sharply lowering the precision of the AI’s response after being prompted.
But, despite that loss, researchers say the model "can achieve performance comparable to leading open-weight, full-precision models of similar size across a wide range of tasks."
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The young Tennesseans of High Carbon Steel are remarkably skilled and talented. They clearly have “got it together. “ In this recently posted original video they get across an important spiritual point in their elegant style.
They produce many videos and are hoping to go further. Anyone who might help their career is invited to submit ideas via the comments section of their most recent video (use link above).
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Backwoods Bluegrass Band is another highly able group that aims to please, specializing in carefully crafted covers of Bluegrass, Country and Folk standbys.
Here they do a nice job on the not-that-old “Fox on the Run,” which, by the way, originated as a 1970s Glam Rock number. Quoth Wikipedia: "Fox being slang for an attractive woman, the lyrics are apparently about one of the band's groupies. Bomp! called the song a "definitive hard-rock bubblegum record" and "one of the last glitter classics."
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More noteworthy youngsters
An adolescent band with plenty of punch is Verdigrass. (They don’t seem to yet have their own website or YouTube channel.)
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The Brandenberger Family, a Mennonite group based in Lancaster, Pa., is a big draw among Bluegrass gospel fans. Here is a new contribution.