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IBM Presents Granite 3.0 AI Models For Commercial Applications.

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IBM

(VOR News) – IBM made the announcement that it has published its most recent suite of artificial intelligence (AI) models, which is named Granite 3.0, during the annual TechXchange event that takes place in Las Vegas. The event is held annually.

According to IBM, the third-generation models, which are a part of the Granite flagship line, are designed to contain performance levels that are equivalent to those of comparable-sized models supplied by other vendors.

These models from IBM are also expected to be extremely affordable.

It has been said by Big Blue that these models have been reviewed based on a wide range of academic and industry criteria, with a special emphasis placed on performance, transparency, and safety.

Granite models are made accessible to the public under the Apache 2.0 license, which is in agreement with the open-source artificial intelligence technique that IBM employs.

This license gives enterprise customers and the community the flexibility and autonomy to implement the models in accordance with their own requirements, which empowers them to make decisions quickly and easily.

The Granite 3.0 series includes models that are a blend of experts, models that are focused on safety, and models that are general-purpose language models. All of these models are included in the series.

The retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) process, categorization, summarization, and entity extraction are some of the activities that these models are developed for. They also have the capability of being fine-tuned by making use of data that is specific to the firm, which makes it easier for them to be incorporated into a number of processes that are carried out inside an organization.

In addition, the most recent models of artificial intelligence that have been developed by IBM have built-in safety protocols that provide risk assessments of user prompts and responses. Furthermore, the models are able to identify potential hazards, such as potentially harmful information and instances of social bias that may be present.

Additionally, they carry out checks that are specifically tailored to RAG use circumstances, which ensures that the information is correct and pertinent to the context in which it is being used.

In addition, Big Blue has presented models that are a combination of experts. As a result of the fact that these models are designed to be implemented in low-latency contexts, they are suitable for setups that are based on information technology and the edge.

The enterprise data is supported by these models, which also comprise smaller Granite models. These models are built by utilizing the alignment approach known as InstructLab, which was developed in partnership with Red Hat. IBM states that early proofs of concept reveal cost reductions that range from three to twenty-three times those of larger models.

Compared to larger models, IBM’s reductions are significant.

In addition to platforms such as HuggingFace, IBM’s Watsonx, and NVIDIA NIM microservices, the Granite 3.0 models can also be accessed through additional cloud services such as Google Cloud’s Vertex AI Model Garden, Ollama, and Replicate.

These cloud services are also examples of additional cloud infrastructures.

Additionally, the strategic agreements that IBM has created with providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Salesforce, and SAP offer greater integration choices for enterprise users. These agreements involve the formation of strategic partnerships.

The artificial intelligence (AI) latency that IBM provides is a source of concern for the industry.

Despite the fact that IBM has achieved substantial advancements in artificial intelligence technology, including the development of platforms such as Watsonx, the company has been subjected to criticism for falling behind competitors such as Microsoft and Google in terms of monetisation and efficacy.

This criticism has been levelled against IBM. Moreover, there are individuals within the organization who have expressed disagreement with the company’s goals of replacing 7,800 positions with artificial intelligence, stating that these goals are not practical.

In December 2023, CNBC had an interview with Arvind Krishna, the CEO of IBM. During the course of the discussion, Krishna revealed that the company had been hesitant to capitalize on its successes in artificial intelligence.

Krishna explained that the approach that the company used consisted of the development of large and complex solutions, which he acknowledged were not suitable for market adoption at the time. He claimed that this was the technique that the corporation had taken.

SOURCE: TMN

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Agribusiness Giant Cargill to Layoff 5% of its Workforce

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Agribusiness Giant Cargill
Cargill, which employs 160,000 workers globally, declined to comment

Following a rare income decline, agribusiness giant Cargill, which employs 160,000 people worldwide, has announced the layoff of approximately 8,000 employees.

An internal message to employees obtained by Reuters stated that most layoffs would occur this year.

“They will focus on streamlining our organisational structure by removing layers, expanding the scope and responsibilities of our managers, and reducing duplication of work,” Brian Sikes, our CEO, told employees in a memo.

Bloomberg reported Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the changes would not affect Cargill’s management team but would include several “next-level senior leaders.”

The Minneapolis-based enterprise is the largest privately held business in the United States.

In August, Cargill reported revenue of $160 billion, a decrease from $177 billion in 2023 and $165 billion in 2022. Profits also plummeted to $2.48 billion in the fiscal year that ended in May from a record $6.7 billion the previous year.

As a result, the company announced that it would reduce the number of business units from five to three, integrating the Food and Bio divisions with the Protein and Salt teams to become Food. Cargill has not explained what the restructuring means for its Wichita business and personnel.

The 160-year-old corporation and beef, poultry, salt, and eggs processors are major commodity dealers.

Cargill Protein North America is based in Wichita, where the division has existed for over 40 years. As of 2021, Cargill claimed to have roughly 1,000 employees in Wichita.

Many have linked the revenue decline to lower pricing for key crops such as corn and soybeans, which had risen dramatically during the pandemic. The United States Department of Agriculture recorded the smallest cow herd in nearly seven decades.

According to the trade newspaper Agriculture Dive, the company laid off almost 200 employees in June as part of its sale of a California meat-processing plant.

Cargill mentioned the consolidation in a statement about the layoffs.

“Earlier this year, we set a long-term strategy that continues that legacy, while carrying forward the values and core strengths that have defined our success from the beginning,” the statement read.

“As we look to the future, we have laid out a clear plan to evolve and strengthen our portfolio to take advantage of compelling trends, maximize our competitiveness, and continue to deliver for our customers.

As the world around us changes, we are committed to transforming even faster to deliver for our customers and fulfill our purpose of nourishing the world.

“To strengthen Cargill’s impact, we must realign our talent and resources to align with our strategy.”

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NATO’s Top Guy Won’t Talk About Ukraine. Kyiv’s Defense is a Top Priority.

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(VOR News) – On Tuesday, Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of NATO, avoided questions regarding Ukraine’s possible accession to the military alliance, asserting that the country’s forthcoming peace discussions with Russia should take precedence over the provision of further arms.

Prior to a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, Rutte expressed these remarks shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asserted that the inclusion of territories currently under Kyiv’s governance in the alliance’s membership could terminate “the hot stage” of the nearly three-year conflict in Ukraine, where Russian forces are encroaching further into their western neighbour.

NATO fronts are not moving eastward.

“It is progressing slowly westward,” Rutte commented. Consequently, we must guarantee that Ukraine attains a position of power. The Ukrainian administration must thereafter ascertain the subsequent course of action, encompassing the initiation and execution of peace negotiations.

The leaders of the 32 NATO countries underscored that Ukraine is on a “irreversible” path to membership during their July summit in Washington.

Nevertheless, certain parties, particularly the United States, have opposed advancement while the conflict persists and before the establishment of the nation’s borders. Ukraine’s accession is contingent upon unanimous agreement from all 32 members.

NATO has consistently aimed to prevent involvement in a broader battle with nuclear-armed Russia, and the alliance was founded on the principle that an attack on one member is regarded as an attack on all.

NATO membership could be extended to the country’s international borders.

Rutte stated, “I contend that we should refrain from engaging in detailed discussions regarding the potential structure of a peace process,” in reply to enquiries from journalists.

He stated that ensuring Ukraine has the necessary resources to attain a position of strength at the commencement of peace negotiations must be the initial step.

Ukrainian officials underlined definitively on Tuesday that they would not endorse any provisional solutions or compromises about NATO membership.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, referencing its “bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum,” issued a vehement statement asserting that Ukraine “will not accept any alternatives, surrogates, or substitutes for its full membership in NATO.”

In return for security guarantees from Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Ukraine consented to relinquish its Soviet-era nuclear weapons, which constituted the third-largest nuclear arsenal globally, as stipulated in the international agreement signed in Hungary’s capital thirty years ago.

The Budapest agreement was characterised as a “monument to myopia in formulating strategic security decisions” in a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

It asserted, “We are convinced that Ukraine’s complete membership in NATO is the sole genuine guarantee of security for Ukraine and a deterrent against further Russian aggression towards Ukraine and other nations.”

Andrii Sybiha displayed the Budapest Agreement to journalists at NATO headquarters.

This document does not guarantee transatlantic or Ukrainian security. “Consequently, we must avoid repeating the same errors,” he articulated in English.

Rutte stated that he highlighted the backing of China, North Korea, and Iran for Russia, which poses a threat to the United States and the Asia-Pacific region, during his recent discussion with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Rutte asserted that the leaders of China and North Korea would be incentivised to endorse the application of force in other regions, thus emphasising that “any agreement regarding Ukraine must be advantageous, as we cannot permit a scenario where we celebrate with Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping or others.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer acknowledged that the conflict will ultimately conclude with negotiations and maybe a compromise, asserting that Ukraine’s allies must “do what it takes to support their self-defence for as long as necessary.”

Starmer asserted in a speech late Monday, “Position Ukraine as favourably as possible for negotiations to ensure they achieve a fair and enduring peace on their terms, safeguarding their security, independence, and right to determine their own future.”

SOURCE: AP

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Amazon Releases Nova, a Fresh Set of Multimodal AI Models.

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Amazon
Frederic Lardinois/TechCrunch

(VOR News) – Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s cloud computing business, introduced Nova, a set of generative artificial intelligence and multimodal models, during Tuesday’s re:Invent conference.

Electronic gadgets with a focus on text include the Micro, Lite, Pro, and Premier models. According to Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, during his presentation, AWS subscribers already have access to Micro, Lite, and Pro. Early 2025 is when Premiere is expected to be released.

Images and films are produced by the Nova Canas and Nova Reel models, respectively. Both of these services were launched today by Amazon Web Services.

Jassy said that “We have persistently advanced our frontier models, and these models have achieved significant progress in the past four to five months.” Because we thought they were valuable, we assumed you would too.

Micro, Lite, Pro, and Premier are also available.

The main distinctions between Nova versions are their sizes and capabilities.

Micro’s reduced latency allows it to analyse text and respond more quickly than its rivals, outperforming them. Micro just receives text and outputs it automatically. Lite processes text, video, and image inputs efficiently and rapidly. Pro provides the best levels of accuracy, speed, and affordability across a range of sports. For jobs requiring a lot of pressure, Premier’s most sophisticated version is perfect.

Pro and Premier have the same textual, photo, and video analysis capabilities as Lite. All three can analyse papers and provide summaries of meetings, events, and charts, according to Amazon.

According to Jassy, the Nova models are some of the fastest and least expensive in their respective classes. They are accessible via Amazon’s intelligence development platform, Amazon Web Services Bedrock. This platform makes it possible for them to be optimised for cost savings and efficiency.

Jassy issued a statement saying: “We have refined these models to integrate with proprietary systems and APIs, which enables you to execute multiple coordinated automated processes — agent behaviour — with greater ease.” “I find these to be very convincing,” the speaker said.

Each and every reel and Canas

These days, Amazon’s most successful generative media initiatives are Canvas and Reel.

Canvas allows users to create and edit images using prompts. Different options for image arrangement and colour are included in these questions. Instead, the more ambitious Reel approach uses prompts to produce six-second films. Users of the Reel app can spin, zoom, and pan in all directions.

Reels will soon be able to make two-minute videos, Amazon says.

Throughout the presentation, Jassy stressed that Reel and Canvas had features that ensure proper use. Examples of security methods include content screening and watermarking. In closing, he stated, “We aim to restrict the production of detrimental content.”

The data that Amazon Web Services utilises to train its generative models seems to be unknown. In a prior statement to TechCrunch, the company claimed to have used both private and licensed data.

Customers are rarely informed of this information by providers. Because they see it as a strategic benefit, some people keep training data and other information confidential. Information gathered during training may be used in intellectual property issues, which would deter information sharing.

In the case that one of its models replicates an image that is protected by intellectual property rights, Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides its clients with indemnity.

What will happen at Nova soon? Amazon’s speech-to-speech technology will receive spoken input and provide modified output, according to a statement released by Jassy. The model is expected to be completed by 2025’s first quarter. By mid-year 2025, a “any-to-any” strategy is expected to be implemented.

Jassy stated that “you will have the capability to input text, speech, images, or video and produce text, speech, images, or video.” The goal of developing and applying frontier models is to shape the future.

SOURCE: TC

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