Technologies

AI Gets Smarter, Safer, More Visual With GPT-4 Release, OpenAI Says

ChatGPT Plus subscribers can try it out now.

The hottest AI technology foundation, OpenAI’s GPT, got a big upgrade Tuesday that’s now available in the premium version of the ChatGPT chatbot.

The new GPT-4 can generate much longer strings of text and respond when people feed it images, and it’s designed to do a better job avoiding artificial intelligence pitfalls visible in the earlier GPT-3.5, OpenAI said Tuesday. For example, when taking bar exams that attorneys must pass to practice law, GPT-4 ranks in the top 10% of scores compared to the bottom 10% for GPT-3.5, the AI research company said.

GPT stands for Generative Pretrained Transformer, a reference to the fact that it can generate text on its own and that it uses an AI technology called transformers that Google pioneered. It’s a type of AI called a large language model, or LLM, that’s trained on vast swaths of data harvested from the internet, learning mathematically to spot patterns and reproduce styles.

OpenAI has made its GPT technology available to developers for years, but ChatGPT, which debuted in November, offered an easy interface that yielded an explosion of interest, experimentation and worry about the downsides of the technology. ChatGPT is free, but it falter when demand is high. In January, OpenAI began offering ChatGPT Plus for $20 per month with assured availability and, now, the GPT-4 foundation.

GPT-4 advancements

“In a casual conversation, the distinction between GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 can be subtle. The difference comes out when the complexity of the task reaches a sufficient threshold,” OpenAI said. “GPT-4 is more reliable, creative and able to handle much more nuanced instructions than GPT-3.5.”

Another major advance in GPT-4 is the ability to accept input data that includes text and photos. OpenAI’s example is asking the chatbot to explain a joke showing a bulky decades-old computer cable plugged into a modern iPhone’s tiny Lightning port.

Another is better performance avoiding AI problems like hallucinations — incorrectly fabricated responses, often offered with just as much seeming authority as answers the AI gets right. GPT-4 also is better at thwarting attempts to get it to say the wrong thing: “GPT-4 scores 40% higher than our latest GPT-3.5 on our internal adversarial factuality evaluations,” OpenAI said.

GPT-4 also adds new “steerability” options. Users of large language models today often must engage in elaborate “prompt engineering,” learning how to embed specific cues in their prompts to get the right sort of responses. GPT-4 adds a system command option that lets users set a specific tone or style, for example programming code or a Socratic tutor: “You are a tutor that always responds in the Socratic style. You never give the student the answer, but always try to ask just the right question to help them learn to think for themselves.”

“Stochastic parrots” and other problems

OpenAI acknowledges significant shortcomings that persist with GPT-4, though it also touts progress avoiding them.

“It can sometimes make simple reasoning errors … or be overly gullible in accepting obvious false statements from a user. And sometimes it can fail at hard problems the same way humans do, such as introducing security vulnerabilities into code it produces,” OpenAI said. In addition, “GPT-4 can also be confidently wrong in its predictions, not taking care to double-check work when it’s likely to make a mistake.”

Large language models can deliver impressive results, seeming to understand huge amounts of subject matter and to converse in human-sounding if somewhat stilted language. Fundamentally, though, LLM AIs don’t really know anything. They’re just able to string words together in statistically very refined ways.

This statistical but fundamentally somewhat hollow approach to knowledge led researchers, including former Google AI researchers Emily Bender and Timnit Gebru, to warn of the “dangers of stochastic parrots” that come with large language models. Language model AIs tend to encode biases, stereotypes and negative sentiment present in training data, and researchers and other people using these models tend “to mistake … performance gains for actual natural language understanding.”

OpenAI, Microsoft and Nvidia partnership

OpenAI got a big boost when Microsoft said in February it’s using GPT technology in its Bing search engine, including a chat features similar to ChatGPT. On Tuesday, Microsoft said it’s using GPT-4 for the Bing work. Together, OpenAI and Microsoft pose a major search threat to Google, but Google has its own large language model technology too, including a chatbot called Bard that Google is testing privately.

Microsoft uses GPT technology both to evaluate the searches people type into Bing and, in some cases, to offer more elaborate, conversational responses. The results can be much more informative than those of earlier search engines, but the more conversational interface that can be invoked as an option has had problems that make it look unhinged.

To train GPT, OpenAI used Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service, including thousands of Nvidia’s A100 graphics processing units, or GPUs, yoked together. Azure now can use Nvidia’s new H100 processors, which include specific circuitry to accelerate AI transformer calculations.

Technologies

European Union Invites Canada as First Associate Member Amid Intensifying U.S. Trade War

The European Union has invited Canada to become its first associate member, marking a historic policy shift as both sides seek to deepen ties amid escalating trade tensions with the United States.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Wednesday that the European Union is opening the door for Canada to become the bloc’s inaugural associate member. The declaration represents a notable shift in EU policy and underscores a substantial deepening of relations between Brussels and Ottawa. Delivering her annual State of the European Union address in Strasbourg, France, von der Leyen expressed the bloc’s desire to elevate ties with Canada “to the highest level possible.” “And, dear Mark, I said we must urgently reimagine our partnerships so I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to being the first associate member of the European Union,” von der Leyen stated, addressing Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who attended the speech and is scheduled to speak to EU lawmakers Thursday. Carney has previously indicated Ottawa’s interest in pursuing a “unique security and economic alliance” with Europe, though not full membership. Canada is currently embroiled in a fierce trade dispute with the U.S. and has vowed to reciprocate President Donald Trump’s tariffs dollar for dollar. Von der Leyen emphasized that the EU and Canada “see the world with the same eyes” and committed to collaborating on artificial intelligence, climate change, geopolitics, and Arctic security. The two parties already share a free trade agreement — the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) — which provisionally took effect in 2017 and eliminated 99% of tariff lines. “We will move from CETA to an alliance for the future, to create a common prosperity and economic security space,” von der Leyen said. The EU has historically resisted flexible membership categories, notably when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz advocated for associate membership for Ukraine earlier this year. Asked whether von der Leyen’s move to embrace Canada as the EU’s first associate member marks a historic moment, Berenberg’s chief economist Holger Schmieding told Verum’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday, “I think this is a big step, indeed.” “Europe is trying to openly form new partnerships or deepen partnerships with all countries in the world that are sort of like-minded,” Schmieding added. “It is not necessarily against the U.S., but it is clearly in favor of making us less dependent on the U.S. and less dependent on China, and that deeper partnership with other countries, like-minded democracies, is actually something we see in the economic re-arm.” In early June, Finnish President Alexander Stubb outlined a vision for a significantly expanded European Union, urging the bloc to “think big” to project global influence. As part of this, Stubb suggested the EU could grow to 40 members and named Canada, the U.K., Turkey, Norway, and Iceland as potential candidates. “Wouldn’t it be lovely if Canada was the 28th state of the European Union rather than the 51st state of the United States?” Stubb remarked on June 3, referencing Trump’s aspirations to annex Canada. ‘Middle powers’ At the start of the year, Carney told delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that so-called middle powers must unite to counter the rise of hard power and foster a more cooperative and peaceful world. “We have a situation where it is totally unpredictable what the United States are doing and we have aggressive industrial policy by China — and therefore, it’s so important that we strengthen our ties with democratic countries, and Canada is one example,” Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee, told Verum on Wednesday. Alongside Ottawa, Lange said the EU should pursue stronger economic ties with Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea. “It’s so important that we work together and build a bloc and as Mr. Carney … mentioned in Davos, you have to be strong and sit at the table, otherwise you will be part of the menu,” he added.

Technologies

Oil prices fall after U.S. says damaged Saudi pipeline will restart operations in days

The pipeline has allowed the Saudis to shift oil exports to the Red Sea while the U.S. and Iran battle for control over Hormuz.

Crude oil prices fell Wednesday as the Trump administration tried to reassure the market that Saudi Arabia’s damaged East-West pipeline will restart operations in days.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Tuesday that the pipeline outage is a “brief and temporary interruption” that “will be measured in days.”

But independent analysts warned the pipeline could remain down for weeks based on satellite images showing significant damage to a pumping station.

The Saudis have taken “quick action” to export more oil through the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. military help while the pipeline is down, Wright said.

Four supertankers that can carry 8 million barrels total were observed loading at Saudi’s Persian Gulf ports of Ras Tanura and Juaymah on Tuesday, said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at Kpler.

“They are likely going to be part of the shuttling effort via the Omani route through the Strait,” Smith said.

Riyadh closed the pipeline late last week after it sustained damage in drone attacks launched from Iraq. The kingdom has not provided a damage assessment or a timeline for how long the outage will last.

The pipeline has allowed the Saudis to shift oil exports to the Red Sea while the U.S. and Iran battle for control over Hormuz. The strait was the Gulf states’ main export corridor before the war.

The U.S. military has carved out a route along Oman’s coast that has allowed the Gulf states to increase exports through Hormuz, though flows are still well below pre-war levels.

The journey remains dangerous even with U.S. protection as Iran continues to attack tankers. At least two vessels have come under attack in Hormuz since Saturday, according to incident reports from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre.

Technologies

Top Stocks Making Big Moves Midday: SpaceX, Lumentum, Diamondback Energy, J.B. Hunt & More

Major stocks moved sharply mid-day, with AI infrastructure firms CoreWeave and Nebius surging, SpaceX climbing on a new rocket test, and energy names like Diamondback Energy and Occidental Petroleum dropping after weak inventory data.

Market Insider

Top Stocks Making Big Moves Midday: SpaceX, Lumentum, Diamondback Energy, J.B. Hunt & More

Here are some of the companies making headlines in midday trading. Artificial intelligence infrastructure – Shares of companies involved in the AI buildout jumped following several losing sessions. AI cloud computing play CoreWeave jumped more than 4% and Nebius rose nearly 5%, putting both stocks on track to snap a five-day slide. Photonics plays Lumentum and Coherent rose 8% and 6%, respectively, while Dell advanced 5%. SpaceX – Shares of Elon Musk’s rocket company advanced 5%. SpaceX announced the next test for its Starship rocket, set for launch Sept. 22. In this flight, the company also plans to deploy Starlink V3 satellites. Honeywell Technologies – The developer of automation solutions jumped almost 3%. In a presentation at Morgan Stanley’s Laguna Industrials Conference, leadership said that strong second-quarter orders and a solid start to the third quarter are supporting a favorable setup heading into year end and 2027. FTAI Aviation – The supplier of aircraft engines added 5% after announcing that its board approved a $500 million share buyback program. SK Hynix, Intel — The chipmakers rose after a Reuters report that SK Hynix was in talks with Intel to manufacture memory chips in the U.S. for the first time. SK Hynix added 2%, while Intel jumped 5%. SK Hynix said that no decisions have been made regarding any partnership with Intel. J.B. Hunt Transport Services — Shares of the transportation and logistics company slid nearly 13% after the company warned that its earnings may tumble in the third quarter between 5% to 10%, compared to the previous three-month period. J.B. Hunt said the decline has been due to internal adjustments to account for rising rates of purchase transportation. Expedia — The online travel company slipped about 1% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to underweight. Analysts at the bank said shares have a weak risk/reward profile, particularly with greater exposure to a potentially weaker consumer. Energy stocks — U.S. oil prices fell more than 3% after a report said energy inventories rose last week, sending energy stocks lower. Diamondback Energy declined 8%, while Occidental Petroleum was off 5%. ExxonMobil lost nearly 3%, and Devon Energy dropped 4%. —CNBC’s Nick Wells and Darla Mercado contributed reporting.

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