You've probably had this one circled on your calendar for a while, but happy Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day. It's hard to get more American than reserving a day on the calendar to celebrate the perfect union of 2 melted slices of processed cheese between 2 slices of processed bread with a spread called "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" on top. And, for that reason, our patriotism is through the roof right now.
In today's edition:
Dalai Lama said... what?
Stranger Things animated series
The OpenAI Story, Part 2
🔑 Key Stories
Life of Jupiter's Moons?
The European Space Agency (ESA) will launch a probe on Thursday to search for life on Jupiter’s moons
Jupiter – the solar system’s largest planet – has at least 92 moons, some of which are covered in ice that may have liquid oceans beneath that support life
On Thursday, the ESA is set to launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer – “Juice” – a ~$1.7B probe that will explore 3 of Jupiter’s icy moons: Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Scientists believe those moons could have massive oceans that could support life
NASA is also developing its own probe that will focus primarily on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa
Dig Deeper
“We would like to see whether there are places around Jupiter where life could have started,” Juice’s lead scientist said. “With the icy moons of Jupiter, we have…reasons to believe there is more water [there] than on Earth”
Gunman Kills 5 in Louisville
A gunman killed 5 people and injured 8 at a bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky on Monday
Louisville police received calls about the shooting at around 8:30 AM. When officers arrived at the scene, the gunman was “still firing gunshots” inside the bank. In an ensuing firefight, the gunman died, although police say it’s unclear how
As of this morning, 5 people other than the shooter have died and 8 are injured. One police officer who was shot is in critical condition
The shooter was a 23-year-old former employee of the bank. Police say he live-streamed the attack
Dalai Lama: "Suck My Tongue"
The Dalai Lama has apologized for a video in which he told a boy to "suck my tongue"
The Dalai Lama is the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the major schools of Buddhism, and the spiritual leader of the people of Tibet, a mountainous region of China. He has lived in India since 1959
At an event in February near the Dalai Lama’s Indian base, a boy asked if he could give the Dalai Lama a hug; the Dalai Lama said he could give him a kiss, stuck out his tongue, and said, “suck my tongue”
On Monday, his office put out a statement that said he “often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras"
Here's the footage to make up your own mind
Dig Deeper
Footage of the event prompted questions and criticism. Sticking the tongue out is a form of greeting in Tibet, but it wasn’t clear if that’s what the Dalai Lama was doing
Texas Governor: Pardon Daniel Perry
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he supports a pardon for Daniel Perry
In July 2020, Perry was driving an Uber in Austin, Texas, when a BLM protest crossed his path. Perry honked; a protester who was legally carrying an AK-47 came to the car. Soon after, Perry shot and killed him
Prosecutors said Perry opposed the protests and came looking for trouble; Perry said he was minding his own business when the protester pointed his weapon at him, prompting him to fire in self-defense
On Friday, Perry was convicted of murder. Abbot called the prosecutor “rogue” and wants a pardon
Dig Deeper
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand your ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or progressive district attorney,” Abbot tweeted Saturday. He has since requested that the Texas government review options to pardon Perry
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Dig Deeper
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🍿 Popcorn
ICYMI
Wahoo! It's a-Record! Super Mario Bros. Movie blasted through the box office record books with a $376M global opening, the largest ever for an animated movie
Spinoff Things: An animated Stranger Things series has been greenlit at Netflix. It is unclear how exactly the animated show will relate to Stranger Things
QB-spiracy: Former QB Dwayne Haskins' family filed a lawsuit that claims he was drugged on the night of his death as part of an alleged "blackmail and robbery conspiracy"
Wildcard
Fake (host) news: A media outlet in Kuwait has unveiled an AI-generated news anchor. The virtual host appears to be a blonde woman and is slated to read newscasts online
Kim K, the thespian: Kim Kardashian is joining the cast of American Horror Story for Season 12. She will reportedly play a lead character
RIP, teaching career: A Florida teacher who was fired for asking his students to write their own obituaries in advance of an active shooter drill says he has no regrets
👇 What do you think?
Today's Question:
What TV show has had the most significant impact on your life?
Reply to this email with your answers!
See yesterday's results below the Wrap!
🌯 Roca Wrap
In 2015, a group of tech entrepreneurs pooled their resources to create a non-profit to ensure artificial intelligence (AI) would benefit all of humanity: Open AI.
OpenAI’s mission was to develop AI safely and in a way that would help humanity broadly, rather than limiting its benefit to the companies that developed it first. It was specifically concerned about artificial general intelligence (AGI), which it defined as “highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work.”
4 years later, OpenAI brought on its first outside investors. That decision would turn OpenAI into the world’s most valuable AI language company, but also lead many to ask: Was OpenAI for humanity, or for profit?
***
Its first investors had their returns capped at 100 times their investments. Capping investor returns is extremely rare, but OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altmam, said doing so was necessary to spread the wealth generated by OpenAI’s technology. He has said the deal was the only way to develop the tech OpenAI sought while keeping its values.
But many people – both within and outside the company – were critical, saying the deal invalidated OpenAI’s mission and would enter it into the AI arms race it had been created to prevent. Some of the companies’ top engineers left soon after.
OpenAI released a vastly improved GPT – GPT-2 – in 2019, whose capabilities included generating translations, answers, and summaries but which became illogical when pushed.
In 2018, OpenAI released its first generative pre-trained transformer, or GPT.
A GPT is a type of “large language model,” which is trained on massive amounts of text to produce human-like answers. It operates by using something called an “artificial neural network,” which is a computer system designed with the principles of animal brains.
OpenAI released a vastly improved GPT – GPT-2 – in 2019, whose capabilities included generating translations, answers, and summaries but which became illogical when pushed.
A year later, it released GPT-3, which made significantly more improvements and to which Microsoft had the exclusive rights. In 2022, OpenAI released its GPT-3.5 model.
Using that technology, in November, it launched its first consumer-facing product: ChatGPT. Within 3 months, it had 100M users, making it the fastest app to ever hit that benchmark.
Last month, OpenAI unveiled an updated model – GPT-4 – which was vastly more intelligent than what the public had first accessed in November.
In January, Microsoft agreed to invest $10B more into OpenAI. According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal is structured so that OpenAI’s profits will pay back Microsoft’s investments. After that, Microsoft will get 49% of all future profits until a cap. All profits beyond Microsoft’s 49% and the cap will go to OpenAI’s non-profit.
OpenAI now has 2 organizations and 2 pitches: Its company speaks of the opportunities for profits and commercializing its technology; its non-profit speaks of using AI to benefit humanity, improve living standards, and allow people to escape jobs they hate.
Can OpenAI do both?
Have thoughts about OpenAI? Let us know at [email protected]! Missed Part 1? Read it here.
🌊 Roca Clubhouse
Yesterday's Poll:
Do you have a mentor?
Yes: 22%
No: 78%
Yesterday's Question:
Jonathan from Texas: “From what I've seen currently, no. The whole draw and appeal of Roca is the presentation of major news events without bias or fear-mongering, just straight facts. I've seen several sample conversations with ChatGPT where obviously its information has been compromised by bias.”
Amy from South Dakota: “No! I think we’re playing a dangerous game messing with AI. They won’t be able to replace the emotion and heart that humans bring to any discussion or news story.”
Gary from Oregon: “It is not only likely, but predictable as algorithmic potential can escalate people receiving only the news they are comfortable with receiving. Intelligent people would describe two parameters that contradict each other, or have two different base prejudices to serve.”
Friday's 20 Questions:
Every Friday, we ask our readers 20 Questions and feature the answers here throughout the week. Last week was "Candy Edition": We gave you 20 options, and you told us if you would take them or leave them.
6. Tic Tacs: Take 54%, Leave 46%
7. Reese’s Egg: Take 74%, Leave 26%
8. Jelly Beans: Take 56%, Leave 44%
9. Nerds: Take 39%, Leave 61%
10. Sour Patch Kids: Take 47%, Leave 53%
🧠 Final Thoughts
What are your thoughts on ChatGPT? Are you scared by it? Excited? We’d love to know how you all feel. Send in your takes!
We hope you have great Tuesdays. See you tomorrow.
–Max and Max
