Today in AI: AI's growing appetite for power; Google lays off staff amid AI push; and more

Our daily TLDR of important AI news you should know about.

The world of artificial intelligence continues to surge forward, bringing both exciting advancements and pressing challenges. From energy challenges to advancements in healthcare, here's a roundup of today's developments in the field of AI.

AI is on track to become a massive energy guzzler, with data centers projected to consume more electricity than India by 2030. This, according to Arm CEO Rene Haas, is a hurdle that needs to be addressed for AI to reach its full potential. Haas emphasises that AI is still young. Training these systems requires bombarding them with data, a process that devours energy. He warns that if this energy consumption isn't addressed, it could limit AI's future development.

Google announced plans to lay off some employees in its finance division as part of a company restructuring. The company's CFO, Ruth Porat, informed employees about the plans in a memo, citing the tech industry's shift towards AI as a reason for the restructuring. The exact number of employees being laid off is unknown, but the restructuring will impact teams around the world. Google also plans to create more centralised hubs in several locations.

In a major move, Oracle announced an $8-billion investment in Japan over the next decade. This infusion of cash targets the booming demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure within the country. The investment will specifically focus on expanding Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) across Japan. Additionally, Oracle plans to bolster its operations and support teams by hiring local personnel.

A new study suggests that OpenAI's latest AI model is nearly as good as expert doctors at diagnosing eye diseases. According to a new research, the Microsoft-backed company's GPT-4 model performed just as well as, or even better than, most specialists in evaluating eye problems and recommending treatments. The lead author of the study, published in the PLOS Digital Health journal, Arun Thirunavukarasu, said that the findings indicate that these large language models have knowledge and reasoning abilities in eye health that are now almost on par with human experts.

Chinese search engine giant Baidu unveiled new AI tools that allow users to create chatbots with AI capabilities for specific purposes, even without any coding experience. These chatbots can then be incorporated into websites, Baidu search results, or other online platforms. Baidu also announced three new versions of its Ernie AI model — called “Speed,” “Lite” and “Tiny” — that coders can selectively access, based on the complexity of the task.