The Dark Side of the Moon Company proudly launches its brand new SOTA (state-of-the-art) model—k1.5 Multimodal Thinking Model, marking a significant breakthrough in multimodal reasoning and general reasoning fields. This model not only possesses outstanding multimodal processing capabilities but also demonstrates exceptional general reasoning abilities, effectively addressing various complex tasks. The standout feature of the k1.5 model is its multimodal reasoning capability. It can process information from different modalities including text, images, and sounds simultaneously, providing more comprehensive and accurate results.

Recently, Beijing Dark Side of the Moon Technology Co., Ltd. announced a significant technological upgrade for its intelligent assistant Kimi, introducing the brand new k1.5 Multimodal Thinking Model. This model has reached industry-leading levels in multimodal reasoning and general reasoning capabilities, marking another breakthrough for Kimi in the field of artificial intelligence.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments jointly issued the 'Implementation Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Data Annotation Industry.' This policy aims to promote the specialization and intelligent development of the data annotation industry to facilitate innovation and application of artificial intelligence. It proposes utilizing talent project plans and technology projects to cultivate and attract high-end professionals. Establishing (revising) national occupational standards related to artificial intelligence training and data annotation. Deepening the integration of industry, academia, and research, encouraging long-term cooperation mechanisms among industry alliances, universities, research institutes, and enterprises, and enhancing data standards.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Data Bureau, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly released the 'Guidelines for National Data Infrastructure Construction.' These guidelines aim to promote the active construction of government service large models across the country, facilitate the intelligent process of government services, and thereby improve the efficiency and quality of government services. The guidelines emphasize the importance of the data annotation industry and encourage regions to explore and innovate in the construction of data annotation ecosystems, capacity building, and application scenarios. The government will link public data, proactively disclose data of enterprises and individuals, and establish high-quality data assets.

In 2024, NVIDIA significantly increased its efforts in venture capital, investing as much as $1 billion across 50 different funding rounds and several corporate acquisitions. This figure marks a substantial rise from $872 million and 39 funding rounds in 2023. After profiting $9 billion from AI chip sales, NVIDIA is concentrating resources on 'core AI' companies that require substantial computing power, many of which are also NVIDIA's clients. The investment list for 2024 includes some well-known companies.

In the field of artificial intelligence, ByteDance is ramping up investments at an astonishing pace. According to the latest report from Zheshang Securities, ByteDance's capital expenditure on AI will reach 80 billion yuan in 2024, nearly equaling the total of the three giants Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent. It is expected that by 2025, this figure will double to 160 billion yuan, with 90 billion yuan allocated for AI computing power and 70 billion yuan for data center infrastructure and networking equipment. This investment scale not only demonstrates ByteDance's ambition in the AI sector but also foretells a new development phase for China's AI industry.

FF has announced a series of in-vehicle software updates for its flagship model, the FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance. These updates are designed to enhance the in-car entertainment experience and user control functions, further improving the vehicle's revolutionary user experience and creating a mobile, interconnected, intelligent, and luxurious Third AI Space. The updates take effect immediately via OTA (Over-The-Air), optimizing vehicle interaction for a more intuitive and convenient operation.

WeChat's Coral Security recently issued a statement emphasizing the platform's determination to combat the improper marketing behavior that uses AI technology to impersonate notable figures. The announcement mentioned that WeChat is committed to creating a safe, healthy, and green online environment. In response to the recent phenomenon of using AI technology to impersonate celebrities for marketing purposes, WeChat has quickly taken action and seriously dealt with a number of violations.

Swiss robotics company Anybotics has recently announced an additional investment of $60 million in its Series B funding, bringing the total raised in this round to $110 million. This follows just 18 months after the company first announced receiving $50 million in Series B funding. Anybotics was spun off from ETH Zurich in 2016, focusing on the development of a quadrupedal autonomous inspection robot called Anymal. Anymal is equipped with various sensors.

A research team at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has recently unveiled an AI technology called SOLAMI, which can create lifelike 3D virtual characters that not only interact with you in real-time in the VR world but also understand your voice and movements, allowing for chatting, dancing, and even boxing! This is simply a blessing for gaming, virtual socializing, and singles alike! SOLAMI is an end-to-end social vision-language-action (VLA) modeling framework that leverages deep learning technology to translate user voice and movements into a form understandable by virtual characters.

Tesla recently confirmed through a job posting that it plans to establish a 'remote operations' team to remotely control its upcoming fleet of robotaxis. This move is an important step for Tesla in achieving its robotaxi service, while also drawing on the experiences of market leader Waymo. There are significant differences in autonomous driving strategies between Waymo and Tesla. Waymo employs various sensors, including cameras and LiDAR, to operate its already commercialized autonomous rideshare services in multiple markets.

Recently, a federal lawsuit regarding a Minnesota law on 'using deepfake technology to influence elections' has sparked new controversy. The plaintiff's legal team pointed out in the latest legal documents that the affidavits supporting this law may contain text generated by artificial intelligence. Image source note: The image was generated by AI, provided by Midjourney according to reports from the Minnesota Reformer, where the state's Attorney General Keith Ellison had requested the Stanford Social Media Lab's assistance.