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- OpenAI's Sora is finally here
OpenAI's Sora is finally here
PLUS: Google's 'Willow' chip quantum breakthrough
Rowan Cheung
December 10, 2024
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Welcome, AI enthusiasts.
On the third day of Shipmas, Sama and OpenAI just brought us Sora — and Christmas came early for AI creators everywhere (except the UK and EU 😢).
After months of speculation, OpenAI's hotly anticipated video generator is ready for its public debut. But will it live up to the hype? Let’s get into it…
In today’s AI rundown:
OpenAI releases Sora to the public
Google's Willow quantum chip shatters records
Generate professional decks in any language
AI mimics brain to 'watch' videos
5 new AI tools & 5 new AI jobs
More AI & tech news
Read time: 4 minutes
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
OPENAI
Image source: OpenAI
The Rundown: OpenAI just officially launched Sora, the company’s long-awaited AI video generation model, which is now available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers through a dedicated platform with several new editing and creative features.
The details:
Sora can create up to 20-second outputs in various aspect ratios, and the new ‘Turbo’ model significantly reduces generation times compared to previous reports.
Sora’s web platform allows users to organize and view generated videos, as well as view other users’ prompts and featured content for inspiration.
Powerful creative tools include Remix for scene editing, Storyboard for stitching multiple outputs together, Blend, Loop, and Style presets.
Sora is available today to ChatGPT subscribers, with unlimited generations, higher resolution, and watermark removal available with the $200/m Pro plan.
OpenAI is restricting content with real people, minors, or copyrighted material, with only a ‘subset’ of users allowed to upload real people as input initially.
The rollout will also exclude the EU, UK, and several other territories due to regulatory concerns.
Why it matters: Sora is finally here, and while there will be arguments over its quality compared to rivals, OpenAI's reach and user base are unmatched for getting this type of tool into the public’s hands. Millions of AI ‘normies’ are about to have their first high-level video experience, opening a new world of creativity for the average user.
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Attend on May 28-30 and experience:
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Hands-on workshops covering practical applications of AI in business operations
Networking opportunities with executives actively transforming their organizations with AI
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Image source: Google
The Rundown: Google just revealed Willow, a new quantum computing chip that achieves major performance breakthroughs in error correction and computation speed, demonstrating the potential for future useful, large-scale quantum computers.
The details:
Willow achieved a milestone in reducing errors exponentially as more qubits were added — a critical issue that stumped researchers for three decades.
Willow also completed a computation in under five minutes that would take one of today's fastest supercomputers 10 septillion (10^25) years.
Willow utilizes 105 qubits and can maintain the quantum state for nearly twice as long as previous designs — making it more reliable for complex calculations.
The chip was manufactured at Google's new quantum fabrication facility in Santa Barbara, one of only a handful of such specialized facilities worldwide.
Why it matters: Willow takes quantum computers a step toward the practical rather than just theoretical, proving we can overcome some of the field's biggest hurdles. The ability to harness quantum tech would revolutionize everything — but translating today's breakthrough into real-world applications will take time and further advances.
AI TRAINING
The Rundown: Gamma lets you instantly generate your entire presentation into multiple languages while maintaining perfect formatting and visual consistency.
Step-by-step:
Sign up for a free Gamma account and log in to your dashboard.
Select “Create new,” choose “Presentation,” and pick the number of cards.
Click the language selector (globe icon) and choose from dozens of supported languages.
Review and export your presentation in your preferred format.
Pro tip: Use the "Regenerate" option on specific cards if you need to refine the translation.
PRESENTED BY SECTION
The Rundown: Join Section and Sania Khan, former Chief Economist and Head of Market Insights at Eightfold AI, to explore how AI is redefining how we work, hire, and advance in the workplace.
This free session on Jan. 7 explores:
Proven strategies to stay relevant as AI capabilities grow
Real insights on AI's role in replacing vs. augmenting jobs
The new blueprint for career advancement in 2025
AI RESEARCH
Image source: Midjourney
The Rundown: Researchers at Scripps Research just developed MovieNet, a new AI model that processes videos like the human brain — achieving higher accuracy and efficiency than current AI models in recognizing dynamic scenes.
The details:
The AI was trained on how tadpole neurons process visual info in sequences rather than static frames, leading to more efficient video analysis.
MovieNet achieved 82.3% accuracy in identifying complex patterns in test videos, outperforming both humans and popular AI models like Google's GoogLeNet.
The tech also uses significantly less data and processing power than conventional video AI systems, making it more environmentally sustainable.
Early applications show promise for medical diagnostics, such as detecting subtle movement changes that could indicate early signs of Parkinson's.
Why it matters: AI that can genuinely ‘understand’ video content will have massive implications for how the tech interacts with our world — and maybe mimicking biological visual systems is the key to unlocking it. It also shows that, in some cases, nature may still be the best teacher for models meant to thrive in the real world.
NEW TOOLS & JOBS
😴 Remy AI - Charismatic AI sleep coach that takes care of tracking sleep metrics, circadian rhythms, evening routines, and sleep environment
🤖 Zoom AI Companion 2.0 - Advanced AI assistant that transforms work processes across the Zoom Workplace platform
🪄 Magic Clips - Turn long videos into viral shorts instantly with AI
⚙️ Peek AI - Build a professional, shareable online portfolio in seconds with AI
🧠 NotionFlashcard - Transform Notion notes into an interactive learning system with spaced repetition and active recall
✍️ Grammarly - Software Engineer, Back-End
📈 Weights & Biases - Director, Product Management (Enterprise Platform)
🌐 UiPath - Regional Marketing Intern
🩺 Hippocratic AI - IT Systems Analyst
🧑💼 Notable - Recruiter
QUICK HITS
Live webinar: Learn to generate chunked, vectorized JSON from any document type and build accurate ETL pipelines for RAG using Unstructured + Ragas in minutes. Register to join or get the recording.*
xAI officially announced the launch of its new image generation model, Aurora, which will be rolling out to all X users within a week.
Amazon launched a new AGI San Francisco Lab, led by former Adept team members, focusing on developing AI agents capable of performing real-world actions.
Reddit introduced ‘Reddit Answers,’ a new AI-powered feature that enables conversational search across the platform with curated summaries and linked sources from relevant subreddits.
Football club Manchester City partnered with Puma for a new AI-powered kit design competition that allows fans to create the team’s 2026-27 alternate uniform using a text-to-image generator.
China launched a new antitrust probe into Nvidia over potential monopoly violations, escalating tech tensions just days after new US chip export restrictions.
Sakana AI introduced Neural Attention Memory Models (NAMMs), an evolved memory system for transformers that improves performance and efficiency across different AI models without retraining.
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