Meet Devin 💻
An AI-powered software engineer, the U.S. invests big in chips, and photo fun with AI
I’ll just come right out and say it: this is the most hype I’ve been about anything AI-related since I started using ChatGPT-4 in the Fall. In other words, this week’s 1 cool thing might just be the single coolest thing featured YET.
Quick Definitions (skip if you already know them!!)
LLM – Large language model, this is the general term for AI models like ChatGPT, which in practice, are incredibly smart and capable chatbots. For a more in depth definition, go here.
1 cool thing
Meet Devin AI - An AI Software Engineer
Before I say anything about Devin I need to make sure we are in agreement on one thing: AI is cool and useful. If you don’t believe this, then stop reading and go check out Step 1 of my super simple guide on how to apply AI in ways that will actually provide value to YOU.
Now, with that out of the way, here is why Devin matters: it’s a huge leap forward in making AI more useful.
Right now leading LLMs like ChatGPT can do lots of little things when given the right instruction. I would liken it to giving instructions to a 3-year-old. Given a clear and simple command:
“Go give this card to Daddy”
The kid is probably going to do what you want.
But they aren't going to be performing multi-step elaborate tasks like color sorting twenty different toys into different bins. Similarly, while Copilot can give you twenty great song ideas for your next dance party, it’s not going to make a curated 3 hr long wedding reception playlist (at least not one up to DJ Joe’s standards).
This is where Devin AI comes in.
Devin AI is what’s called an “AI Agent” - an AI tool / platform capable of carrying out a number of tasks independently in order to accomplish an objective. Key phrase here, “independently”.
Example: plan a trip - this would involve creating an itinerary, booking flights, looking for places on Google Maps, etc., -> there’s a lot more to it than just finding the best Italian restaurants nearby.
Agents have been talked about for many months now, but no one has made one that could accomplish anything useful. Devin is the first, and it specializes in coding, which is why it’s been dubbed the first “AI software engineer”.
I didn’t believe it until I saw it. In this video, Devin AI goes through a 7-step process involving a number of tasks from downloading code, to reading and understanding an instruction list, to executing multiple programs on a computer. Ultimately completing the objective in 20 minutes with zero help from the user. One really cool aspect of this is that the AI creates its own checklist of tasks to complete that it updates as it progresses through them.
This is HUGE. I don’t have enough space to go through the implications of it here, but I may post some more thoughts on it in a longer piece. Main takeaway -> this is just the beginning, agents are only going to get better, and they are going to make everyone a lot more efficient at work.
The big deal
AI will be the next cold war
This week it was announced that Intel will receive $8.5 billion in government grants to support increased chip production here in the states. For context, Intel is a roughly 200 billion dollar company, so why in the world would Uncle Sam be inclined to give them another $10B in cash?! (That’s the equivalent of 25,000 single family homes or one hundred and thirty SpaceX rocket launches!)
More importantly, what’s the big deal with making chips?
To answer that we must first take a quick step back.
The modern world runs on chips. This we all know. They are in everything from the watches we wear to the cars we drive to our freaking refrigerators.
Chip demand is nothing new. The world makes millions of chips.
AI has simply ramped up the demand.
A LOT.
AI companies are eating up the world’s chips. There’s not enough to go around. One single AI company called Inflection AI purchased twenty two thousand chips last year. And I’m not talking your average laptop CPU, I’m talking top of the line H100 “AI” chips that cost $30k a piece.
But AI hasn’t just ramped up the demand, it’s ramped up the stakes.
And this is what matters.
In 1939 the U.S. started spending bookoo bucks to gear up for WWII because we were slacking. The recent investment in AI looks very similar, and boy are we slacking.
The U.S. only produces about 10% of the world’s advanced computer chips (and nearly zero of the most advanced ones, commonly referred to as “AI chips” ). Meanwhile, you know where 90% of those super-powered AI chips are produced?
Taiwan.
(If you just read that and are thinking “what I don’t get it?”, open up your browser, google “Taiwan”, and click the news tab, then you’ll get it).
If this hasn’t compelled you of the significance of AI then I don’t know what will. It’s not the latest Bitcoin or virtual reality. Frankly, AI is more like a nuclear bomb in terms of the impact it is and will have on the world.
Moral of the story: AI is worth paying attention to, not just for personal growth and success, but for the future of the world.
I talked a bit about this whole topic of the AI chip race a few weeks ago, in particular how these AI chips are the horsepower behind modern AI tools, so check that out for some more context!
Make life EASY
Some slick photo editing with AI
If you haven’t yet played around with AI image generators like Copilot, you totally should, but today’s pro tip centers around editing images not creating them.
I’ve seen people do this, but only today stumbled across a sweet AI tool to do it yourself. This image editor from Krea AI enables you to make all sorts of edits, from basic stuff like removing an object to switching out the contents of a picture frame.
One caveat, to prep the image for editing, the program turns your picture into a sort of animated version, so it’s not suitable for doing real Photoshop work on a picture of a group of people for example, not yet at least. Due to this, it’s pretty limited in its applications at the moment, but a very cool tool to play around with. One use I see for it is visualizing how furniture might look in a room.
Here’s the step-by-step (credit to The Rundown AI newsletter)
Navigate to the Patch Enhance Tool on Krea’s website.
Upload a picture that you want to modify and click “Enhance”.
Right-click the now enhanced image and select “Patch Enhance Tool”
Outline the specific region of your image that you want to modify.
Enter a prompt describing what you want to do with that region, such as “remove lamp / fill in background” and click “Patch Enhance” to get your updated image.
Experiment away! Definitely takes some trial and error to get the hang of it.
That’s it for today folks. Hopefully you learned a little, laughed a little, and live today like there’s no tomorrow!
Smell ya later,
Joe
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The photo looks great to me.. Jacob looks kinda different but I can’t quite put my finger on what changed