Tech Pulse
Stay updated with the latest in Data and GenAI technology, development, and innovation.
Microsoft Creates New State of Matter for Quantum Computing Breakthrough
Satya Nadella announced a quantum computing breakthrough, creating a new state of matter using topoconductors to power the Majorana 1 quantum processing unit. This advancement allows for faster, more reliable, and smaller qubits, about 1/100th of a millimetre, paving the way for a million-qubit processor. This technology aims to solve problems beyond the capabilities of current computers, with the goal of creating a meaningful quantum computer in years, not decades. The focus is on building technology that increases productivity and benefits economies globally.
Introducing Grok 3
Grok is an AI tool that offers unfiltered answers and advanced capabilities in reasoning, coding, and visual processing. It stands out with its ability to generate images from text, providing photorealistic rendering. Grok enhances understanding with real-time insights and can decipher documents and images, converting visuals into insights. Additionally, it assists with productivity tasks like essay writing, coding, and problem-solving, and is available across web, iOS, and Android platforms.
OpenAI Enhances ChatGPT with File & Image Uploads
OpenAI has significantly upgraded ChatGPT by enabling file and image uploads for both the o1 and o3-mini models. This enhancement allows users to interact with ChatGPT in richer ways, providing visual and document-based context for their conversations. In addition to this, OpenAI has also dramatically increased the usage limits for ChatGPT Plus users on the o3-mini-high model. The previous limit has been multiplied by seven, now allowing Plus subscribers up to 50 uses per day. This substantial increase provides more flexibility and access to the advanced capabilities of the o3-mini-high model.
Deep Research: The Next Agentic Step for OpenAI
Deep research is a new agentic capability in ChatGPT designed for complex, multi-step research tasks, completing in minutes what would take humans hours. It independently finds, analyses, and synthesises online sources, leveraging reasoning to interpret diverse data like text, images, and PDFs. This tool generates comprehensive, well-documented reports with citations. Unlike GPT-4o, which is geared toward real-time conversations, deep research focuses on in-depth analysis and verified answers. Trained using reinforcement learning on difficult browsing and reasoning tasks, it can use tools such as a browser and Python to conduct research. It has achieved high scores on expert-level tests, demonstrating its ability to seek out specialized information. Although powerful, deep research has some limitations, such as the potential to hallucinate facts, struggle with differentiating authoritative sources, and make errors in formatting. It is currently available to Pro users with up to 100 queries per month, with access rolling out to Plus and Team users next.
OpenAI's o3-mini: Smarter AI, Safer Decisions
OpenAI's o3-mini redefines AI by integrating advanced reasoning, structured thought processes, and safety-focused mechanisms. Unlike traditional models, it evaluates multiple approaches before formulating responses, ensuring accuracy and reliability. With a record-breaking performance in coding and problem-solving, o3-mini stands out as a powerhouse of intelligence. Its resistance to jailbreaks, reduced hallucination rates, and fairness evaluations make it one of the safest and most ethical AI models. Moreover, its multilingual proficiency enhances accessibility worldwide. As AI evolves, o3-mini sets a new standard for responsible, adaptive, and high-performing artificial intelligence.
Databricks Release - Jan 2025
In January 2025, Databricks released a number of new features and platform improvements. Some of the key updates include: - Predictive optimization can now be enabled at the catalog or schema level. - Filtering full datasets for large tables is now supported. - Clean Rooms is now generally available, with new APIs for automation, self-collaboration within a single metastore, and support for output tables on Azure. Also, you can now create a Clean Room with a HIPAA compliance security profile. - Delta Live Tables now supports publishing to tables in multiple schemas and catalogs. - Databricks Runtime 16.2 is now available as a Beta release. - OAuth token federation is now available in public preview. - Notebook load times have been improved. - Notebooks are now supported as workspace files. - Failed tasks in continuous jobs are now automatically retried.
Apache Spark 4.0.0 Preview-2
Apache Spark 4.0.0 is upcoming and a preview-2 version is available. Spark Connect is a major feature in this release. The preview version allows users to explore new features and debug from their local machines using hashtag#SparkConnect and hashtag#vsCode. The vision of running Apache Spark from anywhere is a key aspect of this release. The full release of Spark 4.0 will include enhanced usability and debuggability with Spark Connect's GA (Generally Available) release
Gemini 2.0 Flash
Gemini's new 2.0 Flash model is now available for all users on web and mobile. This upgrade is designed for better agent-like interactions, providing faster responses and improved performance on common tasks like brainstorming, learning, and writing. Gemini Advanced users retain their existing benefits, including the large context window for file uploads, priority access to advanced features, extra storage, and more. Gemini Advanced users will continue to have access to a 1M token context window for up to 1,500 pages of file uploads, priority access to features such as Deep Research and Gems, 2TB of storage, and more.
Stargate Could A Groundbreaking AI Project
The future of Artificial Intelligence is no longer a distant dream—it’s being built right now with a scale and ambition like never before. The Stargate Project, a collaboration between tech giants like Oracle, SoftBank, and OpenAI, marks a monumental step toward revolutionizing AI and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. This isn’t just about technological progress; it’s about creating a foundation to advance Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)—AI systems capable of performing any intellectual task a human can. Stargate is not only focused on AI for today but is paving the way for AGI to benefit humanity as a whole.
DeepSeek R1 Shocked AI World
DeepSeek isn’t just another player in the AI revolution—it’s a trailblazer pushing the boundaries of AI capabilities, accessibility, and reasoning. Think of it as a team of expert puzzle-solvers who are not only mastering AI development but also sharing their insights with the world. With groundbreaking models and innovative training techniques, DeepSeek is making AI smarter, more efficient, and widely accessible.