[HN Gopher] Meta open-sources multisensory AI model that combine...
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       Meta open-sources multisensory AI model that combines six types of
       data
        
       Author : rntn
       Score  : 126 points
       Date   : 2023-05-09 15:45 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
        
       | fnordpiglet wrote:
       | Primary source HN discussion :
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35875700
        
       | bhoops wrote:
       | It seems to me that we put this inside a boston dynamics robot
       | and we have Terminator
        
         | WinLychee wrote:
         | In the quest to placate shareholders, one of the failing FAANGs
         | will make a panicked announcement they have partnered with
         | Boston Dynamics, to ensure AI is democratized and equitable for
         | all (technically true when we're all on the run).
        
           | renewiltord wrote:
           | Well, it's unlikely to be Google. They've sold them off once
           | already.
        
           | gremlinsinc wrote:
           | nothing says equality when terminators are annihilating the
           | human race, non-discriminatory.
        
       | transformi wrote:
       | Any thoughts about possible applications of this model? Why do
       | they made this source available?
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | seanlinehan wrote:
       | Link to the ImageBind site: https://imagebind.metademolab.com/
        
         | mkaic wrote:
         | Additionally, here's a link the blog post about it, which I
         | feel might actually be a better place for this post to link to
         | instead of Verge's coverage of it:
         | https://ai.facebook.com/blog/imagebind-six-modalities-bindin...
        
           | [deleted]
        
       | revskill wrote:
       | They should rename Meta to MeetAI now.
        
         | sroussey wrote:
         | MetAI
        
       | nprateem wrote:
       | Ha ha they're trying to revive the metaverse with the one killer
       | app that'll save it: immersive AI porn. Probably a good time to
       | buy some meta shares in case they "pull it off"
        
         | gloryjulio wrote:
         | It's a bit late for that. They already almost tripled from the
         | low point
        
         | omeze wrote:
         | I see this sentiment of "the metaverse is dead" very often on
         | HN but VR usage is at an all time high and meta has the leading
         | hardware. Genuinely wonder: Why do you think the metaverse is
         | dead, and by metaverse do you mean "horizon worlds", VR,
         | "metaverse apps" or something else?
        
         | throwuwu wrote:
         | I dunno, everyone pivoted to AI because it's clearly a massive
         | force multiplier but they're all bringing those gains back to
         | whatever they were working on previously. I've already seen
         | some great uses of AI generated voices, scripts, textures, and
         | sky spheres in VR. AI is also a huge resource for learning how
         | to do things you've never attempted before. Shit's going to be
         | popping off all over the place this year and I don't think
         | it'll stop.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | digitcatphd wrote:
       | It seems like this is a substantial step in Yann LeCun's approach
       | to AGI https://www.shaped.ai/blog/yann-lecun-a-path-towards-
       | autonom...
        
         | flangola7 wrote:
         | Maybe, I take anything LeCun says with many grains of salt.
         | Much like Elon Musk, any time he says something that appears to
         | make sense I find myself asking "what don't I know enough
         | about, to know why he's wrong?"
        
       | seydor wrote:
       | > text, audio, visual, movement, thermal, and depth.
       | 
       | > It's only a research project
       | 
       | Nice try , zuckercop. Facebook policing and terminating real
       | people is truly their natural evolution.
        
       | soulofmischief wrote:
       | Audio2image looks insane. Can't wait to see how this tech
       | develops over time.
        
       | thrtythreeforty wrote:
       | Once again, Facebook tries to have their cake and eat it too.
       | This model is not open source, despite the claim.
       | 
       | https://github.com/facebookresearch/ImageBind/blob/main/LICE...
       | 
       | The source is available to view and use under a _non-commercial_
       | license. It 's extremely frustrating that major AI players are
       | trying to shoehorn a redefinition of a term that's well-
       | understood, just to further their reputation.
        
         | godelski wrote:
         | There's a lot of people arguing about OSS vs FOSS.
         | opensource.org has a specific definition but this is not
         | universally accepted (there's a lot on this in the wiki page
         | btw). Stallman even wrote about this[0].
         | 
         | If you're passionately arguing and downvoting others that are
         | claiming that ImageBind is in fact OSS then you're also
         | actively demonstrating naivety. Definitions are not always
         | universal and this is an easy to verify example. Instead of
         | just posting another link to opensource.org read their about
         | section[1] and consider why that leads to non-universality. And
         | maybe also consider the words themselves: is the source
         | available? Even if the only correct definition were from
         | opensource.org, I'd expect everyone here to have some
         | understanding why others might be confused since the words
         | imply something different. There's some evidence to the other
         | side's view, so it isn't obscene or idiotic. You don't have to
         | accept the other view, just consider its existence.
         | 
         | Take a step back and consider that your view isn't the only
         | possible one. Maybe we can have more constructive discussions
         | if we do so. We don't need these holy wars, they don't
         | accomplish anything.
         | 
         | [0] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-
         | point....
         | 
         | [1] https://opensource.org/about/
        
           | getcrunk wrote:
           | It's not about what views are possible. It's about honesty
           | and humility which are both things the modern world doesn't
           | seem to care about. The more narrow definition of oss
           | (rms/gnu) is un ambiguous as is the meaning of source
           | available. People choosing to use oss with the ambiguous
           | meaning are liable for their ambiguity, and therefore worthy
           | of op's criticism.
        
         | mindcrime wrote:
         | Welp, I guess it can't hurt to ask:
         | 
         | https://github.com/facebookresearch/ImageBind/pull/6
        
         | lanza wrote:
         | You don't understand what opensource means...
        
         | squokko wrote:
         | "Open source" is not "free software."
         | 
         | This is absolutely open source and will enable a lot of
         | academic, governmental, and nonprofit uses. Just because it
         | doesn't allow someone else to make money from it doesn't make
         | it not open source.
        
           | thrtythreeforty wrote:
           | https://opensource.org/osd/, specifically:
           | 
           | > 6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
           | 
           | > The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the
           | program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may
           | not restrict the program from being used in a business, or
           | from being used for genetic research.
           | 
           | It's true that people are starting to make a distinction
           | between "free software" and "open source," but generally the
           | distinction is smaller than what you're saying.
           | 
           | The broader class of programs whose code is available for
           | viewing and (potential) use or modification subject to
           | restrictions, has been called "source available," and I think
           | that's a great description of what it is and sets
           | expectations well. You may or may not have a license to use
           | it, but you can see the source code.
           | 
           | For example, the Business Source License is generally not
           | considered open-source. It places restrictions on what you
           | can do.
           | 
           | I kind of hate being pedantic about this, but I also dislike
           | the deliberate misuse of the term, especially by a company
           | that is obviously quite familiar with publishing large
           | amounts of high-quality software that's genuinely open
           | source.
        
           | mindcrime wrote:
           | _Just because it doesn 't allow someone else to make money
           | from it doesn't make it not open source._
           | 
           | Actually it does, per the OSD[1].
           | 
           | [1]: https://opensource.org/osd/
        
           | jacooper wrote:
           | This is source available, not open source.
        
             | nextaccountic wrote:
             | Indeed
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source-available_software
             | 
             | > Source-available software is software released through a
             | source code distribution model that includes arrangements
             | where the source can be viewed, and in some cases modified,
             | but without necessarily meeting the criteria to be called
             | open-source.
        
       | gumballindie wrote:
       | > Those opposed to open-sourcing, like OpenAI, say the practice
       | is harmful to creators because rivals can copy their work
       | 
       | OpenAI complaining about people copying their work is hilariously
       | hypocritical.
        
         | ChatGTP wrote:
         | Totally, I think open ai believes they will build an AGI and
         | rule the world with importance before everyone realised they
         | just steal and compress everyone's stuff and sell it via hosted
         | database.
        
         | swyx wrote:
         | > Those opposed to open-sourcing, like OpenAI,
         | 
         | so we're just saying the quiet part out loud now huh
        
           | gumballindie wrote:
           | Which is the quiet part?
        
         | FeepingCreature wrote:
         | Did they actually say this?
        
           | ajayyy wrote:
           | https://cdn.openai.com/papers/gpt-4.pdf
           | 
           | > Given both the competitive landscape and the safety
           | implications of large-scale models like GPT-4, this report
           | contains no further details about the architecture (including
           | model size), hardware, training compute, dataset
           | construction, training method, or similar.
           | 
           | They did say "competitive landscape"
        
             | yreg wrote:
             | If that's it, then it's quite different to Verge's misquote
             | imo.
        
       | derefr wrote:
       | Are multi-format embeddings -- like this one, or simpler ones
       | like text-to-image -- inherently bijective? I.e. could a model
       | like this be configured to use any of its trained sense data
       | types as either an input or output? Or is there some bias in the
       | way the training data is ingested that makes the model better at
       | transforming in certain directions?
        
         | jacobr1 wrote:
         | I haven't yet read this paper, but other multimodal models have
         | different layers for mapping the input/output of each modality
         | to the common embedding space. So, to simplify, there is some
         | high-dimensional coordinate that the audio sample for the
         | morphemes for "frog," the text word "frog" and maybe the same
         | in multiple languages like, "rana" - they all basically have
         | the same point in the abstract feature space. The additional
         | layers of the model then provide "translation"
        
         | tkellogg wrote:
         | Like laser eyes?
        
       | alhirzel wrote:
       | Has anyone found info on what the hardware requirements are to
       | run this?
        
         | capableweb wrote:
         | For training, it probably looks very different, but the usage
         | example in https://github.com/facebookresearch/ImageBind#usage
         | seems to use just one cuda device, so you might be able to run
         | it on a consumer GPU
        
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       (page generated 2023-05-09 23:02 UTC)