The Signal: OpenAI releases GPT-4o mini, write like you talk, and be future-oriented

Hey friends 👋 Happy Sunday.

Here’s your weekly dose of AI and introspection.

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AI Highlights

1. OpenAI releases GPT-4o mini.

GPT-4o mini will replace GPT-3.5 on ChatGPT. It scores 82% accuracy on the MMLU benchmark, compared to GPT-3.5’s 69.8%. It’s also more than 60% cheaper than GPT-3.5 Turbo.

Alex’s take: Intelligence is becoming increasingly more affordable. The cost per token of GPT-4o mini is now 99% cheaper than “text-davinci-003” of the GPT-3 family, a less capable model introduced by OpenAI in 2022.

2. OpenAI's Sora can now render human hands and fingers.

AI has always struggled to generate human hands. But this collaboration with designer Tim Fu showcases Sora’s groundbreaking potential.

Alex’s take: A couple of months ago, we were mindblown by text prompts to static images on Midjourney. Now, we can generate 10-second video clips just from a prompt. It doesn’t take a genius to foresee what incredible advancements are coming over the next decade.

3. GPs use AI to boost cancer detection rates by 8%.

“C the Signs” AI tool has been used by GPs in England to increase the rate of cancer detection from 58.7% to 66.0%. It’s been used in over 1,400 practices across 420,000 patients.

Alex’s take: I’m always captivated by AI advancements that help humans in our most vital area—our health. Tools like “C the Signs” just show how AI can assist in saving lives by identifying cancers sooner and more accurately.

1 Article I Enjoyed

Write Like You Talk.

A lot of writing on the internet is corpo speak, clumsy, or cluttered with jargon.

But there’s other writing on the internet that is effortlessly elegant.

Paul Graham sits in the second camp.

His essays have helped shape how I think and write today—“Write Like you Talk” is one of them.

My favourite takeaways:

• A simple trick to get more people to read what you write: write in spoken language.

• When you write something you wouldn't say, you'll hear the clank as it hits the page.

• Don't let a sentence through unless it's the way you'd say it to a friend.

Writing well is thinking well.

Write like you talk.

1 Idea I Learned

Be future-oriented.

Robert Greene is an American author who has written seven international bestsellers, including The 48 Laws of Power.

In an interview with Lewis Howes, Robert highlights one of the key elements of successful people: they do not look back.

Instead, they are always oriented to the future.

“What’s the next project? What am I going to be doing in 5-10 years?”

The people who have the hardest time in life are obsessed with the past.

“That scumbag, he destroyed me… he ruined my last project…”

They’re so weighed down by the past, they whine and complain.

People who are future-oriented are onto the next thing.

“It’s like they say in basketball: next man up… our star player was injured… ‘alright, next player come on, let’s just go win this game.’”

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1 Quote to Share

Ryan Holiday on the only things you’ll ever need to live a good life:

“Just a few things: a good quote to start the morning, a little song to start the work day, a good poem with lunch, a fine picture next and a few reasonable words spoken over dinner with a friend or a loved one. Do that each day and you will have a happy and wise life.”

Source: Why Less Really Is More (A Stoic Perspective)

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1 Question to Ponder

Do you want to start using AI in your life but don’t know where to start?

Let me know by replying to this email.

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See you next week,

Alex Banks

P.S. Chile is as long as all of Europe.