This Week’s BIG thing

OpenAI's New o1 Model: A Big Step Towards AI "Thinking"

Welcome to level 2. OpenAI just released the most advanced Large language AI model to date, marking a major breakthrough in AI capabilities and according to its creators - brings us a step closer to AGI. Like us humans, Model o1 has the ability to “think” before responding, the difference being that humans often don’t lol. This “chain-of-thought reasoning” is a complete game-changer – let's see how it’s making all the difference 👇  

Chain-of-Thought Reasoning 🔗

Chain-of-thought reasoning allows the AI to break down complex tasks into smaller, bite-sized steps. Behind the scenes, the model creates a thought chain that guides its reasoning. This helps the AI evaluate and refine its process, even reflecting or trying out new approaches before settling on a final answer. But how does this work?

Reinforcement Learning is the key 🔑

As the AI thinks how to solve a task, it does two things: It exploits its reasoning core, applying the logic it knows, whilst also exploring new thinking. The aim of the game is to reinforce behaviour that maximises rewards and minimises penalties. Through trial and error, the model works off feedback, self-adjusting its behaviour to optimise outcome, improving its problem solving over time. Early reports are showing significant improvements of both new o1 models (o1-preview and o1-mini) in various tasks, adding to the growing repertoire of the AI giant. The next advanced Orion model from OpenAI is teased for later this year!)

Why You Should Care 🫵

 Whilst a gamechanging feature, chain-of-thought reasoning isn’t a new concept. To some extent, older models can be prompted to use chain of thought manually, it’s just that o1 has it built in and is heavily optimised! Our advice is to learn other prompt techniques (like few-shot prompting) and combine it with the new powerful o1 model. Also be aware that like humans, thinking takes time. The o1 model is slower and at times it may not be suitable for simple tasks, Our suggestion here is to stick with older models for simpler tasks and use o1 for complex tasks that require logical deduction like advanced arithmetic, data analysis, symbolic and legal reasoning and business strategy. Check out how we used it below ⬇️

 The Rabbit Hole 🐰

• _{How we tested the o1 model} 🔗

• _{A word from OpenAI themselves} 🔗

• _{A more technical exploration in o1} 🔗

• _{Don’t read if you’re hungry: a foodies test of o1} 🔗

• _{The next more advanced Orion model is almost already here?!} 🔗

What’s new: Tech

Apple Event 2024: AI-Powered iPhone 16 and More

Summary
Apple’s 2024 event unveiled the iPhone 16 series, featuring the powerful A18 chip, AI-powered visual search, and the new Apple Intelligence assistant. These innovations are designed to enhance performance, productivity, and how users interact with their devices.

iPhone 16 Series: AI Takes Centre Stage

The A18 chip is the heart of the iPhone 16, built on a 3nm architecture to maximise performance and efficiency. This chip enhances AI capabilities, enabling smarter photo processing and seamless augmented reality (AR) experiences. Apple’s design emphasises machine learning, delivering a more responsive and efficient smartphone experience.

AI-Powered Visual Search

The AI-powered Visual Search feature allows users to instantly identify objects, landmarks, and products through the camera. It’s especially useful for professionals in construction, architecture, or real estate, enabling quick identification of materials or structures on the go, boosting efficiency in fieldwork and project research.

Apple Intelligence: A Smarter Digital Assistant

Apple’s new Apple Intelligence feature goes beyond Siri, proactively learning user behaviours to suggest apps, reminders, and automate tasks. This assistant integrates across Apple’s ecosystem, helping professionals manage workflows, calendars, and tasks, making multitasking and organisation more intuitive and efficient.

Upgraded Camera System

The iPhone 16 Pro features a 48MP camera with improved low-light performance and AI-enhanced image processing. This makes capturing detailed, high-quality photos easy, particularly useful for documenting construction sites or taking real estate images. The enhanced Smart HDR technology ensures optimal lighting in every shot.

Key Announcements

· Improved Battery Life: The A18 chip boosts efficiency, leading to longer battery life.

· Vision Pro Integration: Apple teased tighter integration with its upcoming Vision Pro AR headset, ideal for virtual real estate tours or construction simulations.

· iOS 18: The new iOS 18 brings enhanced security, productivity, and customisation features, with interactive widgets and improved multitasking tools.

Why You Should Care

Apple’s focus on AI in the iPhone 16 signals a shift towards smarter, more autonomous systems. For professionals in project delivery and real estate, AI-powered tools like the enhanced camera and Apple Intelligence can streamline workflows, boost productivity, and make mobile devices key tools in managing projects.

Rabbit Hole

Imagine using AI to automatically categorise project photos or manage deadlines without lifting a finger. The iPhone 16 and its advanced AI capabilities, such as visual search and proactive assistance, could revolutionise how construction, real estate, and project delivery professionals work, merging everyday tasks with cutting-edge automation.

Read more:

· Investopedia: Apple’s iPhone 16 Designed for AI

· TechCrunch: A18 Chip Announcement

· Apple Event

💙 Other tech news we’re loving

• AI and Energy: The White House explores using AI to optimise energy efficiency, including solutions powered by ChatGPT, to tackle rising global power demands and drive sustainable energy initiatives.

• Notebook LM by Google: Google’s NotebookLM now offers audio overviews, an AI-powered feature designed to help users quickly summarise and digest large amounts of information.

• Hume AVI Emotion Detection: Hume AVI, an AI tool, detects human emotions through speech and facial expressions, providing deeper insights into mood and behaviour for various applications.

• Mistral Releases Multimodal Model: Mistral launches Pixtral, its first multimodal AI model that processes both text and images, marking a significant step in the evolution of AI capabilities.

• OpenAI $150B Valuation: OpenAI is in talks to raise funds at a massive $150B valuation, reflecting its rapidly growing influence in the AI industry.

• Google's AI Model Faces EU Scrutiny: Google’s AI model is under scrutiny from the EU for privacy concerns, with regulators questioning its compliance with stringent data protection laws.

• Facebook Admits Scraping Australian Data: Facebook admits to scraping public data from Australian users to train its AI, raising ethical concerns around data privacy and consent.

What’s new: Projects

AI’s New Digital Worlds: Roblox and Minecraft Break New Ground

Summary
Two iconic gaming platforms, Roblox and Minecraft, have pushed AI boundaries. Roblox is building an AI-generated world model, allowing developers and players to create content with fewer constraints using machine learning. Meanwhile, Altera has released 1,000 AI agents into Minecraft, where they collaboratively built a digital society—complete with a government, economy, and even religion. These breakthroughs in AI simulation highlight how virtual environments can be harnessed for new dimensions of creativity and experimentation.

Why You Should Care
For professionals in project delivery these developments represent more than just fun and games. AI-generated worlds show how future project planning could evolve, enabling teams to simulate entire cities, run experiments, and test variables in digital twins before breaking ground. Whether it’s designing infrastructure in virtual spaces or training AI to simulate workforce dynamics, the implications are vast for how we plan, deliver, and manage real-world projects.

Rabbit Hole

Imagine being able to run thousands of AI agents through a model of your project, from infrastructure layout to logistics and worker interactions. The future of digital twins could merge with the AI societies of today’s gaming platforms. Altera’s AI agents used Google Docs to vote on decisions—a clear sign that AI can collaborate on complex systems. What if you could tap into that level of autonomy for building management, resource allocation, or workforce coordination? With these developments, we're only scratching the surface of what's possible. The convergence of AI, gaming, and real-world project delivery is only a few steps away from becoming reality. 

💙 Other Project news we’re loving

 AI Drones in Warfare: AI-powered drones are revolutionising warfare, with the Pentagon investing heavily in autonomous systems for military use. However, concerns over ethical risks and accountability are growing.

What’s new: Productivity

AI Revolution: Where’s the Impact?

Summary
Despite all the hype, a recent Economist article suggests that AI has yet to significantly impact global productivity. While companies have invested heavily in AI tools, concrete benefits like higher productivity or profitability are not as evident. The article raises the question: Has AI underdelivered, or are we just in the early stages of a long-term revolution?

Why You Should Care
For industries like construction, energy, and infrastructure, the promise of AI was transformative—optimised supply chains, predictive maintenance, and streamlined project management. Yet, as this article highlights, the anticipated productivity boom remains elusive. Project delivery professionals should temper expectations while exploring practical AI applications that offer tangible, short-term benefits.

Rabbit Hole

What if AI's true impact isn’t an overnight transformation but a gradual evolution? The slow adoption of AI in industries could be due to the complexity of integrating advanced tech into traditional workflows. But just like the internet’s initial boom didn’t yield immediate productivity gains, AI might take longer to permeate sectors like construction and real estate. Now is the time to explore, experiment, and refine AI-driven processes to position your projects for the long-haul benefits of this technological shift.

💙 Other productivity news we’re loving

Creating The Universal AI Employee Of The Future explores how AI can automate tasks, enhance productivity, and transform workplaces by collaborating with human employees.

 Open-source biology startup uses AI to discover new drugs introduces Chai-1, a cutting-edge AI model that accelerates drug discovery by improving accuracy by 10-20%, with open-source accessibility for researchers from day one.

Events

Join Our Hackathon Kickoff & Info Session: Project 23

Are you ready to dive into the world of innovation, data, and collaboration? Join the PDA Tasforce at Oracles offices for the "Kickoff & Info Session: Discover Our Hackathon" event for Project23!

📅 Date: Wednesday 18th September at 6:30pm
Get an exclusive preview of the challenges, tools, and goals you’ll encounter during the hackathon. Whether you’re new to hackathons or a seasoned pro, this session will set you up for success. We’ll cover everything from ideation to final presentations, offering guidance on coding, data analysis, and more.

🌟 Why Attend?

· Meet your fellow participants and start building your team.

· Get answers to all your questions about the hackathon.

· Learn about the specific challenges and goals you’ll tackle.

🚀 Don't miss this chance to prepare for an exciting and successful hackathon!

📍 Location: Islington, London

🔗 Sign up here!

Project Flux Podcast

Podcast Feature: AI and Risk Management in Construction with Richard Bendall-Jones

In this week's episode, we’re joined by Richard Bendall-Jones, Product Manager and Risk Engineer at nPlan, to explore the evolving role of AI in construction. We dive into how AI is transforming project scheduling and risk management, overcoming human bias, and even levelling the playing field for newcomers in project management. Richard shares insights into the behavioural dynamics around adopting AI-driven tools and how to harness data effectively for decision-making.

With his deep expertise in risk management and a background in construction, Richard offers a wealth of knowledge on how AI can complement human expertise and enhance project outcomes.

Tune in to this fascinating discussion and hear more from Richard Bendall-Jones on your favourite podcast platform!

Robert Epstein on Joe Rogan Show talks about AI

 Here is a bullet-point summary of his views on AI from his appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience:

· AI's Influence on Democracy: Epstein warns that AI systems, especially those used by large corporations, can manipulate opinions and behaviour, which poses a serious threat to democracy.

· Manipulation of Information: He highlights how AI can curate information and search results in a way that influences decision-making, often without people realising they are being manipulated.

· Lack of Regulation: Epstein argues that there are no sufficient regulations in place to control how AI is being used by big tech companies to affect elections and public opinion.

· Human Control Over AI: He stresses the need for humans to have more control over AI systems to prevent misuse, particularly by corporations with hidden agendas.

· Potential for Surveillance: Epstein is concerned about AI being used for mass surveillance, where personal data is collected and analysed to track behaviours and predict actions.

· AI in Political Campaigns: He points out that AI is already being used in political campaigns to micro-target voters, which could undermine the integrity of elections by manipulating voters' choices.

· Solutions: Epstein calls for more transparency and accountability in how AI systems are developed and used, particularly by tech giants, to safeguard democracy and individual rights.

 Watch the show here

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Meet Project Flux: About Us

At Project Flux, we're committed to pioneering the future of construction and project delivery through the lens of cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence insights. Our vision is to be at the forefront of integrating AI into the fabric of project delivery, transforming how projects are conceptualised, planned, and executed.

Our Mission Project Flux aims to not only inform and educate but also to inspire professionals in the construction industry to embrace the transformative potential of AI. We believe in the power of AI to revolutionise project delivery, making it more efficient, predictive, and adaptable to the dynamic demands of the modern world.

What We Offer Through our insightful newsletters, podcasts and curated content on LinkedIn, and engaging discussions, Project Flux serves as a resource for professionals seeking to stay ahead in their field. We offer a blend of practical advice, thought leadership, and the latest developments in AI and construction technology.

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