Author: Asim Rajpoot

In this comprehensive guide, we delve into an in-depth implementation of WhisperX, exploring transcription, alignment, and word-level timestamps. We’ll set up the environment, load and preprocess audio, and then execute the full pipeline, from transcription to alignment and analysis, ensuring memory efficiency and supporting batch processing. Along the way, we’ll visualize results, export them in multiple formats, and even extract keywords to gain deeper insights from the audio content.Setup and ConfigurationWe commence by installing WhisperX along with essential libraries, such as pandas, matplotlib, and seaborn. We then configure our setup, detecting whether CUDA is available, selecting the compute type, and…

Google’s research assistant tool, NotebookLM, is set to undergo a significant transformation with an upcoming update to its video overviews feature. This move aligns with Google’s broader strategy to infuse its AI-driven productivity tools with creative, media-rich outputs. Currently, users are limited to a single video overview format, “Explainer,” which provides a structured summary connecting various information sources within a project. However, early builds hint at an impending change with the introduction of a format selector menu, suggesting a shift similar to that seen in audio overviews, where users now have the liberty to choose between styles to suit their…

Perplexity, the innovative AI company, has thrown open the doors to its groundbreaking browser, Comet, to users worldwide. After a successful limited release on July 9 and a buildup of anticipation on the waitlist, Comet is now freely available for download. This launch targets desktop users, with mobile apps currently in preview and slated for broader release soon.In just 84 days, millions of users have signed up for the Comet waitlist, eager for a powerful, personal AI assistant to enhance their online browsing and research experience. Perplexity’s bold claim? “The internet is better on Comet.”Comet is not just another browser;…

Anthropic, the AI company known for its conversational model Claude, has appointed a new chief technical officer (CTO), Rahul Patil. Patil, who previously held the CTO role at Stripe, succeeds co-founder Sam McCandlish, who will transition to the newly created position of chief architect, focusing on pre-training and large-scale model training. Both will report to Anthropic president Daniela Amodei.This leadership shuffle is more than just a change in business cards. Anthropic is also restructuring its core tech team to align product engineering, infrastructure, and inference, fostering a cohesive environment for its builders, maintainers, and model whisperers.As CTO, Patil takes on…

OpenAI, the innovative AI company, has unveiled a significant new feature for its popular conversational AI model, ChatGPT: parental controls. This move aims to provide families with enhanced tools to manage and monitor their teens’ interaction with the platform. The new settings, designed for families with teens aged 13 to 17, require guardian consent and are now rolling out across all ChatGPT platforms.The parental controls offer a range of customizable options. Parents can toggle switches for features like voice mode, image generation, memory, and training use. They can also set usage limits and establish quiet hours, ensuring that ChatGPT aligns…

Hume AI is gearing up to introduce Octave 2 Multilingual, the latest addition to its text-to-speech portfolio following the debut of the original Octave model. This new iteration promises to expand the horizons of speech synthesis, supporting over 10 languages, a significant leap from its predecessor’s focus on emotionally expressive English voices. Octave 2 is designed to deliver expressive, natural voices with minimal latency, making it an ideal choice for real-time voice generation applications such as live translation, voicebots, and conversational interfaces.Imagine a scenario where a robot engages in a dialogue with a Russian hacker. With Octave 2, such interactions…

DeepSeek, the innovative AI company, has unveiled DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp, an intermediate update to its V3.1 model, introducing DeepSeek Sparse Attention (DSA) to enhance long-context efficiency. This update, coupled with a significant 50%+ reduction in API prices, aligns with DeepSeek’s commitment to improving the economics of long-context inference. Let’s delve into the efficiency, accuracy, and implications of this update.Under the Hood of DeepSeek-V3.2-ExpDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp retains the V3/V3.1 stack, comprising Mixture of Experts (MoE) and Multi-Head Latent Attention (MLA), and inserts a two-stage attention path: a lightweight “indexer” and sparse attention over a selected subset.Lightning Indexer: The first stage uses a lightweight scoring function…

OpenAI’s recent updates have introduced significant changes, positioning the company as a key player in the burgeoning world of AI-powered content sharing and social interaction. The launch of Sora 2, a dedicated iOS app, has brought a social twist to AI-generated videos, allowing users to view, share, and engage with content through personalized feeds. With the ability to set up profiles, follow others, and build a presence within the app, Sora 2 is poised to attract early adopters, creators, and enthusiasts of generative video technology. This move signals OpenAI’s interest in fostering a community around AI video, moving beyond one-off…

ServiceNow AI Research Lab has introduced Apriel-1.5-15B-Thinker, a groundbreaking 15-billion-parameter open-weights multimodal reasoning model, setting new benchmarks in cost-efficiency and performance. This model, trained using a data-centric mid-training recipe, achieves an Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (AAI) score of 52, matching the performance of DeepSeek-R1-0528 while being significantly smaller. The model’s checkpoint is available under an MIT license on Hugging Face.Frontier-Level Performance at a Fraction of the CostApriel-1.5-15B-Thinker’s AAI score of 52 is a testament to its exceptional performance across a range of tasks. The AAI metric aggregates results from 10 third-party evaluations, including MMLU-Pro, GPQA Diamond, Humanity’s Last Exam, and…

OpenAI, the AI research powerhouse, has ventured into the realm of social media with its latest offering, Sora. This new app, akin to TikTok but powered by AI, has sparked a whirlwind of reactions, ranging from enthusiasm to apprehension, both within and outside the company.Sora, launched on September 30, is OpenAI’s most significant foray into consumer entertainment. It’s a platform brimming with AI-generated video clips, including a generous sprinkling of Sam Altman deepfakes. The app has everyone from current employees to former researchers engaged in heated discussions on Twitter about its implications.John Hallman, a researcher at OpenAI, candidly expressed his…