Key Takeaways:
- Researchers are working on creating "world models" to improve the performance of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in various domains, including video generation, chatbots, augmented reality, and robotics.
- World models are internal representations of the world that can be updated in real-time, allowing AI systems to make more informed decisions and improve their performance.
- 4D modeling, which involves creating three-dimensional models that can be updated over time, is a key component of world models and has applications in video generation, augmented reality, and robotics.
- The development of world models is seen as a crucial step towards achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), which requires AI systems to have a deep understanding of the world and be able to reason and act accordingly.
Introduction to World Models
The concept of world models is becoming increasingly important in the field of artificial intelligence. As Angjoo Kanazawa, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at University of California, Berkeley, notes, "In a way, I would say that the LLM already has a very good world model; it’s just we don’t really understand how it’s doing it." However, current AI systems, including large language models (LLMs), lack a real-time physical understanding of the world and are unable to update their training data in real-time. This limitation is a major obstacle to achieving AGI, which requires AI systems to have a deep understanding of the world and be able to reason and act accordingly.
The Limitations of Current AI Systems
Current AI systems, including LLMs, are trained on large datasets and can generate text and images that are often indistinguishable from those created by humans. However, they lack a clear understanding of the world and are unable to update their knowledge in real-time. As Kanazawa notes, "How do you develop an intelligent LLM vision system that can actually have streaming input and update its understanding of the world and act accordingly? That’s a big open problem. I think AGI is not possible without actually solving this problem." This limitation is evident in the example of a video generation system that is unable to maintain a consistent representation of the world, resulting in errors such as a love seat becoming a couch.
The Promise of 4D Modeling
4D modeling, which involves creating three-dimensional models that can be updated over time, is a key component of world models. This technology has the potential to revolutionize various fields, including video generation, augmented reality, and robotics. As the article notes, "Imagine realizing you should have shot a photo from a different angle and then having AI make that adjustment, giving the same scene with a new perspective." 4D modeling can also be used to generate new video content, such as creating new versions of a movie from different perspectives. For instance, a recent preprint, "NeoVerse: Enhancing 4D World Model with in-the-Wild Monocular Videos," describes one way of turning videos into 4D models to generate new videos from different perspectives.
Applications of World Models
World models have a wide range of applications, including augmented reality, robotics, and autonomous vehicles. In augmented reality, a 4D world model can be used to create a stable and believable environment, allowing virtual objects to interact with the real world in a realistic way. In robotics, 4D models can be used to improve navigation and prediction, allowing robots to better understand their environment and make more informed decisions. As the article notes, "Being able to rapidly convert videos into 4D also provides rich data for training robots and autonomous vehicles on how the real world works." For example, a 2023 paper puts the requirement bluntly: "To achieve occlusion, a 3D model of the physical environment is required."
The Path to AGI
The development of world models is seen as a crucial step towards achieving AGI. As Yann LeCun, a prominent AI researcher, notes, "The answer [to why humans can act well in situations they’ve never encountered] may lie in the ability… to learn world models, internal models of how the world works." Research increasingly shows the benefits of internal models, with a recent Nature paper reporting results on DreamerV3, an AI agent that can improve its behavior by "imagining" future scenarios. While the development of world models is still in its early stages, it has the potential to revolutionize the field of AI and bring us closer to achieving AGI.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the development of world models is a crucial step towards achieving AGI. 4D modeling, which involves creating three-dimensional models that can be updated over time, is a key component of world models and has a wide range of applications, including video generation, augmented reality, and robotics. As researchers continue to work on developing world models, we can expect to see significant advances in the field of AI, leading to more intelligent and capable systems that can interact with the world in a more realistic and human-like way. As Kanazawa notes, "I think AGI is not possible without actually solving this problem." With the potential to revolutionize various fields, the development of world models is an exciting and rapidly evolving area of research that holds great promise for the future of AI.
https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/articles/world-models-could-unlock-next-120000161.html