From TLDR 2025-02-21

BIGGEST-EVER AI BIOLOGY MODEL WRITES DNA ON DEMAND (4 MINUTE READ) [7]

Scientists have released an artificial intelligence model for biology
trained on 128,000 genomes spanning the tree of life. It can make
sense of existing DNA and also write whole chromosomes and small
genomes from scratch. The model is available to scientists through a
web interface - it can also be downloaded freely. The model could be
used to help identify hard-to-interpret changes in people's genomes,
decipher complex genomes, predict the effects of mutations, and more.

FIGURE'S HUMANOID ROBOT TAKES VOICE ORDERS TO HELP AROUND THE HOUSE
(4 MINUTE READ) [8]

Figure has revealed a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model for humanoid
robots. VLAs leverage vision and language commands to process
information, enabling robots to be trained through a combination of
video and large language models. Figure's Helix model enables robots
to follow natural language commands and pick up novel items with
varying shapes, sizes, colors, and material properties never
encountered before in training. Work on Helix is still at a very early
stage, so demonstrations should be taken with a grain of salt.

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING JOB OPENINGS HIT FIVE-YEAR LOW? (15 MINUTE READ) [11]

There has been a 35% decrease in the number of software engineering
job vacancies in the US since January 2020. While the story is similar
in Canada, things are different in the UK, France, Germany, and
Australia. Australia is the only country where the number of jobs
listed is not lower than in 2020. Software development jobs have been
the biggest boom and bust in vacancies compared to all industries.
This post discusses the reasons for the decrease and predictions for
what growth in the tech industry is likely to be like this year.

A.I. IS CHANGING HOW SILICON VALLEY BUILDS START-UPS (6 MINUTE READ) [12]

Tech startups used to raise huge sums to hire armies of workers and
grow fast, but AI tools are enabling workers to be more efficient,
making tiny teams more successful. Startups are using AI tools to
increase employees' productivity in everything from customer service
and marketing to coding and customer research. They are able to gain
more revenue with fewer employees and less cash, something that
wouldn't have been possible without the technology. The potential for
AI to let startups do more with less has led to wild speculation about
the future.

META STARTS ACCEPTING SIGN-UPS FOR COMMUNITY NOTES ON FACEBOOK,
INSTAGRAM, AND THREADS (2 MINUTE READ) [15]

Community Notes will be a way for Meta users to decide when posts are misleading and add more context to posts.

GOOGLE'S AI CO-SCIENTIST IS 'TEST-TIME SCALING' ON STEROIDS. WHAT
THAT MEANS FOR RESEARCH (5 MINUTE READ) [16]

Google's Co-scientist is a hypothesis-formulation machine that uses
multiple agents.

Links:
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[7] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00531-3?utm_source=tldrnewsletter [8] https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/20/figures-humanoid-robot-takes-voice-orders -to-help-around-the-house/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[11] https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/software-engineer-jobs-five-year-low/?u tm_source=tldrnewsletter
[12] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/technology/ai-silicon-valley-start-ups. html?unlocked_article_code=1.yk4.vJlG.Q__wftRWk5um&smid=url-share&utm_source=tl drnewsletter
[15] https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/20/meta-starts-accepting-sign-ups-for-commu nity-notes-on-facebook-instagram-and-threads/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter
[16] https://www.zdnet.com/article/googles-ai-co-scientist-is-test-time-scaling -on-steroids-what-that-means-for-research/?utm_source=tldrnewsletter

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