Daily AI Newsletter: GitHub Spark lets you build web apps in plain English

In today’s email:

📈 Google CEO says more than a quarter of the company's new code is created by AI
👀 A look inside the data center behind Elon Musk's Grok AI
💀 UK man who used AI to create child sexual abuse imagery sentenced to 18 years in prison
🧰 10 new AI-powered tools and resources. Make sure to check the online version for the full list of tools.

GitHub Spark lets you build web apps in plain English

GitHub has unveiled "Spark," a new experimental tool designed to simplify web app creation using natural language. Announced at the GitHub Universe conference, Spark is part of GitHub Next Labs, aimed at allowing users to build web apps without any coding knowledge. It generates apps based on user prompts and provides a live preview almost instantly. While experienced developers can still view and adjust the underlying code, Spark is built to let users interactively create prototypes and fine-tune them through a conversational interface.

According to GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke, Spark is intended for building “micro apps” — small, practical tools for everyday tasks. However, GitHub has not imposed strict limitations on the complexity of these apps, and the tool’s capacity remains unrestricted during its technical preview. Spark supports various web APIs, enabling users to build increasingly sophisticated applications. This flexibility also lets users test new ideas or experiment with software development, relying solely on natural language inputs.

The tool offers users the option to choose between Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet and OpenAI’s GPT models, reflecting GitHub’s broader Copilot functionality, which also allows model selection. Apps built with Spark can be shared with customized access controls, and the shared code is fully accessible, allowing other users to enhance or build upon it. For those with coding knowledge, Spark offers the additional benefit of manual editing, which is useful when refining or correcting AI-generated code.

In essence, Spark’s introduction highlights GitHub’s ongoing commitment to democratizing software creation. By making app development more accessible, GitHub aims to empower users to create digital solutions for day-to-day tasks and explore new possibilities in software through natural language, sparking creativity without needing in-depth programming knowledge.

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A mysterious new image generation model has appeared

An image reportedly generated by red_panda

A new image generation model, known as “red_panda” has recently emerged as a top performer, surpassing popular models from Midjourney, Black Forest Labs, and OpenAI on the crowdsourced benchmark, Artificial Analysis. This model has shown a substantial lead, sitting about 40 Elo points above Black Forest Labs’ Flux1.1 Pro, the second-highest-ranking model on the text-to-image leaderboard. The Artificial Analysis leaderboard utilizes an Elo ranking system, commonly associated with assessing chess player performance, to determine the relative strength of image generation models.

Artificial Analysis functions similarly to the community-driven benchmark Chatbot Arena by ranking models through crowdsourced voting. Users are presented with images generated by two randomly selected models based on the same prompt and are asked to vote on which one best reflects the prompt’s intent. While this process can introduce bias, as most voters tend to be AI enthusiasts, it still provides valuable insights into model performance based on user preference.

Apart from its ranking, red_panda is notable for its generation speed. It reportedly takes only around 7 seconds to generate an image, making it roughly twice as fast as OpenAI’s DALL-E 3, which gives it a significant advantage in scenarios requiring rapid output.

UK man who used AI to create child sexual abuse imagery sentenced to 18 years in prison

Hugh Nelson, a 27-year-old from Bolton, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for using AI to create explicit child abuse images from ordinary photos. This case marks a legal milestone in the UK as the first conviction involving AI-generated abuse imagery. Nelson manipulated images of real children into disturbing, exploitative content using Daz 3D, an AI-powered software. Some images were made at the request of paedophiles, who provided him with pictures of children they knew. His illicit activity was uncovered when he revealed his pricing to an undercover officer, and upon arrest, Nelson confessed his actions had spiraled out of control.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP), who led the investigation, emphasized the growing difficulty in policing digitally manipulated images, as they present new challenges to current child protection laws. Detectives uncovered that Nelson not only sold the images online, earning approximately £5,000, but also encouraged others to commit abuse, communicating with individuals worldwide. Sentencing judge Martin Walsh described Nelson’s content as "harrowing and sickening," with no regard for the harm caused by his actions.

This case has prompted law enforcement to consider the rapid evolution of AI technology, which, although useful in investigations, is also exploited for harmful purposes. DCI Jen Tattersall of GMP noted that computer-generated child abuse imagery is becoming more common, requiring police forces to adapt. The conviction underscores the CPS's commitment to prosecuting such crimes, sending a firm warning to those misusing AI to produce exploitative content.