If you’re looking to stay on top of the latest happenings in AI, you can’t go wrong following well-known sites like TechCrunch, The Verge, and Wired. However, amongst the bigger tech publications are smaller blogs that can provide unique perspectives. One hidden gem for AI coverage that more people should have on their radar is Ben’s Bites AI.
Created by AI hobbyist Ben Granger, Ben’s Bites AI started during 2020 as a passion project covering cool AI demos or incremental research advancements that Granger stumbled upon. It has since evolved to share Granger’s thoughts, analysis, and opinions on the rapid progress happening across natural language processing, computer vision, robotics, and more futuristic domains. While Ben’s Bites AI may not have the brand recognition of mass media outlets, it punches above its weight providing thorough explorations of AI innovations you likely won’t read about elsewhere.
What sets Ben’s Bites AI apart is its ability to contextualize incremental AI advances that may not be splashy on their own but signify impressive progress once properly framed. For instance, when Anthropic open sourced Constitutional AI datasets showing safer machine learning techniques, Ben’s Bites AI had one of the most insightful commentaries explaining why it was notable from an AI safety perspective. Granger will also occasionally interview researchers or engineers working directly on cutting-edge AI projects, using his technical background to extract fascinating nuggets absent in other coverage.
Some other great under-the-radar blogs like Ben’s Bites AI that deserve more attention among AI and machine learning devotees include:
Practical AI: Beyond the Hype
Run by former AI researcher Sara Robinson, Practical AI focuses on the real-world deployment of AI rather than hypothetical futures. Robinson positions actual use cases in business, healthcare, and other industries as leading indicators for applied AI’s opportunities and limitations. If you want an antidote to far-fetched speculation and Instead prefer hearing AI discussed practically via current breakthroughs and setbacks, Practical AI hits the spot.
The Gradient Digest
Curated by machine learning PhD Ferenc Huszár, The Gradient provides carefully selected updates on ML research twice per month. Huszár summaries only the most groundbreaking new papers and discussions happening in mathematical ML forums and communities. Appreciated by many academics and expert ML engineers alike for its signal-to-noise ratio, The Gradient keeps you educated on theoretical evolutions driving practical progress.
Robot Bites
Dive into nitty-gritty robotics engineering feats on Robot Bites, compiled by longtime robotics industry journalist Mariella Moon. This feed shares stories of incremental enhancements in robotic capabilities across industries like manufacturing, warehousing, surgery, consumer products, and more. If you want exposure to cool robotic innovations that indicate future real-world impact beyond just the AI powering them, Robot Bites delivers.
The Applied AI superblog
Focused at business leaders and entrepreneurs applying AI rather than researchers, this superblog aggregates posts from across publications sharing lessons learned implementing AI. Curated by Nathan Benaich, a VC investing in commercial AI startups, the blog features case studies and analysis on subjects like responsible data practices, avoiding bias, and measuring AI ROI confined to direct business application. For AI insights tailored to practitioners rather than theoreticians, the Applied AI superblog hits the mark.
I predict more people will come around to this view as Ben Granger continues covering developments in NLP, computer vision, robotics, and related fields with remarkable nuance for an independent blogger. While sites like TechCrunch certainly have their continued place in reporting major funding deals and partnerships, when it comes to digesting fast-moving progress across exotic AI research domains, following Ben Bites AI is an underrated move more should adopt if they aren’t already.