Artificial Intelligence

Orca: From IT Pro’s Favorite MSI Editor to Pioneering Small Language Models

Remember Orca, the trusty MSI table editor that was the go-to tool for any self-respecting IT Professional? Well, Microsoft is stirring the nostalgia pot by repurposing this iconic name.

Orca: The IT Pro’s Toolbox Staple

Orca.exe was more than just a utility; it was a lifeline for IT pros managing Windows Installer packages and merge modules. This tool wasn’t just about editing database tables; it was about mastering the intricate world of software installation. With its graphical interface, Orca made error validation easier by lighting up mistakes like a Christmas tree.

Remember the days of sifting through the enormous Windows SDK to find this hidden gem? That effort felt like a rite of passage for many in the IT world.

Take in the nostalgia with me and watch this silent video walk-through I posted over 10 years ago:

Orca: The New Kid on the Block

Fast forward to today, and Orca takes on a new avatar in the world of technology. This time, it’s about “Redefining small LMs performance.” Microsoft Research is using ‘Orca’ to denote their strides in developing small language models (LMs). These LMs, with around 10 billion parameters or less, are set to make waves in how we interact with and leverage AI in our daily tasks.

Small language models will become increasingly crucial because they aim to bring the power of AI to more devices and platforms, offering efficiency and flexibility without the colossal computing requirements of their larger counterparts.

Whether you’re reminiscing about the good old days of MSI editing or looking forward to the innovations in small language models, Orca’s story is a reminder of how technology continuously evolves, yet some names remain evergreen, linking us to our past while propelling us into the future.

My Video Created with AI about AI

The potential of AI technology on our world is a topic I am fascinated with, and I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about it it lately. I was considering writing an article over Christmas break which quickly evolved into this: a video to convey some of my thoughts using as much AI as I could quickly throw at it: the images, the phrasing, and even reproduction of my own voice.

I created several images using Mid Journey, prompting for images I thought would be fitting and then used an iPhone app called Werble to add subtle animations to them. I then took my notes and pasted them into scenes using a solution called Descript and had it convert that text to speech leveraging a voice powered by AI which was trained with an hour of recordings of me talking using it’s overdub feature.

To throw a bit more AI at the idea, I took each scene and had ChatGPT rephrase the text of my script. Sometimes I needed to tweak them a bit, but the output is consistently impressive. Below is an example of what I’d get when telling ChatGPT, “rephrase ‘<pasted text>'”.

My Original Text	Text Rephrased by ChatGPT
When it comes to a service aimed at generating new music featuring specific attributes, the streaming service Pandora has a valuable leg-up on other music streaming services. Pandora understands the makeup of a song with its concept of a music genome project.	When it comes to generating new music with specific attributes, the streaming service Pandora has a significant advantage over other music streaming services due to its understanding of the makeup of a song through its Music Genome Project. This allows Pandora to generate new music that is tailored to specific characteristics and preferences.

^{I took my notes and had them rephrased by ChatGPT to add an additional role for AI in this effort}

The primary idea I propose is that we are likely to see personalized, AI generated content coming to us in the form of streaming services. First music from the likes of Spotify and Pandora, then video from YouTube, Netflix, etc. In a generation or two, this content generated to your specific tastes is likely to become preferred by consumers as much (or more than) that available from human artists. It is both an interesting concept to think about as well as provocative making it a good candidate for this kind of content.

Creating content like this isn’t a passion of mine, so unless by some strange chance it gets considerable positive attention, I don’t anticipate creating more– at least not like this. But it was a fun way to explore the idea of AI generated content, getting hands on with some such tools.

It occurred to me just how easy it would be to plagiarize myself and recreate a new version of this video leveraging AI-based tools. So the next day, I spent half an hour asking ChatGPT to rephrase each paragraph in an authoritative and optimistic tone. I then chose a professional speaker voice (which seems way over the top to me) and published a second version. All new words and a new voice– it’s better in almost every way and took so little effort it is scary…