Two new AI models can read, write -- and turn words into computer code

Two new AI models out this week show the power of artificial intelligence to read text, write it -- and even convert it into computer code. Why it matters: Natural language processing (NLP) is one of the most exciting areas in AI research, with major implications for how we'll communicate and work in the years ahead. Driving the news: On Wednesday morning, the Israeli startup AI21 Labs is releasing a line of language-generating AI models called Jurassic. How it works: Like other large language models, including GPT-3, the AI21 models have been trained on massive amounts of text, which enables the system to learn the statistical relationships between words and use that to read text prompts from users and write text in response. Situational awareness: On Tuesday, OpenAI itself released Codex, an updated descendant of its GPT-3 model, for a private developer beta test.