Mukhammadali Sodikov

📖AI Companies Are Buying Books in Bulk – and Destroying Them 404 Media has published a report raising serious questions about how modern AI companies obtain training data. According to the report, AI companies have begun purchasing vast quantities of old physical books. The reason is simple: books are one of the largest sources of “clean” text written by humans rather than generated by neural networks. Books published before 2022 are particularly valuable because they predate the widespread availability of AI-generated content. Using them helps prevent AI models from being trained on text that was itself generated by other AI systems. For example, ISBNdb offers AI labs a service that can source anywhere from 1,000 to 1 million books in a single order. The books are then scanned and converted into datasets for AI training. To digitize such enormous quantities of books quickly, the books are effectively destroyed. Hydraulic cutting equipment removes the binding, the pages are separated into individual sheets, and high-speed industrial scanners convert them into PDFs. The remaining paper is sent for recycling. Anthropic is cited as one example. Court documents reportedly show that the company purchased large quantities of physical books, cut them apart, and scanned them to train its Claude model. The company allegedly attempted to keep the process confidential. OpenAI, Google, xAI, and other companies are not named in the report. According to 404 Media, ISBNdb’s customers are reluctant to disclose that they are purchasing and destroying millions of books for AI training. Elon Musk, however, responded to the report: “I asked the SpaceX AI team to preserve all the rare books in the library and digitize them using traditional methods rather than simply cutting off their bindings and scanning them.” Turning physical books into datasets for AI training raises an unsettling question: perhaps we are already living in the dystopian future we once imagined.

The table compares how coffee and banana sales changed in five European countries from 1999 to 2004. Overall, the sales of coffee grew in all given countries, with the UK registering the most remarkable increase. Similarly, there were noticeable increases in banana sales in the countries studied, with the exception of Sweden and Belgium where sales dropped. Of particular note is the UK which was, for the most part, the biggest consumer of coffee and bananas. Regarding coffee sales, the most considerable rise in sales of this item was seen in the UK, with the figure going from 1.5 million euros in 1999 to 20 million euros in 2004. Similarly, twice as much coffee was sold in Switzerland in 2004 as in the initial year, with the sales figure reaching 6 million euros. Coffee sales were relatively low in the remaining countries, and they increased, albeit to a smaller extent: the figure for Belgium nearly doubled in the latter year, reaching 1.7 million euros while that for Denmark and Sweden had risen to 2 and 1 million euros respectively. On the other hand, changes in banana sales varied among countries. Banana sales had more than tripled in the UK by 2004, reaching 47 million euros while Switzerland and Denmark saw their sales soar to 5.5 and 4 million euros in 2004 from roughly 1 million euros initially. In contrast, the sales of bananas virtually halved in both Belgium and Sweden, falling to an approximate of 1 million euros in the second year. #task1 252 words, #classwork #Mukhammadali_Issues

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The bar graph describes how the worldwide sales of four types of digital games changed from 2000 to 2006. Overall, it is clear that the sales of digital games in all categories increased substantially with the exception of console games, sales of which dropped noticeably. Of particular note are handheld games, which had the highest sales throughout the period. In detail, the sales figure for handheld games were significant compared to other types of digital games. Starting at just over 10 billion dollars, it grew gradually to an all-time high of 18 billion dollars in 2006. Similarly, first introduced in 2001, online games sales went from a mere 1 billion dollars to 9 billion dollars 5 years later, making them the second most popular type of digital games. Their counterpart, mobile games, also had steadily gone up to 7 billion dollars in sales by 2006 despite being a relatively new medium. In contrast, console games became less popular, with their sales declining over time. Once the second most popular type of gaming, console games saw their sales go from 6 billion dollars initially to a chart low of 2.5 billion dollars, ultimately being overtaken by other forms of gaming in question. #task1 201 words, #classwork #Mukhammadali_Issues

The bar graph compares how four countries, namely the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan spent their income on five expenditure categories in 2009. Overall, all countries, with the exception of Japan, spent most on housing compared to healthcare and clothing, which made up the smallest expenditure groups. Regarding the biggest expenditure categories, Americans expended by far the largest portion of their income on housing in 2009, with a quarter. A similar case could be seen in the UK, Japan and Canada where the share of spending on accommodation was over 20%. Interestingly, Americans and Canadians spent around 15% of their income on food as opposed to Japan and the UK where this figure was over a fifth. Similarly, the level of spending on transportation varied across the countries in question, with Canada and the US showing an approximate figure of 20% while the UK and Japan registered 15% and 10%, respectively. On the other hand, expenditure on healthcare and clothing was noticeably smaller in all countries. The figure for the former in the US was just under a tenth, and it was even smaller for the other countries with less than 5%. Similarly, only Canada and the UK registered over 5% in terms of spending on clothing while the figure for the US and Japan was slightly less than that. #task1 223 words, #classwork #Mukhammadali_Issues

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🎧IELTS LISTENING PRACTICE TEST 2023 WITH ANSWERS | 21.11.2023

The pie charts compare how water is used in San Diego County, California and worldwide. Overall, while San Diego County and California use water mostly for residential purposes and least for agriculture, the reverse can be said of the worldwide usage of water. In detail, residential water use makes up three-fifths in San Diego; however, this figure is significantly smaller for California, at 39%. The amount of water used in the industrial sector in both areas ranks second with about a quarter and a third respectively. Interestingly, both San Diego and California are shown to use the least amount of water for agricultural purposes, with corresponding figures of 17% and 28%. Worldwide water allocation, however, is remarkably different than that of San Diego County and California. Agricultural use of water around the globe accounts for by far the highest figure, with well over two-thirds. In contrast, the figures for industrial and domestic water use are substantially smaller. The former constitutes 23%, which is nearly three times as much as that of the latter. #task1 173 words, #classwork #Mukhammadali_Issues

The pie charts compare water usage in San Diego, California and the rest of the world. #task1

The pie charts compare the percentages of British students who speak a language other than English at a particular university in 2000 and a decade later. Overall, while the shares of students speaking Spanish and another language grew, those of students who could speak French and those who did not speak a second language dropped. In contrast, no change was observed in the proportions of student who spoke German and those who did two other languages. Interestingly, Spanish was the most commonly spoken language among students in both years. In detail, 30% of students could speak Spanish in 2000 while the figure for those who could speak another language was twice as small. A decade later, they both grew by an additional 5%. On the other hand, the figures for French-speaking British students and those who spoke only English declined noticeably. While the former dropped by 5%, the latter did by 10%, both making up a tenth in 2010. Of particular note are the percentages of students speaking German and those speaking two other languages, which represented an identical 10% each in both given years.  #task1 185 words, #classwork #Mukhammadali_Issues

Earlier technological developments brought more benefits and changed the lives of ordinary people more than recent developments ever will. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Some argue that past advances in technology had a profound impact on many people’s lives compared to relatively recent technological improvements. I completely disagree with this contention as I believe the benefits of both past and modern technological developments are equally important for the general public. To start, earlier technological developments, especially those made in the 20th century, marked a significant milestone in human civilization. Take the invention of computer chips as an example. The introduction of this technology meant that large-scale mathematical computation could be executed with great speed and effort. This, as a result, helped people in domains like civil engineering, medicine and architecture to overcome technical problems in their fields and make novel solutions, which would then radically improve the lives of millions of people across the world. The same could be said of latest technological developments. Recent advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence have prompted fundamental changes in the workplace, streamlining government as well as business operations. This, in turn, has liberated people of complicated transactions as well as mundane clerical work, allowing them to engage in more meaningful pursuits instead. Similarly, cutting-edge technologies in the field of medicine including DNA mapping and gene editing come with a promise of a brighter future for many people who suffer from genetic predispositions and underlying chronic conditions. With the help of these advances, doctors can now provide more accurate diagnoses and eliminate birth defects. Having considered some examples of both past and present technological inventions and their impact on the lives of ordinary people, I am more convinced that inventions from both eras have such important implications for human lives that they cannot be brought into comparison. #task2 280 words, #classwork #Mukhammadali_Issues

The image demonstrates the stages of making bread on an industrial scale. The initial group of stages happen on the field. Firstly, wheat is grown and harvested using a combine harvester. This process also uses a tractor with a trailer attached to it that collects and then delivers the harvest. Once the wheat has been delivered to a factory, the production phase begins. The wheat is washed with the use of a special tank, whereupon it is transferred to yet another machine called a grinder that grinds it to produce flour which is placed into bags. The next stage is using this flour in conjunction with other key ingredients, such as water and yeast, to make dough. This is undertaken with the aid of a set of computer-operated machines that knead dough. Having been kneaded, the dough is sent to the next piece of equipment with a funnel-like input deployed in processing and shaping the dough into individual loaves. These are then stacked onto racks to be placed into an oven for baking, thereafter which a staff member packages them by putting them into boxes for sale. Generally speaking, the process commences with growing wheat on fields and culminates with packaging the end-product, bread. It is also worth noting that there are around nine distinct stages involved in this mostly machine-driven linear process, requiring some human involvement. #task1 in 19 min. #process

The line graph describes how the proportion of three age groups has changed within a country since 1960 along with future predictions until 2040. Overall, the shares of people aged 0-14 and 15-64 declined, and they are expected to continue decreasing in the future. In contrast, there was notable growth in the percentage of people aged over 65 – a trend which is predicted to continue until 2040. Focusing on downward trends first, in 1960, just over half of the population were aged 15-64 (55%). This figure went up to 60% a decade later, at which point it remained relatively stable until 1990. It, however, had gone down by 10% by 2020, and it is estimated that the proportion of 15-64-year-olds will reach a low of 45% in 2040. Similarly, the percentage of the 0-14 age bracket fell substantially, going from just under a third initially to around 12% in 2020. It is forecast that this figure will drop further, making up a tenth in 2040. On the other hand, the share of the elderly grew significantly. Standing at 15% initially, it rose gradually to 35% until 2020. Forecasts suggest that this pattern will continue well into the future, with the percentage of the 65+ age bracket peaking at 45% eventually. #task1 210 words, #classwork #Mukhammadali_Issues

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The image shows how electricity is generated in a hydro-electric power station. Generally speaking, the process starts with the sun evaporating water in the sea and culminates with distributing electricity to end-users. There are about eight distinct steps involved in this process, requiring both the involvement of nature and the use of machinery. The initial group of stages takes place with the aid of nature. Firstly, the sun rays cause the water in the sea to evaporate and form clouds. These then create rain, the droplets of which fall into a reservoir, thereby filling it. The reservoir itself, is an area of water surrounded by a dam, a man-made wall to control water, and a mountain. The second set of steps are heavily machine-driven. The reservoir has a valve that both opens and closes to control the outflow of water. If this device opens, it allows the water to pass through a turbine that rotates to generate electricity. The used water, meanwhile, is sent back into the reservoir with the use of a pump. Once electricity has been generated, it is transferred via transmission towers with high-voltage cables to a transformer station, which converts electricity into a needed voltage. Finally, the electricity is sent to various consumers, such as hospitals, school and factories through underground cables. #task1 in 20 min. #process #alisher_types #mock_writing

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