DataBricks acquires MosaicML for $1.3 Billion

Jun 27, 2023

⚡ Today’s Highlights

📰 News: DataBricks acquires MosaicML for $1.3 Billion + Google says their next algorithm will eclipse ChatGPT
💰 Funding: EvaluAgent, BentoML, and Metal
🦾 Tools: Introducing Holly, your AI-powered virtual recruiter

📰 Today's Top Stories

Databricks Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire MosaicML, a Leading Generative AI Platform

(6 min read) (Source: DataBricks)

TLDR: Databricks is acquiring AI startup MosaicML for $1.3 billion to enhance its data lakehouse platform and provide enterprises with a unified solution for managing data assets and building secure generative AI models.

MosaicML specializes in building LLMs and offers a platform that enables organizations to build, train, and deploy their own models using proprietary data, with model ownership and data privacy at the forefront.
The integration of MosaicML into Databricks' platform will lower the cost of training and using LLMs, making them more accessible to enterprises.
The exact timeline for the completion of the acquisition and integration has not been disclosed, but Databricks plans to support, scale, and integrate MosaicML's platform to provide a seamless unified experience for customers.

Google DeepMind’s CEO Says Its Next Algorithm Will Eclipse ChatGPT

(8 min read) (Source: WIRED)

TLDR: Google, in response to the competitive threat from ChatGPT, is developing Gemini to play a significant role in its AI offerings, combining DeepMind's expertise with Google's AI lab, Brain, to lead AI progress and innovations.

Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, announced the development of Gemini, an LLM that combines the strengths of AlphaGo with large language model capabilities equivalent to GPT-4, which they believe will surpass OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Gemini will incorporate techniques from AlphaGo, such as reinforcement learning and tree search, to enhance its capabilities in planning and problem-solving.

How people are really using AI (and what they’re afraid of)

(18 min read) (Source: The Verge)

TLDR: The Verge and Vox Media conducted a Trust Survey on consumer attitudes towards artificial intelligence (AI), revealing that one in three Americans have already used generative AI tools and 44% frequently discuss AI.

Consumers want clear disclosure of AI usage in digital content, with 78% emphasizing the need for transparency. Nearly half believe AI will disrupt their industry, and 69% think society will require significant changes to adapt to a post-AI world.
The survey highlights Americans' cautious optimism towards AI and its prominent role in conversations, with a strong interest in the topic and recognition of its potential impact comparable to breakthroughs in solar power and electric vehicles.

Congress sets limits on staff ChatGPT use

(3 min read) (Source: Axios)

TLDR: The U.S. House of Representatives has implemented new restrictions on the use of AI chatbots by congressional offices: staff are only authorized to use OpenAI’s paid ChatGPT Plus subscription, which includes privacy features to protect sensitive data. All other large language models are not approved for use.

The guidance emphasizes that the tool should be used for research and evaluation purposes only, with restrictions on incorporating it into regular workflow and limitations on inputting sensitive data. Lawmakers are actively working on legislation to regulate AI.

💰 Funding Alerts

1. EvaluAgent, the contact center/quality assurance and performance improvement software, raised $20 million in a Series A round led by PeakSpan Capital (Phil Dur, Co-Founder and Managing Partner), a growth-stage B2B software investment firm.

EvaluAgent uses AI to help agents have better conversations with customers.
With the funding, EvaluAgent plans to invest in enhancing its quality assurance and agent improvement platform capabilities, expanding its team, and supporting customers in new and existing markets. The company will also focus on leveraging AI to automate workflows and streamline the quality assurance process.

2. BentoML, an AI development framework, raised $9 million in a seed financing round led by DCM Ventures, with participation from Bow Capital and Firestreak Ventures. Hurst Lin, DCM's general partner, has joined BentoML's board.

BentoML simplifies the process of building and managing AI services by abstracting away the infrastructure details needed for running AI models on the cloud.
With the funding, BentoML aims to further enhance its platform, expand its user base, and strike a balance between short-term trends and long-term goals in the rapidly evolving AI market. The company expects AI app developers to make up a significant portion of its future users.

3. Metal, a developer platform that simplifies the building and deployment of machine learning applications, raised $2.5 million in funding led by Swift Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and Chapter One.

Metal provides a fully managed service for data transformation, indexing, and storage, along with APIs and developer-friendly tools.
With the funds, Metal plans to enhance the developer experience, support the open-source community, and invest in expanding its capabilities for transforming, storing, and querying data. The company also aims to cater to enterprise needs by offering on-premises solutions, user management, and permissions, and will grow its team to meet customer demand.

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👀 More Reading:

‘It’s not like science fiction any more’: Nasa aiming to make spaceships talk (The Guardian)
Marc Andreessen says we’re in a ‘freeze-frame moment’ with A.I.—and has advice for young people (Fortune)
Adobe indemnity clause designed to ease enterprise fears about AI-generated art (TechCrunch)
Meta’s new AI lets people make chatbots. They’re using it for sex. (The Washington Post)
AI's next battle: open or closed (Axios)
A Blueprint for Using AI in Psychotherapy (Stanford University HAI)

🌎 Fresh Content

1. AI expert and cognitive scientist Gary Marcus joined Andrew Yang on the Forward Podcast to discuss the boundaries and possibilities of AI as well as what AI regulation should look like, the threat of AI-generated disinformation, the problem of AI hallucinations, and much more. (YouTube)

2. DragGAN, an incredible new tool that allows users to manipulate images using generative AI, is available to test on HuggingFace now. The tool can be used to move elements of an image around, allowing the user to change the positioning or expressions of people, reposition elements within an image, or even reimagine aspects of an image. Check out the full paper here or the demonstration below. (Twitter)

https://twitter.com/radamar/status/1673159823012282368

🧠 Prompts

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Planning the Shift to Microservices Architecture

Prompt: "ChatGPT, can you help me make a plan to move my company from the old one-service system to a more modern, flexible set of microservices? Please start by asking questions to figure out how things are set up right now. It's imperative to embed relevant security measures within this plan and ensure that the plan includes future-proofing considering the advances in cloud and artificial intelligence technologies."