Inflection AI, creators of the Pi chatbot, raises $1.3 Billion

Jun 30, 2023

A quick note: Due to the July 4th holiday and long weekend in the USA our next newsletter will be delivered Wednesday July 5.

⚡ Today’s Highlights

📰 News: Inflection AI raises $1.3 Billion
💰 Funding: Runway, Typeface, Cyware, B Garage
🦾 Tools: Work meetings have never been easier thanks to AI

📰 Today's Top Stories

Inflection AI, The Year-Old Startup Behind Chatbot Pi, Raises $1.3 Billion

(9 min read) (Source: Forbes)

TLDR: Less than 2 months after the release of its chatbot Pi, Inflection AI has raised $1.3 billion in new funding, with Microsoft, Nvidia, Reid Hoffman, Bill Gates, and Eric Schmidt among the investors.

The funding round values Inflection at $4 billion, and the company claims to have the world's best AI hardware setup, including the deployment of thousands of Nvidia's H100 graphics processing units (GPUs) in its cluster.
Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, is Inflection's cloud computing partner, while Nvidia has been closely collaborating with the startup on the development and deployment of its GPUs. CEO Mustafa Suleyman did not elaborate on the equity details of the funding but emphasized that Inflection AI retains IP and commercial independence.
With the new funding, Inflection plans to expand its computing capabilities and further develop its chatbot Pi, aiming to create conversational AI models that can engage in valuable question-and-answer interactions with users. Future plans include an API for selected partners to train their own conversational AIs.

Meta to AI skeptics: We come in peace

(8 min read) (Source: Axios)

TLDR: Meta has released a comprehensive set of policies and outlined the signals and predictive models it uses to personalize content recommendations for users, with examples including location, device information, user preferences, and social connections.

As part of its transparency efforts, Meta has introduced "system cards" that provide insight into how its AI systems rank content and the predictions they make, enhancing user understanding and control.
Meta's open-source approach to AI, including the release of its LLaMA language model under an open license, aims to broaden access to the technology, although some experts raise concerns about potential security risks.

The Big Picture: While Meta has experienced a market rally due to its investments in AI, regulators remain cautious about the responsible use of AI by major tech companies, highlighting the ongoing need for transparency and accountability.

Salesforce to Invest $4B in Its UK Business Over 5 Years

(8 min read) (Source: Salesforce)

TLDR: Salesforce announced a plan for a $4 billion investment in its UK business over the next five years, reinforcing its position as the #1 CRM provider in the country and supporting digital transformations driven by AI.

Salesforce also unveiled AI product innovations at its World Tour London: AI Day event, highlighting how companies leverage AI, data, and CRM to connect with customers in new ways.
Salesforce's investment in the UK aims to drive innovation, create jobs, and generate £52 billion ($66 billion) in new business revenues by 2026, while also addressing the digital skills crisis through education programs, upskilling opportunities, and support for the AI startup ecosystem.

💰 Funding Alerts

1. Runway, the AI research company revolutionizing creative tools, raised a $141 million extension to its Series C round from investors including Google, NVIDIA, Salesforce Ventures, and existing investors.

With Runway's AI-powered tools, users can generate realistic images, videos, and animations, transform images into different artistic styles, create lifelike 3D models, apply intelligent video editing techniques, and even generate music and sound effects.
Runway plans to use the funds to scale its in-house research efforts, expand its team, and bring state-of-the-art multi-modal AI systems to market. The company aims to continue developing groundbreaking and intuitive product experiences for the creative industry.

2. Typeface, an enterprise-focused generative AI platform that enables personalized content creation at scale, secured a $100 million in new funding through an oversubscribed Series B round. The investment was led by Salesforce Ventures, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Madrona, GV (Google Ventures), Menlo Ventures, and M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund).

By combining content velocity with brand personalization and control, Typeface empowers enterprises to create exceptional, on-brand content quickly and effortlessly.
Typeface plans to utilize the funds to support its global expansion efforts and meet the growing demand from enterprises worldwide. The company aims to rapidly scale its generative AI platform, allowing businesses to leverage industry-first self-serve solutions for streamlined content development, enhanced speed, and brand authenticity.

3. Cyware, a leading provider of AI-powered Cyber Fusion platforms for enterprises and MSSPs, raised $30 million in a Series C financing round led by Ten Eleven Ventures (Alex Doll, Founder & Managing Member), with participation from previous investors including Advent International, Zscaler, Emerald Development Managers, Prelude (the venture fund at Mercato Partners), and Great Road Holdings.

Cyware offers automated threat intelligence sharing for information sharing networks.
The funding will be used to fuel further growth, accelerate channel business and strategic alliances, and expand Cyware's global footprint.

4. B Garage, which builds autonomous drones and software for warehouse inventory tracking, raised $20 million in a Series A funding round, led by LB Investment, with participation from Ignite Innovation Fund, Krossroad Partners, and existing backer SoftBank Ventures Asia. This brings the total funding raised by B Garage to $30 million.

With the new funds, B Garage plans to further develop and commercialize its drones, expand its engineering and business teams, and enhance its software solutions. They aim to deploy their drones to more than 10 select warehouses across the U.S. by the end of 2023 and explore applications in industries beyond logistics, such as defense and security.

🦾 Trending Tools

Fellow + AI empowers organizations to optimize meetings. Get AI-powered quick summaries, detailed transcripts, productive agendas, and smart talking point suggestions. Make the most of your meetings and leave no valuable information behind.
Wyndy is a relationship management assistant for small businesses and solopreneurs. Connect inboxes, track email history, and stay on top of your contacts with the Pingboard. Get organized and save time.
Slated.ai is an AI scheduling platform for efficient group meetings. No more back-and-forth emails. With personalized scheduling, fast links, group availability management, flexible task time blocks, and integration with popular tools like Slack, let AI find the perfect time and location for your team to meet.
Double is a sales tool that combines the power of GPT-4 and Plugins in a spreadsheet. Sales teams can enrich leads with ease and streamline data work processes w/ features like prompt running, website scraping, Google searching, and verified email finding.
HiveSpark is an AI-powered content generation platform for startups. Create tailored content with 100+ task templates in minutes, saving time and eliminating knowledge barriers.

👀 More Reading:

ChatGPT Owner Vows to Improve Its AI Tools After Sam Altman’s World Tour (The Wall Street Journal)
Harvard Will Teach Students Using an AI Instructor Next Semester (Futurism)
Artificial Intelligence Can’t Work Without Our Data (POLITICO)
The ad industry is going all-in on AI (Vox)
The Huge Power and Potential Danger of AI-Generated Code (WIRED)
I'm an AI-prompt engineer. Here are my 3 requirements for writing a prompt for chatbots like ChatGPT. (Business Insider)

🌎 Fresh Content

1. George Hotz is a programmer and hacker who founded comma-ai, the creator of an open-source automated driving system, and tiny corp, which made a neural network framework called tinygrad that seeks to be small and simple enough to run on any device. George Hotz was on Lex Fridman’s podcast to discuss AI, AI safety, self-driving, reality, AGI, God, and much more. (YouTube)

2. Google is creating a playlist for their Generative AI Learning Path covering a variety of topics for beginners to learn how generative AI works. Check out the full playlist here or their latest video that covers responsible AI below. (YouTube)

📚 Research/Learn:

Microsoft Launches New AI Skills Training and Resources as part of Skill for Jobs Initiative (LinkedIn)

🧠 Prompts

Tap into ChatGPT's expertise to elevate your e-commerce business through AI chatbots. This prompt will assist you in formulating a plan to integrate chatbots, with a focus on improving customer shopping experiences and streamlining communication. Provide details specific to your business, and discover how AI chatbots can be a game-changer for your online store.

E-commerce Chatbot Integration Blueprint

Prompt: "ChatGPT, I need your help in putting together a plan for adding AI chatbots to my online store. Can you focus on how the chatbots can make shopping better for customers and handle customer communication more smoothly? Please ask me questions about my store to tailor the strategy."