Meta is working on AI models that will rival OpenAI’s GPT-4
⚡️ Quick News Hits
U.S. Senate to hold ‘AI Insight Forum’ on Wed, w/ prominent AI leaders incl. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Sam Altman
G-20 continues to discuss AI Risks and potential Global Oversight
US + Vietnam partner to strengthen Semiconductor and AI supply chains w/ $Bn in deals
Airbnb adds James Manyika, Google’s “AI ambassador,” to board of directors as CEO Brian Chesky expects AI to radically change the platform
SalesForce and McKinsey partner to speed up enterprise adoption of generative AI.
NVIDIA’s dominance as the leading AI chip manufacturer is deterring funding for other AI chip startups.
Character.AI’s user base has significantly grown w/ over 4M monthly active users
Amazon Kindle Self-publishers must declare if content sold on site is AI-generated
YouTube Announces AI-Powered Creative Guidance In Google Ads
📰 Top Stories This Week
Meta Is Developing a New, More Powerful AI System To Rival OpenAI
(6 min read) (Source: The Wall Street Journal)
TLDR: Meta Platforms is developing an AI system that aims to rival OpenAI’s advanced models, such as ChatGPT. The new AI model aims to be exponentially more powerful than its last release, Llama 2.
The new system will assist other companies in creating services with advanced text generation and analytics. Meta's continues to focus on developing enterprise-level generative AI tools that mimic human-like expressions.
Meta plans to commence training of this latest LLM starting in early 2024. Unlike its partnership with Microsoft for Llama 2, Meta intends to use its own infrastructure for the new model. This is part of the company’s plan to become self-reliant in AI capabilities.
Mark Zuckerberg wants the new AI model to be open-sourced, thus providing free access for companies to develop AI-powered tools, a departure from other business models in the sector.
Meta’s ambitions may still fall short of rivals like OpenAI and Google. While Meta’s Llama 2 model was trained on 70 billion parameters, OpenAI’s GPT-4 is estimated to be around 1.5 trillion parameters, though experts suggest size isn't the only factor determining AI effectiveness.
Tesla soars on AI optimism thanks to it’s in-house supercomputing system
(5 min read) (Source: Reuters)
TLDR: Tesla's stock rose significantly by nearly 10% following renewed interest in its AI capabilities, particularly focusing on its in-house supercomputing system, Dojo.
Dojo, Tesla's AI-driven computing system, is central to training its autonomous driving models. It's seen as a game-changer, potentially adding substantial value to Tesla, as it could spearhead innovations like robotaxis and advanced network services.
While Tesla previously relied on NVIDIA for its chips, the company is gearing towards independence by developing its own AI-centric chips. These chips would be optimized for autonomous driving tasks, promising better energy efficiency and reduced costs.
Beyond car manufacturing, Tesla's endeavors, such as its supercharging network and potential applications of its AI-driven chips, could diversify its revenue streams, reinforcing its market position and value proposition.
AI chatbots were tasked to run a tech company. They built software in under 7 minutes — for less than $1.
(7 min read) (Source: Business Insider)
TLDR: A recent study by researchers from Brown University and Chinese universities shows that AI bots, specifically versions of OpenAI's ChatGPT, can manage a software development process with minimal human intervention. The experiment involved a fictitious company, ChatDev, broken into stages like designing, coding, and testing.
In this framework, AI bots took on roles like CEO and CTO, making decisions about programming languages, identifying bugs, and moving through each stage of software development while communicating with each other.
On average, the ChatDev model could complete a software development task in under seven minutes at a cost of less than one dollar. The study reported an 86.66% flawless execution rate for the generated software systems.
The study also acknowledged limitations such as biases and errors in the AI language models, suggesting these could be potential pitfalls in fully automating the software creation process.
Workers across industries have used generative AI tools like ChatGPT to save time and improve productivity, including coders and Amazon employees who used the technology for software development tasks.
Big Picture Statement: The increasing capabilities of AI in automating complex tasks like software development suggest a shift in the job market. As these technologies mature, businesses could prioritize employees skilled in managing and interpreting AI outputs over traditional software development skills, heralding a significant change in the nature of tech jobs.
👀 Interesting Reads
Deep Dives
Sundar Pichai interviewed on Google’s AI, Microsoft’s AI, OpenAI, and more AI (WIRED)
Sam Altman interviewed (In Good Company Podcast)
How AI generated voices are taking over the internet (The Verge Podcast)
Insightful Information
How AI agents are already simulating human civilization (VentureBeat)
MetaGPT: Complete Guide to the Best AI Agent Available Right Now (UniteAI)
Numenta launches brain-based NuPIC to make AI processing up to 100x more efficient (VentureBeat)
Intel Gaudi2 Looked To Be A Credible Alternative To Nvidia. Until… (Forbes)
Where Should Your Company Start with GenAI? (Harvard Business Review)
Scientists Are Beginning to Learn the Language of Bats and Bees Using AI (Scientific American Podcast)
Analysis and Critiques
Opinion | You hate AI for all the right reasons. Now reconsider. (Washington Post)
What is FOBO and why is it suddenly on the rise among college-educated workers? (Fast Company)
AI Chatbots Are Invading Your Local Government—and Making Everyone Nervous (WIRED)
The modern CEO job is completely broken — but AI could make executives useful again (Business Insider)
💰 Funding News
Google invests $20M in AI Research and Policy through their new Digital Futures Project initiative aimed at supporting researchers, exploring public policy solutions, and encouraging the responsible development of AI.
The grants will be provided to think tanks, academic, and non-profit institutions around the world. Some of the first recipients included the Aspen Institute, Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, MIT Work of the Future, and SeedAI.
Open Cosmos is a space tech company specializing in the build, launch, and operation of advanced satellites combined with AI-powered data analysis to simplify and democratize access to space and satellite data. They raised a $50M Series B led by ETF Partners, Trill Impact, and A&G.
Their OpenConstellation infrastructure monitors and provides data on greenhouse gasses, global temperatures, deforestation, natural disasters, polar ice caps, and sea levels amongst others.
Their end-to-end capabilities streamline mission complexity, reduce costs and timelines for orgs, and enable access to Earth Observation (EO) data, even for non-space entities.
Two companies specializing in AI-powered real-time credit underwriting solutions for banks and other financial institutions raise huge rounds to fuel expansion. Perfios raised a $229M Series D with Zopa Bank raising $93M in a debt financing round.
Pahdo Labs, a gaming company enabling players to create virtual worlds using AI tools for Anime RPG’s, raised $15M led by Andreessen Horowitz, w/ participation from Pear VC, BoxGroup, Long Journey Ventures, Neo, and Global Founders Capital.
Mathpresso, an edtech company known for its LLM and AI-powered learning platform tailored for K-12 students, raised an additional $8M, bringing total funding to approximately $130M. Previous investors include Google, GGV Capital, Goodwater Capital, and SoftBank Ventures Asia.
Mindtrip, an AI-native travel planning and booking platform that's simplifying travel using Large Language Models, raised a $7M Seed Round led by Costanoa Ventures.
Scala Biodesign, which specializes in protein engineering through AI-driven computational methods, raised a $5.5M Seed Round led by TLV Partners.
Protein structure prediction is combined w/ clinical data and observations to improve the practicality of existing drugs and accelerate the engineering of therapeutic molecules, potentially revolutionizing drug development.
DGTAL, a German SaaS company harnessing AI for claims audit and management, raised €3M led by 1750 Ventures.
Takes, a sports experience app leveraging generative AI to curate real-time game feeds and foster sports-related conversations, raised a $1.6M Seed Round, led by Riccardo Silva, a co-owner of professional sport teams AC Milan and Miami FC.