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☕️ Money Moves in AI & Tech
AI Tangle Newsletter
Though the world of AI is off to a slow start with nothing major, there's still a wide array of funding projects, from SoftBank Group's ambitious $100 billion chip venture Izanagi to Ethiopia's questionable data center plans amid a Bitcoin surge. Meanwhile, Air Canada begrudgingly has to honor airline policies made up by its own bot, and Chinese EV manufacturer Xpeng is getting ready for a big AI push. Join us at AI Tangle as we untangle this week's early happenings.
7 QUICK HITS
With Altman's multi-trillion AI chip venture and many others like it, it's no secret that the world needs more and more AI chips. Now, doubling down on the surging AI industry, SoftBank Group's Masayoshi Son's next move is to raise $100 billion in funding to build a new AI chip venture to rival Nvidia. Nicknamed Izanagi, the venture would collaborate with chip producer Arm, a British semiconductor firm, and look for investors in the Middle East for about $70 billion of the $100 billion total, the remainder of which would be funded by SoftBank itself.
According to a Bloomberg report, Reddit, an American-founded forum social network, recently announced that the company will allow an "unnamed large AI company" access to its platform in a new licensing deal worth roughly $60 million, right ahead of Reddit's IPO plans in March. With the gathering of training data for models being such a hot topic recently, many see the large unnamed AI company's moves as a positive sign toward ethical training data.
He Xiaopeng, the CEO of electronic vehicle manufacturer Xpeng, said in a letter to employees on Sunday that the company would invest 3.5 billion Chinese yuan (or $486.2 million) in artificial intelligence technology focused on "intelligent driving" in addition to its current Xpilot driving assistance system, enabling some semi-autonomous functions. According to Xiaopeng, the company will also be adding 4,000 members to its workforce, warning that intense competition in the Chinese EV market could potentially lead to a "bloodbath."
In an ongoing case, after months of resisting, Air Canada was forced to honor the make-believe policies conjured by its AI-powered customer support chatbot. The 2022 incident revolves around Air Canada customer Jake Moffatt when he tried to ask the chatbot for information on how to qualify for bereavement fare for a last-minute trip. The chatbot claimed that Moffatt could apply for a refund retroactively as long as it was within 90 days of purchase. However, this did not line up with Air Canada's policies on the website, leading to a civil court case after the airline denied being liable for the mistakes of the chatbot.
Ethiopia has reportedly signed a preliminary agreement to develop infrastructure for data mining and artificial intelligence training operations with an estimated valuation of $250 million. This information comes from a social media post made by Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), which stated that the deal was struck with Hong Kong-based West Data Group, though references to both the valuation and company identity were removed afterward. However, despite the low energy cost attracting miners, many were quick to point out that Bitcoin and data mining cost vast amounts of electricity, which Ethiopia struggles with as 40% of its population still lacks access to electricity.
Over the next five years, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong stated that Singapore will be boosting its AI industry with a $740 million investment plan, which includes the secure implementation of the National AI Strategy 2.0. According to reports, such as the report from Google, Singapore has "very high" potential as a global hub for AI due to its environment that incentivizes innovation and its role in AI governance. "As AI adoption grows, consumers must be reassured that their data is safe and that technology is being used for good," said Abraham, Senior Vice President and GM of ASEAN at Salesforce.
In less than a year, OpenAI has almost tripled its valuation, from $27 billion last time to $80 billion now, after penning a deal between itself and Thrive Capital, an American venture capital firm, according to a report from the New York Times. The valuation comes right after the release of OpenAI's head-turning Sora, an AI-powered text-to-video tool that caused quite a stir online, both positive and negative, as users online debate the risks and use cases of such a capable tool.
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AI READ & WATCH
Beyond Deep Learning (4-min read)
Artificial general intelligence (AGI) has been looking more plausible as time passes, but it still seems far away. Some are starting to wonder that if humanity wishes to bridge the gap, it will have to go beyond deep learning.
Exciting Trends in Machine Learning (72-min watch)
Join the Chief Scientist at Google's DeepMind Research, Jeff Dean, as he discusses exciting AI and machine learning trends and goes into future use cases of the technology.