☕️ Intel Slumps Further and Further Following Q2 Earnings Failure

Intel faces massive challenges after missing targets for quarterly earnings with plans to reduce its workforce by 15% in preparation for a historic share price dip. Other key takeaways of the week include:

• OpenAI has finally begun rolling out its "advanced voice mode" to ChatGPT subscribers

• Perplexity releases its "Publisher's Program" to share its ad revenue stream after being accused of plagiarism

• Generative AI music startup Suno fights back against major record labels amidst a massive lawsuit

Join us at AI Tangle as we untangle this week's happenings in AI!

Intel faces major hurdles as it plans to lay off 15,000 employees following weak quarterly earnings

Tech industry leader Intel recently slumped massively after reporting it missed its Q2 earnings goals. Compared to the previous quarters' loss of "just" $437 million, Intel lost a whopping $1.6 billion this time around, as Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger says the company hasn't "fully benefitted" from powerful trends, like AI, yet. This has prompted the company to downsize the company's workforce by 15% by 2025 as part of a new $10 billion cost savings plan, meaning a headcount loss of approximately 15,000.

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​And Intel's stock is set for a historic downfall, too​

Following Intel's quarterly guidance miss and its downsizing plans, the premarket state of Intel's stock price has taken a turn for the worse, being down 21.5% as of writing, the largest drop in its share price in 24 years. Despite being at the forefront of PC chip development, recent slumps, including the ​categorical failure of its 13th and 14th-generation processors​, have allowed chip competitors like TSMC and CPU competitors like AMD to pull massively ahead, leaving Intel struggling to catch up.

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OpenAI's long-awaited "advanced voice mode" finally begins rolling out to ChatGPT subscribers

After many delays, the long-waited advanced voice mode for ChatGPT has finally started to roll out. The feature, showcased at the GPT-4o launch event in May this year, allows more dynamic interactions, including handling interruptions and adjusting responses. The voice mode will use preset voices created with voice actors to prevent the impersonation of individuals or celebrities. Though initially available to just ChatGPT Plus subscribers, the company plans to make the new mode available to all ChatGPT Plus users by fall.

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Perplexity debuts a program to give publishers a cut of its search engine's ad revenue following plagiarism accusations

Perplexity, an AI search engine currently facing accusations of plagiarism, is launching a program to share ad revenue with publishers like Time and Fortune. The aptly named "Publisher's Program" gives publishers a cut of the ad revenue for their content used in search results, along with other perks. This comes after Forbes threatened legal action over Perplexity using their content without permission, but Perplexity's chief business officer Dmitry Shevelenko says the company started work on this program in January and denies wrongdoing, though it understands the need to build trust with publishers.

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Prominent AI music startup Suno states training AI on copyrighted music is completely "fair use"

After being dragged into court by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), along with fellow GenAI music company Udio, Suno fights back by saying that training AI with copyrighted music is "fair use." The company states that RIAA is using copyright lawsuits to fend off competition from generative AI music companies in fear of losing market share. CEO and co-founder Mikey Shulman added: "Learning is not infringing. It never has been, and it is now." However, RIAA did not let the claims go lightly, saying that Suno only admitted to unlicensed copying after being threatened via lawsuit after spending months hiding it.

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OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman vows to give the US AI Safety Institute early access to its next model

A recent X/Twitter post by OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman says that the company has been in close ties with the US AI Safety Institute to develop security constraints for its next foundational model. Though details are scarce, the post also aims to counter the belief that OpenAI has been deprioritizing AI safety as of late, stating that they are "committed to allocating at least 20% of the computing resources to safety efforts across the entire company." However, many critics dismiss Altman's words as "cheap talk," with many additionally pointing out that the convenient timing of OpenAI endorsing an AI senate bill is a little suspicious.

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Reddit blocks Microsoft from searching its site, CEO says companies need to pay for the privilege

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is defending the platform's recent decision to block companies from scraping its content without an AI agreement, which includes the likes of Microsoft, Anthropic, and Perplexity. Huffman heavily emphasizes that Reddit needs control over how its data is used and displayed - if tech companies and search engines want Reddit's data, they need to seek a deal with the company. One example is Google which, in February this year, signed a $60 million/year AI training deal with Reddit along with an undisclosed deal between Reddit and OpenAI, too.

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Intelmatix raises $20 million in Series A funding to help MENA businesses get a foothold in AI-powered decision-making

Saudi Arabia-based startup Intelmatix has recently secured $20 million in Series A funding to expand its enterprise AI platform, EDIX, across the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. The EDIX platform aims to simplify AI adoption for businesses by providing tailor-made solutions while addressing the region's unique challenges. Intelmatix says that the funding will go towards its plans to target medium and small businesses to help them leverage AI for better decision-making, from supply chain optimization to workforce management.

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AI-powered recruitment startup Tezi raises $9 million in seed funding

Hailing from California, the autonomous AI-powered recruiting startup Tezi recently announced a successful round of seed funding, raking in a total of $9 million. Led by venture firms 8VC and Audacious Ventures, the company plans to use the newly acquired funds to expand operations and poise itself for a launch in fall 2024. The company's selling point, Max, an autonomous AI recruiter, uses natural language and training data from top hiring managers and recruiters to lead the end-to-end recruiting process.

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What EU's AI Act Means For US Giants (6-min read)

The EU's AI Act, a groundbreaking regulation for AI, is now in force, posing significant challenges for US tech giants. By setting strict rules for high-risk AI applications and generative AI to try to mitigate AI's negative impacts, how will this affect companies like Google, Microsoft, and Meta?

Building A Machine God (69-min watch)

Join professor and co-director of the Generative AI Lab at Wharton, Ethan Mollick, at an interview at 20VC as they discuss some of the world's poorest understandings of the AI space, why OpenAI abandons projects and the opportunities they've missed, and why scale alone won't fix the issues AI has.