AI & Robot

OpenAI’s board of directors is reportedly discussing Sam Altman’s possible return as CEO. Bloomberg reports that Altman may transition to a board member role, with potential new board members including Adam D’Angelo and Bret Taylor. Other investors, such as Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital, are pushing for Altman’s return to resolve the management crisis. Altman’s abrupt dismissal of interim CEO Emmett Shear has caused turmoil within the company, with employees calling for the board’s resignation and Altman’s reinstatement. An independent investigation is also being conducted.

In this episode of the Equiti Podcast, the hosts discuss the recent turmoil in the AI market, particularly the OpenAI controversy. They delve into the potential impact on startup founders and the use of OpenAI technology. The episode also features expert opinions on the situation. Listen to the full episode on the Equiti Podcast website or subscribe on popular podcast platforms.

OpenAI President Greg Brockman announced new features for OpenAI’s product, including the availability of the voice narration feature on ChatGPT. This comes amidst the recent board shakeup and Brockman’s resignation. The voice feature, announced in September, allows users to generate human-like voices from text.

OpenAI recently announced the release of stable video diffusion AI models. These models generate stabilized videos and can be used for various applications such as education, creativity, and design. However, there are concerns about potential misuse, as the models do not have built-in content filters. The models are trained on a large dataset, but it is unclear whether copyright issues could arise. OpenAI is working on expanding the models and developing other tools, with the ultimate goal of commercializing stable video diffusion. The startup is facing financial challenges but is seeking new funding to support its growth.

Sam Altman, former OpenAI CEO, has returned to the high-profile AI startup after a dramatic reversal of his earlier dismissal. OpenAI, a valuable US startup, has reached an agreement with Altman, who will also reform the board and eliminate several members. Altman’s return and the board reforms aim to address the intense scrutiny and protests following recent decisions. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella expressed disappointment over OpenAI’s board decision and pledged to ensure Microsoft would not be surprised again. Altman stated his love for OpenAI and his commitment to the team’s mission, while also joining Microsoft. The move comes as OpenAI faces criticism and resignations from members and investors. Altman’s return and Microsoft’s investment aim to build a strong partnership and deliver value in the next generation of AI.

French startup Osium AI has raised $1 million in a seed round to develop its artificial intelligence technology for material science research. Osium AI aims to leverage AI across various industries, including cosmetics, by developing automated methodologies for material development. The startup’s proprietary technology uses a data-driven approach to predict physical properties of new materials based on a set of criteria. Osium AI’s solution has already gained interest from industrial companies looking to accelerate material analysis and development.

OpenAI announced the appointment of Bret Taylor, Larri Summers, and Adam D’Angelo to its new board of directors. The previous board faced controversy after the abrupt firing of Sam Altman as CEO. The new board members, including Taylor and D’Angelo, will support the company’s new initiatives. The composition of the board is still uncertain, and further clarification is awaited. The addition of Taylor, a former Salesforce co-CEO, and D’Angelo, the CEO of Quora, suggests a transitional rather than permanent board. The potential involvement of economist Summers raises questions about OpenAI’s relationship with tech giants and the need for governance and oversight.

Goshen Lab, an AI startup, has raised $100 million in a new funding round. The funding will be used to develop their AI products and expand their team. The company’s flagship product is a text generation AI tool called Studio, which offers a pay-as-you-go development platform for custom text-based business applications. Goshen Lab also sells access to their multilingual AI model called Wordtune. They compete with companies like OpenAI and offer a different approach to AI generation. Goshen Lab has gained traction with several Fortune 500 companies as clients. This funding round includes investments from Intel Capital and Comcast Ventures.

French startup Giskard has developed an open-source test framework for large language models to alert and mitigate risks such as bias, security holes, and the generation of harmful toxic content. The company aims to help AI model developers comply with regulations and avoid hefty fines. Giskard offers a test framework integrated with NLP models and also provides an AI quality hub for debugging and comparing model performance. The startup’s third product is a real-time monitoring tool to evaluate language models’ responses for issues like toxicity and fact-checking. Giskard plans to expand its offerings and cater to various regulatory use cases.

YouTube has announced new policies and tools to handle AI-generated content on its platform. The company will require creators to disclose if they have created or altered synthetic content that appears realistic, including videos made with AI tools. YouTube will also introduce new AI features to automatically label altered or synthetic content. The company warns creators to properly disclose the use of AI and failure to do so may result in penalties, including removal from the partner program. YouTube is also developing systems to address deepfake requests and AI-generated music. The company aims to protect its community and evolve its policies based on user feedback.

OpenAI has launched an API called ChatGPT, which provides real-time access to large language models. It aims to augment language models’ capabilities by giving them the ability to search the internet and provide up-to-date answers. The API allows developers to integrate the models and leverage a custom-built index to identify relevant snippets and summarize information. The API offers three flavors: web search, news search, and a combination of both. While the API has some limitations, OpenAI plans to improve and expand its functionality in the future. The API starts at $20 per month with a free trial available.

Celoni, a German process mining startup, has introduced a new AI feature called Copilot. It helps customers understand and optimize their workflows by visualizing processes in a subway-style map. The company also offers access to large language models and aims to make it easier for third-party partners to build applications on its platform. Celoni’s multiprong approach includes standardizing process data and combining it with scenario views to improve understanding and analysis. The company’s ecosystem and intelligent graph enable seamless connectivity and collaboration across departments and systems. Celoni’s Copilot is set to be released next year.

Meta’s parent company, iSteam, has launched a new AI-focused startup program called Station F. The goal of the program is to promote an open collaborative approach to AI development across the French technology world. This announcement comes amid growing regulatory concerns and conflicts in the open and closed AI realms. Meta, as one of the biggest players in the open-source AI space, has joined a call for open AI development, warning against excessive regulation that could concentrate power and harm competition. In line with its open-source ethos, Meta has chosen to partner with Scaleway, a European cloud infrastructure company, instead of major tech companies like Microsoft and Google. Startups chosen for the program will have access to Meta’s tools and resources.

Israeli startup Tabnine has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Telstra Ventures and participated by Atlassian Ventures, Elaia, and others. Tabnine offers an AI-powered code generation tool that assists developers in writing code and answering questions. The company aims to expand its code generation capabilities and build a global support team with the funding.

Ozon’s AI-powered video editor, Aipow, has launched in open beta. It aims to assist content creators by completing repetitive editing tasks in seconds. Ozon wants to provide creators with a tool to efficiently create engaging videos, without replacing human creativity. The platform offers advanced editing capabilities and plans to target both short-form and longer content creators. Ozon plans to add additional AI functions and expects to launch in a few months. The company will adopt a freemium business model, with individual and enterprise pricing options. Funding for the startup will be used to build and enhance the platform.

Startup company Flip AI has developed a language model-based product that automates the process of monitoring and troubleshooting system issues. The large language model is trained on DevOps data and can analyze data across different systems to quickly generate root cause analysis. The company aims to improve diversity in the tech job market and has received a $3 million seed investment led by Factory and Morgan Stanley.

AI-powered startup Sutro promises to transform the app development process by democratizing AI. It allows users to build entire production-ready apps in minutes, without the need for AI expertise. Sutro automates all aspects of app building, including necessary AI, product management, design, and hosting. Founded by Toma Halga, former CEO of a group chat app, and Owen Campbell-Moore, a former product manager at Google and Facebook, Sutro aims to simplify the creation of websites and apps by leveraging AI technology. It combines AI-powered code generation with a proprietary technology to handle the compilation and scaling of apps. Sutro’s platform enables product managers, market engineers, and data scientists to collaborate seamlessly in developing and deploying apps. The platform is currently in the early stages of development and is seeking interested parties for access.

Google’s AI-powered search experience, AIPow, is launching in select markets including the US, India, and Japan. It offers a conversational experience known as SGE, generating search results and supporting multiple languages. AIPow also includes features like translation and definitions. Google aims to expand the availability of AIPow and introduce new features in the future.

Mozilla recently acquired Fakespot, an AI startup that uses machine learning to identify fake and deceptive product reviews. Now, Mozilla has launched its first AI language model, LLM, which powers Fakespot’s chat AI agent. This agent helps online shoppers by answering their product-related questions and even suggesting questions they could use for product research. Ironically, AI is being used to combat the scourge of fake reviews, as many crafty individuals also use AI technology like GPT. According to a report, a number of Amazon product reviews are created transparently via ChatGPT. In July, TripAdvisor told The Guardian that they had already removed reviews they believed contained AI-generated text. The US Federal Trade Commission has proposed rules to ban fake product reviews, warning that AI could make the problem even worse. Fakespot also uses AI, including AI-generated technology, to make the online shopping process more trustworthy. For instance, they launched a feature called Pro/Con last year that could replace the need to read reviews by providing summaries of product features, positive and negative aspects. Mozilla’s AI chatbot, powered by Fakespot’s technology, allows shoppers to ask questions about products they are considering, similar to asking a salesperson for help in a physical store. This real-world technology uses AI and machine learning to sort through product reviews and determine if they are real or fake, providing users with informative chat sessions that save time and improve the shopping experience. Mozilla notes that users don’t need to

OpenAI has announced a data partnership program to improve its AI models. The program aims to collaborate with third-party organizations to build public and private datasets that can be used to train AI models. The company plans to collect large-scale datasets that reflect human society and are not easily accessible online. They will work with organizations to collect data across various modalities such as images, audio, and video. OpenAI also plans to create both open-source and private datasets to better understand different domains. However, there are concerns about bias and the commercial motivations behind this initiative.

A recent accident involving a self-driving car led to the suspension of autonomous vehicle operations in California. However, startup Ghost believes that its multimodal language model (LLM) could be the key to safer self-driving technology. Ghost’s LLM, developed in collaboration with OpenAI, utilizes AI to understand and generate text to control autonomous cars. While skeptics question the effectiveness of LLMs, Ghost argues that their model can interpret complex scenes and make better road decisions. Although there is still work to be done, Ghost’s LLM shows promise in improving the reliability and performance of autonomous vehicles.

Amazon announces the availability of CodeWhisper, a code generation tool that provides enhanced suggestions for app development with MongoDB. It adheres to best practices and enables developers to prototype quickly. CodeWhisper optimizes performance and accuracy, resulting in a better development experience for MongoDB-based applications on AWS.

German AI startup Aleph Alpha has raised a B fund round of $7 million from a consortium of seven new investors, as well as existing investors. The startup aims to implement AI in businesses while maintaining full sovereignty for its clients. The consortium is led by Innovationspark Artificial Intelligence (ipai) and includes companies like Lidl, Bosch Ventures, and SAP. With this funding, Aleph Alpha plans to become Europe’s largest AI cluster.

In this Equiti podcast episode, they discuss the latest tech news and headlines, including the stock market, crypto prices, and AI advancements. They also cover China’s unicorn companies, Elon Musk’s XAI service, and OpenSea’s staff cuts. Tune in for more updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Subscribe on various podcast platforms or visit the Equiti website.

Elon Musk’s AI startup, XAI, has developed a version of ChatGPT called Grok. It can answer questions and draw from a knowledge base. Musk has hinted at its release and mentioned a premium plan for access. XAI has also signed a contract with Oracle to train its AI model. Grok is a new and ambitious AI system that aims to understand the true nature of the universe.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced the launch of the AI Safety Institute, which will serve as a global hub for testing the safety of emerging AI technologies. The institute will be funded by the government, but it is unclear how much funding will be provided. Sunak emphasized the need for regulation to ensure the safe development of AI technologies and called for collaboration among countries to test and assess the risks associated with new AI models. The announcement was made during the AI Safety Summit, which was attended by various industry leaders and government representatives.

There is controversy surrounding the use of AI to resurrect John Lennon’s voice for the last Beatles record. AI’s imitation of artists is common on platforms like SoundCloud, but using the latest voice synthesis technology to mimic Lennon’s voice seems sketchy. However, in the making of a short film, the band used technology to isolate individual instruments and voices, leading to the development of a technology that allowed them to split the soundtrack into separate tracks based on machine learning. This technology has come a long way in the past year and can even remove vocal tracks from Lennon’s demos. While some may question the ethics, the group believes it brings closure and allows them to creatively honor their friend and creative partner.

Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized the importance of AI in the company’s recent investor call. He highlighted how features like person voice in voicemail and live transcript in voicemail are made possible by AI technology. Cook stated that while these features aren’t necessarily labeled as AI, they provide consumer benefits. He also confirmed that Apple is working on developing AI technologies and believes in its potential for future advancements. Additionally, Cook mentioned the possibility of AI in life-saving features like fall detection and ECG monitoring on Apple Watch. Apple has been investing heavily in AI development and aims to incorporate it into various products and services.

UK hosts AI safety summit at Bletchley Park. World political and corporate leaders gather to sign an open letter calling for an open approach to AI development. They argue that open and transparent access to AI is crucial to mitigate current and future harm. The debate between open and proprietary AI systems continues to grow, with concerns over concentration of power and potential dangers. The letter emphasizes the need for open models, increased public scrutiny, and collaboration to ensure AI’s safety and security.

HubSpot, a Boston-based CRM software maker, has announced its acquisition of data provider Clearbit. The deal will enhance HubSpot’s platform with third-party company data, expanding its customer base and providing actionable insights. Clearbit’s tools, including email and employee information hunting, will help companies better understand and vet leads. Clearbit’s technology will also enrich HubSpot’s lead, contact, and account data with public and proprietary information. The acquisition aligns with HubSpot’s mission to collect and use rich data to help companies grow.

AI-driven company, Cambrium, has raised millions to expand its operations and develop Novacol, a custom collagen derivative. This innovative protein structure could revolutionize skincare and fashion industries by providing a vegan and sustainable alternative to traditional collagen. Cambrium’s approach involves modifying and manufacturing proteins in a bioreactor, creating smaller and more effective molecules without the need for animal sourcing or invasive methods. The company aims to target high-value, low-volume industries like personal care and textiles, offering a more efficient and scalable solution.

The Biden administration has announced the details of a long-awaited executive order on AI. The order emphasizes the need for a response to the opportunities and risks of AI, but without legislative support, it may limit the involvement of experts and stakeholders. The order serves as a stopgap measure, urging voluntary practices and providing guidance, but comprehensive legislation is still needed to address potential risks and abuses. Setting up a federal agency dedicated to regulating AI technology may be the wisest approach.

Stellar and Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb’s new organization, Voltag Park, plans to build a data center with a capacity for AI projects. The center will utilize a cluster of NVIDIA GPUs worth an estimated half a billion dollars, making it one of the largest in the world. Voltag Park aims to unlock access to AI resources for startups and scale-ups, which often face limitations due to the scarcity and high cost of GPUs. The organization will operate as a for-profit subsidiary of the nonprofit Navig Fund, which will use its profits to support philanthropic missions.

The AI chatbot platform Poe has launched a monetization program for bot creators. At launch, creators can earn income through subscriptions and message fees. Quora, the popular Q&A site, aims to improve its AI chatbot capabilities and attract more users through this program, which allows smaller companies and AI research groups to reach the public. This move is seen as an opportunity to provide valuable services and generate revenue in the growing AI chatbot market.