OpenAI's ChatGPT and other generative AI tools are taking center stage at this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. According to CNN and Axios, tech executives and others attending the event have openly discussed the rapidly rising technology and how AI will transform various industries. More: - Axios spoke with a major tech company CEO, who said that he couldn't have estimated even six months ago that generative AI tools and large language models would be the "game-changers" they've turned out to be.
- The publication writes that generative AI is capturing the public's imagination in a manner not seen since the arrival of the iPhone in 2007.
- "Everyone is still trying to make sense of just how these technologies will change how they live and work, with some incredibly excited, some fearful, and many just staying busy typing queries into ChatGPT," according to Axios reporter Ina Fried.
- Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, told CNN that he uses CharGPT every day to write emails and speeches.
- To Maggioncalda, the AI tool from OpenAI serves as "a writing assistant and as a thought partner."
- Speaking at the forum, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he sees generative AI technologies acting as copilots to users, "helping people do more with less."
AXIOS 
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The FBI is "deeply concerned" about China's potential to misuse AI technologies if left unchecked, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated during a panel session at the World Economic Forum. Wray said China's AI ambitions are based on massive amounts of sensitive data and intellectual property that Beijing has "stolen over the years." More: - According to Wray, China's AI program has been not been constrained by the rule of law.
- He voiced concerns that China could use its AI advancements to engage in intellectual property theft, hacking operations, and repression of dissidents, among other violations.
- "AI is a classic example of a technology where I have the same reaction every time," Wray said. "I think, 'Wow, we can do that?' And then I think, 'Oh God, they can do that.'"
- Wray echoed concerns expressed in a September report from the Special Competitive Studies Project. That report warned that the U.S. must maintain technological superiority over China in AI if it wants to prevent China from establishing global surveillance.
- America only has a "small lead" in AI, and China is catching up rapidly, it said. The U.S. and its allies must fortify and lead in these areas moving forward. If China wins, it will use the advancements in AI and other areas to boost its military, economy, and society in ways that will harm other countries, according to the report.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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 Tech companies have eliminated more than 37,000 positions so far this year, according to Layoffs.fyi data. Some of the layoffs have impacted companies in the AI space. If the trend continues, the job cuts would be on track to surpass the 154,000 tech layoffs that occurred during all of 2022. More: - So far in 2023, 122 tech companies have laid off a total of 37,526 employees.
- Microsoft announced yesterday that it's laying off 10,000 employees, or about 4.5% of its workforce.
- Also on Wednesday, Amazon began notifying workers about a new round of layoffs, which is part of an ongoing workforce reduction impacting 18,000 people.
- Earlier this month, voice AI tech firm SoundHound laid off nearly 50% of its remaining staff following a previous round of layoffs in November.
- And Scale AI, a data labeling company for AI projects, has also let go of 20% of its workforce this month, according to a company blog post.
REUTERS
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The developer of the video game Rocket League is cracking down on AI-powered bots that have overtaken the platform. Psyonix said it will monitor for bots and take action against accounts and players found to be using them. More: - In particular, a machine-learning-based bot called Netxo has been beating top players in online matches.
- Originally created by the RLGym community group as a training tool, the bot uses the AI approach known as reinforcement learning to achieve its results.
- It has become so advanced that it excels in the game's complex physics-based environment.
- Besides monitoring and banning accounts running the bot, Psyonix said it plans to roll out anti-cheating features soon.
Zoom-out: - It's not the first time an AI has excelled at a complex game. Nvidia's Minecraft-playing AI, also a reinforcement learning agent, is capable of performing actions in the game based on written commands without human involvement. The AI agent recently won an award at the 2022 NeurIPS (Neural Information Processing Systems) conference.
POLYGON
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M&A Roundup: - AI-powered tax search engine Bluetick has been acquired by Dutch company Sdu for an undisclosed amount.
- Pharmaceutics company Bayer has acquired AI-focused health-tech firm Blackford Analysis. Financial details weren't disclosed.
- Orfium acquired the British audio recognition service Soundmouse.
- Klue, an AI startup specializing in market intelligence for businesses, announced plans to acquire DoubleCheck Research, a provider of research and analysis services to B2B tech companies.
- AI-enabled support automation platform Capacity announced its purchase of Textel, a cloud-based texting platform. Capacity says the deal will allow it to expand into AI-powered SMS business texting features, enhancing the end-user customer experience.
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🍋 FRESH FUNDING 🍋 - Authenticx (Indiana), provides conversational software used to communicate with patients: $20M B led by Blue Heron Capital with participation from Beringea, Indiana Next Level Fund/50 South Capital Advisors, High Alpha, Mutual Capital Partners, Signal Peak Ventures, Allos Ventures, Elevate Ventures and M25.
- myInterview (Israel), a smart video interviewing software: $11M A led by Aleph, Entrée Capital, and Jesselson Capital, with participation from SeedIL Ventures, Digital Horizon, and Ocean Azul Partners.
- Metaplane (Massachusets), provides a data observability platform that helps companies save time when fixing bugs: $8.4M Growth led by Khosla Ventures with participation from Flybridge Ventures, Stage 2 Capital.
- Seek (New York), automates data analytics through AI: $7.5M Pre-Seed and Seed led by Conviction Partners, Battery Ventures, and angel investors.
- Iris (Norway), provides an AI-based engine for scientific text research: $2.1M Growth led by EIC Fund.
- Ahura AI (California), provides an AI-based skill learning platform: $5.6M Seed led by undisclosed investors.
For the latest on AI startup funding and more in the VC community, check out our Inside Venture Capital newsletter.
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- South Korea is investing $367M this year to train about 52,000 people in AI, the metaverse, cybersecurity, and other cutting-edge industries.
- A new AI-powered photo editor, Impossible Things, works natively inside Adobe Lightroom.
- Tel Aviv University researchers developed a robot that can identify certain smells using an algorithm.
- In an interview with Not A Bot, Mark Cuban praised the benefits of generative AI, saying the technology is "just in its infancy." The billionaire investor and AI enthusiast believes that in the future, "Time productivity will be defined by how well you can ask the right questions to get the appropriate answers from your models, and that will help all of my businesses."
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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