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| Welcome to the latest AI newsletter! Here are today's top stories: - Google has shared its Gemini large language model with select companies.
- AI startups dominate Y Combinator's summer cohort.
- The U.K. could restrict China's attendance at its upcoming AI Safety Summit.
If you find this newsletter useful, please consider sharing it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you! Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Google has granted early access to a handful of companies to try out Gemini, its next-generated series of large language models. According to The Information, Google is granting developers access to a large version of Gemini, but not the largest model, which would be comparable to OpenAI's GPT-4. More: - Gemini, built on the capabilities of DeepMind's AlphaGo AI system, will reportedly be multimodal, integrating text, images, and other data types.
- The series comprises large-language models that power chatbots, generate and summarize text, offer coding assistance, and generate images from user prompts.
- Gemini aims to combine the strengths of AlphaGo's decision-making with advanced language capabilities.
- Jeffrey Dean, Google's chief scientist, has stated that Gemini will use Google's new AI infrastructure, Pathways, to scale up training on diverse datasets.
- Google plans to offer Gemini to businesses via its Google Cloud Vertex AI service.
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| 2 | | Over 65% of Y Combinator's summer cohort of startups are building AI tools across various domains, according to Pitchbook. The news comes as generative AI startups in the early stages have experienced a substantial uptick in funding. For seed-stage startups, deal value almost doubled from Q1 to Q2 2023, Pitchbook data shows. 
What the numbers show: In Y Combinator's latest cohort, over a third of the selected companies are specifically focused on AI. Pitchbook reports that 134 startups, or around 65% of the summer cohort, are also developing AI tools in areas like healthcare, customer service, sales, coding, and gaming. Examples: According to TechCrunch, the latest batch includes AI infrastructure companies like Shadeform, which helps deploy AI workloads across cloud providers. Cerelyze translates AI research papers into code, while Sweep automates small development tasks. The bigger picture: Investors are anxious about missing out on an opportunity, resulting in fierce competition and significant capital flowing into untested AI startups. | | | |
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| 3 | | U.K. Prime Minster Rishi Sunak is considering restricting China's attendance at the U.K.'s upcoming AI Safety Summit, sources told The Guardian. While the U.K. government has invited China to the summit, London may only allow Chinese officials to attend the first day of the two-day event. More: - According to the sources, the restriction is partly due to concerns about China's espionage activites, not directly related to the arrest of a parliamentary researcher on suspicion of spying for China.
- Despite calls to exclude China from the U.K.'s AI Safety Summit, the government has reportedly invited China.
- A spokesperson for Downing Street emphasized the importance of engaging with China on AI and other issues, highlighting that "AI knows no borders."
Zoom out: - The AI Summit, set for Nov. 1-2 at Bletchley Park, will focus on the risks of AI, advanced frontier models, misinformation during elections, AI in warfare, and other topics.
- U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend on behalf of the U.S. Other attendees include French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
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| 4 | | Stronghold Games, licensor of the popular "Terraforming Mars" board game, disclosed its plans to use AI in new upgrades and expansions for the game. Stronghold revealed its AI usage on Kickstarter, which now requires campaigns to disclose any use of AI technology, including the amount and purpose. More: - According to Polygon, Stronghold's use of generative AI for the game's expansions has sparked outrage among some competitors and customers.
- According to the expansion's campaign page, the publisher has "and will continue to leverage AI-generated content in the development and delivery of this project."
- It says creators have used MidJourney, Fotor, and Adobe products alongside human illustrators, graphic designers, and marketers.
- While the game's components include a blend of human and AI-generated content, nothing is purely AI-generated, it noted.
Q: Do you think it's important for Kickstarter campaigns to disclose their use of AI technology? Share your thoughts and join the conversation here. | | | |
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| 5 | | The two largest U.S. funding rounds this week were directed at AI startups, according to Crunchbase data. Databricks, an AI-enhanced data analytics company, raised a more than $500M Series I round, while AI-powered drug discovery startup Generate Biomedicines nabbed $273M in Series C financing. More: - Databricks' funding round valued the company at $43B, up from $38B in 2021.
- Generate, which did not disclose its valuation, utilizes AI to replace trial-and-error in drug discovery, crafting novel protein-based therapeutics.
- Other U.S. startups in the top 10 for funding this week included Enfabrica, a developer of networking chips for AI workloads, which closed a $125M Series B round, and AI marketing startup Pixis, which secured an $85M Series C1.
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| 6 | | Weekly roundup — The top AI stories you might have missed this week: - Meta Platforms is reportedly developing a powerful AI model to compete with OpenAI's GPT-4, according to The Wall Street Journal. Meta is aggressively acquiring advanced AI training chips and building out its data centers to develop the chatbot for potential release next year.
- Tech leaders and lawmakers gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday to discuss AI regulation, with consensus on the need for rules but differing opinions on the approach. The closed-door forum, hosted by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, drew a number of tech leaders, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
- California Senator Scott Wiener proposed a state bill that seeks to regulate powerful generative AI models and require labs to test advanced models for safety risks. Wiener's newly unveiled SB 294, an intent bill, seeks to create a state agency to oversee responsible AI development. It would mandate transparency standards for advanced "frontier" model systems.
- Amazon launched a generative AI tool for sellers that generates product listing content based on a few words or sentences. Competing platforms like eBay and Shopify have also introduced generative AI tools for product listings and content creation.
- Databricks, an AI and data analytics software company, announced it secured over $500M in funding, valuing the company at $43B. The latest funding round has made Databricks the world's eighth most valuable private company, per Crunchbase data.
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- Microsoft's MSN news portal faced heavy criticism after publishing a seemingly AI-generated obituary article about former NBA player Brandon Hunter, who died unexpectedly Tuesday at age 42. The article was incoherent in parts and described Hunter as "useless" in the headline.
- Spain has formed Europe's first AI policy task force, the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA), to help shape a framework for AI regulation in the country.
- Microsoft's Bing Chat AI faced a widespread outage today, with users reporting connection errors preventing queries from going through. While the AI chatbot appeared to be working later in the day, there were still reports of "odd behavior" on the Bing Chat website.
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Term of the Day Customer relationship management: Customer relationship management (CRM) is a strategy for managing a company's interactions with its customers or potential customers. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation |
INSIDE AI LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is the writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters, with a career spanning journalism and editing since 2007. She has written for publications including The Arizona Republic, USA Today, and others, and authored a book on the solar industry in 2016. Reach out to her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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