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AI Agenda

By Stephanie Palazzolo

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Recent Editions

Photo via Getty

OpenAI’s Latest Rivals Are Getting Help From… OpenAI

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 5, 2024 9:51am PST

As artificial intelligence developers find it easier to catch up with OpenAI in reasoning than with traditional large language models—a topic Erin and I wrote about last week—they may be using a tried-and-true strategy.Researchers at OpenAI believe that some rival AI developers are training their reasoning models by using OpenAI’s o1 reasoning... As artificial intelligence developers find it easier to catch up with OpenAI in reasoning than...

Matt Garman delivers a keynote address during AWS re:Invent 2024. Photo by Getty.

Amazon’s Message to Nvidia and Anthropic; Andreessen Horowitz’s Latest AI Agent Bet

By Amir Efrati and Theo Wayt · Dec 4, 2024 7:00am PST

Amazon has relied on artificial intelligence from Anthropic and hardware from Nvidia to boost its cloud sales growth over the past two years. But at the company’s annual re:Invent conference on Tuesday, executives came out with swagger to change the narrative about how dependent it has been on these outside companies. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy... Amazon has relied on artificial intelligence from Anthropic and hardware from Nvidia to boost its...

AWS CEO, Matt Garman. Photo via Getty.

How AWS Can Move the Needle in AI; 2025’s AI Books

By Anissa Gardizy · Dec 3, 2024 7:00am PST

Amazon Web Services’ annual conference for customers kicks off this morning with products AWS Chief Matt Garman said would be “needle-moving.” But what happened to the products unveiled by AWS at last year’s re:Invent?A year ago, Garman’s predecessor, Adam Selipsky, tried to make a splash by unveiling an artificial intelligence chatbot and... Amazon Web Services’ annual conference for customers kicks off this morning with products AWS...

Mike Sullivan via Midjourney

Where AI Valuations Are Cheap

By Sri Muppidi and Rocket Drew · Dec 2, 2024 7:00am PST

Mike Sullivan via Midjourney

Where AI Valuations Are Cheap

By Sri Muppidi and Rocket Drew · Dec 2, 2024 7:00am PST

Some recent fundraisings, including for video generator Synthesia, have suggested valuations for AI startups are coming down to earth. But at 30 times next year’s revenue, you wouldn’t exactly call these deals cheap. You could, however, use that description for the startups that provide computing resources to AI developers.Take Lambda, a... Some recent fundraisings, including for video generator Synthesia, have suggested valuations for...

Photo via Getty.

Where OpenAI Sees Paying Customers for o1

By Aaron Holmes · Nov 27, 2024 7:00am PST

OpenAI has a first-mover advantage in a realm known as reasoning, or artificial intelligence capable of solving complex problems with little human oversight, as we reported this week. Now, the startup is moving to cash in on that headstart by selling its reasoning model, known as o1, to corporate customers. I talked with OpenAI chief... OpenAI has a first-mover advantage in a realm known as reasoning, or artificial intelligence...

The Reka AI team. Photo via Reka.

Google, OpenAI Snap Up Startup Founders; AI War Games

By Kalley Huang · Nov 26, 2024 8:00am PST

Earlier this year, a string of founders left their artificial intelligence startups for Google, Amazon and Microsoft after striking licensing deals with the technology giants. Now things are reversing: some founders lately have left their startups for bigger rivals after exploring—but not inking—acquisitions.On Monday, Justin Uberti, cofounder... Earlier this year, a string of founders left their artificial intelligence startups for Google,...

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Why Everyone Is Underestimating Reasoning Models

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Kalley Huang · Nov 25, 2024 7:00am PST

Some people in the artificial intelligence industry have been skeptical about whether reasoning models such as OpenAI’s o1 represent a paradigm shift. After all, the model hasn’t gotten much usage in ChatGPT. But these skeptics may not fully understand what reasoning models are actually good for.The queries that ChatGPT typically handles won’t... Some people in the artificial intelligence industry have been skeptical about whether reasoning...

Photo via Brave

The Startup Powering Perplexity, Meta's AI Search

By Kalley Huang · Nov 21, 2024 7:00am PST

Photo via Brave

The Startup Powering Perplexity, Meta's AI Search

By Kalley Huang · Nov 21, 2024 7:00am PST

There’s a lot of excitement around artificial intelligence disrupting search. Consumers and businesses increasingly use AI tools in lieu of traditional search engines such as Google. OpenAI has added search features to ChatGPT, Meta Platforms is crawling and indexing the web for its Meta AI chatbot and the AI search startup Perplexity is nearing... There’s a lot of excitement around artificial intelligence disrupting search. Consumers and...

Writer cofounders May Habib and Waseem Alshikh. Courtesy of Writer.

What If LLMs Could Continue Learning?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 20, 2024 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Here’s a question of paramount importance in AI: what if large language models could continue learning new information even after they’re done training? That’s the question that researchers at Writer, a $2 billion-valuation startup developing AI tools for enterprises, found themselves asking six months ago. Those researchers have now... Here’s a question of paramount importance in AI: what if large language models could continue...

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Is The End of Prompt Engineering Here?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 19, 2024 7:00am PST

Techies know well that coaxing a large language model to give you a good answer can feel a bit like tricking a toddler. Developers have been known to write, “if you don’t give me the correct answer, I will be fired” in their prompts—successfully. That led to “prompt engineering,” a side hustle for techies who wanted to make easy money by... Techies know well that coaxing a large language model to give you a good answer can feel a bit...

Anthropic’s Dario and Daniela Amodei. Photo via Getty.

Anthropic Beat OpenAI in Test of AI That Performs AI Research

By Rocket Drew · Nov 18, 2024 7:00am PST

Since the days of Alan Turing, artificial intelligence developers have been captivated by the prospect of AI powerful enough to improve itself. OpenAI, we recently reported, has already developed an internal AI “research assistant” tool to help its researchers work faster, a possible first step in the development of AI that can conduct AI... Since the days of Alan Turing, artificial intelligence developers have been captivated by the...

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How AI Researchers Are Rising Above Scaling Limits

By Kalley Huang, Rocket Drew and Jon Victor · Nov 14, 2024 7:00am PST

Photo via Getty

How AI Researchers Are Rising Above Scaling Limits

By Kalley Huang, Rocket Drew and Jon Victor · Nov 14, 2024 7:00am PST

Now that we know OpenAI isn’t the only artificial intelligence developer seeing a slowdown in improvements using traditional “scaling” methods, it’s worth looking at all the ways companies are trying to make up for that.There are tried and true methods to make large language models perform better, such as tweaking the parameters—settings that... Now that we know OpenAI isn’t the only artificial intelligence developer seeing a slowdown in...

Inside xAI's facility. Photo via YouTube/ServeTheHome.

Why Elon Musk’s AI Rivals Will Face Delays with Supercomputers

By Anissa Gardizy · Nov 13, 2024 7:00am PST · 2 comments

OpenAI and other artificial intelligence developers are scrambling to keep up with Elon Musk’s xAI startup in setting up data centers to develop new AI models. Among their tactics: flying a plane over his brand new Memphis AI datacenter so they can scrutinize how it was developed and powered, as I reported this morning. Now I’m hearing... OpenAI and other artificial intelligence developers are scrambling to keep up with Elon Musk’s...

Ex-CTO of OpenAI, Mira Murati. Photo via Getty

Ex-OpenAI CTO Murati’s New Team Takes Shape

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Erin Woo · Nov 12, 2024 7:30am PST

A month ago, we reported that former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati had begun to pitch current OpenAI staffers on joining her new venture. It seems like at least one OpenAI researcher has taken her up on her offer.Mianna Chen, a research program manager at OpenAI responsible for preparing AI models for release, has recently... A month ago, we reported that former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati had begun...

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Goodbye, GPT. Hello, Reasoning ‘O’

By Amir Efrati · Nov 11, 2024 7:00am PST · 4 comments

On Halloween, a Reddit user asked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman whether “GPT-5” was coming, as well as the full version of the company’s o1 reasoning model—a preview version of which went on sale seven weeks ago. In other words, when would the public see the company’s next flagship large language model? Altman answered, “we are prioritizing... On Halloween, a Reddit user asked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman whether “GPT-5” was coming, as well as...

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Expect AI Developers to Benefit from Energy Buildouts, Face Chip Uncertainty Under Trump, Experts Say; Are LLMs Reaching a Plateau?

By Kalley Huang · Nov 7, 2024 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Photo via Getty

Expect AI Developers to Benefit from Energy Buildouts, Face Chip Uncertainty Under Trump, Experts Say; Are LLMs Reaching a Plateau?

By Kalley Huang · Nov 7, 2024 7:00am PST · 1 comment

We don’t know how Donald Trump and his administration will handle open-source artificial intelligence, as Stephanie wrote on Wednesday. But AI developers in the U.S. should expect to benefit from easier access to more energy sources and face fresh uncertainty in the AI chip industry, policy experts said on a call with subscribers to The... We don’t know how Donald Trump and his administration will handle open-source artificial...

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The Battle Over Open-Source AI Will Be Settled in Trump’s Presidency

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 6, 2024 7:15am PST

Donald Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election has a lot of implications for AI. Some are clear: Trump has said he will repeal President Joe Biden’s AI executive order, which requires companies training large AI models to share information about them with the federal government. In another key area, though, Trump’s stance isn’t... Donald Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election has a lot of implications for AI. Some...

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Coding Assistants Are Great—But Flawed

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 5, 2024 7:00am PST · 3 comments

These days, venture capitalists, major artificial intelligence developers and cloud providers have zeroed in on AI-powered coding assistants as the killer product for large language models. But coding assistants aren’t perfect. It turns out that as they become ubiquitous, coding assistants are creating plenty of problems at companies that... These days, venture capitalists, major artificial intelligence developers and cloud providers...

Art by Midjourney/Mike Sullivan

Five New AI Hacks For Developers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 4, 2024 7:00am PST

Since generative AI exploded onto the scene two years ago with the release of ChatGPT, we’ve seen the rise and fall of various creative hacks developers have used to eke out better performance and lower costs from large language models. And over the past few months, I’ve seen a flurry of new tricks and hacks pop up in conversations with... Since generative AI exploded onto the scene two years ago with the release of ChatGPT, we’ve seen...

Shaun Maguire. Photo via Sequoia Capital.

Why Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire is Betting on a Year-Old AI Video Startup

By Aaron Holmes · Oct 31, 2024 7:00am PDT

Shaun Maguire. Photo via Sequoia Capital.

Why Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire is Betting on a Year-Old AI Video Startup

By Aaron Holmes · Oct 31, 2024 7:00am PDT

Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire has risen to prominence over the past year for his friendship with Elon Musk, which has helped the firm get in on highly-coveted rounds in SpaceX and X. Through X, Sequoia also stands to get a stake in xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence lab. Maguire’s latest bet is on Decart, a startup that one day hopes to... Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire has risen to prominence over the past year for his friendship with...