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AI Agenda

By Stephanie Palazzolo

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Recent Editions

Photo via Getty.

How Real is the GPU Shortage?

By · Dec 11, 2023 7:57am PST

Startups have gone to extreme measures this year to get a hold of graphics processing units, the rare chips needed to train and run AI models. They’ve tried everything from raising capital from cloud providers like Microsoft, Google and Amazon to building bots that scour hyperscalers’ websites in search of open servers.One AI founder, though,... Startups have gone to extreme measures this year to get a hold of graphics processing units, the...

Google's London office. Photo by Anadolu Agency via Getty.

Why Gemini Probably Isn’t as Good as Google Says It Is; A New Open-Source Security Threat: AIJacking

By · Dec 7, 2023 7:15am PST

After months of build-up, developers were excited to finally see the long-awaited release of Google’s Gemini models yesterday. But their enthusiasm was tempered by the fact that the only model available right now is Gemini Nano, which you can guess means it’s small—so small it can run on Google’s Pixel phones. Developers have to wait until next... After months of build-up, developers were excited to finally see the long-awaited release of...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

A First Look at Google’s Gemini AI

By Jon Victor · Dec 6, 2023 7:00am PST

After months of anticipation, Google executives are sharing details about Gemini, its high-stakes effort to catch up to OpenAI. There’s a lot to talk about but the bottom line is that Google’s competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4 isn’t ready yet.Google today is letting developers sign up to access a miniature version of the model, named Gemini Nano, to... After months of anticipation, Google executives are sharing details about Gemini, its high-stakes...

Chart by Shane Burke.

All I Want For Christmas is GPUs

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 5, 2023 7:01am PST · 2 comments

Chart by Shane Burke.

All I Want For Christmas is GPUs

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 5, 2023 7:01am PST · 2 comments

If anyone knows anything about me, it’s that I’m terrible at giving gifts. But, if I were BFFs with any of the model developers, I’d know what would be at the top of their Christmas lists: AI chips.These pieces of specialized hardware—known as “graphics processing units'' in industry parlance—have been the hottest commodity of 2023, so much so... If anyone knows anything about me, it’s that I’m terrible at giving gifts. But, if I were BFFs...

Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky delivers a keynote address during AWS re:Invent 2023 on Nov. 28 in Las Vegas. Photo by Noah Berger/Getty.

What’s Missing From Amazon’s Big New AI Product; OpenAI’s Interest in Human Brain-Inspired Chips

By Anissa Gardizy · Dec 4, 2023 7:00am PST

Over the weekend, my colleagues Jon Victor and Amir Efrati reported that Google has scrapped the launch next week of Google’s would-be GPT-4 killer, Gemini, providing further evidence that the product has been delayed until 2024. Why? It’s just not ready yet and, according to the report, recently had trouble handling some non-English queries.... Over the weekend, my colleagues Jon Victor and Amir Efrati reported that Google has scrapped the...

Ahmed Rashad, founder and CEO of Sapien. Photo courtesy of Sapien.

An Ex-Executive of Scale AI is Taking On His Former Employer; A Stability-Amazon Showdown

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 30, 2023 7:46am PST · 2 comments

In the lucrative world of artificial intelligence, data are king. Model developers like OpenAI have inked multi-million dollar deals with companies such as The Associated Press to get access to hard-to-find data with which to train their AI models. And startups like Amsterdam-based Adaptive have landed eight-figure sums of capital just with the... In the lucrative world of artificial intelligence, data are king. Model developers like OpenAI...

Hugging Face CEO Clement Delangue departs the closed-door "AI Insight Forum" on Capitol Hill on Sept. 13. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty.

Hugging Face CEO on What Comes After Transformers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 29, 2023 8:10am PST

Clem Delangue‘s got some hot takes on AI, and he’s not afraid to share them.Yesterday, the cofounder and CEO of Hugging Face, a popular large-language model repository, joined the company’s chief ethics scientist Margaret Mitchell and head of global policy Irene Solaiman to share their thoughts during a press briefing on the past year of AI and... Clem Delangue‘s got some hot takes on AI, and he’s not afraid to share them.Yesterday, the...

Photo via Getty

Be Like Microsoft: How OpenAI Customers Bend the Rules to Save Money

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 28, 2023 7:15am PST

Photo via Getty

Be Like Microsoft: How OpenAI Customers Bend the Rules to Save Money

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 28, 2023 7:15am PST

This might not be at the top of Sam Altman’s priority list now that he’s back at OpenAI, but the CEO may soon have to deal with a looming threat to the business. Customers, such as fintech startup Ramp, are using OpenAI models like GPT-4 to customize cheaper-to-run open-source alternatives. Technically, that behavior goes against OpenAI’s... This might not be at the top of Sam Altman’s priority list now that he’s back at OpenAI, but the...

Gary Marcus. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Why OpenAI’s Breakthrough Isn’t a Harbinger for Humanity-Ending AGI

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 27, 2023 7:00am PST · 4 comments

OpenAI’s boardroom drama was barely resolved on Thanksgiving Eve last week when forums and news sites exploded in speculation at the implications of a scientific breakthrough that the company was reported to have made. A Reuters report suggested this discovery could “threaten humanity,” although our article was a tad more circumspect (you... OpenAI’s boardroom drama was barely resolved on Thanksgiving Eve last week when forums and...

Sam Altman on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 13. Photo by AP.

The Unknowns Left in the OpenAI Saga; A Silver Lining in Nvidia’s Blowout Earnings

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 22, 2023 8:00am PST · 3 comments

This morning, OpenAI employees, investors, customers (and exhausted tech reporters) woke up to the long-awaited news: Sam Altman’s back. The embattled CEO may have had to compromise on a few items to land his old gig back: His new board still includes Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, who was part of the old board that fired him in the first place,... This morning, OpenAI employees, investors, customers (and exhausted tech reporters) woke up to...

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic. Photo via YouTube/Microsoft Research.

Anthropic Goes It Alone

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 21, 2023 7:29am PST · 5 comments

Just when I thought the OpenAI saga couldn’t get any crazier, I learned last night that OpenAI’s board had approached Dario Amodei, the co-founder and CEO of its biggest startup rival Anthropic, about a potential merger of the two companies as part of an effort to persuade him to replace Sam Altman as CEO.The idea didn’t get very far. In fact,... Just when I thought the OpenAI saga couldn’t get any crazier, I learned last night that OpenAI’s...

Photo via Shutterstock.

The War Within OpenAI and What Comes Next

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 20, 2023 7:11am PST · 9 comments

Photo via Shutterstock.

The War Within OpenAI and What Comes Next

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 20, 2023 7:11am PST · 9 comments

What a weekend! The OpenAI drama continued on Monday morning, as Ilya Sutskever—OpenAI’s chief scientist and a key figure in former CEO Sam Altman’s firing—tweeted, “I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions.” Meanwhile, hundreds of OpenAI staffers, including Sutskever himself, reportedly signed an open letter threatening to quit... What a weekend! The OpenAI drama continued on Monday morning, as Ilya Sutskever—OpenAI’s chief...

Photo by Midjourney.

Regulation Drama in Silicon Valley; Why AI Agents Haven’t Lived Up To The Hype

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 16, 2023 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Before we get into today’s main topic, here’s a piece from our editor in chief Jessica Lessin and me that will be interesting if you’re into the drama of Silicon Valley and AI regulation.The article digs into the divisions between tech investors—well known to be an opinionated bunch—around how to regulate new AI technology. The most recent... Before we get into today’s main topic, here’s a piece from our editor in chief Jessica Lessin and...

Martian cofounders Etan Ginsberg and Shriyash Upadhyay. Photo courtesy of Martian.

NEA Leads Funding of Startup That Helps Customers Cut AI Costs; A Chinese Startup Seizes on Meta’s Open-Source Llama Model

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 15, 2023 7:20am PST

In September, I wrote about an emerging group of startups that help developers manage the exploding costs of AI. These companies figure out what tasks can be handled by cheap-to-use AI models so their customers don’t end up paying for a more expensive model from OpenAI that they don’t really need. There’s signs these companies have legs, at... In September, I wrote about an emerging group of startups that help developers manage the...

Puzzle cofounder and CEO Sasha Orloff. Photo courtesy of Puzzle.

Nvidia Steals AMD’s Thunder; The Generative AI Startup Hoping to Making Accounting Exciting Again

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 14, 2023 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Those who follow the fast-growing world of artificial intelligence chips may have noticed fanfare on Monday surrounding Nvidia’s new H200 AI chip, a successor to the vaunted H100 that everyone has been trying to get their hands on this year.But Nvidia’s announcement simply may have been an attempt to steal the spotlight from its biggest... Those who follow the fast-growing world of artificial intelligence chips may have noticed fanfare...

From left to right: Ross Weiner, Brandon Hightower and Alan Bressers. Photo courtesy of AXOM Partners.

The AI Talent Wars Heat Up; The Bankers Banking on AI Deals

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 13, 2023 7:00am PST

From left to right: Ross Weiner, Brandon Hightower and Alan Bressers. Photo courtesy of AXOM Partners.

The AI Talent Wars Heat Up; The Bankers Banking on AI Deals

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 13, 2023 7:00am PST

After reading my colleague Jon Victor’s piece Friday morning, I called up my 16-year-old brother to give him some career advice: Become an AI researcher.As Jon’s piece details, the market for AI talent is heating up, with recruiters from top companies like OpenAI and Google dangling lucrative compensation packages in front of AI researchers.... After reading my colleague Jon Victor’s piece Friday morning, I called up my 16-year-old brother...

Photo via Shutterstock.

AI Startups Raising Money From China Are Taking a Risk; Why a New OpenAI Product Costs $2 Million; Anthropic’s Lucrative Love Triangle

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 9, 2023 7:00am PST

The U.S. has increasingly restricted China’s ability to access American tech, but for now, Chinese investors are still free to ride the U.S.-led AI software wave. Partners at top Chinese VC firms including Sequoia Capital China, Source Code Capital and ZhenFund have been criss-crossing the U.S. and quietly taking minority stakes in all manner of... The U.S. has increasingly restricted China’s ability to access American tech, but for now,...

Photo by Midjourney.

Amazon’s ‘Olympus’ Model Faces Steep Odds; Nvidia Crushes Google in AI Chip Test

By Anissa Gardizy · Nov 8, 2023 8:05am PST

Amazon’s mostly male executives apparently aren’t among the large group of men who supposedly spend much of the day thinking about the ancient Roman Empire. Instead, the folks at Amazon Web Services have been more focused on Greek mythology—at least when it comes to the naming conventions of their AI models.After its first batch of models,... Amazon’s mostly male executives apparently aren’t among the large group of men who supposedly...

Photo by Getty.

OpenAI’s ‘Extinction Event’ For Other AI Startups

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 7, 2023 7:00am PST

Despite Elon Musk’s attempts to steal the spotlight, the AI community gave its undivided attention on Monday to OpenAI’s first-ever live event for developers and the press. The large-language model developer didn’t announce any mind-blowing research breakthroughs, but several of its product improvements undoubtedly will hurt some smaller,... Despite Elon Musk’s attempts to steal the spotlight, the AI community gave its undivided...

Elon Musk. Photo by Getty.

Musk’s ChatGPT Rival Isn’t as Smart as It Seems; Creators of a Key Open-Source Model Get Offer From Index Ventures

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Nov 6, 2023 7:00am PST

Elon Musk. Photo by Getty.

Musk’s ChatGPT Rival Isn’t as Smart as It Seems; Creators of a Key Open-Source Model Get Offer From Index Ventures

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Nov 6, 2023 7:00am PST

Elon Musk finally unveiled his alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which he developed because he felt it was too woke, as my colleagues first revealed eight months ago. Why do it on a Sunday? Perhaps because OpenAI’s Dev Day event in San Francisco is this morning, and Musk’s xAI team was hoping to upstage it. (Musk also doesn’t distinguish between... Elon Musk finally unveiled his alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which he developed because he...