24th Edition: 1/26/24
Test run alert! Please shoot me feedback on mechanics of this new Subtack format. This week's theme: Less compute-intensive SLMs, multi-modal functionality for base models, and AI-induced dreaming...
PNW AI News:
Microsoft is intensifying its efforts to create more efficient conversational AI models known as Small Language Models (SLMs), leveraging general context from LLMs but demanding significantly less compute
New study by GitClear, a Seattle-based developer analytics tool, suggests overreliance on GitHub Copilot to speed up production of new apps has detrimental impacts on code quality/fidelity
FTC investigates Amazon and Microsoft's respective investments in LLM operators Anthropic and OpenAI on antitrust premises for cloud/AI model partnership
MSFT surpasses $3T market cap for the first time ever, reflecting investor confidence in their leadership role in driving AI adoption
PNW AI Deal Flow:
Defined.ai (Seattle, WA) raised $3.6M in Convertible Debt from undisclosed investors
An intelligent data platform intended to offer efficient data workflows to collect, process, and enrich training data by combining crowdsourcing, tools, and ML - TFTD $79.6M
CEO: Daniela Braga
Beatdapp (Vancouver, BC) raised $17M in Series A funding from Jamie King and Larry Fichtner
Offers a AI-enabled tracking system that authenticates, verifies, and validates media streamed in real time - TCFTD $19.4M
CEO: Andrew Batey
Key AI Product Updates:
OpenAI is reducing API costs across several models, including the prominent GPT-3.5 Turbo, now more budget-friendly by 50% for input and 25% for output
Marks continuous "race to the bottom" trend for these general-purpose LLMs
OpenAI grants developers more control over API keys, including a text moderation API improving the censorship of harmful content in outputs
PropheticAI is revolutionizing tech-enabled lucid dreaming with its immersive Morpheus-1, pioneering multi-modal generative ultrasonic transformer designed to induce and sustain lucid dream states
Pika researchers published a new approach called RPG (Recaptioning, Planning, Generating), which uses its multimodal AI infra to enhance text-to-image models
Leveraging chain-of-thought reasoning and multimodal understanding, a step forward towards human-esque complex logical problem solving
Nvidia has introduced RTX Video HDR for its RTX GPUs, which employs AI to enhance low-resolution, highly compressed video to 4K by adding simulated detail that matches the scene
Google pushed out its latest Chrome update, introducing new experimental AI features including automatic tab grouping, custom theme generation, and writing assistance
MIT and Google researchers have introduced Health-LLM, a framework designed to adapt LLMs for health prediction tasks using data from wearable sensors in a HIPAA compliant manner
PayPal is gearing up to introduce a range of new AI-driven products, including a convenient one-click checkout option
Signal of pressure for legacy software systems to adopt AI point feature sets, even if lightweight
FuboTV launched "Instant Headlines," a feature that uses AI to generate 10-word summaries of news segments to help viewers decide what to watch in real-time
Key AI Business/Investment Updates:
Sam Altman has privately engaged with US lawmakers to discuss the expansion of advanced computer chip production onshore in the US And in Taiwan, including the construction of new semiconductor plants, and trade deals for the required semi-precious metals from South America (rather than China)
Google Cloud and Hugging Face announced a new partnership to advance open-source AI, with HF users now able to leverage Google infra to host models in the HF directory
AiDash raised $50M Series B to use AI on Planet Labs and BlackSky's satellite constellation earth imaging data to automate the detection of wildfires from space
ElevenLabs raised a $80M Series B at a $1.1B valuation from A16Z, Sequoia, Nat Friedman and more for its text-to-speech APIs for app developers, also revealing new products like a Dubbing Studio and Voice Library Marketplace
Brave integrated Mistral's open-source Mixtral 8x7B as the default LLM on both free and paid versions of its AI browser assistant Leo
Mistral adoption is really impressive in last 2 months. Low switching costs between models for app providers
Grayscale Investments' research spotlights the burgeoning synergy between AI and cryptocurrency, marking a transformative phase in blockchain applications
The European Commission has introduced "AI Factories" to try to propel AI innovation in Europe, which aim to be comprehensive hubs that will grant startups streamlined access to dedicated supercomputing resources
Google has settled a patent infringement lawsuit related to its AI features in Google Search and Gmail, avoiding a potential $1.67B in damages. Singular Computing claimed that Google had misused its computer-processing IP