Nvidia Surpasses Apple, AI Whistleblowing
06 June 2024: Nvidia Surpasses Apple with 3 Trillion Market Share, AI Safety Alarms, FTC Probes Microsoft, Meta Faces Privacy Complaints, Google Launches AI Program
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Latest in AI,
1. 1-Minute Roundup
2. Headlines
3. AI Investment Deals
4. Infographic Of The Day
5. Others1-Minute Roundup
Headlines:
Nvidia surpasses Apple in market value, showcasing AI dominance at Computex 2024.
Former OpenAI employees warn about safety issues and suppression tactics.
AI Investment Deals:
WindBorne Systems secures $15M for AI weather models.
Tendertec raises £440K for AI-powered elderly care platform Hestia.
Carv receives a $10M investment for AI recruitment technology.
Neople expands AI customer support solutions with €6M funding.
Realm develops an AI-powered internal search engine with €1.7M.
Human Native AI raises £2.8M for ethical AI data marketplaces.
CaseMark aims to automate legal workflows with $1.7M funding.
Spike secures $3.5M for AI healthcare and digital health platform.
Keragon gains $3M for AI healthcare automation.
Thoughtly revolutionises contact centres with $3M for AI voice agents.
Saguaro Biosciences enhances AI-driven live cell reagent discoveries with $3M.
insoundz advances AI audio technology with $5M funding.
Cohere raises $450M, expanding AI data privacy offerings.
Others:
European advocacy group challenges Meta's AI project over privacy concerns.
FTC investigates Microsoft’s deal with Inflection AI for antitrust issues.
Google launched an AI startup program that focused on public infrastructure applications.
Simultaneous service disruption impacts ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.
Headlines
Nvidia Rise to $3 Trillion, Surpasses Apple & Steals the Show at Computex 2024
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and the company's AI dominance dominated the Computex tech conference, overshadowing rivals and highlighting Taiwan's crucial role in the AI supply chain. Amid the AI frenzy, geopolitical tensions were largely avoided.
Why it Matters: Nvidia's soaring prominence reflects the rapidly shifting tech landscape driven by generative AI, with Taiwan positioning itself as an indispensable AI supply chain hub.
Numbers:
With a market cap of $3.01 trillion, Nvidia now only trails Microsoft's $3.15 trillion.
Over 90% of AI-capable servers are made by Taiwanese firms
AI adoption is projected to boost Nvidia's valuation further
Nvidia’s stock is up over 140% this year and 200% over the last year; Nvidia shares have gained more than 3,300% in the previous five years
The stock's advance pushed Nvidia past Apple, making it the second-most-valuable company in the US stock market.
Backstory: Computex, the world's largest computing expo, witnessed Nvidia overshadowing rivals like Intel amid the AI boom, with Huang's star power and dominance in AI hardware/software.
Context: Taiwan's firms supply critical components for AI systems, making the island a strategic player as AI reshapes the tech industry.
Zoom Out: The frenzy around Nvidia and AI raises concerns about overreliance on a few players while highlighting Taiwan's pivotal role. However, Rival firms like AMD and Intel aim to challenge Nvidia's AI supremacy, while the vague concept of "AI PCs" revealed industry disagreements.Between the lines: Microsoft's pervasive presence, from Windows to partner collaborations, signalled its central role in steering the AI transition, reshaping the tech landscape.
AI Workers Escalate Warnings, Accuse Companies of Suppressing Dissent
Former OpenAI employees allege widespread safety failures and accuse the company of using tactics to silence whistleblowers, escalating calls for reforms to increase transparency and accountability in the AI industry.
Why it Matters: Lack of oversight coupled with potential existential risks from advanced AI systems necessitates measures to facilitate public scrutiny despite corporations' financial incentives.
Key Points:
Ex-OpenAI staffers spoke to NYTimes about perceived "egregious safety failings" at the company.
They accuse OpenAI of "hardball tactics" to prevent employees from raising alarms about AI risks.
Open letter calls for AI firms to enable anonymous whistleblowing and criticism without retaliation.
Between the Lines: Escalating employee activism highlights AI's rapid development, outpacing ethical considerations and fueling demands for public scrutiny before catastrophic risks materialise. However, companies have solid financial disincentives to embrace reforms, exposing them to backlash over insufficiently addressed AI dangers.AI Investment Deals
WindBorne Systems, a Palo Alto-based atmospheric sensing and AI weather model provider, raised $15M in Series A funding from Khosla Ventures.
Tendertec, a Cardiff-based company, raised £440K, led by the Development Bank of Wales, to enhance its AI-powered elderly care platform, Hestia.
Carv, a recruitment AI company, raised $10M in seed funding led by Global Founders Capital.
Neople, a Dutch software company, has raised €6M in funding led by Newion and Simon Capital to expand its AI-powered customer support solutions for e-commerce businesses.
Realm, founded by ex-Slush leaders, secures €1.7M to develop an AI-powered internal search engine.
Human Native AI raises £2.8m to develop a licensed AI data marketplace that provides ethical solutions for tech firms to train large language models legally.
CaseMark, a pioneer in legal generative AI workflows, secures $1.7M seed funding led by Gradient Ventures. to revolutionise legal work by automating time-consuming tasks and enabling legal professionals to focus on high-value activities.
Spike secured $3.5M in seed funding to develop its AI-powered platform. This platform enables healthcare and digital health businesses to safely and compliantly incorporate AI into their applications through white-labelled SDKs.
Keragon, a Boston-based provider of an AI-powered HIPAA-compliant healthcare automation platform, has raised $3M in funding led by Focal and Afore.
Thoughtly, a startup building AI voice agents for contact centres, secured $3M in seed funding to revolutionise the CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) industry by replacing human agents.
Saguaro Biosciences, a developer of live cell reagents for AI-enhanced discoveries, secured $3M in seed funding. To accelerate the commercial expansion of its groundbreaking ChromaLive™ platform.
insoundz secures $5M in funding to advance the development of its customised generative AI audio technology and expand its market presence in transforming B2B enterprise audio solutions for communications, gaming, and other commercial applications.
Cohere raises $450M in funding from investors like Nvidia and Salesforce Ventures, marking a jump in valuation to $5 billion as the generative AI company expands its enterprise data privacy-focused offerings.
Infographic Of The Day: Digital Nomad VISAS
Others
Meta’s AI Project Faces Privacy Complaints in Europe
Privacy-focused advocacy group Noyb-European Center for Digital Rights filed complaints against Meta’s AI project in 11 European countries, urging authorities to halt it before privacy policy changes take effect on June 26.
Meta asserts its AI project complies with privacy laws. Its practices are consistent with those of other tech companies despite the advocacy group's concerns over data usage and the lack of user opt-out options.
FTC Opens Antitrust Probe of Microsoft AI Deal
The FTC is investigating whether Microsoft's $650 million deal with Inflection AI was structured to avoid antitrust review, scrutinising its legality and competitive impact.
Civil subpoenas seek documents to determine if Microsoft’s hiring of Inflection's AI researchers without acquiring the company was an attempt to circumvent reporting requirements.
Google Launches AI Program for Public Infrastructure Startups
Google introduces a 12-week AI startup program focusing on public sector applications, offering hands-on training and industry connections.
Startups addressing areas like agriculture, energy, education, public safety, and more are encouraged to apply by June 17 to receive AI expertise and support from Google.
AI Outage Affects ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity Simultaneously
On 4th June, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude and Perplexity experienced simultaneous outages, causing widespread disruption.
The issue was resolved after several hours, with service gradually returning to normal for all three AI providers.
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From the increase in market value, one can see that Google's AI product development is lukewarm. It's unknown what big moves they might have up their sleeve in the future!