AI @ Noon | September 4

Bloomberg: Intel’s money woes throw Biden team’s chip strategy into turmoil

+ Chipmaker is actively reevaluating global manufacturing plans

+ Intel faces unclear path to biggest award from subsidy program

Texas lawmakers plan in August to unveil sweeping legislation ahead of the 2025 session that would have the Lone Star State join a growing list of states confronting potential threats from the use of artificial intelligence in the absence of congressional action.

All the news about SB 1047, California’s bid to govern AI The Verge

Companies’ AI bets are reaching astronomical heights. Why the C-Suite likes its odds anyway. The costs of adopting artificial intelligence are soaring, but so are some executives’ expectations. Steven Rosenbush

These new AI bots will do just about anything for you: Artificial intelligence-based assistants are here to take orders and book trips; they don’t need any help from humans. WSJ

Bloomberg: Long-time bull bails on ASML, warning AI potential overhyped

+ UBS analysts drop buy rating for first time since 2022

+ ASML shares slump Wednesday amid misgivings over tech hype

Nvidia’s share price slumped by 9.5% on Tuesday as part of a broader decline in American stock markets. The AI chipmaker shed nearly $300bn in market value in the biggest-ever single-day decline for an American firm.

Bloomberg: Nvidia joins $100 million funding for year-old Japan AI startup

+ New Enterprise, Khosla Ventures among those leading this round

+ Sakana AI has grown rapidly since its founding in 2023

Bloomberg: Nvidia, DuckDuckGo back AI search startup You dot com in new round

Bloomberg: Altman infrastructure plan aims to spend tens of billions in US

+ Global plan for AI would start with major push in the US

+ OpenAI’s CEO and deputies have been pitching global investors

Bloomberg: Andreessen Horowitz ditches Miami two years after opening office

Where art meets AI: The most beautiful human creations — art, music, poetry — are now in the hands of machines. Is it creative collaboration or an automated takeover. Tom Whipple

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

AI @ Noon | August 30

Russia’s military fears for its secrets after Telegram founder’s arrest: WSJ reports the platform has become a critical communications tool for Russian forces during the war in Ukraine.

Pressure on Macron over links to Telegram founder: The Times reports Pavel Durov has been charged with aiding and abetting crimes from child pornography to drug trafficking and money laundering.

Macron defends move to give Telegram's Pavel Durov a French passport: Le Monde reports speaking to reporters during a visit to Serbia on Thursday, the French president said he did not know that Durov would be coming to France.

Tech barons were untouchable. Then France came for Telegram: The prosecution of Pavel Durov reflects a growing divide between Europe and the US on free speech —  and freedom from crime. The Times

Telegram founder’s indictment thrusts encryption into the spotlight: The criminal charges against Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, raised concerns in Silicon Valley about encryption and the app’s approach to privacy and security. NYT

Pavel Durov and the limits of free speech: Telegram has failed to distinguish between the demands of autocratic regimes and legitimate democratic requests. John Thornhill

Dubai sets global standard for ethical use of AI: Guidelines highlight importance of moral considerations in evolving landscape. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori

Nations building their own AI models add to Nvidia's growing chip demand: Reuters reports nations building artificial intelligence models in their own languages are turning to Nvidia's adding to already booming demand as generative AI takes center stage for businesses and governments.

Elon Musk’s X braced for ban in Brazil amid fight with judge over accounts: FT reports the social media platform faced a deadline to comply with court order or be suspended in the Latin American country.

Bloomberg: Trump says he’ll announce a plan to make US the ‘crypto capital’

California AI bill passes State Assembly, pushing AI fight to Newsom: The bill, which seeks to make companies liable if their artificial intelligence harms people, is at the center of a debate over how to regulate the technology. WP

Contentious California AI bill passes legislature, awaits governor's signature Reuters

California’s divisive AI safety bill sets up tough decision for governor Gavin Newsom: State’s attempt to impose a regulatory framework on the fast-emerging technology has split opinion in Silicon Valley. FT

DC policy advisors engage in AI roundtable with DSU faculty: It’s likely that no matter what field you work in, AI is a huge part of the conversation as far as how your business is going to go forward. That’s why two senior advisors from the Center for AI Policy (CAIP) came to Madison to talk with researchers and faculty about how it can be used not only in academia but in government and business as well. Dakota News Now

+ Brian Waldrip, Government Relations Director for the Center of AI Policy, emphasized that the group wanted to learn from experts in South Dakota to address the needs particular to the region.

NYT: OpenAI in talks for deal that would value company at $100 billion

Apple, Nvidia are in talks to invest in OpenAI: WSJ reports the tech giants would join a multibillion-dollar funding round alongside Microsoft and Thrive Capital.

Apple in talks to invest in OpenAI: The Times reports the investment would be part of a new fundraising that would value the ChatGPT maker at more than $100 billion.

Google’s custom AI chatbots have arrived: The Verge you can create your own Gems — or chatbots — to help you plan gardens, edit your writing, create workout routines, and more.

WSJ: Nvidia can’t escape shadow of AI spending fears

Nvidia faces looming test on use of chips: When AI models go into widespread use in applications for consumers and businesses, demand may change. Richard Waters

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

AI @ Noon | August 29

China’s tech giants splash out on AI despite US restrictions: Capital spending doubles as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu buy processors and infrastructure behind the training of large language models. FT

The world’s call center capital is gripped by AI fever — and fear: The experiences of staff in the Philippines’ outsourcing industry are a preview of the challenges and choices coming soon to white-collar workers around the globe. Bloomberg

Elon Musk backs California bill to regulate AI: By backing the legislation, the bombastic tech billionaire breaks with some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful players. Politico

Why Texas Republicans are souring on crypto: Playing the state’s energy market has become more profitable than mining bitcoin. Economist

Is that voice real or AI? This startup says it can tell: Bloomberg reports Pindrop Security works with banks to identify spam calls — it’s coming to social media next. 

AP: Police officers are starting to use AI chatbots to write crime reports. Will they hold up in court?

Amazon aims to launch delayed AI Alexa subscription in October: WP reports the revamp of the voice assistant, which documents say will include a daily AI-generated news summary, would come just weeks before the US presidential election.

What all parents can learn from the troubled AI in Los Angeles schools: An education expert says schools fail to ask essential questions about AI for children: Does it work? And is it better than other alternatives? WP

AI doomers had their big moment: Did they waste it? Ross Andersen

The AI guys are driving themselves mad John Herrman

How would we even know if AI went rogue? An early warning system could help fix the dangerous information gap between Big Tech and the US. Vox

When AI’s outpost is a threat to AI itself: As AI-generated data becomes harder to detect, it’s increasingly likely to be ingested by future AI, leading to worse results. TheUpshot

'It looks like cat food': The grey goop dreamed up by artificial intelligence BBC

Nvidia rally mints millionaires too busy to bask in new wealth: Many of the chipmaker’s employees have grown rich but still face a stress-filled work life. Bloomberg

Chip challengers try to break Nvidia’s grip on AI market: FT reports companies such as Cerebras, d-Matrix and Groq are focusing on cheaper, more specialised products.

Hungry for clean energy, Facebook looks to a new type of geothermal: As electricity demand from data centers soars, Meta and Google are looking at a novel solution: harnessing clean heat far below Earth’s surface. NYT

Will AI ruin the planet or save the planet? It’s a notorious energy hog. But artificial intelligence can also foster innovation and discovery, and it could speed the global transition to cleaner power. NYT

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

AI @ Noon | August 28

China’s tech giants splash out on AI despite US restrictions: Capital spending doubles as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu buy processors and infrastructure behind the training of large language models. FT

The world’s call center capital is gripped by AI fever — and fear: The experiences of staff in the Philippines’ outsourcing industry are a preview of the challenges and choices coming soon to white-collar workers around the globe. Bloomberg

Elon Musk backs California bill to regulate AI: By backing the legislation, the bombastic tech billionaire breaks with some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful players. Politico

Why Texas Republicans are souring on crypto: Playing the state’s energy market has become more profitable than mining bitcoin. Economist

Is that voice real or AI? This startup says it can tell: Bloomberg reports Pindrop Security works with banks to identify spam calls — it’s coming to social media next. 

AP: Police officers are starting to use AI chatbots to write crime reports. Will they hold up in court?

Amazon aims to launch delayed AI Alexa subscription in October: WP reports the revamp of the voice assistant, which documents say will include a daily AI-generated news summary, would come just weeks before the US presidential election.

What all parents can learn from the troubled AI in Los Angeles schools: An education expert says schools fail to ask essential questions about AI for children: Does it work? And is it better than other alternatives? WP

AI doomers had their big moment: Did they waste it? Ross Andersen

The AI guys are driving themselves mad John Herrman

How would we even know if AI went rogue? An early warning system could help fix the dangerous information gap between Big Tech and the US. Vox

When AI’s outpost is a threat to AI itself: As AI-generated data becomes harder to detect, it’s increasingly likely to be ingested by future AI, leading to worse results. TheUpshot

'It looks like cat food': The grey goop dreamed up by artificial intelligence BBC

Nvidia rally mints millionaires too busy to bask in new wealth: Many of the chipmaker’s employees have grown rich but still face a stress-filled work life. Bloomberg

Chip challengers try to break Nvidia’s grip on AI market: FT reports companies such as Cerebras, d-Matrix and Groq are focusing on cheaper, more specialised products.

Hungry for clean energy, Facebook looks to a new type of geothermal: As electricity demand from data centers soars, Meta and Google are looking at a novel solution: harnessing clean heat far below Earth’s surface. NYT

Will AI ruin the planet or save the planet? It’s a notorious energy hog. But artificial intelligence can also foster innovation and discovery, and it could speed the global transition to cleaner power. NYT

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

AI @ Noon | August 26

Is Xi Jinping an AI doomer? China’s elite is split over artificial intelligence. Economist

Warnings AI tools used by government on UK public are ‘racist and biased’: Transparency campaigners welcome government move to publish details of system algorithms. Guardian

How AI is remaking Milan’s ice cream scene and driving a gelato boom: New technology is helping ice cream innovators turn the traditional industry on its head. The Times

High five: British technology companies set the pace in AI: The Times is profiling some of the UK’s most promising AI firms, exploring how they might revolutionise industries. Today, the creative sector. The Times

The future of the AI-enhanced classroom: New technology is poised to change the way students are taught and learn. FT - Editorial

Nvidia, a titan of microchips facing the first doubts about AI: The Californian company, which dominates the market, is facing questions from investors wondering whether it is profitable enough, and competition from its own clients including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Tesla. Le Monde

Apple explores robotics in search of life beyond the iPhone Bloomberg

Wednesday: Alibaba listing in Hong Kong.

Start-up incubator Y Combinator backs its first weapons firm: Investment in maker of ‘low-cost cruise missiles’ a sign of Silicon Valley’s shifting stance towards the arms industry. FT

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

AI @ Noon | August 23

Bloomberg:  Chinese imports of chip gear hit record $26 billion this year

+ China has been stockpiling ASML systems and foreign machinery

+ US and allies have been limiting China’s access to their tech

Why AI is next flashpoint in US-China tech rivalry Bloomberg

Nepal lifts TikTok ban after nine months.

AP: Company that sent AI calls mimicking Joe Biden to New Hampshire voters agrees to pay $1 million fine

The year of the AI election that wasn’t: More than 30 tech companies have pitched AI tools to political campaigns for November’s election. The campaigns have been wary. NYT

AI godfather fears regulators running out of time to take action: “Unfortunately, we may not have a decade to get this right.” Bloomberg

Google joins $250 million deal to support newsrooms in California: NYT reports the agreement includes $70 million from the state, which needs legislative approval. Some lawmakers objected, calling for a more comprehensive solution with tech companies.

This small-town Wyoming election could give us a preview of the future of AI in politics: A mayoral candidate in Gillette proposes letting an AI bot help run the city. With public confidence in government low and sinking, it may be something to look into. FC

We finally have a definition for open-source AI: Researchers have long disagreed over what constitutes open-source AI. An influential group has offered up an answer. Rhiannon Williams + James O'Donnell

Second patient in trial for Elon Musk’s Neuralink uses design software, videogames: The entrepreneur is in a race against rivals to wire the human brain. WSJ

An ‘AI scientist’ is inventing and running its own experiments: Letting programs learn through “open-ended” experimentation may unlock remarkable new capabilities, as well as new risks. Wired

Bloomberg: Baidu’s sales stall as it struggles to cash in on AI

Baidu's AI push fails to boost core revenue amid China's economic slump: Nikkei reports Chinese search engine leader's Q2 sales dip 0.4% on online marketing slide. 

How tech companies are obscuring AI’s real carbon footprint: Tech giants leading the AI race have found a way to conceal the climate impact of their growing electricity use: unbundled renewable energy certificates. Bloomberg

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

AI @ Noon | August 22

Mark Zuckerberg and Daniel Ek on why Europe should embrace open-source AI: It risks falling behind because of incoherent and complex regulation, say the two tech CEOs. Economist

Schumer optimistic about passing federal AI regulation this year: Mitigating AI risk remains top of mind for Democrats at the DNC, but the party remains mixed on exactly what that regulation should look like and how to hold tech companies responsible. WSJ

Big Tech may be focusing its lobbying push on the California AI safety bill’s last stop: Gavin Newsom: The bill, which requires makers of very large frontier models to establish and report AI safety guidelines, passed out of the appropriations committee last week. FC

Big Tech wants AI to be regulated. Why do they oppose a California AI bill? Reuters

OpenAI joins opposition to California AI safety bill: FT reports ChatGPT maker says legislation would harm innovation and stifle start-ups in the state.

OpenAI says California’s controversial AI bill will hurt innovation: The startup wrote a letter to California State Senator Scott Wiener opposing the legislation. Bloomberg

AI researchers call for ‘personhood credentials’ as bots get smarter: In the paper, published online last week but not yet peer-reviewed, a group of 32 researchers from OpenAI, Microsoft, Harvard and other institutions call on technologists and policymakers to develop new ways to verify humans without sacrificing people’s privacy or anonymity. They propose a system of “personhood credentials” by which people prove offline that they physically exist as humans and receive an encrypted credential that they can use to log in to a wide range of online services. WP

McAfee is announcing a new tool that helps users figure out whether the audio they are listening to in a video on YouTube, X or any other service is real or a deepfake.

CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm that caused a global computer outage with a glitch in its software update, has claimed its competitors have since launched ‘shady’ attacks to scare its customers away.

How we can harness AI to fulfill our potential: Visiting scholar Cornelia Walther explains the four assets you need to protect your personal agency and critical thinking skills as AI becomes a bigger part of our lives. K@W

How’s your mental fitness as a boss? Be ready for AI to weigh in: Artificial intelligence could soon be used to suggest executives are in cognitive decline—and help them ward off scrutiny. WSJ

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

AI @ Noon | August 21

The AI election nightmare is just beginning. Here’s how it could get worse Fortune

The Washington Post on Sunday published its first-ever story built on the work of a new AI tool called Haystacker that allows journalists to sift through large data sets — video, photo or text — to find newsworthy trends or patterns.

Bloomberg: Condé Nast, OpenAI strike multiyear partnership in new AI deal

AI initiatives would get $40M annually in draft California journalism bill agreement: Politico reports a draft agreement shared with Politico would see the state of California and Google form a public-private partnership supporting “democracy, journalism, and AI innovation.”

AI cheating is getting worse: Colleges still don’t have a plan. Ian Bogost

Authors sue Anthropic for copyright infringement over AI training: Reuters reports that three authors have filed a class-action lawsuit in California federal court against Anthropic. They say the company misused their books and hundreds of thousands of others to train its AI-powered chatbot Claude. 

OpenAI to let companies customize its most powerful AI model: The new feature for businesses debuts as competition for corporate clients escalates. Bloomberg

The case for appointing AI as your next COO: Technology has reached levels of sophistication and power unimaginable just a decade ago. Rupert Younger

A personalized brain pacemaker for Parkinson’s: In a new frontier for deep brain stimulation, researchers used AI to develop individualized algorithms, which helped a skateboarder and other patients with Parkinson’s disease. NYT

Sequoia Capital invested early in Google, Nvidia, and Apple. Can Roelof Botha keep the legendary venture capital firm ahead in the AI future? Fortune

Bloomberg: US adds most power generation in 21 years as AI demand surges

+ Capacity increased by most since 2003 in first half of 2024

+ Solar power leads planned additions seen to double by year-end

The world-changing ‘killer app’ for AI could be nuclear fusion Steven Cowley

Reuters: North America sees 70% jump in data center supply in construction, CBRE report says

I hate breakups – so I get ChatGPT to dump people for me  Alice Giddings

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc