OpenAI reportedly in talks to close a new funding round at $100B+ valuation (2 minute read)
OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise funds at a valuation of more than $100 billion, substantially higher than the company's previous $86 billion valuation. Investors include Thrive Capital and Microsoft. The financing will be OpenAI's biggest outside infusion of capital since Microsoft invested nearly $10 billion in January last year. While OpenAI's revenue eclipsed $3.4 billion early this year, the company is on track to lose nearly $5 billion by year end. It has already burned through $8.5 billion on AI training and staffing.
Sparks are flying day and night as SpaceX preps Starship pad to catch a rocket (8 minute read)
Workers have been making last-minute upgrades to SpaceX's Starship launch pad in South Texas pretty much every day for the last couple of weeks. If all goes well on the Starship's next test flight, the launch pad's mechanical arms will close together to capture the Super Heavy booster as it descends back to Earth. SpaceX announced that Starship and Super Heavy were ready to fly, pending regulatory approval, on August 8. The FAA is still evaluating SpaceX's proposed flight profile. It is unclear how long approval will take, but the state of the launch pad suggests that the next test is still at least a couple of weeks away.
AI Inference Competition Heats Up (6 minute read)
The competition for AI inference is heating up, particularly in terms of power efficiency. ML Commons has released the results of its latest AI inferencing competition. The round included first-time submissions from teams using AMD Instinct accelerators, the latest Google Trillium accelerators, chips from Untether AI, and Nvidia's new Blackwell chip. This article looks at the results - while Nvidia's chips are still ahead in many categories, chips from other manufacturers are starting to catch up.
Programming With ChatGPT (4 minute read)
Using ChatGPT to code can be a real productivity boost. Instead of reading examples on Stack Overflow and adapting them to their particular case, developers can instantly get code tailored to their specific needs. It can make developers more efficient, but they need to remember that it is still a tool. It is important to always test the code it provides to quickly discover any hallucinations.
Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long? (Hacker News Thread)
Some engineers are worried that staying in one job too long might restrict their growth, but there are ways around that.
Apple, Nvidia Are in Talks to Invest in OpenAI (3 minute read)
Apple and Nvidia are in talks to invest in OpenAI as part of a fundraising round that would value OpenAI at above $100 billion. It is an unusual move for Apple, as the company doesn't usually invest in startups. Nvidia has stepped up its investment activity in the past two years, putting its money into AI-related companies. OpenAI is one of the largest users of Nvidia's AI chips.
California legislature passes controversial “kill switch” AI safety bill (3 minute read)
SB-1047 passed the California State Assembly by a 45-11 vote. It now faces just one more procedural state Senate vote before heading to the governor's desk. The bill asks AI model creators to implement a 'kill switch' that can be activated if a model starts introducing novel threats to public safety and security. It has been criticized for focusing on risks from an imagined future AI rather than real present-day harms like deepfakes or misinformation.
Bypassing airport security via SQL injection (5 minute read)
This post describes the process of discovering a bug that allowed anyone with a basic knowledge of SQL injection to add anyone they wanted to airport security systems.
Amazon to Launch New AI-Powered Alexa Using Anthropic's Claude (3 minute read)
Amazon will release a revamped version of its Alexa voice assistant in October. It will be powered by AI models from Anthropic's Claude rather than Amazon's own in-house AI technology, as Amazon's internal software reportedly struggled with performance issues during initial testing. The new Alexa will enable users to engage in more complex, context-aware conversations with the assistant. Amazon plans to offer the upgraded Alexa as a paid subscription service, separate from existing Prime memberships, with pricing likely to be between $5 to $10 per month.
Ozempic could delay ageing, researchers suggest (3 minute read)
Semaglutide could be used to slow down the process of aging. A study tracking people aged 45 or older who were overweight and had cardiovascular disease but not diabetes found that those who took the drug died at a lower rate from all causes. It also improved heart failure symptoms and cut levels of inflammation regardless of whether or not people lost weight. The study reinforces the theory that being overweight increases the risk of death due to many etiologies.
De-extinction science has advanced dramatically in the past two decades. The technology has progressed to the point that it's more of an ethical question whether we should revive lost species. While some companies want to bring back extinct animals to enrich biodiversity, replenish vital ecological roles, and bolster ecosystem resilience, scientists are not convinced that bringing back creatures that died out centuries or millennia ago would offer as much benefit as preserving the ones that are still hanging on. This article takes a look at the current technologies and the possible consequences that de-extinction may have on the climate and other animals.
How Do You Change a Chatbot's Mind? (16 minute read)
Today's AI may seem harmless, but these systems are being woven into society in ways that may be hard to untangle. It could be problematic for people if AI has somehow trained a bias against them, for example, a person whose name was associated with a negative event may be unfairly discriminated against by other chatbots. Chatbots are highly suggestible - if people add text on the internet and it gets memorized, it's memorialized in the language model.
The tech labor market in the 21st century went from cold to overheated over the span of many years - it wasn't sudden. Tech firms have now changed significantly as these companies are starting to prioritize cash flow. The operating environment has changed from one that accepts a high tolerance for failure to one with very low, if not zero, tolerance for failure. Tech must now operate within financial constraints with very little room for negotiation.
Nvidia Gets DOJ Subpoena in Escalating Antitrust Probe (4 minute read)
The US Department of Justice has sent subpoenas to Nvidia and other companies seeking evidence that the chipmaker violated antitrust laws. Antitrust officials are concerned that Nvidia is making it harder to switch to other suppliers and penalizing buyers that don't exclusively use its artificial intelligence chips. Nvidia claims that its market dominance stems from the quality of its products. The company prioritizes customers who can make use of its products in ready-to-go data centers as soon as they're provided to prevent stockpiling and to speed up the broader adoption of AI.
Microsoft Rolled Out AI PCs That Can't Play Top Games—and There's No Quick Fix (5 minute read)
The Copilot+ PCs that Microsoft and its partners rolled out this Spring use Qualcomm's Arm-based chips, which aren't compatible with many leading video games.