OpenAI Hustles to Beat Google to Launch ‘Multimodal’ LLM Read more

Fortnite characters sporting Balenciaga outfits, a recent metaverse-forward partnership. Credit: Epic Games

Epic’s Metaverse Needs Mobile Eventually

By  |  Sept. 23, 2021 11:00 AM PDT
Photo: Fortnite characters sporting Balenciaga outfits, a recent metaverse-forward partnership. Credit: Epic Games

Fortnite won’t be coming back to iOS any time soon, and the outcome of Epic v. Apple doesn’t exactly augur well for Epic’s prospects of prevailing in its pending lawsuit with Google either. For now, as has been for over a year, Fortnite remains unavailable on either app store and without updates for those who already had it installed.

“So what?” you might think. Mobile only accounted for a relatively small percentage of Epic’s Fortnite revenue, so it’s not like the game risks dying off without those platforms. But Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is worried, with good reason, about what being locked out of the mobile market means for his ambitions in the metaverse—and in turn for Epic’s long term growth.

Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
OpenAI's Greg Brockman (left) and Google's Demis Hassabis (right). Photos by Getty.
AI Agenda google ai
OpenAI Hustles to Beat Google to Launch ‘Multimodal’ LLM
As fall approaches, Google and OpenAI are locked in a good ol’ fashioned software race, aiming to launch the next generation of large-language models: multimodal.
From left, a Google TPU, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian. Photos via Getty, Google and YouTube.
Exclusive google semiconductors
To Reduce AI Costs, Google Wants to Ditch Broadcom as Its TPU Server Chip Supplier
Google executives have extensively discussed dropping Broadcom as a supplier of artificial intelligence chips as early as 2027, according to a person with direct knowledge of the effort.
Art by Clark Miller.
space Twitter
The Trouble With Walter: In His Elon Musk Tome, the Writer Shows Us the Perils of Access Journalism
Walter Isaacson is the exotic bird of American letters, a charming and convivial bon vivant and raconteur, the life of many a dinner party, a studious biographer and a generous mentor.
Flexport founder Ryan Petersen. Photos via Getty and Flexport.
e-commerce
Can Ryan Petersen Fix Flexport?
Ryan Petersen was getting antsy. This March, Petersen had handed over the CEO job at Flexport—the logistics company he’d founded a decade earlier, which had ballooned to an $8 billion valuation in 2022—to veteran Amazon executive Dave Clark.
Photos via Eiso Kant (left) and YouTube/VMWare Tanzu (right)
AI Agenda startups ai
How GitHub Copilot’s Co-Creator Raised $126 Million to Compete with His Former Employer
Recent interest in artificial intelligence has focused on large-language models that aim to do everything from writing Shakespearean poetry to solving math riddles.
Art by Mike Sullivan.
The Flexicon culture
A Is for Adaptogens, B Is for Body Sculpting: A Trending-in-Silicon Valley Health Glossary
Last month, The Information Weekend conducted our first-ever Brain-Body Investment Survey , asking subscribers about their exercise, wellness and beauty practices.