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By Stephanie Palazzolo

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Recent Editions

Character.AI cofounders Noam Shazeer and Daniel de Freitas. Photo by Winni Wintermeyer/The Washington Post via Getty. Art by Shane Burke.

What OpenAI’s Previous Talks with Character Say About Its M&A Strategy

By Kalley Huang · Aug 15, 2024 7:00am PDT

Over the past several months, Character.AI seemed to talk to every big tech company about some sort of partnership or acquisition. In the end, its cofounders, Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, and some researchers landed at Google. But Character had another previously unmentioned suitor: OpenAI. Over the past several months, Character.AI seemed to talk to every big tech company about some...

The Google Pixel Buds Pro 2. Photo by Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty

Google Beats Apple and OpenAI To the Punch

By Erin Woo · Aug 14, 2024 9:16am PDT

In tech, hype can only carry you so far. That’s one lesson from Google’s new product presentation on Tuesday, when it announced a flurry of updates to its devices that competitors like Apple and OpenAI have been talking about (but not shipping) for months.First, Google beat its rivals to launching an AI-powered voice assistant that’s flexible... In tech, hype can only carry you so far. That’s one lesson from Google’s new product presentation...

OpenAI Chief Scientist, Jakub Pachocki. Photo via YouTube/ICPC News.

The Rising Guard at OpenAI

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 13, 2024 7:00am PDT

OpenAI’s upper management has been a bit of a revolving door lately. The last few months have seen a number of high-profile departures—both permanent and temporary—from the ChatGPT maker, including two cofounders, a product exec, a safety leader and a former board member, and even more internal reorgs.Already, though, others have risen to fill... OpenAI’s upper management has been a bit of a revolving door lately. The last few months have...

Photo via Getty

The New Fake Math of AI Startup ARR: Not So Annual, Not So Recurring

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 12, 2024 7:00am PDT

Photo via Getty

The New Fake Math of AI Startup ARR: Not So Annual, Not So Recurring

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 12, 2024 7:00am PDT

Being a venture capitalist investing in AI startups these days isn’t that different from being a detective. Much of the job, VCs tell me, is sniffing out the BS and separating it from reality.Nowhere is that more true than when analyzing startups’ top lines. We’ve talked in the past about how some AI startups are pitching investors on their... Being a venture capitalist investing in AI startups these days isn’t that different from being a...

Vlad Tenev, co-founder and CEO of Robinhood and co-founder of Harmonic. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Sequoia Capital Has Discussed Funding AI Reasoning Startup Cofounded by Robinhood CEO

By Jon Victor · Aug 8, 2024 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

One of the newest entrants in the race to develop artificial intelligence that can reason through problems is about to raise a bunch more money. Harmonic, a startup cofounded last year by Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and self-driving vehicle entrepreneur Tudor Achim, has been in talks to raise funding from investors including Sequoia Capital... One of the newest entrants in the race to develop artificial intelligence that can reason through...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

OpenAI Makes a $60 Million Hardware Startup Bet

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Kate Clark · Aug 7, 2024 7:00am PDT

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has long been interested in building an AI-powered device for consumers, similar to the one featured in Spike Jonze’s movie “Her.” He’s personally invested in wearable AI pin startup Humane and separately worked with ex-Apple designer Jony Ive on a personal AI device.Now OpenAI startup's fund, which invests in promising AI... OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has long been interested in building an AI-powered device for consumers,...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Nvidia’s GPUs Have a Weakness: Video Generation

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 6, 2024 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

There’s no question that Nvidia has benefitted the most from the AI wave so far. So much so, in fact, that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating complaints that the chipmaker is engaging in anticompetitive behavior, Anissa, Amir and I reported last week.But luckily for the host of rivals hoping to take a slice of Nvidia’s lucrative... There’s no question that Nvidia has benefitted the most from the AI wave so far. So much so, in...

Character AI co-founders Daniel De Freitas and Noam Shazeer. Photos by Winni Wintermeyer for The Washington Post via Getty.

Did Google Just Pay $2.5 Billion to Hire Character’s CEO?

By Amir Efrati and Kalley Huang · Aug 5, 2024 7:20am PDT · 5 comments

Character AI co-founders Daniel De Freitas and Noam Shazeer. Photos by Winni Wintermeyer for The Washington Post via Getty.

Did Google Just Pay $2.5 Billion to Hire Character’s CEO?

By Amir Efrati and Kalley Huang · Aug 5, 2024 7:20am PDT · 5 comments

Google may have just paid one of the biggest signing bonuses in the history of Silicon Valley to hire two artificial intelligence researchers who left the search giant three years ago. On Friday, after chatbot developer Character announced that its founders and some other employees were going back to Google, Character told its roughly 130... Google may have just paid one of the biggest signing bonuses in the history of Silicon Valley to...

Photo via AP.

XAI Eyes Chatbot Maker Character.AI; Meta Spends Big on AI—Now, How Can It Make Money?

By Kalley Huang · Aug 1, 2024 7:00am PDT

The big fish of artificial intelligence are again circling a minnow. Elon Musk’s xAI has considered buying Character.AI, which makes chatbots for hyperrealistic roleplay, my colleagues Natasha and Stephanie and I reported yesterday. Such a purchase would give xAI new avenues for testing and improving its models, as well as additional... The big fish of artificial intelligence are again circling a minnow. Elon Musk’s xAI has...

Photo via Getty.

How an Old Google Search Trick is Solving AI Hallucinations

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 31, 2024 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

If you’ve kept up with this newsletter, you’ve likely learned a lot about retrieval augmented generation, a commonly-used technique that reduces bad results from large language models by providing the models with access to data whose accuracy has been vetted.Artificial intelligence developers have improved traditional RAG (otherwise known as ... If you’ve kept up with this newsletter, you’ve likely learned a lot about retrieval augmented...

Photo via Getty

How OpenAI's Smaller Rivals Are Developing Their Own AI That ‘Reasons’

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 30, 2024 7:00am PDT

To expand the market for artificial intelligence, developers must create large language models that can reason through customers’ problems, not just parrot answers based on what’s in the models’ training data.While OpenAI and Google are throwing tons of capital at developing AI that solves problems it hasn’t seen before, small startups and... To expand the market for artificial intelligence, developers must create large language models...

Vienna, Austria. Photo via Shutterstock.

The Hottest AI Research: Cutting Costs; OpenAI Director Says AGI in Five to 15 Years

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 29, 2024 7:00am PDT

Vienna, Austria. Photo via Shutterstock.

The Hottest AI Research: Cutting Costs; OpenAI Director Says AGI in Five to 15 Years

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 29, 2024 7:00am PDT

Machine learning conferences used to be about pushing boundaries and thinking outside the box. These days, they’re focused on practicality and helping businesses cut the cost of running artificial intelligence.Take the International Conference on Machine Learning, or ICML, in Vienna last week, where the desire to lower AI costs seemed front of... Machine learning conferences used to be about pushing boundaries and thinking outside the box....

Photo via AP.

Is OpenAI a Good Business?

By Amir Efrati · Jul 25, 2024 7:00am PDT · 5 comments

In April this year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was asked during a talk at Stanford University about our report that his company had lost more than $500 million in 2022, just as it was releasing ChatGPT, and whether he was generally concerned about losses. His answer: "Whether we burn $500 million a year or $5 billion or $50 billion, I don't... In April this year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was asked during a talk at Stanford University about...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

What Meta's Largest Llama Model is Missing

By Kalley Huang · Jul 24, 2024 7:00am PDT

If you haven’t caught our analysis of OpenAI’s finances in a story we published this morning, it’s worth a read. My colleagues Amir and Aaron have gone deep on how much the ChatGPT creator is spending on computing capacity and other expenses, based on previously undisclosed internal data. Paired with estimates of revenue, they’ve put a... If you haven’t caught our analysis of OpenAI’s finances in a story we published this morning, it’...

Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez. Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Getty Images.

Why Cohere’s $5.5 Billion Valuation Isn’t What It Seems; Perplexity’s Data Sources Draw Questions

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 23, 2024 7:00am PDT

On Monday, Cohere, a Canadian large language model developer, announced it had raised $500 million in a deal led by Canadian pension fund PSP Investments at a $5.5 billion valuation, confirming our report from March.That valuation isn’t cheap. Around the time of the investment, the startup was generating $35 million in annualized revenue,... On Monday, Cohere, a Canadian large language model developer, announced it had raised $500...

Photo via Getty.

AI VCs Go Green

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 22, 2024 7:00am PDT

Photo via Getty.

AI VCs Go Green

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 22, 2024 7:00am PDT

Silicon Valley VCs don't exactly have the best rep when it comes to putting causes like helping the environment or fixing income inequality ahead of financial returns and technological advancements.But the artificial intelligence boom has forced these investors to focus on clean power. More sources of renewable energy are necessary to power... Silicon Valley VCs don't exactly have the best rep when it comes to putting causes like helping...

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Why Coding Assistants Are Improving; OpenAI’s ‘Russian Doll’ Data Center

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 18, 2024 7:20am PDT

While everyone waits for OpenAI’s next flagship large language model, developers have been eking out more gains from today’s LLMs with some engineering elbow grease, as we covered here. That’s especially true for artificial intelligence-powered coding assistants, which are getting a lot better. Ofir Press, a postdoctoral researcher at ... While everyone waits for OpenAI’s next flagship large language model, developers have been eking...

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty.

A Reality Check on AI With Chevron’s CIO

By Anissa Gardizy · Jul 17, 2024 7:00am PDT

A few days ago I grabbed a cup of coffee in San Francisco with Bill Braun, chief information officer of oil giant Chevron, to talk about his company’s spending on new artificial intelligence and Nvidia’s forthcoming AI chips. I came away believing that the conversations happening about AI inside the C-suites of the largest companies are very... A few days ago I grabbed a cup of coffee in San Francisco with Bill Braun, chief information...

Photo via Adobe Stock.

The Problem with Meta’s Llama 3 Launch; JD Vance Likes Open-Source

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 16, 2024 7:00am PDT

While sports fans gear up for the Summer Olympics later this month, artificial intelligence enthusiasts are eagerly anticipating another major event: the July 23 release of Meta Platforms’ flagship Llama 3 large language model, which the company offers for free.Meta already released smaller versions of Llama 3, which AI app developers have raved... While sports fans gear up for the Summer Olympics later this month, artificial intelligence...

Sam Altman. Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty.

Why Smaller Could Be Better

By Kalley Huang · Jul 15, 2024 7:00am PDT

Sam Altman. Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty.

Why Smaller Could Be Better

By Kalley Huang · Jul 15, 2024 7:00am PDT

While some developers are racing towards superintelligent AI technology, others are focused on building cheaper, more practical models. Over the past six months, several big tech companies including Google and Microsoft have released small language models, in a bid to stake their ground in a burgeoning area of artificial intelligence... While some developers are racing towards superintelligent AI technology, others are focused on...