$115 million for a one page website

News in the tech world is completely dominated by AI, in a way that recalls the breakthrough of the World Wide Web thirty years ago after the launch of the Mosaic browser and the period fifteen years ago after the first iPhones and Android phones were introduced. The latter two (smartphones and the Internet) are the carrier for the current technological revolution, because that is what we should call AI by now. Still, last week I found something else more striking: that OpenAI founder Sam Altman with his other company, Tools for Humanity, raised a whopping $115 million for the Worldcoin project. Because as a tech entrepreneur, since Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, you don't really count anymore with just one billion-dollar company; you have to have at least two. And you meet with world leaders, apparently in brown shoes.

It is remarkable, to say the least, that Tools of Humanity, which presents itself on its 1-page website with the slogan "a technology company built to ensure a more just economic system," has raised as much as $115 million for the Worldcoin project. After all, Worldcoin is an open-source protocol, or platform whose use is open to all, and meanwhile funding of startups in the crypto world has all but dried up.

What does Worldcoin do? 'Worldcoin is building the world’s largest identity and financial network as a public utility, giving ownership to everyone. We aim to create universal access to the global economy regardless of country or background, accelerating the transition to an economic future that welcomes and benefits every person on the planet', says the website.

That's still pretty vague, but Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity and Worldcoin project leader, clarifies it somewhat in the press release: “As we embark on the age of AI, it is imperative that individuals are able to maintain personal privacy while proving their humanness. In doing so we can help ensure that everyone can realize the financial benefits that AI is poised to deliver."

So it's all about AI again in the end... there's no escaping AI. But Blania makes an important point: it is important that people can prove to be human in all kinds of transactions, without having to share personally identifiable data. At Worldcoin, verification of being human is ensured through the use of an Orb, a sphere: a biometric iris scanner.

When Worldcoin was launched, it was not Worldcoin's intention to create its own hardware, but earlier this year it explained that there was no other way to prove that you were dealing with a living human being, other than through the use of biometric devices. Those interested in learning more about the reason for the large investment in Worldcoin can hear about it in this podcast with Spencer Bogart of Blockchain Capital. Those interested in downloading the Worldcoin app, click here.

Sam Altman on European tour

Sam Altman is not only co-founder and chairman of the Supervisory Board of Tools for Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, but most importantly founder and CEO of OpenAI, creator of the wildly popular ChatGPT and the company that raised $300 million for... 1 percent of the company. In that role, Altman toured Europe last week, with French President Macron, who has never seen a mirror he didn't like, quick to invite Altman to the Elysee.

There was a time when Macron vowed that France and Europe would not fall behind in new technology again, like it did with the internet, but right now it is clear that Europe barely plays a role in the AI battlefield. Europe is a nice regulated large market and Altman was savvy enough to mention that OpenAI will obediently abide by all EU-rules. Meanwhile, I am left wondering why the English establishment is still so fanatically against brown shoes under dark suits that the Guardian even devoted an article to it.

Everything is AI right now

Okay, so I tried this week; to not only write about AI. But it's not easy. Not only does Worldcoin appear to have been created primarily to prove humanity in the age of AI, but major crypto funds are removing the word crypto from their websites and suddenly focusing on AI as well. For example, this is what Paradigm has been saying since earlier this month: "Paradigm is a research-driven technology investment firm." Nothing wrong with that. But they used to say this: 'Paradigm backs disruptive crypto/Web3 companies.' That's akin to the cousin who described himself as a crypto expert and life coach at your aunt's birthday last year, but appeared on Mother's Day the other day in a t-shirt with ChatGPT on it, bragging he's now an AI-expert.

While investment in the technology world continues to decline globally, the AI sector is a magnet (or a bottomless pit?) for big money. Crunchbase counted as much as $20 billion in AI investments. Early last week, investors put $700 million into two AI startups - Builder.ai ($250 million) and Anthropic (a whopping $450 million) - and mid-week another $105 million into AI marketing platform Insider. It is interesting that QIA, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, invested in both Builder (from London) and Insider (from Istanbul). That won't sit well with president Macron.

Among all the raving press releases about the millions being invested in AI, it is important to keep looking at real applications of AI. Michiel Schoonhoven of NXTLI pointed me to this fascinating presentation by Sal Khan at TED, about how AI will not destroy education, but rather save it. And Microsoft announced that Windows 11 will be brimming with AI because Bing Chat will be integrated. It gave me flashbacks to Clippy, that creepy talking yellow paperclip.

Notable links

• According to GeekWire, venture capital investments in the tech sector around Seattle, home to the likes of Microsoft and Amazon, are down a whopping 79%. All indications are that this is the start of a global downward trend in venture financing of tech startups.
• JP Morgan announced a ChatGPT-like service with investment advice, most likely to be named IndexGPT. This service could make the personal investment advisor obsolete, but it is unimaginably difficult to get the right information into the system. So generation of automated sound buy and sell advice will be a challenge for JP Morgan. This is going to be fascinating.
• The Economist reports on mass layoffs in the tech sector, with an estimated 120,000 people losing their jobs.
• The Information came up with a map of cafes where investors often hang out, so you can ambush them with a pitch while they're enjoying an almond milk cappu. Replace the word "investors" in that sentence with "young women" and it becomes clear how creepy articles like this are.
• Amazon has given up a key part of its climate pledge and deleted the blog post that announced its "Shipment Zero" initiative. Companies like to score with press releases, but in practice short-term profits are often preferred over a livable planet for the next generation. Consumers will also have to weigh whether ordering today and getting it delivered tomorrow is more important than leaving a livable planet for future generations.

Spotlight 9: GPU makers are the winners of the week, maybe even of the year?

The main acronym in the tech and business world today is AI, but another acronym- GPU- is not far behind. GPU stands for Graphics Processing Units, the type of chips needed for AI applications. GPUs are optimized for training models for artificial intelligence and deep learning because they can perform multiple calculations simultaneously. The profit forecast of chip designer Nvidia, which makes GPUs for ChatGPT and the like, shows the rising demand for these types of chips, according to the Wall Street Journal.

'Nvidia said it expected to generate about $11 billion in revenue in the current fiscal quarter, which ends in July, up 64% from the same period last year. That figure, which CEO Jensen Huang said will be buoyed by demand for artificial intelligence software, would be $2.5 billion higher than Nvidia’s prior record for quarterly revenue. Then there’s the expected profit increase: Nvidia said gross margins would rise by nearly 4 percentage points in the July quarter. Even before today’s eye-popping projection, analysts expected the company’s earnings per share to rise 30% over the next 12 months, compared to 6% for a basket of 11 other semiconductor companies.'

And Nvida's smaller competitor, Marvell, also benefited from investors' attempt to get their hands on some of the AI fortune. Marvell's CEO came up with a striking prediction: 'Given the speed at which AI infrastructure is advancing, the technology refresh rate is happening at 18 to 24 months compared to four-plus years in standard infrastructure', he said. In other words, 'we're going to earn boatloads of money from this technology because the customers will be writing off our stuff so much faster.'

Marvell shares rose as much as 45% over the past week, even more than Nvidia, which climbed 26%. Since January 1, Nvidia shares rose as much as 176%, compared to 25% for the Nasdaq. The GPU makers' results are especially extreme when compared to my 'traditional' Spotlight 9, which includes the largest tech companies, the two dominant crypto stocks and the Dow Jones and S&P 500 as representative of the largest companies. Even Bitcoin rose 'only' 7.6% this week. Plenty of Bitcoin fanatics will gloat that their favorite currency is not called BitcAIn.