AI 2030 Evangelist Digest 018- AI4Future: Top AI News (6-12 January, 2025)
The first working week of the new year has been rich with AI-related events. Elon Musk made a groundbreaking statement that humanity’s data for training AI has been fully exhausted, forcing a shift towards self-learning using synthetic data—a move that experts warn could lead to the so-called “model collapse.”
Meanwhile, two major announcements from Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman sent shockwaves through the tech community. OpenAI unveiled its new o3 model designed for advanced logical reasoning, sparking anxiety among computer science students who fear AI might edge them out of the job market. Adding fuel to the fire, Zuckerberg declared Meta’s plans to replace mid-level engineers with AI this year, as artificial intelligence reaches the capability to code at a comparable level.
At the same time, the investment market showed strong enthusiasm for AI-driven solutions in the medical field (investments in such applications doubled in 2024) and industry leaders like Anthropic and Nvidia. Reports suggest that Anthropic is in talks to raise $2 billion at a $60 billion valuation, led by Lightspeed. Nvidia, on the other hand, announced plans to make its Grace Blackwell platform accessible to every developer and desk. However, despite the high interest from investors, a scandal involving Apple highlighted AI’s limitations. The controversy arose from the inaccurate performance of its AI news summarisation feature, leading major media houses to file complaints against the company. This incident demonstrated how AI still struggles with sensitive and strategically critical tasks.
Finally, the miltech sector revealed a novel application of AI. The UK and its allies announced plans to use AI to protect undersea cables from attacks by Russia’s “shadow fleet.”
A round-up of the key developments.
AI Medical Note-Taking Apps Enjoy Healthy Wave of Investment
Last year was a good one for artificial intelligence (AI)-powered medical note-taking apps. Investment in these apps doubled in 2024, the Financial Times (FT) reported Sunday (Jan. 5), with tech giants and smaller startups scrambling to tap into a $26 billion AI healthcare market. Startups focused on developing digital “scribes” for the health sector raised $800 million during the year, up from $390 million in 2023, the report said, citing data from PitchBook. Companies, the FT said, are rushing to introduce AI-powered products designed to make it quicker for doctors to take medical notes and bolster patient interactions.
UK and allies to use AI to protect undersea cables from Russian shadow fleet attacks
The UK and a group of allies have launched an operation that will use artificial intelligence to better spot threats to undersea cables and track the movement of a "Russian shadow fleet". The mission by the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) began last week, they said on Monday. It comes after a tanker carrying Russian oil was suspected of damaging an undersea power cable between Finland and Estonia on Christmas Day as well as four telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea. John Healey, the defence secretary, said: "The UK and JEF are leading the way in providing support to our allies to help safeguard the offshore infrastructure we all rely on against potential threats."
Apple says it will update iPhone feature after ‘out of control’ AI summaries
Apple says it is rolling out an update to its AI summaries feature after it was accused of being "out of control" and potentially spreading misinformation. The criticism came over a tool on iPhones and other devices that aims to use AI to summarise long notifications to make them quicker to read. But in recent weeks it has led to criticism from the BBC, which lodged a complaint with Apple after the feature wrongly suggested that UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect Luigi Mangione had shot himself. The BBC has pointed to a variety of problems since, including claims that the system had wrongly summarised a headline about Rafael Nadal to suggest that he is gay. “These AI summarisations by Apple do not reflect – and in some cases completely contradict – the original BBC content,” the BBC said.
NVIDIA Puts Grace Blackwell on Every Desk and at Every AI Developer’s Fingertips
NVIDIA today unveiled NVIDIA?Project DIGITS, a personal AI supercomputer that provides AI researchers, data scientists and students worldwide with access to the power of the NVIDIA Grace Blackwell platform. Project DIGITS features the new NVIDIA GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, offering a petaflop of AI computing performance for prototyping, fine-tuning and running large AI models. With Project DIGITS, users can develop and run inference on models using their own desktop system, then seamlessly deploy the models on accelerated cloud or data center infrastructure. “AI will be mainstream in every application for every industry. With Project DIGITS, the Grace Blackwell Superchip comes to millions of developers,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Placing an AI supercomputer on the desks of every data scientist, AI researcher and student empowers them to engage and shape the age of AI.”
OpenAI's new o3 model freaks out computer science majors
OpenAI's announcement of its new o3 reasoning model has triggered another wave of anxiety among some computer science majors who fear AI will edge them out of the job market. Why it matters: The new OpenAI model, though not yet widely available, is likely to power ChatGPT and other services eventually, and its capacity to independently tackle larger-scale projects could disrupt many professions.
Anthropic reportedly in talks to raise $2B at $60B valuation, led by Lightspeed
OpenAI rival Anthropic is in talks to raise $2 billion in new capital in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to The Wall Street Journal. The round, which The Journal reports would value Anthropic at $60 billion, would bring Anthropic’s total raised to $15.7 billion, going by Crunchbase’s data. It would also make the company the fifth most valuable U.S. startup after SpaceX, OpenAI, Stripe, and Databricks.
Zuckerberg announces Meta plans to replace Mid-Level engineers with AIs this year
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, has boldly forecasted that by 2025, artificial intelligence will have advanced to the point where it can code at the level of mid-level engineers. In a world where technology evolves at lightning speed, this statement offers a glimpse into the future, where AI could become an integral part of engineering teams, not just a tool used by developers.
Elon Musk says all human data for AI training ‘exhausted’
Artificial intelligence companies have run out of data for training their models and have “exhausted” the sum of human knowledge, Elon Musk has said. The world’s richest person suggested technology firms would have to turn to “synthetic” data – or material created by AI models – to build and fine-tune new systems, a process already taking place with the fast-developing technology.
ABOUT Kate Shcheglova-Goldfinch, MSc MBA
Kate Shcheglova-Goldfinch, MSc MBA is a regulatory innovations specialist and consultant with five years of hands-on experience as a Senior Project Manager at the EBRD and the National Bank of Ukraine. Her expertise lies in fintech strategy, digital transformation, and developing regulatory frameworks for public institutions, including central banks. She’s led capacity-building, business development, and multi-stakeholder collaboration across diverse regions, with a focus on crafting regulatory sandboxes and driving a culture of innovation within established financial systems.
Currently, Kate is at the forefront of advancing AI competencies at the National Bank of Ukraine, where she’s embedding an AI-driven approach throughout the organization. She also supports regulators at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, helping navigate the complexities of emerging technologies. Selected as a delegate for UN Women UK (CSW68) 2024, Kate is advocating for greater diversity and equity within the AI landscape.
Kate’s academic credentials include an MSc in Digital Communications from London Metropolitan University and numerous certificates from leading academia and market players, such as a Fintech certificate from Cambridge Judge Business School, Leadership and AI from Oxford Sa?d Business School, Generative AI for Decision Makers from AWS, expertise in the EU AI Act from AI & Partners, and certifications in Global Internet Governance and Data Privacy from Carnegie Mellon University.
Her achievements are extensive:
? Ranked in the TOP 3 UK Bankers of the Year 2023 (Women in Finance Awards series)
? Named among the TOP 10 Regulatory Experts and Policymakers of 2023 (Innovate Finance Women Powerlist)
? Featured as one of the Top 50 Global Fintech Influencers (2019), Top 100 Global Women Thought Leaders (2020-2021), and TOP 100 AI Experts (2024) by Thinkers 360
? Recognised as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Fintech by UAFIC (2020-2024)
Kate has a track record of achievements she’s particularly proud of:
? In 2022-2023, as a Senior Project Manager at the EBRD, she led the world’s first deployment of a central bank regulatory sandbox under active war conditions.
? In 2022, as Programme Lead, she launched an Executive Fintech Programme at Cambridge Judge Business School. This initiative aimed at developing a “Ukrainian Marshall Plan” and was presented at the institutional level both in the UK and Ukraine.
About AI 2030: AI2030 is a member-based initiative aiming to harness the transformative power of AI to benefit humanity while minimizing its potential negative impact. Focused on Responsible AI, AI for All, and AI for Good, we aim to bridge awareness, talent, and resource gaps, enabling responsible AI adoption across public and private sectors.
AI 2030 does not claim ownership of the newsletter; they are the intellectual property of the authors. AI 2030 disclaims all liability for the content, errors, or omissions within the newsletter. Readers are advised to use their judgment when assessing the information presented.
?? Join our LinkedIn Group: https://lnkd.in/e_CrPkcAI
2030 Summit Series: https://www.ai2030.org/
Sponsor our Summits: https://ai2030.org/sponsor/
Join the Movement: Become an AI 2030 Member: https://lnkd.in/gN5PcC