?? AI gets scary, Private Equity stays dirty

Private equity still investing billions in dirty energy despite pledge to clean up

Private equity firms pumping billions of dollars into dirty energy projects are exposing investors, including pensioners, to unknown financial risks as the planet burns and governments face escalating pressure to act, according to research.?Read more.

So what:?The first-of-its-kind climate risks scorecard ranks Carlyle, Warburg Pincus and KKR as the worst offenders among eight major private equity companies with significant fossil fuel portfolios. The industry has invested an estimated $1tn in the energy sector since 2010, and while there’s been growth in renewables, the lion’s share is still in oil, gas and coal.

Unlike banks, private equity firms are exempt from most financial disclosure rules, making it difficult to track their assets – or risks. This means ordinary workers like firefighters, nurses and teachers – whose pension funds are invested in private equity funds – have little way of knowing if their retirement nest egg is tied up in fossil fuels, which scientists warn need to be phased out to limit the extent of global heating - leaving their funds at risk.

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SoftBank’s Son discusses setting up third Vision Fund

SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son has revived discussions of setting up a third Vision Fund. The 65-year-old entrepreneur has raised billions of dollars in cash recently - they reportedly have more than $60 billion after Alibaba share sales -?and Son sees another startup fund as one of several possible priorities for the money.?Read more.

So what:?It’s not yet clear how much capital Son would want to inject into a third fund, but the first Vision Fund was slightly less than $100 billion with outside investors such as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, while the second has over $40 billion and was solely financed by SoftBank. Regardless, the suggestion has been met with widespread scepticism, particularly given the discussions have come just weeks after Son apologising for the disappointing performance of his first two funds, according to people “familiar with the matter”.

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A terrifying AI-generated woman is lurking in latent space

A chilling discovery by an AI researcher finds that the “latent space” in a deep learning model’s memory is haunted by a horrifying figure — a bloody-faced woman now known as “Loab.”

So, is this AI model truly haunted, or is Loab just a random confluence of images that happens to come up in various strange technical circumstances? Ultimately, it’s more than a simple creepy image — it’s an indication that what passes for a brain in an AI is deeper and creepier than we might otherwise have imagined.

The first images of Loab aren’t particularly frightening, but when Twitter user @supercomposite, who first came across Loab, began combining the figure with other neutral images — like a glass tunnel — horrifically unsettling images materialised.?

“Supercomposite took those first creepy images of Loab and essentially told the AI, ‘Hey, draw me something new with this woman as a base,”’ writes?CNET’s Jackson Ryan. “That spawned all types of macabre and gory images.”

So what:?Critics say that we should examine why the AI art generator associates the original Loab — who looks like a potentially real older woman — with horror. After all, isn’t artificial intelligence just a?reflection of us?

As?Rolling Stone’s Miles Klee put it, “The association of this face with horror imagery is a reflection of how our culture?mistreats?those deemed less attractive.”

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Reddit’s Ohanian leads $54 million Doodles capital raise

Amid generally somber conditions in the non-fungible token (NFT) market,?Doodles has raised $54 million of equity funding, backed by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six. Acrew Capital, FTX Ventures and 10T Holdings.?Read more.

So what:?Doodles, which began minting its pastel NFTs less than a year ago, has created one of the largest profile picture collections on the internet. The 10,000-image collection has a collective value of about $121 million, according to NFTPriceFloor.

The company plans to use its capital influx, which it says will bring its valuation to $704 million, to expand in music and gaming, NFT sectors that are attracting growing interest. Importantly, both expansions are focused on bringing new interest into the web3 space in a natural way - focused on utility over technology.

Doodles’ music NFT project will be in partnership with Columbia Records and involve releasing songs that will still get radio and streaming exposure but have “an underlying adaptation experience” for NFT holders.

Space Doodles, the company’s gaming branch, will look to ease the entry into the Doodles ecosystem - allowing users to purchase characters and animations with credit cards, instead of requiring crypto.

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Boots to launch online marketplace for third-party brands

Boots is set to launch an online marketplace that will enable third-party brands to sell on its website. From Q2 2023, third-party brands will be able to access the health & beauty retailer’s one million monthly visitors at Boots.com, subject to invitation following a review of products.?Read more.

So what:?In a move that almost feels against the grain,?it’s a smart way to revitalise their offering, and engage upcoming brands and their customers - most of which rely solely on e-commerce, as brick-and-mortar focused retailers continue to struggle.

Boots have said it's part of an ongoing strategy to rapidly extend the online range and explore new categories. It also follows the introduction last year of Boots Health Hub, a healthcare marketplace on Boots.com connecting customers to doctors, therapists and dermatologists.

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Fact of the week

Streaming of Netflix’s “The Crown” has surged 9 TIMES?since Queen Elizabeth II died.

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Meme of the week

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