Google is challenging OpenAI with its new enterprise AI, Gemini

Highlights – Tues. Sept. 19, '23

?? Top Stories: Google Nears Release of Gemini AI to Challenge OpenAI

?? Content: The Google Antitrust Trial Is About the Future of A.I + A leading MIT economist is learning to fear AI

?? Funding: Writer a full-stack generative AI platform for enterprises raises $100M + GE HealthCare receives $44M from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for AI-powered Ultrasounds

?? Quick News Hits

• Microsoft’s AI Research Division accidentally exposed 38TB of sensitive information?
• NSA publishes new guidance for organizations and enterprises to guard against AI fraud and deepfake threats
• Softbank is looking to invest $10Bn+ in AI after completing Arm’s IPO, w/ OpenAI as one of the significant options
• China and the EU held talks covering key issues in AI including platforms, data regulation, and cross-border flow of industrial data.
• The Department of Defense partnered w/ Google to build an AI-powered microscope that can help doctors identify cancer.
• Microsoft is experiencing a surge in enterprise demand for its AI products in Hong Kong, amid the US-China tech war that threatens cloud services.
• Morgan Stanley announces new AI assistant created w/ OpenAI for financial advisors, giving speedy access to a database of 100K+ reports and documents.
• Microsoft AI and Project Gutenberg partner to provide thousands of audiobooks to public for free
• 27 MIT scholars awarded seed grants to study the social implications of generative AI

?? Top Stories

Google Nears Release of Gemini AI to Challenge OpenAI

(8 min read) (Source: The Information)

TLDR: 谷歌 is nearing the launch of its conversational AI software called Gemini, aimed at competing with OpenAI 's GPT-4 model. Gemini utilizes large language models to power chatbots, summarize text, generate code, and create images based on user requests.

• Google's investment in Gemini is substantial, with the company planning to integrate it into various consumer services, including its Bard chatbot and Workspace software, and offer it through its cloud unit to compete with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.
• Gemini has an advantage over GPT-4 as it leverages Google's proprietary data alongside public web information, resulting in higher accuracy and fewer errors. It's expected to excel in understanding user intentions.
• Both Google and OpenAI are sprinting to bring multimodal capabilities to their language models, potentially revolutionizing fields like web development and data interpretation. OpenAI has had some delays with its multimodal GPT-Vision due to ethical considerations around potential misuse, such as automated captcha-solving or facial recognition.

UK antitrust regulators lays out seven AI principles

(4 min read) (Source: The Verge)

TLDR: The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued seven principles for regulating AI systems, particularly foundation models like GPT-4, used in generative AI. These principles include accountability, broad access to inputs and data, diverse business models, choice, flexibility, fair dealing, and transparency.

• The CMA aims to deepen its scrutiny of AI and has initiated dialogues with key players in the field, including 谷歌 , Meta , OpenAI , 微软 , 英伟达 , and Anthropic , as well as seeking input from consumer groups, civil society, and regulators. It plans to publish further findings in early 2024.
• The CMA's focus on AI regulation is driven by the potential impact on markets and consumers, aiming to ensure consumer protection and prevent market dominance by a few players. The UK government has also prioritized AI development, positioning the country as a leader in the field.

The Big Picture: As AI's influence expands, regulatory bodies are taking steps to ensure responsible AI development, promote competition, and protect consumers. Globally, governments are exploring AI regulation, with the European Union proposing AI Act focusing on foundation models and China mandating AI companies to register with the government. The US is working on its approach to AI regulation.

Pebble Introduces AI-Generated Social Posts, in an Effort to Lure Users Away From Elon Musk’s X Platform

(10 min read) (Source: WIRED)

TLDR: Pebble (Formerly T2) , a social platform competing with “X”, has introduced an AI-driven feature called "Ideas" that suggests posts or replies to users based on their past activity. This AI feature aims to enhance the user experience by providing content suggestions, ultimately increasing engagement on the platform.

• Pebble is among the first social platforms to offer fully automatic AI-generated post suggestions without requiring user prompts. This approach sets it apart in the competitive landscape, where platforms are increasingly integrating AI to improve user interactions.

Big Picture: Pebble's adoption of AI-driven content generation represents the growing influence of AI in shaping online social interactions. As more platforms explore AI's potential, questions regarding content quality, authenticity, and moderation in the digital realm become increasingly pertinent.

?? Interesting Reads and Content

Deep Dives

• The Google Antitrust Trial Is Really About the Future of A.I. (The New York Times)
• The AI Heretic: How a leading MIT economist learned to start worrying and fear AI (Business Insider)
• Riding the AI tsunami: The next wave of generative intelligence (VentureBeat)

Insightful Information

• Multi-AI collaboration helps reasoning and factual accuracy in LLM's (MIT News)
• Those trying to pick AI winners should remember the dotcom days (Financial Times)
• Charted: The Exponential Growth in AI Computation (Visual Capitalist)
• Generative AI companies raised over $250M cumulatively in Q2 amid VC funding chill (Axios)
• The Talent Implications of Generative AI (Bain & Company)
• The Princeton researchers calling out ‘AI snake oil’ (Semafor)
• As AI goes multimodal, medical applications multiply (Science)

Analysis and Critiques

• AI-Powered ‘Thought Decoders’ Won’t Just Read Your Mind—They’ll Change It (WIRED)
• Don't Count on Tesla's Dojo Supercomputer to Jump-Start an AI Revolution (WIRED)
• Bill Gurley, General Partner at VC firm Benchmark, warns against regulatory capture, hails open-source efforts, and calls for ‘massive transparency’ (Fortune)
• Schumer Wants a Cut of AI (The Wall Street Journal)

?? Funding News

1. Writer , a full-stack generative AI platform for enterprises, raised a $100M Series B, led by ICONIQ Growth ( Doug Pepper , General Partner).

• Other Notable Investors: Insight Partners , WndrCo , Balderton Capital , Aspect Ventures , and customers 埃森哲 and Vanguard .
• Funding is for developing AI agents, enterprise multi-modality language models (LLMs), and industry-specific LLMs while also expanding internationally.?
• They’ve demonstrated significant ROI for enterprises, returning an average of 7.5hrs of productivity per employee per week. It addresses a wide range of use cases, from content creation to legal and compliance.

2.? GE医疗 received a $44M grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for AI-Assisted Ultrasound Technology.

3. Levelpath , an AI-powered procurement platform that provides actionable insights into vendor management, raised $44.5M in Seed + Series A funding led by Benchmark and Redpoint .?

4. Duckbill, an AI-powered execution engine built to help users manage everyday tasks and to-do lists more efficiently, raised $33M in Seed + Series A funding, led by Forerunner Ventures.

• Other Notable Investors: Greycroft , Inspired Capital, General Catalyst , G9 Ventures , Red Antler, Future Back Ventures by Bain & Company , and Offline Ventures .

5. Betterleap , a startup building a generative AI powered database of job candidates to assist recruiters w/ automated candidate sourcing, research, and outreach, raised a $13M Seed round, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Peak State Ventures w/ Streamlined Ventures , ActiveCapital , AirAngels , Shrug Capital , and Stipple Ventures .

6. Panmnesia , a South Korean semiconductor startup specializing in CXL tech, which enhances data center efficiency for AI applications, raised a $12.5M Seed round led by Daekyo Investment.

7.? Superorder , a restaurant tech company building generative AI powered order management tools to enhance restaurants' profitability from online sales, raised a $10M Series A led by Foundation Capital .

• Other Notable Investors: Michael Seibel (Managing Director of Y Combinator ), Kyle Vogt (Cofounder/CEO Cruise ), Jonathan Swanson (Founder/Chairman Thumbtack ), James Beshara (Founder Magic Mind ), BBQ Capital , I2BF Global Ventures , and others.

8. LastMile AI , a developer-focused AI platform aiming to make AI more accessible to software engineers and product teams, raised $10M in funding, led by Gradient , Google's AI-focused venture fund, along w/ AME Cloud Ventures , Guillermo Rauch (CEO Vercel ), Exceptional Capital , 10x Founders , Firsthand Alliance , and others.

9. Series Entertainment , a gaming tech and content company specializing in AI-powered game authoring tools, raised a $7.9M Seed round, led by A16Z GAMES .?

10. Databutton , a startup focused on democratizing AI-based assistants and chatbots w/ their AI-powered App builder, raised $5.1M in Seed funding, led by Oslo’s Skyfall Ventures and Helsinki’s Maki.vc , along w/ Sondo Capital and Arkwright X

11.? Learn.xyz , a generative AI-powered multilingual social learning app, raised a $3M Seed round, led by Blockchange Ventures .?