Nvidia's 'Bigger' Platform Play; Microsoft's AI Ambitions Goes Deep

Apple may deepen its relationship with Google with an AI partnership on the iPhone. Plus, a look at Nvidia's hardware and software announcements from GTC and its push to stay relevant in the generative AI era. Finally, why did Microsoft poach two founders — and most of their team — from a startup it has backed?

The Prompt

The Apple-Google AI Mega Deal

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Google's Gemini could soon power Apple's generative AI efforts on the iPhone . It's said that discussions are actively taking place, and Apple might also consider engaging OpenAI. However, if this transaction happens, Google would have an incredible share of the mobile AI market as it already powers the gen AI features on the Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphone and will do the same on the next-generation Google Pixel.

But, how will regulators, who are already wary of both tech companies, react? It could spark further antitrust probes, something I'm sure Apple and Google don't want — the Department of Justice sued Apple on Thursday alleging the company engaged in anticompetitive behavior with the iPhone.

Nevertheless, Apple's partnering with Google would accelerate its AI ambitions, at least temporarily, so it doesn't fall further behind. Google would also acquire access to additional training data, which would help Gemini stay competitive against ChatGPT.

Read more:

• The Apple, Google AI Pact Risks Further Big Tech Antitrust Crackdown

The AI Spice Must Flow

To AI enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, Nvidia's Chief Executive Jensen Huang is the equivalent of Taylor Swift. He's admired for his position, looks like a pop star, and has enough adoring fans to fill an entire hockey arena in San Jose, California. That's actually where Nvidia held its annual GTC AI conference.

During the event, Huang announced bigger GPUs, such as the Blackwell B200 , hailed as the "world's most powerful [AI] chip," along with new tools for self-driving cars and robotics development . Additionally, he introduced a software platform called NIM , which aims to streamline the deployment of AI models.

And with the AI boom showing no signs of abating anytime soon, Nvidia wants to stay ahead of the technology wave. This involves transitioning from just making chips to providing a complete computing platform, offering the hardware and software needed to spur innovation and development.

Nvidia's plan somewhat parallels Frank Herbert's "Dune," in which the galaxy needs the spice from the planet Arrakis. In this scenario, Silicon Valley founders and leaders pursuing AI constitute the "galaxy," while Nvidia's chips represent the "spice." So is Huang the tech industry's Muad'Dib?

Its shift into a platform and building bigger processors for the generative AI era will help the chipmaker tackle emerging industry challenges. As adoption grows, companies will need more power to support LLM development. It will also help fend off potential competitors — companies like OpenAI, Amazon, and Microsoft plan to invest significantly to create their own GPUs.

Read More:

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announces new AI chips: ‘We need bigger GPUs’ (CNBC)
• VIDEO: Everything Just Revealed at Nvidia's GTC AI Conference (CNET)
• How big tech giants are embracing Nvidia's new hardware and software services (VentureBeat)

Microsoft's $650 Million Hiring Spree

The week's significant news concludes with Microsoft announcing that Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Google's DeepMind, will lead its consumer AI business . After leaving Google, Suleyman launched Inflection AI, in which Microsoft is an investor, along with Karén Simonyan. In a surprising turn, Microsoft not only brings Suleyman aboard its expanding team of AI experts but also integrates Simonyan and much of the Inflection AI team.

Both companies are not calling the staff poaching an acquisition or an acqui-hire. Inflection AI reportedly will be paid $650 million for a licensing deal to compensate for this surprise reorganization. The startup will develop models sold on the Azure cloud platform.

However, although a shell of its former self, Inflection AI remains steadfast. Investor and third startup co-founder Reid Hoffman — and Microsoft board member (another twist) — promised Inflection investors would "have a good outcome...and I anticipate good future upside." Under the new leadership of Sean White, the company is pivoting its consumer business to help instead commercial customers "create, test, and tune AI systems."

The recruitment of Suleyman and Simonyan enhances Microsoft's grasp of Copilot's potential in the consumer space. These AI experts may also help the company explore avenues to incorporate multiple LLM providers, potentially reducing risks associated with antitrust probes and decreasing dependency on OpenAI — despite Microsoft's significant interest in the success of ChatGPT.

Regardless of their usage, Microsoft's recruitment of Suleyman and Simonyan enhances its position in AI. And the long-term value these two and their staff play is worth Microsoft cannibalizing a company they backed to get them on their staff.

Read more:

• 5 things to know about Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI (Fast Company)
• Microsoft's big hires foreshadow bold new move into consumer AI (Geekwire)
• Here’s how Microsoft is providing a ‘good outcome’ for Inflection AI VCs, as Reid Hoffman promised (TechCrunch)

Today's Visual Snapshot

Deloitte's 2024 Digital Media Trends report reveals the impact generative AI could have on our entertainment content. This week's chart highlights a survey the firm conducted weighing the interest of U.S. consumers in human-written content versus that generated by artificial intelligence.

• 70 percent say they'd prefer a TV show or movie written by a human versus written by AI
• 42 percent feel gen AI and humans can deliver entertaining content
• 22 percent feel gen AI can write more entertaining TV shows and movies than humans

A detailed breakdown of responses by generation is illustrated in the chart. But in short, Deloitte states that younger U.S. consumers (approximately 30 percent) believe generative AI can create more interesting entertainment content than humans. Gen Z and Millennial experimentation with AI tools are said to contribute to this embrace.

This Week's AI News

?? Industry Insights

• The inside story of the Googlers who invented modern AI (Wired)
• White House: 10% of U.S. workers are in jobs that face the greatest risk of disruption from AI (CNN)
• Apple, Salesforce and Silicon Valley’s old guard face an existential crisis thanks to AI : Partner or perish (Marketwatch)
• Department of Homeland Security becomes the first federal agency to embrace AI , using it to fight crime, immigration and disaster relief (The Verge)

?? Machine Learning

• Google teams with AI Singapore to build large language models catering to Southeast Asia (ZDNet)
• Google researchers developed an AI system called “VLOGGER” that makes still photos lifelike (VentureBeat)
• Sakana AI, founded by two former Google researchers, releases open-source AI models built on a method inspired by evolution (Reuters)

?? Generative AI

• Elon Musk’s xAI makes its Grok LLM open-source , says it hasn’t been trained for specific tasks (VentureBeat)
• OpenAI is reportedly planning to release GPT-5 likely this summer (Business Insider)
• Meet Suno , the ChatGPT for music that lets you produce a professional-level song (Rolling Stone)
• Google begins testing AI overviews from its Search Generative Experience feature in search results , even if you haven't opted in (Search Engine Land)
• OpenAI’s GPT Store is flooded with spam (TechCrunch)
• OpenAI sprinting to keep up with startups on AI-generated videos — the company reportedly will meet with Hollywood studios and directors to discuss using Sora in filmmaking (Bloomberg)

?? Enterprise

• Anthropic partners with Accenture and Amazon Web Services to help companies in highly regulated sectors adopt customized AI models (VentureBeat)
• GitHub debuts an AI tool to proactively identify and fix security vulnerabilities in code (TechCrunch)
• Sentry launches AI Autofix to help developers monitor and debug their production code (TechCrunch)

?? Hardware and Robotics

• Microsoft announces new Surface PCs for businesses with built-in AI capabilities (Geekwire)?
• Humane’s AI Pin: First impressions of this wearable AI device (Mashable)
• Meet your new virtual assistant: The AI in your car (ABC News)
• Microsoft to share more of its “AI vision” for software and hardware on May 20 (The Verge)

?? Science and Breakthroughs

• Published scientific papers featuring AI-generated text are appearing in academic journals (404 Media)
• Scientists use generative AI to understand enzyme evolution (Phys.org )
• Google says it used AI to successfully predict floods up to seven days in advance (Engadget)

?? Business and Marketing

• Key members who helped develop Stability Diffusion reportedly have left Stability AI (Forbes)
• AI infrastructure firm Astera Labs prices its IPO above target to raise $713 million (Bloomberg)
• Dialpad’s Chief AI and Strategy Officer says jobs like his are meant to be temporary (Emerging Tech Brew)

?? Media and Entertainment

• How Medium ensures you’re not recommended AI-generated content — says it will remove writers from its Partner Program if they "publish spam, fraud, AI-generated stories, and other low-quality content" (Medium)
• Publishers could lose as much as $2 billion in annual ad revenue due to Google’s Search Generative Experience (Adweek)
• As March Madness kicks off, how college basketball fans are using AI to help fill out their brackets (Associated Press)
• Fact-checking outlet NewsGuard rolls out AI-powered tools to detect misinformation (Semafor)

?? Funding

• Saudi Arabia reportedly to establish a $40 billion AI fund and has discussed a potential partnership with Silicon Valley firm Andreessen Horowitz (The New York Times)
• Carlsmed raises $52.5 million for its FDA-approved AI-powered personalized spine surgery tech (Tech Funding News)
• Borderless AI raises $27 million for its gen AI-powered HR platform (Reuters)

?? Copyright and Regulatory Issues

• Tennessee becomes the first state to protect musicians and artists from AI by banning replication of a performer's voice without their consent (Associated Press)
• YouTube now requires creators to disclose if their realistic-looking videos use AI-generated content (Engadget)
• Two examples proving you can train AI models without infringing on copyright (Wired)

?? Disruption and Misinformation

• Big Tech touts watermarking as a promising way to combat AI misinformation , but it’s been proven to be easy to bypass (NBC News)
• Beware AI-powered scams seeking to steal your tax refunds (Axios)
• Facebook’s algorithm boosting AI spam that points to AI-generated, ad-laden click farms (404 Media)

?? Opinions and Research

• Andrew Ng outlines a framework to categorize design patterns for building AI agents (Deeplearning.ai)
• How spammers, scammers and creators use AI-generated images to game audience growth on Facebook (Stanford Internet Observatory Cyber Policy Center)
• AI in the classroom can provide teachers with more informative feedback to help better reach students (The 74)
• Steps states can take to stop Big Tech from dominating AI (Politico)

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