Magic Leap founder returns with SynthBee

SynthBee has raised $20 million in funding to develop a new kind of “computing intelligence”, Dean Takahashi reports for VentureBeat. The round was led by Crosspoint Capital Partners. SynthBee plans to use the money to expand its team and proprietary computing intelligence platform. SynthBee’s founder, Rony Abovitz, is known for previous successful startups including Mako …

Read more

Generative AI gets 40% of venture capital in the cloud sector

Generative AI startups are receiving 40% of all venture capital investments in the cloud sector. According to Accel’s Euroscape report, venture funding for cloud startups in the US, Europe, and Israel is projected to rise to $79.2 billion. Ryan Browne reports for CNBC that funding for the cloud industry increased by 27% year-over-year – the …

Read more

Is Meta diluting the term Open Source?

Meta is facing criticism for labeling its AI models as “open source.” Stefano Maffulli, head of the Open Source Initiative, accuses the company of diluting the term and confusing users. According to Maffulli, Meta’s Llama models do not meet the criteria for true open-source software, Richard Waters reports for the Financial Times. Meta defends its …

Read more

Amazon invests into nuclear reactors as well

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investing over $500 million in nuclear power through three projects across Virginia and Washington state, aimed at meeting the increasing clean energy demands for its expanding services in generative AI. As CNBC reports, this initiative aligns with Amazon’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions. AWS has partnered with Dominion Energy …

Read more

Test shows compliance problems of leading AI models

A new tool for checking compliance with the EU AI Act has revealed weaknesses in leading AI models. As Martin Coulter reports for Reuters, some models from major tech companies are performing poorly in areas such as cybersecurity and discriminatory output. The “Large Language Model Checker” developed by LatticeFlow AI evaluates AI models across dozens …

Read more

Former CISO of Palantir joins OpenAI

Dane Stuckey, former CISO of Palantir, is joining OpenAI as its new CISO. According to Kyle Wiggers from TechCrunch, he will work alongside OpenAI’s head of security, Matt Knight. Stuckey announced the move on X/Twitter on Tuesday evening. He emphasized the importance of security for OpenAI’s mission. Stuckey started at Palantir in 2014 in information …

Read more

YouTube adds label for authentic videos

YouTube is introducing a new label to identify authentic videos. According to a report by Umar Shakir in The Verge, the “captured with a camera” label will mark videos recorded with a real camera and unaltered footage and sound. This requires the recordings to meet the C2PA standard, version 2.1 or higher. The new feature …

Read more

Anthropic updates AI safety policy

Anthropic has updated its AI safety policy to prevent misuse, reports VentureBeat author Michael Nuñez. The new “Capability Thresholds” define benchmarks for risky capabilities of AI models, such as in the area of bioweapons or autonomous AI research. If a model reaches such a threshold, additional safeguards are triggered. The revised policy also sets out …

Read more

New York Times sends Perplexity cease and desist notice

The New York Times has demanded that the AI startup Perplexity cease using its content. According to a Wall Street Journal report the newspaper accuses Perplexity of copyright infringement. Perplexity uses the Times’ content for AI-generated search results. The Times is demanding compensation and the surrender of illegal profits. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said they …

Read more

U.S. security agencies have spent $700 million on AI

U.S. defense and security agencies have spent $700 million on AI projects since ChatGPT’s launch. According to a Fortune analysis by Kali Hays, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have contracted hundreds of companies to develop and test AI algorithms and tools. The DOD awarded roughly $670 million to …

Read more