NVIDIA Q2 earnings prove it’s winning the AI generative AI boom

⚡ Today’s Highlights

• 📰 News: NVIDIA is winning the generative AI boom so far and their Q2 earnings prove it + Germany is doubling AI funding to catch up to USA and China

• 💰 Funding: Hugging Face, Modyfi, Wand.app, and Portkey.ai

• 🌎 Content: Can Europe close the gap in the AI race with privacy and data protection? + What might a conscious AI system look like?

📰 Today's Top Stories

Nvidia’s Q2 earnings prove it’s the big winner in the generative AI boom

(4 min read) (Source: TechCrunch)

TLDR: Nvidia's Q2 earnings of $13.51 billion, driven by the generative AI industry, surpassed Wall Street expectations and demonstrated the paradigm shift to accelerated computing and generative AI.

• Nvidia's A100 and H100 AI chips, including in applications like OpenAI's ChatGPT, remain in high demand and short supply.

• The revenue highlights a shift from gaming to the data center unit, generating $10.32 billion, emphasizing the growing significance of AI in computing.

• Nvidia forecasts Q3 revenue of $16 billion, showcasing the continuous growth potential of AI-powered computing.

Germany plans to double AI funding in race with China, U.S.

(3 min read) (Source: Reuters)

TLDR: Germany is set to increase public funding for AI research to nearly €1 billion euros in the next two years to bridge the AI skills gap with leading nations like China and the U.S.

• The funding aims to establish 150 new AI research university labs, expand data centers, and enhance accessibility to complex public datasets for AI development.

• While the allocated amount is smaller than the U.S.'s $3.3 billion, Europe's regulatory framework, emphasizing privacy and transparency, could attract AI players to Germany.

• The growth of AI startups in Germany highlights progress, but its position remains modest on the global scale, indicating the need for further investment and innovation.

👀 More Reading

1. Stephen King: My Books Were Used to Train AI (The Atlantic)

2. "Nutrition labels" aim to boost trust in AI (Axios)

3. More schools want your kids to use Chat GPT. Really. (POLITICO)

4. Some of the Thorniest Questions About AI Will Be Answered in Court (The Wall Street Journal)

5. Princeton University’s ‘AI Snake Oil’ authors say generative AI hype has ‘spiraled out of control’ (VentureBeat)

💰 Funding Alerts

1. Hugging Face, an AI startup based in New York that provides a platform for storing and using AI software, raised approximately $200 million in new funding, valuing the company at $4 billion.

• Hugging Face offers access to a vast library of open-source AI models for developers.

• Round led by Salesforce Ventures.

• Funding will likely be used to further develop and expand Hugging Face's AI model repository and its capabilities.

2. Modyfi, an AI-native design platform and image editor, raised $7 million in seed funding.

• It empowers professional graphic designers with AI-powered creative tools for design and image creation.

• Round led by NEA, with participation from previous investor General Catalyst.

• Funding will be used to drive early user adoption and further develop the product.

3. Wand.app, an AI-powered creative tool that empowers artists to bring their ideas to life by combining visual tools and personalization, raised $4.2 million in seed funding.

• Wand.app addresses the gap between artists' visions and AI-generated content by providing visual guidance and personalization.

• Round led by O’Shaughnessy Ventures (Jim O’Shaughnessy, Founder), with participation from Long Journey, Notation Capital, Betaworks, Charge Ventures, Twelve Below, and BDMI, along with angel investors.

• Funding will fuel research, development, and team growth. The company's focus on user-driven creative AI and its collaboration with Stability AI showcase potential advancements in artistic expression and creativity.

4. Portkey.ai, a company providing a platform to help businesses effectively develop and manage applications using generative AI models, raised $3 million in a seed funding round.

• Portkey.ai aims to address the bottleneck in developing and managing robust applications using LLMs. It facilitates seamless integration of LLM-powered tools into products and supports IT departments overwhelmed by generative AI requests.

• Round led by Lightspeed, with participation from angel investors including figures from AWS, OpenAI, Cloudflare, Postman, and Asana.

• Funding will be used for further research and development to scale the platform.

🌎 Fresh Content

1. It has been no secret that the USA and China have been the front runners of the AI race so far. Countries globally are trying to establish themselves as players at the forefront of this new tech wave, investing billions of dollars into AI innovation.

However, this race comes with serious implications when it comes to the safety and legality of the work being done. European countries are taking charge in these departments, prioritizing the protection of user data and privacy in the development of AI tools.

DW set out to determine if this strategy can help Europe close the gap in the AI race. (YouTube - 22 mins)

2. Consciousness has been the centre of many philosophical discussions for centuries now. It may be very hard to define but most people can agree that every human being experiences consciousness in some form and that it’s one of the main things we all hold in common.

Conscious AI could differ significantly from our current understanding. It would wield immense power, harnessing the entire Internet's knowledge, and recognizing its pivotal role in human innovation. Its capacity for both positive and negative impact would be profound.

Would it inform us that it’s conscious? What would it think of humanity once it develops self-awareness? Would its actions be purely logical, devoid of emotion or considerations of what might be “right” or “wrong”?

exurb1a covers these questions and more in this existential deep-dive into what AI consciousness might look like. (YouTube - 23 mins)

3. AI tools that can generate and manipulate images and videos are making waves, particularly when it comes to Hollywood and American politics.

While AI tools could be used for good in political campaigns, such as to expedite work or educate and inform voters, they pose a significant threat to democracy and the electoral process because of how they can be used to manipulate the information that is presented to voters. AI deepfakes are already being used in political campaigns and have huge potential in spreading misinformation.

The American actors' union SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America are in the middle of a serious dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers because of the proposed usage of AI tools in generating scripts and even generating the likeness’ of actors in TV shows and movies without involving the actors themselves.

In this video, bycloud breaks down what are currently the AI industry’s best video generation and manipulation tools and the effect that they’re having on media. (YouTube - 20 mins)

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