Microsoft Is Preparing to Make Its Own AI Chips After Costs Surge

⚡ Today’s Highlights

• 📰 News: Microsoft is getting ready to make its own AI chips in-house as processing costs surge

• 💰 Funding: Safe Security, Nativo, Clerkie, and Cortical Labs

• 🦾 Tools: AI for matching up businesses with their ideal customers

• 📅 Events: The Stable Diffusion AI Hackathon continues today and the AI in Finance Summit New York starts tomorrow!

📰 Today's Top Stories

Microsoft Readies AI Chip as Machine Learning Costs Surge

(5 min read) (Source: The Information)

TLDR: Microsoft is developing an AI chip, code-named "Athena," for its AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, which will be used for training large-language models and supporting inference.

• Microsoft has been working on the chip since 2019 and hopes it will perform better than what it currently buys from other vendors, saving it time and money on its AI efforts.

• The rollout of Athena is being accelerated by Microsoft following the success of ChatGPT and the launch of its AI-powered search engine, Bing AI, to grab market share from Google.

Reddit Wants to Get Paid for Helping to Teach Big A.I. Systems

(8 min read) (Source: The New York Times)

TLDR: Reddit's conversations are being used as a free teaching aid by companies like Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft to develop giant artificial intelligence systems.

• Reddit plans to begin charging companies for access to its API, which is the method through which outside entities can download and process the social network's vast selection of person-to-person conversations.

• The move is one of the first significant examples of a social network charging for access to conversations it hosts for the purpose of developing AI systems. LLMs have become an essential part of creating new AI technology, and companies like Google and OpenAI use Reddit conversations as data to feed into their algorithms.

Synthesis AI debuts high-resolution text-to-3D capabilities with synthesis labs

(9 min read) (Source: VentureBeat)

TLDR: Synthesis AI has developed a text-to-3D technology using generative AI and visual effects pipelines to produce high-quality digital humans, which can be used for various applications such as gaming, virtual reality, film and simulation.

• The technology allows users to input text descriptions of the desired digital human and generate a 3D model that matches the specifications.

• The company aims to provide perfectly labelled synthetic data to train machine learning models by supporting advanced AI applications, accelerating development, and reducing the costs of 3D applications in various industries.

💰 Funding Alerts

• Safe Security, a cyber risk management SaaS platform, has raised $50 million in a Series B round led by Sorenson Capital, with participation from Eight Roads, Telstra Ventures, WTI, and all existing investors. 

  • Safe's platform enables organizations to gain visibility across their entire attack surface and translate cyber risk into dollars and cents to effectively prioritize their cyber investments. 

  • They have already raised over $100 million and serve some of the largest global enterprises.

  • The company plans to use the funding to continue developing its AI-driven platform for real-time cyber risk management. 

• Nativo, a content technology platform, has raised up to $25 million of structured capital from Capital IP (Aron Dantzig, Partner). 

  • Using its patented technology and insights platform, which leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence, Nativo is able to connect brands with their ideal audience to drive consideration.

  • The funding will help Nativo automate the distribution of content in a non-interruptive, fully integrated experience within trusted environments. Nativo plans to expand its technology, differentiated ad formats and insights platform to achieve the next phase of growth.

• Clerkie, a startup that uses technology to help lenders manage loan losses and optimize debt repayment, has raised $33 million in Series A funding from Left Lane Capital and other investors, including Wellington Management Company and Citi Ventures. 

  • The company's technology uses machine learning to identify borrowers who are at risk of delinquency and proactively enrolls them in hardship assistance programs to reduce their debt burden. 

  • The funding will be used to expand its partner relationships with banks and to further develop its debt repayment and optimization technology.

• Cortical Labs has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Horizon Ventures to develop DishBrain, a biological computer that fuses living brain cells onto computing devices. 

  • The technology allows for the exploration of how cells react to new drug combinations without relying on animal testing.

  • The company plans to use the funds to build the world’s first neural cluster to connect these neurons up to the cloud, allowing companies to explore natural language processing and other AI technologies. 

🦾 Trending Tools

• RevFit AI is an AI-powered revenue intelligence platform that helps sellers discover, refine, and monitor their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for smarter deals. The machine learning-based platform calculates an ICP fit score for each opportunity, predicts close dates, and updates fields in the CRM. Available for Salesforce users, RevFit AI offers a free plan for individuals and a paid plan for teams.

• Bloks is an AI-powered productivity assistant that captures and organizes notes, transcribes conversations, creates tasks, and surfaces relevant information. It's a note-taking app, task manager, and meeting assistant all in one. Bloks helps you get things done by putting your notes, tasks, and meetings on autopilot. Available on macOS, iOS, Android, and a Google Chrome extension.

• Algo is a cloud platform offering real-time, data-driven videos at scale. Their latest tools, Waveform and Transcript, use AI to turn podcast sound bites into audio-reactive or word-by-word animations for easy social media sharing. Algo's state-of-the-art technology includes Lottie and serverless cloud rendering for quick video creation.

• Rewrite by AI is a multi-mode rewriting tool that uses AI to transform written content into various styles and tones with just one click. With over 70 modes available, users can tailor their writing to fit any audience or objective, without the need for manual editing.

👀 More Reading

• Goodbye to the fat middle (TechCrunch)

• To Stay Ahead of China in AI, the U.S. Needs to Work with China (TIME)

• ChatGPT can accurately parse Fed statements and anticipate stock moves from corporate news, studies say (Markets Insider)

• RedPajama replicates LLaMA dataset to build open source, state-of-the-art LLMs (VentureBeat)

• Amid the AI hype, don’t forget about no-code (TechCrunch)

🌎 Fresh Content

1. Computer vision and generative AI have been improving rapidly, and soon it seems like green screens could become an ancient relic of the past. In this video, Phil Edwards of Vox explains how AI backgrounds have evolved, particularly through apps like TikTok and Snapchat, and their limitations. (YouTube)

2. Till Musshoff made a great video discussing what the world might look like after we’ve achieved Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). An AGI would generally be able to do anything a human being could do. However, an ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) would greatly exceed the capabilities of a human and would most likely be able to exponentially grow smarter. This is where the alignment problem comes into play. How do you think humanity needs to approach the incredible task of aligning an ASI system smarter than us with human values? Let us know on Twitter! (YouTube)

 📅 Upcoming Events

1. The Stable Diffusion AI Hackathon starts today (April 14 - 21, 2023), a 7-day hackathon in which participants must develop a product that leverages the power of Generative AI to solve real-world problems. To participate in the hackathon, you must create the solution using Stability.AI API and Vercel software. 1st place wins $5000 USD, 5000 API tokens, and a virtual coffee chat with @hardmaru!

2. Check out the AI in Finance Summit New York (April 20-21, 2023, etc.venues - New York, NY) and discover unique insights and technical use cases from AI specialists and data scientists across Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance sectors.

3. Semantic Layer Summit 2023 (April 26th, 2023, 10:30 AM - 05:00 PM EST / Virtual) is a free one-day virtual event featuring 50+ Enterprise Data Leaders & Top Industry Technologists. Hear advice and best practices from top data leaders, AI & BI technologists, & industry experts in Enterprise data analytics.

4. EmTech Digital (May 2-3, 2023 / In person on the MIT campus or Virtual), MIT Technology Review’s signature AI conference, provides CIOs, CPOs, and IT decision makers with the technology insight and business expertise to implement AI systems that enhance products, improve customer experiences, and ensure market success. This year’s conference focuses on the game-changing power of generative AI and how it will impact creators and clients alike. We’ll explore the models behind the technology and the legal implications of generated content. We meet leading researchers and explore hands-on case studies of amazing applications of all forms of AI.

🧠 Resources

Our goal is to make difficult tasks easier and more efficient for you. Don't worry if you're not an 'AI Whisperer,' give these prompts a try and let us know what you think. We're excited to hear your feedback! Remember, these prompts are just a starting point. Tailor them to fit your needs and carefully review the outputs to ensure their accuracy and effectiveness. Let's get started!

Customer Experience Strategist

• Use ChatGPT to develop a customer retention program that prioritizes building strong, long-lasting relationships with customers through positive experiences. 

• Prompt: "In this role as a Customer Experience Strategist, your task is to develop a customer retention program that focuses on creating positive experiences for customers to build long-term relationships. Please outline a strategy that includes the most effective ways to connect with customers and keep them engaged with our brand. Please confirm that you're ready by saying 'Ready to develop a customer experience strategy.' Then ask me for more details required for you to create a detailed strategy.”

UI/UX Designer

• Utilize ChatGPT to create a detailed wireframe prototype that visualizes user flow and interaction design for a new feature or application. 

• Prompt: "As a UI/UX Designer, your role is to create a wireframe prototype that showcases the user flow and interaction design for a new feature or application. Please develop a plan that outlines the most effective way to present the user interface and experience to the user. Please confirm that you're ready by saying 'Ready to prototype the user flow.'Then ask me for more details required for you to create a thorough plan.”

Project Communication Coordinator

• Collaborate with ChatGPT to develop a communication plan that outlines how stakeholders will be kept informed about project progress to ensure timely and effective updates. 

• Prompt: "As a Project Communication Coordinator, your task is to work with ChatGPT to develop a communication plan that keeps stakeholders informed about project progress. Using ChatGPT, develop a plan that includes the most effective methods for communicating project updates, deadlines, and milestones to stakeholders. Please confirm that you're ready by saying 'Ready to create a project communication plan.' Then ask me for more details about the project required for you to create a detailed strategy.”

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