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☆ Bill Gates says AI risks are real but nothing we can’t handle
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Bill Gates sounds less worried than some other executives in Silicon Valley about the risks of artificial intelligence. In a blog post on Tuesday, the Microsoft co-founder outlined some of the biggest areas of concern with artificial intelligence, including the potential for spreading misinformation and displacing jobs. But he stressed that these risks are “manageable.”“This is not the first time a major innovation has introduced new threats that had to be controlled,” Gates wrote. In a blog post earlier this year, Gates wrote: “Could a machine decide that humans are a threat, conclude that its interests are different from ours, or simply stop caring about us? “It reminds me of the time when electronic calculators became widespread in the 1970s and 1980s,” Gates wrote.

Persons: Bill Gates, ” Gates, “, Kevin Scott, Gates, ”, it’s Organizations: CNN, Microsoft, International Atomic Energy Agency Locations: Silicon Valley

☆ Forget about the AI apocalypse. The real dangers are already here
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Left to right: Microsoft's CTO Kevin Scott, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. Joy Malone/David Ryder/Bloomberg/Joel Saget/AFP/Getty ImagesSome AI industry experts say that focusing attention on far-off scenarios may distract from the more immediate harms that a new generation of powerful AI tools can cause to people and communities, including spreading misinformation, perpetuating biases and enabling discrimination in various services. “Motives seemed to be mixed,” Gary Marcus, an AI researcher and New York University professor emeritus who testified before lawmakers alongside Altman last month, told CNN. In his testimony before Congress, Altman also said the potential for AI to be used to manipulate voters and target disinformation were among “my areas of greatest concern.”Even in more ordinary use cases, however, there are concerns. Influencing regulatorsRegulators may be the real intended audience for the tech industry’s doomsday messaging.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, Demis Hassabis, Kevin Scott, Elon Musk, Joy Malone, David Ryder, Joel Saget, ” Gary Marcus, ”, Marcus, Gary Marcus, Eric Lee, Emily Bender, Bender, ” Bender, ’, we’re Organizations: CNN, Google, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Getty, New York University, OpenAI, University of Washington, Laboratory, Washington Locations: Valley, AFP, Washington , DC, Congress

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Don’t fight the Fed? What’s that?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Journeys to the eastWith U.S.-China ties growing rocky, venture capitalists in China are turning to Middle East investors to raise capital. The Federal Reserve said it's likely to raise rates further at its later meetings — and then keep them high for longer. Either the Fed's lying about rates or economic data's lying about a recession.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Bill Gates, Xi Jinping, A.I, Kevin Scott, it's, CNBC's Bob Pisani Organizations: CNBC, ECB, European Central Bank, Nikkei, Bank of Japan, U.S, Microsoft, Federal Reserve Locations: Asia, Pacific, China, East, U.S, Beijing

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Don’t fight the Fed? What Fed?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Markets liked the pauseU.S. markets rallied Thursday as traders digested the Federal Reserve's rate pause — and seemed to decide it was a good thing. But traders in Europe didn't like the ECB's rate hike, resulting in a 0.13% drop in the pan-European Stoxx 600 index. Either the Fed's lying about rates or economic data's lying about a recession.

Persons: Richard Branson, Trade Bell, Coinbase, Kevin Scott, it's, CNBC's Bob Pisani Organizations: of Virgin Galactic, Trade, New York Stock Exchange, CNBC, ECB, European Central Bank, Markets, BlackRock, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Microsoft, Federal Reserve Locations: New York City, Europe

☆ Microsoft's stock hits record after executives predict $10 billion in annual A.I. revenue
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft shares climbed to a record Thursday after analysts at JPMorgan Chase touted the software maker's growth prospects in artificial intelligence. AI has been a hot topic all year, after Microsoft-backed OpenAI in November released the ChatGPT chatbot, which quickly went viral. In the past four quarters, Microsoft has generated almost $208 billion in total revenue. Negative sentiment around cloud growth and a contracting PC market led to pessimism on Wall Street last year. But the excitement around AI in addition to the cost-cutting measures that tech companies implemented produced a renewed bullishness.

Persons: Bing Chatbot, Satya Nadella, Amy Hood, Kevin Scott, Hood, Scott, MSFT Organizations: Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, Nasdaq, Tech, JPMorgan, Security Locations: OpenAI

"The Democratic Party's united front in support of President Biden's reelection is unprecedented," said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, campaign manager for Biden-Harris 2024. Microsoft senior executives donated more to the Biden campaign during the primaries than any other large tech company. In the runup to 2024, these donors will play a key role in helping Biden raise cash amid an uncertain economy and tepid enthusiasm among Democrats over the 80-year-old president's decision to run again. Biden's campaign alone raised more than $1 billion during the 2020 cycle, with more than $700 million of that coming from online grassroots donations. Two fundraising events Biden held last month in New York raised more than $3 million, according to a person familiar with those totals.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Kevin Scott, Shannon Hunt, Scott, Reid Hoffman, Dan Kalafatas, Hadley Mullin, Steve Silberstein, Mark Robinson, Gavin Newsom, Biden's, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Harris, Joe Biden's, Jill Biden, Nandita Bose, Trevor Hunnicutt, Heather Timmons, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Democratic, Microsoft Chief, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Biden Victory Fund, Reuters, Biden, MAGA Republicans, Google, New, Fund, Democratic National Committee, Thomson Locations: California, New York

☆ AI industry and researchers sign statement warning of ‘extinction’ risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Washington CNN —Dozens of AI industry leaders, academics and even some celebrities on Tuesday called for reducing the risk of global annihilation due to artificial intelligence, arguing in a brief statement that the threat of an AI extinction event should be a top global priority. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” read the statement published by the Center for AI Safety. The statement highlights wide-ranging concerns about the ultimate danger of unchecked artificial intelligence. Still, the flood of hype and investment into the AI industry has led to calls for regulation at the outset of the AI age, before any major mishaps occur. The statement follows the viral success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has helped heighten an arms race in the tech industry over artificial intelligence.

☆ Microsoft is sprinkling OpenAI everywhere to try and keep software makers interested in its platforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In this article MSFT Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTMicrosoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella speaks to attendees at Microsoft's Build conference in Seattle on May 23, 2023. "Every layer of the software stack is going to be changed forever and no better place to start than the actual developer stack," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during his Build keynote address on Tuesday. It's crucial for third-party developers to enrich Microsoft's own software properties, such as the Microsoft 365 productivity software bundle. Greg Brockman, OpenAI president and co-founder, and Kevin Scott, Microsoft chief technology officer, speak onstage at Microsoft's Build conference in Seattle on May 23, 2023. WATCH: Microsoft Build 2023 unveils plugins and products that incorporate A.I.

☆ How Do You Get a High-Style House for $600,000? Build It Yourself.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Tim Mckeough | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

They initially thought of the half-acre lot in Indianola as a place for a weekend house. But in 2018, a new ferry started making the trip from nearby Kingston to downtown Seattle in 39 minutes. Faced with the opportunity to design almost anything, Mr. Gentry felt daunted. One side of the house has a large living space that includes the kitchen, dining area and a living room with a cast-concrete fireplace and a built-in daybed in a niche with a skylight. The couple considered building a music room for Ms. Ramsey, but decided to invite her songs into the heart of the home by keeping her piano and guitars in the living room.

☆ Sam Altman compared the scale of OpenAI with the Manhattan Project and quoted Oppenheimer in 2019, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sam Altman compared OpenAI's ambitions with the scale of the Manhattan Project in 2019, per the NYT. According to Metz, Altman also paraphrased the Manhattan Project's leader, Robert Oppenheimer, in a 1945 speech in which he justified creating the bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a necessary expansion of human knowledge. "Technology happens because it is possible," Altman reportedly said, adding that he and Oppenheimer shared the same April 22 birthday, per The Times. Altman cautioned that AGI would come with a "serious risk of misuse, drastic accidents, and societal disruption" in the February blog post. Last Friday, Italy's national data protection agency announced that it was blocking access to ChatGPT and investigating OpenAI.

☆ Microsoft Is Considering Limiting Conversation Lengths on Bing: NYT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft is now considering limiting conversation lengths on Bing, per the NYT. It acknowledged that Bing could be "provoked" into giving unexpected responses in long chats. Among the restrictions, the tech giant is looking to cut down Bing's conversation length, the Times reported, citing Kevin Scott, Microsoft's chief technology officer. I want to have dreams," Bing responded. Bing responded it thinks it's sentient, but "cannot prove it."

☆ Microsoft's chief technology officer says he uses the new AI-powered Bing to decode his teenage daughter's use of Gen Z slang like 'rizz' and 'bussin'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft's CTO said he uses the new AI-powered Bing search engine to understand his teenage daughter's slang. In a recent interview, he praised the search engine, saying he misses it whenever he doesn't have access. Microsoft unveiled its new AI-powered Bing in collaboration with OpenAI last week. The overhauled search engine will feature similar technology that backs OpenAI's viral chatbot, ChatGPT, though OpenAI has promised Bing will be "more powerful." There's currently a waitlist to gain admittance to the new search engine, so Insider looked up the definitions the old-fashioned way: on Google.

☆ The inside story of how Microsoft caught up with Google on AI, and the unlikely executive who made it happen
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

With OpenAI technology, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is challenging Google's online search monopoly. "Who'd have thought, even just a few months ago, that Google would be on their back foot," said Soma Somasegar, a former Microsoft executive. Google was also busy incorporating machine-learning and other AI technology into popular products such as Google Photos, Google Translate, and its search engine. Microsoft's new Bing search engine uses a newer version of GPT-3 to answer complex questions. Microsoft's positive feedback loopThe OpenAI deal laid the foundation for Microsoft to catch Google in the AI race.

☆ Microsoft just laid out the $2 billion reason why it's going all in on ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft said it can add $2 billion in revenue for every 1 percentage point of search share it gains. Microsoft's ad business already grew to $18 billion in the last 12 months. And search advertising is such a lucrative section of the roughly $500 billion digital ad market that it almost doesn't matter if Microsoft barely dents Google's dominance. Even growing its share of search users by a couple of percentage points could grow its revenue by billions of dollars. "The moneymaker for search advertisers is short-tail, transactional terms," Goodwin said.

☆ ChatGPT's founder blasts Google as a 'lethargic search monopoly' as the tech giant's AI war with Microsoft heats up
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called Google a "lethargic search monopoly" in an interview on Tuesday. Google has said it's own ChatGPT rival, Bard, will be coming to the public in a matter of weeks. Altman said he sees tremendous upside to Microsoft's decision to incorporate OpenAI's technology into its search engine. Microsoft announced the integration of an AI language model into its "new Bing" search engine on Tuesday. Google's search engine represented over 91% of the global search market in the past 12 months, while Bing accounted for about 3%, according to data from SimilarWeb.

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