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☆ China’s AI stocks are surging. Here are the names to watch
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The investment analyst team led by Gary Yu has a $140 price target and overweight rating on Baidu's U.S.-listed shares. "We believe the current AI cloud integration between Galaxy AI and Ernie is just the first step," Yu said. For all the interest in AI stocks, China markets this year are still grappling with worries about whether Beijing is doing enough to support economic growth. They have a price target of 160 yuan on Shanghai-listed shares of Cambricon — upside of 12% from Friday's levels. They have a price target of 380 yuan on Shanghai-listed Kingsoft, up more than 50% from Friday's levels.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Gary Yu, Yu, Ernie chatbot, Ernie, Fawne Jiang, Jiang, Baidu, Alex Yao, Yao, Geoffrey Hinton, Cade Metz, Hinton, Metz, it's, Sinodata, Microsoft didn't, EPFR, Bernstein, monetization Organizations: Bloomberg, Baidu, U.S, Huawei, Galaxy, Benchmark, JPMorgan China, Mavericks, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Shanghai, China Equity Funds, Nvidia Locations: China, U.S, Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai

In November, a year after ChatGPT’s release, a relatively unknown Chinese start-up leaped to the top of a leaderboard that judged the abilities of open-source artificial intelligence systems. system as an alternative to options like Meta’s generative A.I. Mr. Lee’s start-up then built on Meta’s technology, training its system with new data to make it more powerful. Even as the country races to build generative A.I., Chinese companies are relying almost entirely on underlying systems from the United States. China now lags the United States in generative A.I.

Persons: Kai, Fu Lee, Lee, Lee’s Locations: China, United States

☆ Google Is Giving Away Some of the A.I. That Powers Chatbots
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Cade Metz | Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Now, in an indication that critics of sharing A.I. Google released the computer code that powers its online chatbot on Wednesday, after keeping this kind of technology concealed for many months. Much like Meta, Google said the benefits of freely sharing the technology — called a large language model — outweighed the potential risks. The company said in a blog post that it was releasing two A.I. language models that could help outside companies and independent software developers build online chatbots similar to Google’s own chatbot.

Persons: Meta, Gemma 2B, Gemma 7B Organizations: Google

☆ Inside the Funding Frenzy at Anthropic, One of A.I.’s Hottest Start-Ups
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Erin Griffith | Cade Metz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Last May, Anthropic, one of the world’s hottest artificial intelligence start-ups, raised $450 million from investors including Google and Salesforce. By August, Anthropic had landed $100 million from two Asian telecoms. Then Amazon committed $4 billion to it, followed by $2 billion more from Google. This month, the venture capital firm Menlo Ventures closed a deal to invest $750 million in Anthropic. Its five funding deals stood out not just for their speed and size, but for their unusual structures.

Persons: Anthropic Organizations: Google, Menlo Ventures Locations: Anthropic

☆ In Big Election Year, A.I.’s Architects Move Against Its Misuse
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Tiffany Hsu | Cade Metz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

is used in a year stacked with major elections around the world. start-up, joined its peers by prohibiting its technology from being applied to political campaigning or lobbying. In a blog post, the company, which makes a chatbot called Claude, said it would warn or suspend any users who violated its rules. It added that it was using tools trained to automatically detect and block misinformation and influence operations. “We expect that 2024 will see surprising uses of A.I.

Persons: chatbot, Bard, Anthropic, Claude, “, ” Organizations: Google

OpenAI has completed a deal that values the San Francisco artificial intelligence company at $80 billion or more, nearly tripling its valuation in less than 10 months, according to three people with knowledge of the deal. The company would sell existing shares in a so-called tender offer led by the venture firm Thrive Capital, the people said. The deal lets employees cash out their shares in the company, rather than a traditional funding round that would raise money for business operations. The deal is another example of the Silicon Valley deal-making machine pumping money into a handful of companies that specialize in generative A.I. The funding boom kicked off early last year, after OpenAI captured the public’s imagination with the release of the online chatbot ChatGPT.

Persons: OpenAI Organizations: SpaceX Locations: San Francisco

☆ OpenAI Unveils A.I. That Instantly Generates Eye-Popping Videos
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Cade Metz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In April, a New York start-up called Runway AI unveiled technology that let people generate videos, like a cow at a birthday party or a dog chatting on a smartphone, simply by typing a sentence into a box on a computer screen. The four-second videos were blurry, choppy, distorted and disturbing. But they were a clear sign that artificial intelligence technologies would generate increasingly convincing videos in the months and years to come. Just 10 months later, the San Francisco start-up OpenAI has unveiled a similar system that creates videos that look as if they were lifted from a Hollywood movie. A demonstration included short videos — created in minutes — of woolly mammoths trotting through a snowy meadow, a monster gazing at a melting candle and a Tokyo street scene seemingly shot by a camera swooping across the city.

Persons: OpenAI, — Locations: New York, San Francisco, Tokyo

☆ OpenAI Gives ChatGPT a Better ‘Memory’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Cade Metz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT a better memory. The San Francisco artificial intelligence start-up said on Tuesday that it was releasing a new version of its chatbot that would remember what users said so it could use that information in future chats. If a user mentions a daughter, Lina, who is about to turn 5, likes the color pink and enjoys jellyfish, for example, ChatGPT can store this information and retrieve it as needed. Now, ChatGPT can draw on a much wider and more detailed array of information. “We think that the most useful assistants are those that evolve with you — and keep up with you,” said Joanne Jang, an OpenAI product lead who helps oversee its memory project.

Persons: Lina, ”, OpenAI, Apple’s Siri, Alexa, Joanne Jang Locations: San Francisco

☆ Google Releases Gemini, an A.I.-Driven Chatbot and Voice Assistant
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Cade Metz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

First, there were talking digital assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant. Then there were online chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Bard. On Thursday, Google introduced Gemini, a smartphone app that behaves like a talking digital assistant as well as a conversational chatbot. Immediately available to English speakers in more than 150 countries and territories, including the United States, Gemini replaces Bard and Google Assistant. The new app is designed to do an array of tasks, including serving as a personal tutor, helping computer programmers with coding tasks and even preparing job hunters for interviews, Google said.

Persons: Siri, Google Bard, Google Organizations: Google, Gemini Locations: United States

Soon after, an Amazon executive sent a private message to an executive at another company. He said Anthropic had won the deal because it agreed to build its A.I. Amazon, he wrote, wanted to create a viable competitor to the chipmaker Nvidia, a key partner and kingmaker in the all-important field of artificial intelligence. over the last year exposed just how dependent big tech companies had become on Nvidia. They have spent billions of dollars on Nvidia’s systems, and the chipmaker has not kept up with the demand.

Persons: Amazon, Anthropic Organizations: Amazon, Nvidia Locations: Anthropic, San Francisco

☆ Cruise Says Hostility Toward Regulators Led to Grounding of Its Autonomous Cars
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Tripp Mickle | Cade Metz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Cruise, the driverless car subsidiary of General Motors, said in a report on Thursday that an adversarial approach taken by its top executives toward regulators had led to a cascade of events that ended with a nationwide suspension of Cruise’s fleet. The roughly 100-page report was compiled by a law firm that Cruise hired to investigate whether its executives had misled California regulators about an October crash in San Francisco in which a Cruise vehicle dragged a woman 20 feet. The investigation found that while the executives had not intentionally misled state officials, they had failed to explain key details about the incident. The report is central to Cruise’s efforts to regain the public’s trust and eventually restart its business. Cruise has been largely shut down since October, when the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended its license to operate because its vehicles were unsafe.

Persons: Cruise, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Kyle Vogt Organizations: General Motors, California Department of Motor Vehicles Locations: California, San Francisco, Sullivan

☆ New Morgan Stanley CEO is 'super bullish' on hitting financial targets
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Morgan Stanley 's new CEO, Ted Pick, on Thursday expressed confidence his bank will hit financial targets of $10 trillion in client assets and a 20% return. Pick, a three-decade Morgan Stanley veteran who took over this month, said he has three priorities: sticking to the strategy laid out by predecessor James Gorman, maintaining the bank's culture and achieving their targets. Pick's predecessor guided Morgan Stanley in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis that nearly capsized the investment bank. "Part of the reason the boss had so much success is he kind of guided the place to a durable narrative instead of the herky-jerky, unpredictable Morgan Stanley," Pick said. The firm's "secret sauce" is in the combination of a leading investment bank with its wealth management operations, he added.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Ted Pick, James Gorman, Pick, Gorman, Morgan, Goldman Sachs Organizations: CNBC, Economic, Federal Reserve, CNBC PRO Locations: Davos, Switzerland, U.S

SEATTLE (AP) — Looking out at Lake Washington and the Cascade Mountains from his new football offices, Jedd Fisch saw a place that can consistently contend for championships. As the Huskies transition to the Big Ten and college football expands to a 12-team playoff, Fisch envisions a Washington program that’s perennially in the national mix. "Recruiting was first and foremost the number one consideration in who we were looking for.”At Washington, Fisch will immediately be tasked with putting his recruiting skills to use. “I loved my time at (Arizona),” Fisch said. ___AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Persons: Jedd Fisch, “, ” Fisch, Kalen DeBoer, Nick Saban, DeBoer, Fisch, that’s, —, Troy Dannen, Michael Penix Jr, returners, decommitted, “ I’m, ”, Chris Petersen, Jimmy Lake, Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Steve Spurrier, Brian Billick, Jim Harbaugh, “ He’s, ” Dannen, he’s, Dannen Organizations: SEATTLE, Huskies, Alabama, Big, SEC, Washington, Wildcats, Oklahoma, Alamo Bowl, ”, Heisman, NFL, —, University of Washington, AP Locations: Lake Washington, Seattle, Arizona, Washington, Alabama . Washington, Arizona’s, Alabama, DeBoer . Arizona

At 1 p.m. on a Friday shortly before Christmas last year, Kent Walker, Google’s top lawyer, summoned four of his employees and ruined their weekend. The group worked in SL1001, a bland building with a blue glass facade betraying no sign that dozens of lawyers inside were toiling to protect the interests of one of the world’s most influential companies. For weeks they had been prepping for a meeting of powerful executives to discuss the safety of Google’s products. The deck was done. But that afternoon Mr. Walker told his team the agenda had changed, and they would have to spend the next few days preparing new slides and graphs.

Persons: Kent Walker, Google’s, Walker Locations: SL1001

Page, hampered for more than a decade by an unusual ailment in his vocal cords, described his vision of a digital utopia in a whisper. If that happens, Mr. Musk said, we’re doomed. Finally he called Mr. Musk a “specieist,” a person who favors humans over the digital life-forms of the future. That debate has pitted some of the world’s richest men against one another: Mr. Musk, Mr. Page, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, the tech investor Peter Thiel, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Sam Altman of OpenAI.

Persons: Page, Musk, we’re, ”, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, OpenAI Organizations: Valley, Meta, Microsoft Locations: Silicon

☆ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on an 18-month, $85 million real-estate shopping spree — including a previously unknown Hawaii estate
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Katherine Long | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

AdvertisementYears before the recent drama at OpenAI turned CEO Sam Altman into a household name, the former Y Combinator president went on an extraordinary 18-month, $85 million real-estate shopping spree, according to records reviewed by Business Insider — including a previously unreported $43 million Hawaii estate on land that locals describe as historically significant. AdvertisementSam Altman's Hawaii estate is immediately adjacent to the reconstruction of the royal temple of King Kamehameha I. Maxar TechnologiesA $43 million estate in HawaiiIn July 2021, Altman bought a twelve-bedroom estate in Kailua-Kona, on the big island of Hawaii, for $43 million. Altman's purchase of the Hawaii property has not been previously reported. AdvertisementAnnie had been unaware that her oldest brother owned property in Hawaii until Business Insider asked her about it, she said. A $27 million San Francisco homeAltman's weekday residence is a home on San Francisco's Russian Hill that was once described — inaccurately — as the most expensive home in San Francisco.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, —, OpenAI, he's, He's, Sam Altman's, King Kamehameha I, King Kamehameha, Jennifer Serralta, Serralta, Jack, Max, — Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Annie Altman, Annie, Sam's, Napa Altman, Cade Metz, Bob Dickinson Organizations: Service, Business, Bloomberg Tech Summit, Wall Street Journal, YouTube, Altman, LinkedIn, Apollo, Opportunity Fund, Silicon Valley, Business Insider, San, SEC, 9Point Ventures, Uncommon Ventures, New York Times, Capital Management, San Francisco Chronicle, New Yorker, Israeli Defense Force, Tesla Locations: San Francisco, Napa, Hawaii, Napa , California, Sam Altman's Hawaii, Kailua, Kona, wakesurfing, Kauai, Lanai, San, Russian, California, Hollywood, Big Sur

In a blog post, Mr. Altman, who was rapidly reinstated last week, also outlined his priorities for OpenAI as he retakes the reins of the high-profile artificial intelligence start-up. He added that its board would focus on improving governance and overseeing an independent review of the events that led to and followed his removal as chief executive. Microsoft expands a three-person board that OpenAI announced last week. Microsoft will be able to participate in OpenAI’s board meetings but not vote on business decisions. “Part of what good governance means is that there’s more predictability, transparency and input from various stakeholders, and this seemed like a good way to get that from a very important one,” Mr. Altman said in an interview, referring to Microsoft.

Persons: OpenAI, Sam Altman, Altman, Mr Organizations: Microsoft

FanDuel Sportsbook on Sunday listed Iowa as a 22 1/2-point underdog for Saturday night's game in Indianapolis. “Yeah, we’ve been here before,” coach Kirk Ferentz said Sunday. Iowa began the season with a number of players suspended and facing legal action for underage sports wagering. Offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, son of Kirk Ferentz, was told by the athletic administration a month ago that he would not return next season. “Rings from my ears, Bo Schembechler — the team, the team, the team,” Harbaugh said.

Persons: Sportsbook, we’ve, Kirk Ferentz, “ We’ve, We’ve, Jim Harbaugh, Chris Partridge, Cade McNamara, Luke Lachey, Erick All, Cooper DeJean, Brian Ferentz, Ferentz, we've, ” Harbaugh, Sherrone Moore, Sarah, Rod Moore's, Harbaugh, Bo Schemechler's, Bo Schembechler, ” Organizations: Big, Hawkeyes, Saturday, Wolverines, Iowa, Purdue, College Football, West, Harbaugh, Nebraska, Ohio State, AP Locations: Iowa, Michigan, Indianapolis, ” Michigan, Chris Partridge . Iowa

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicThe board of OpenAI, the maker of the ChatGPT chatbot and one of the world’s highest-profile artificial intelligence companies, reversed course late last night and brought back Sam Altman as chief executive. Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The Times, discusses a whirlwind five days at the company and analyzes what the fallout could mean for the future of the transformational technology.

Persons: Sam Altman, Cade Metz Organizations: Spotify, The Times

For much of the past year, OpenAI’s board of directors has been criticized as too small and too divided to effectively govern one of the fastest-growing start-ups in Silicon Valley history. On Friday, the board’s dysfunction spilled into public view when four of its members fired Sam Altman, OpenAI’s popular and powerful chief executive. Mr. Altman, 38, returned to the company on Tuesday night, after days of haggling over his job and over the makeup of the board. The board and Mr. Altman’s allies discussed more than a half dozen options for its future. The departing board wanted to be sure the replacements would be independent thinkers and experienced enough to stand up to Mr. Altman.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI’s, Altman, Altman’s, Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs, Brian Chesky Organizations: Emerson Locations: Silicon Valley

More board members, who could be plucked from OpenAI’s biggest investor, Microsoft, and the A.I. Mr. Altman was not named to the board on Tuesday night, and it was not clear if he ever will be. But some already argue that it will not be as attuned to OpenAI’s original mission to create A.I. The tech industry — perhaps even the world — will be watching to see if OpenAI is any closer to balancing those dueling aspirations than it was a week ago. “This needs to be a trustworthy organization that’s aligned with its board, and at the end of it all, OpenAI is a more valuable organization than it was a week ago.”

Persons: Altman, ”, Aaron Levie Organizations: Microsoft

Sam Altman was reinstated late Tuesday as OpenAI’s chief executive, the company said, successfully reversing his ouster by the company’s board last week after a campaign waged by his allies, employees and investors. The board of directors will be overhauled, jettisoning several members who had opposed Mr. Altman. Adam D’Angelo, the chief executive of Quora, will be the only holdover. “We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo,” OpenAI said in a post to X. “We are collaborating to figure out the details.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, Adam D’Angelo, Sam, Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, ” OpenAI, Greg Brockman, upended Organizations: Quora

Nearly all of OpenAI’s 800 employees have threatened to follow Mr. Altman to Microsoft, which asked him to lead an A.I. lab with Greg Brockman, who quit his roles as OpenAI’s president and board chairman in solidarity with Mr. Altman. The board has not said what it thought Mr. Altman was not being honest about. There were indications that the board was still open to his return, as it and Mr. Altman held discussions that extended into Tuesday, two people familiar with the talks said. But there was a sticking point: Mr. Altman rejected some of the guardrails that had been proposed to improve his communication with the board.

Persons: OpenAI, Altman, Greg Brockman, Brockman Organizations: Microsoft

OpenAI’s four-person board shocked the tech industry early Friday afternoon when it removed Mr. Altman, saying they could no longer trust him. One of the board members who pushed out Mr. Altman then reversed course on Monday and signed the letter demanding that he be reinstated. The decision by the board set off a frantic weekend of unexpected corporate jockeying that ended with Mr. Altman joining Microsoft to start a new A.I. By early Monday morning, the 700 employees had signed the letter, according to three people familiar with the matter. The upheaval leaves the future of one of the fastest-growing companies in Silicon Valley history in doubt.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman Organizations: Microsoft, Mr Locations: Silicon Valley

The board of directors of OpenAI, the high-flying artificial intelligence start-up, said in a note to employees on Sunday night that its former chief, Sam Altman, would not be returning to his job, while naming his second interim replacement in two days. Emmett Shear, the former chief executive of Twitch, will replace Mira Murati as interim chief executive of OpenAI, the board said. Ms. Murati, a longtime OpenAI executive, had been appointed to that role after Mr. Altman’s ouster on Friday. The board said Mr. Shear has a “unique mix of skills, expertise and relationships that will drive OpenAI forward,” according to the memo viewed by The New York Times. It was signed by each of the four directors on the company’s board; Adam D’Angelo, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, and Tasha McCauley.

Persons: Sam Altman, Emmett Shear, Twitch, Mira Murati, Murati, Altman’s, Shear, ”, Adam D’Angelo, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Tasha McCauley, “ Organizations: OpenAI, The New York Times

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