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REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoJune 29 (Reuters) - Inflection AI, a startup backed by several Silicon Valley heavyweights, said on Thursday it had raised $1.3 billion from investors including Microsoft and Nvidia, amid a boom in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Inflection released its chatbot Pi last month. Pi uses generative AI technology, similar to ChatGPT, to interact with users through dialogues, allowing people to ask questions and share feedback. Palo Alto, California-based Inflection AI has about 35 employees. Nvidia (NVDA.O), which has stepped up its AI investments recently, Hoffman, Bill Gates and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt also participated in the latest round, Inflection said.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Google DeepMind, Mustafa Suleyman, Reid Hoffman, Pi, Suleyman, OpenAI, Hoffman, Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, Niket, Krystal Hu, Vinay Dwivedi, Conor Humphries Organizations: REUTERS, Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, LinkedIn, Collision, Thomson Locations: Alto , California, Greylock, Bengaluru, Toronto

☆ Family offices are backing AI, even as rich Americans are skeptical of the hype
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Billionaires like Google's Eric Schmidt are betting big on AI through their family offices. Insider talked to family office insiders to learn how to find real deals amid the hype cycle. So many startups are claiming to use AI that family offices are wary of "AI washing" when considering direct venture deals, according to Karl Rogers, chief investment officer at Irish family office Elkstone. But they are still circumspect, he said, as family offices typically prioritize long-term wealth preservation over aggressive growth. "Hype cycles tend to imply immediate returns, which is contrary to how family offices usually think," said Hsu, whose fund counts the Pritzker family as investors.

Persons: Eric Schmidt, Stanley Druckenmiller, ChatGPT, Karl Rogers, Rogers, Paul Hsu, Hsu, Pritzker, They've, Jon Dutton, Dutton, Anthony Manna, he's, I've Organizations: Nvidia, Google, Mistral, Fidelity, M7 Holdings, Bloomfield Robotics

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch CNBC's full interview with former Google CEO Eric SchmidtEric Schmidt, former Google CEO and chairman, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the intersection of technology and war in Ukraine, the use of drones and artificial intelligence in this war, and more.

Persons: Eric Schmidt Eric Schmidt Organizations: Google Locations: Ukraine

☆ Analysts see A.I. as a double-edged sword for 3 big tech stocks. We're more optimistic
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Alphabet The news: Analysts at UBS lowered their rating on Alphabet to neutral from buy but increased their price target to $132 per share from $123. Analysts expect the company's use of generative AI to be the "next leg to shares," and its use of AI tools should help the company "be viewed as an AI winner." Though Meta shares fell 3.5% to $278 each Monday. Reacceleration of revenue growth at Amazon's cloud unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS) into the fourth quarter of this year, should be a catalyst for the stock, analysts said. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

Persons: Eric Schmidt, Jim, We're, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, there's, Zuckerberg, Roth, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Sebastien Bozon Organizations: CNBC, Nasdaq, UBS, Google, Club, Microsoft, Facebook, Meta, Apple, Amazon Web Services, AFP, Getty Locations: Mulhouse

☆ 'The 2024 elections are going to be a mess' because of A.I. and misinformation: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Chairman, Google, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California on May 2, 2023. Misinformation around the 2024 election will be rampant as new tools have made advanced artificial intelligence more accessible, according to Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google who co-founded Schmidt Futures. "The 2024 elections are going to be a mess because social media is not protecting us from false generated AI," Schmidt told Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday. Asked about the policy change, Schmidt said that social media should allow for "free speech for humans, not computers." "What social media should do is mark all the content, know who the users are, and hold people accountable if they violate the law," Schmidt said.

Persons: Eric Schmidt, Schmidt, Andrew Ross Sorkin Organizations: Google, Milken Institute Global Conference, Schmidt, YouTube, CNBC Locations: Beverly Hills , California

☆ Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt: The morale in Ukraine is surprisingly high
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailFormer Google CEO Eric Schmidt: The morale in Ukraine is surprisingly highEric Schmidt, former Google CEO and chairman, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the intersection of technology and war in Ukraine, the use of drones and artificial intelligence in this war, and more.

Persons: Eric Schmidt Organizations: Google Locations: Ukraine

☆ Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt paid $67 million for a superyacht abandoned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Max Adams | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt paid $67.6 million at auction for a 267-foot superyacht. The boat was left moored in Antigua Bay by Andrey Guryev, a sanctioned Russian oligarch. Billionaire and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt won an auction Friday for the 267-foot Alfa Nero, paying $67.6 million for the superyacht that had been "abandoned" in Antigua Bay by a sanctioned Russian oligarch. Schmidt was the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011, and stepped down as chairman of Google parent Alphabet in 2018. Representatives for Schmidt didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Persons: Eric Schmidt, Andrey Guryev, Nero, Sir Ronald Sanders, Schmidt, Guryev, Vladimir Putin, Guryev's, Mr Guryev, Alfa Nero, Beck Diefenbach, Schmidt didn't Organizations: Google, Russian oligarch, Bloomberg, Morning, Barbuda Port Authority, Boat, US Treasury Department, Guryev, Alfa, Reuters Officials, International . Locations: Antigua Bay, Russian, Antigua, Barbuda, Ukraine, Falmouth Harbor

☆ France's Mistral AI raises 105 mln euros shortly after being set up
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Sudip Kar-Gupta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The fund-raising highlights the rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) sector as well as Europe's desire to create rivals to Silicon Valley companies such as Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI and Google's (GOOGL.O) DeepMind. Paris-based Mistral AI was set up by former Meta (META.O) and Google artificial intelligence researchers Timothee Lacroix, Guillaume Lample and Arthur Mensch. Mistral AI's fund-raising was led by international venture capital fund Lightspeed Venture Partners. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is also a shareholder in Mistral AI. "Bravo to the start-up Mistral AI which has raised 105 million euros just a month after its creation: a record!"

Persons: Schmidt, Xavier Niel, Rodolphe Saade, Timothee Lacroix, Guillaume Lample, Arthur Mensch, Mensch, Mistral, Eric Schmidt, Jean, Noel Barrot, Bravo, Sudip Kar, David Evans, Leslie Adler Organizations: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Microsoft, Meta, JCDecaux, Italy's Exor Ventures, Mistral, Paris, Twitter, Thomson Locations: PARIS, Silicon, DeepMind, Paris, France, Europe, New York , California, London

☆ One of the 'godfathers' of AI says that today's systems don't pose an existential risk, but warned that things could get 'catastrophic'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

There's a chance that AI development could get "catastrophic," Yoshua Bengio told The New York Times. "Today's systems are not anywhere close to posing an existential risk," but they could in the future, he said. "Today's systems are not anywhere close to posing an existential risk," Yoshua Bengio, a professor at the Université de Montréal, told the publication. Marc Andreessen spoke even more strongly in a blog post last week in which he warned against "full-blown moral panic about AI" and described "AI risk doomers" as a "cult." "AI doesn't want, it doesn't have goals, it doesn't want to kill you, because it's not alive," he wrote.

Persons: There's, Yoshua Bengio, there's, Montréal, Bengio, Anthony Aguirre, Microsoft Bing, It's, Aguirre, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Anthropic, Eric Schmidt, Bill Gates, Marc Andreessen, it's, Andreessen Organizations: New York Times, Morning, University of California, Times, Microsoft, Life Institute, Bengio, Apple, Center, AI Safety Locations: Santa Cruz

☆ Keeta, a startup aiming to be the Venmo of international payments, just raised $17 million in a round backed by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt with this 13-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cross-border payments startup Keeta has raised $17 million in fresh funds. The seed round was backed by an array of investors including ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Cross-border payments startup Keeta has raised $17 million in a seed funding round backed by an array of investors including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. We want to make it just as easy for a manufacturer in Indiana to send $200,000 to a vendor in Germany," Keeta CEO and founder Ty Schenk told Insider. The company's $17 million in funding partially comes from former Google CEO Schmidt alongside other, unnamed investors.

Persons: Eric Schmidt, Ty Schenk, Wise, Schmidt, Schenk, We've Organizations: European Union Locations: The California, Indiana, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom

☆ A.I. poses existential risk of people being 'harmed or killed,' ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said he sees "existential risks" with artificial intelligence as the technology gets more advanced. Artificial intelligence could pose existential risks and governments need to know how to make sure the technology is not "misused by evil people," former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned Wednesday. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit in London, Schmidt said his concern is that AI is an "existential risk." "And existential risk is defined as many, many, many, many people harmed or killed," Schmidt said. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI which developed ChatGPT, admitted in March that he is a "little bit scared" of artificial intelligence.

☆ A secretive annual meeting attended by the world's elite has A.I. top of the agenda
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is one among a number of business and political leaders set to join the annual Bilderberg Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will join forces with key leadership from firms like Microsoft and Google this week as a secretive meeting of the business and political elite kickstarts in Lisbon, Portugal. Artificial intelligence will top the agenda as the ChatGPT chief meets with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, DeepMind head Demis Hassabis, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the annual Bilderberg meeting. All in, around 130 participants from 23 countries are set to attend the private meeting — a similar number to previous years. However, the event's organizers say that the discrete nature of the event is to allow for greater freedom of discussion.

Some are turning to startups who are pivoting to using powerful chips to run quantum-inspired software on regular computers as they bide their time. In the past 18 months, quantum software startups including SandBoxAQ - an Alphabet spinoff - raised about $1 billion, according to data firm PitchBook. Ultimately, the software inspired by quantum physics won't perform well on quantum computers without some changes, said William Hurley, boss of Austin-based quantum software startup Strangeworks. Still, he said companies that start using them will have engineers "learning about quantum and the phenomenon and the process, which will better prepare them to use quantum computers at the point that they do so." Strangeworks, which also operates a cloud with over 60 quantum computers on it, raised $24 million last month from investors including IBM (IBM.N).

☆ The biggest issue with AI will be how people interact with it, says former Google CEO Eric Schmidt
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe biggest issue with AI will be how people interact with it, says former Google CEO Eric SchmidtEric Schmidt, former Google CEO and chairman, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the future of AI, and the risks and rewards associated with the transformative technology.

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with former Google CEO and chairman Eric Schmidt
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch CNBC's full interview with former Google CEO and chairman Eric SchmidtEric Schmidt, former Google CEO and chairman, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the future of AI, and the risks and rewards associated with the transformative technology.

☆ Can ChatGPT be a doctor?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

My colleague Emilia David will take over for the rest of this week until Diamond Naga returns from her much-needed vacation. Can ChatGPT be a doctor? One physician said the AI chatbot was "better than many doctors" he's observed when it came to clinical diagnosis. The doctor said the diagnosis didn't differ from what he would have determined. ChatGPT may have passed the exam, but it's still unable to take the Hippocratic oath, where doctors swear to abide by a set of professional ethical standards.

☆ Pausing AI development would 'simply benefit China,' warns former Google CEO Eric Schmidt
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Eric Schmidt said a six-month pause on AI development would "simply benefit China." "The question is what is the right answer," Schmidt told the Financial Review. "I'm not in favour of a six-month pause because it will simply benefit China." Instead of a pause, leaders should instead collectively discuss appropriate guardrails "ASAP," Schmidt said. "I think today the government's response would be clumsy because there are very few people in government who understand this stuff," Schmidt told the Australian newspaper.

☆ AUKUS needs to pool tech resources as US edge erodes -Australian intelligence chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Andrew Shearer, the director-general of the Office of National Intelligence, said the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region was starting to "shift away from the United States and its allies, undermining deterrence". "We are seeing our longstanding technological edge start to erode, and in some cases that edge is totally gone," he added. Schmidt, who has advised United States Department of Defense on artificial intelligence, said China is organised around drones, hypersonic and automation technology, and this should influence Australia's military spending decisions. Although it was likely there would be decoupling between China and Western allies in critical technology, China was not an enemy and the could work together in other areas, he added. He criticised the U.S. government for restricting Chinese researchers from moving to the United States to work on technologies like quantum computing.

☆ Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says those in AI industry have to 'make sure' the technology 'doesn't harm but just helps'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Sarah Al-Arshani | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AI Technology has advanced rapidly and gained popularity in recent years. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt told ABC News the technology has promise, but there are concerns. He said the industry has to work to find "guardrails" to prevent negative impacts on democracy. Schmidt, who was Google's CEO from 2001 to 2011 and the company's executive chairman from 2011 to 2015, laid out the promise and peril of AI technology during the interview. The tech leader said the entire industry needs to come together to figure out appropriate "guardrails" because the technology is only going to get bigger.

☆ Bill Gates says OpenAI's GPT is the most important advance in technology since 1980
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft founder Bill Gates speaks during the Global Fund Seventh Replenishment Conference in New York on September 21, 2022. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says that OpenAI's GPT AI model is the most revolutionary advance in technology since he first saw a modern graphical desktop environment (GUI) in 1980. Now, Gates sees parallels with OpenAI's GPT models, which can write text that resembles human output and generate nearly usable computer code. "The whole experience was stunning," Gates wrote. Gates and Microsoft have close ties to OpenAI, which developed the GPT model.

☆ Blackface, booze, and blurred lines at the $2 billion tech firm Rokt
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Jack Newsham | Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

A cropped version of an image shared with Rokt employees at the 2020 meeting. Buchanan told Insider. "We think it's important that we stand up and fight it," he told Insider when asked about that message. In an email, Viles told Insider that he hasn't had any day-to-day involvement with Rokt since 2020, when he did some contract work. Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesOne employee told Insider they were encouraged to post the photos and proclaim 2023 to be Rokt's "best year yet."

☆ 5 non-fiction books everyone should be reading about work in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

If you're looking for inspiration or feel stuck in your job, these 5 career books, recommended by Goodreads, can help put you in the right mindset. These books, all published in 2022, have at least a 4-star rating on Goodreads and at least 1,000 members added the book to their "want-to-read" shelf on the site. Chance walks readers through how to cultivate charisma, become a stronger negotiator and deal with manipulative people. Pfeffer introduces seven rules for building a fulfilling, successful career, including "break the rules" and "network relentlessly," as well as how to follow them in your own life. As one review noted: "This book felt like the wakeup call I had been seeking for years now."

☆ Experts think AI could bring on the next Industrial Revolution — and some even think it could trigger nuclear war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Researchers surveyed 480 experts in Natural Language Processing on what they think of AI. Many respondents agreed that AI can create "revolutionary societal change" and lead to catastrophe. The survey was conducted before the release of buzzy AI chatbot ChatGPT. Even more striking, 36% of the respondents said that they agreed AI has the power to cause "catastrophic outcomes" at the level of an "all-out nuclear war." Former Meta executive John Carmac believes AI may be able to think and act like humans in just a decade.

The technology that printed the Gutenberg Bible in 1455 made abstract human thought communicable generally and rapidly. Whereas the printing press caused a profusion of modern human thought, the new technology achieves its distillation and elaboration. In the process, it creates a gap between human knowledge and human understanding. The new technology is known as generative artificial intelligence; GPT stands for Generative Pre-Trained Transformer. As its capacities become broader, they will redefine human knowledge, accelerate changes in the fabric of our reality, and reorganize politics and society.

☆ From a horseback-riding model to a secret daughter: Meet the children of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Grace Kay | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Steve Jobs left the bulk of his fortune to his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, when he died in 2011. Later, he had Reed Jobs, Erin Jobs, and Eve Jobs with his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs. Meet Jobs' four children and his widow Laurene Powell Jobs, and see how his legacy helped his loved ones succeed. Erin Siena JobsErin Siena Jobs is the most private of Steve Jobs' children. Vianney Le Caer/Invision/APTwenty-four-year-old Eve Jobs, the youngest of Steve Jobs' children, is a model and an accomplished equestrian.

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