Amazon Mulls Another MultiBillion-Dollar Investment In Anthropic – But With An Added Twist
Amazon Mulls Another MultiBillion-Dollar Investment In Anthropic – But With An Added Twist
Amazon.com Inc. is ready for another hefty investment in the San Francisco-based generative artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, one of the main rivals of OpenAI.
The report today in The Information follows a report in late September in the same publication that Anthropic was looking to raise a round at a $40 billion valuation. The company has raised $9.7 billion compared with OpenAI’s $21.9 billion.
It also follows Amazon’s pledge of $4 billion to Anthropic in 2023, a collaborative agreement that saw Anthropic using Amazon Web Services as its primary cloud provider as it developed its latest highly advanced foundation model designed to take on OpenAI’s GPT-4. In turn, Amazon customers would gain early access to Anthropic’s technology.
Details are scant, but it seems the deal will be similar to that last one. The added twist is that Amazon has asked Anthropic to use its own chips rather than those developed by Nvidia Corp., which is what Anthropic reportedly prefers.
More about Amazon’s deal with Anthropic on Silicon Angle
No Priors | NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang
In this week’s episode of No Priors, Sarah and Elad sit down with Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, for the second time to reflect on the company’s extraordinary growth over the past year.
Jensen discusses AI’s takeover of datacenters and NVIDIA’s rapid development of x.AI’s supercluster. The conversation also covers Nvidia’s decade-long infrastructure bets, software longevity, and innovations like NVLink.
Jensen shares his views on the future of embodied AI, digital employees, and how AI is transforming scientific discovery.
TSMC Ending Shipments For Its 7nm And More Advanced Nodes To Chinese Firms
Huawei was previously rumored to have been receiving 7nm chip shipments from TSMC, but the only way that could be possible was through proxies. While the Taiwanese semiconductor giant has re-assured that it will take prompt action if found violating the trade sanctions.
According to the latest report, TSMC has notified its Chinese customers through email that all 7nm and below chip shipments will be halted starting next week. Companies that relied on TSMC’s 7nm process and newer technologies specifically for mass producing AI, smartphone, and automobile chips have been targeted.
The update was provided to various TSMC’s Chinese customers through email, stating that suspension of supplies for the 7nm and below processes will be stopped from November 11. Thankfully, this supply will only affect those who leverage TSMC’s technology for AI, smartphones, and automobile chips. The ban will remain in place until the semiconductor manufacturer and the U.S. Department of Commerce can negotiate and issue specific control details.
More about TSMC ending shipment of newer technology to China
What is Agentic RAG? | IBM’s David Levy
Discover the future of AI-driven conversations with Agentic RAG. This powerful pipeline enhances responses from large language models by incorporating relevant data retrieved from vector databases.
Join David Levy as he discusses how Agentic RAG can create more responsive, accurate, and adaptable AI systems to better service fields like customer service, legal tech, and beyond.
I’ve added some initial benefits to being a paid subscriber or founding member. I am finishing my e-book entitled Superintelligence: The Promise and the Peril of GenAI.
And for founding members, I have designed the Neural News Network AI AF T-Shirt.
Here’s a post about the new benefits, plus some others. Founding members get it all.
‘Unrestricted’ AI Group Nous Research Launches Their First Chatbot
Nous Research, the AI research group dedicated to creating “personalized, unrestricted” AI models as an alternative to more buttoned up corporate outfits such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and others, has previously released several open source models in its Hermes family, and new, more efficient AI training methods.
But before today, if researchers and users wanted to actually deploy these models, they’d needed to download and run the code on their own machines — a time-consuming, finicky, and potential costly endeavor — or use them on partner websites.
No longer: Nous just announced its first user-facing chatbot inference, Nous Chat, which gives users access to its large language model (LLM) Hermes 3-70B, a fine-tuned variant of Meta’s Llama 3.1, in the familiar format of ChatGPT, Hugging Chat, and other popular AI chatbot tools — with a text entry box at the bottom for the user to type in text prompts, and a large space for the chatbot to return outputs up top.
More about Nous’ unrestricted AI chatbot on Venture Beat
Baidu Readies AI Glasses to Rival Meta
Baidu is set to unveil a pair of glasses with a built-in AI assistant. Sources say the Chinese tech giant plans to showcase the product at its annual Baidu World event in Shanghai next week. Bloomberg tech reporter Annabelle Droulers reports.
The Rise Of AI-Enabled Virtual Pets: Why Millions Are Raising Digital Companions
Remember Tamagotchis? Those tiny digital pets that had millions of kids frantically pressing buttons to keep their virtual companions alive in the 1990s? Well, they've evolved into something far more sophisticated: AI-enabled virtual pets that can talk, learn, and form genuine connections with their human caretakers.
Why Virtual Pets Are Making A Comeback
In an era where technology often gets blamed for increasing isolation, companies like Slay are taking a different approach. Their viral hit app Pengu has become the biggest AI character app in the US, but with a twist - you can't raise your virtual pet alone. It requires two people to care for each Pengu together, creating a social experience that bridges digital and human connections.
"If you think about how many people in the US have real-life pets, you see that there's a huge demand," explains Fabian Kamberi, CEO and co-founder of Slay. "I think we have been the first company that has been able to get users to engage with an AI character on scale, which hasn't been done before."
Read more about AI-enabled virtual pets on Forbes
Saudi Arabia Plans $100 Billion AI Project to Rival UAE Technology Hub
Bloomberg's Christine Burke reports Saudi Arabia is planning a new artificial intelligence project with backing of as much as $100 billion as it seeks to develop a technological hub to rival the neighboring United Arab Emirates.
Thats all for today, however new advancements, investments, and partnerships are happening as you read this. Subscribe today, so you don’t miss any AI related news.