Web Summit, Europe's largest tech event, is happening in Lisbon this November. With 70,000 attendees expected, the main focus is artificial intelligence, covering regulation, sustainability, and ethics. Key speakers include executives from major tech companies and government officials. Other topics include social media in politics and the future of transportation. The event marks the return of Web Summit's previously controversial co-founder and CEO.
Chinese tech companies are ramping up efforts to recruit AI talent, offering competitive salaries across various AI fields. Xiaomi, a smartphone manufacturer, is streamlining its recruitment process for AI experts, including fast-tracking certain applications.
Fujitsu and AMD are partnering to develop energy-efficient, open-source HPC and AI platforms by 2027. Fujitsu will contribute ARM-based processor technology, including a new 288-core chip, while AMD provides GPU expertise. The collaboration aims to advance technology, commercialisation, and ecosystem expansion for AI and HPC applications.
Near Protocol plans to develop a large open-source AI model with 1.4 trillion parameters, surpassing Meta's Llama model. The project will use crowdsourced research and development, with contributors starting on a smaller model. Seven progressively larger models are planned, funded through token sales. Near Protocol aims to monetise the models, reward contributors, and decentralise AI technology to prevent single-company control.
OpenAI is reportedly changing strategy due to slowing improvements in GPT AI models. Despite increasing usage of ChatGPT and other AI products, the underlying technology's enhancement rate is decelerating. OpenAI is investigating new methods to boost performance in response to this trend.
Google Cloud has unveiled Trillium, its new AI chip with 4x faster training and up to 3x higher inference throughput than its predecessor. Trillium features doubled memory and bandwidth, supports large language models, and can link up to 256 chips in a pod. It boasts 67% better energy efficiency. Google also announced upcoming preview of A3 Ultra VMs with Nvidia H200 GPUs.
UnifyApps, a startup founded in 2022, has raised £20 million in Series A funding. They offer a service connecting business SaaS apps and data to build AI chatbots, claiming to minimise AI hallucinations. With over 20 customers including major firms, this follows £11 million in seed funding. The company employs 150 people across international offices.
Mozilla's Common Voice project has collected over 30,000 hours of voice recordings in about 180 languages. The project aims to create a free, public dataset for training voice recognition AI. The recordings are obtained with consent and released under a Creative Commons licence. The dataset is widely used by various organisations and continues to expand through volunteer contributions.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, experienced rapid growth after the chatbot's launch, transitioning from research to a large-scale, customer-facing organisation. The CEO discussed challenges of this rapid scaling, noting the lack of a playbook and need for quick adaptation. OpenAI's success has prompted responses from competitors like Google and Meta.
Amazon is considering a second multi-billion-dollar investment in AI startup Anthropic, following an initial $4 billion stake. Amazon aims to expand its AI influence and leverage its cloud services, but faces disagreements with Anthropic over chip preferences. Alphabet has also invested in Anthropic. UK regulators are scrutinising both Amazon's and Alphabet's investments due to anti-competitive concerns.
Baidu plans to unveil AI-powered smart glasses at its annual event in Shanghai, featuring cameras and voice interaction based on its AI model. The product aims to compete with Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses in China.
Samsung trails SK Hynix in producing high-bandwidth memory (HBM), crucial for AI chips used by Nvidia. This has impacted Samsung's profits and market value. SK Hynix secured Nvidia's approval for its HBM, while Samsung awaits approval. Samsung claims its HBM3E is in production and aims to mass-produce next-gen HBM4 in late 2025.
OpenAI has hired Meta's former AR hardware lead to spearhead their hardware efforts, initially focusing on robotics and partnerships. This move aligns with OpenAI's collaboration with Jony Ive on AI-powered hardware, aiming to redefine human-technology interaction.
Gray Swan AI, a security startup founded in 2023, focuses on identifying risks in AI systems and developing tools for safe deployment. They've secured partnerships with major AI companies and the UK's AI Safety Institute. Their key products include Cygnet, an AI model resistant to jailbreaking, and Shade, a tool for finding AI system weaknesses. The company hosted a 'jailbreaking arena' competition to test their security measures, has received £5.5 million in seed funding, and is preparing for Series A funding. They aim to build a community of hackers to continually improve AI safety measures.
Taiwan's semiconductor production is projected to grow 22% to NT$5.3 trillion in 2024, driven by demand for advanced chips in AI servers. This follows a 10.2% decline in 2023 due to weak computer and smartphone demand.
Researchers from top universities questioned whether large language models (LLMs) truly understand the world. Using new metrics, they tested LLMs on city navigation and a board game. Despite high accuracy in normal conditions, LLMs struggled with unexpected changes and created impossible scenarios. This suggests LLMs may perform well without grasping underlying rules, raising concerns for real-world AI deployment. The study will be presented at an upcoming conference.
Anthropic's AI models are gaining popularity among developers, showing faster growth than market leader OpenAI in recent months. Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet model excels at code tasks, while OpenAI maintains its lead due to first-mover advantage and strong developer tools. Both companies report increased usage of their AI models by developers and enterprises.
Samsung has unveiled a new version of its Bixby AI assistant, powered by large language model technology. Currently exclusive to certain Samsung foldable phones in China, it features improved understanding of complex instructions, information extraction from on-screen content, and context retention in conversations. It supports text and voice input, and can be accessed from any screen. Samsung has not announced global availability plans.
OpenAI's leadership discussed plans for ChatGPT, stating GPT-5 won't release this year but improvements are coming. They're expanding ChatGPT's context window, refining voice capabilities, enhancing image generation, and exploring autonomous AI agents. OpenAI is addressing ChatGPT's accuracy issues through reinforcement learning and grounding in trusted sources.
Nvidia has become the world's most valuable company, surpassing Apple. The AI chipmaker's shares reached a record high, nearly tripling since the start of the year due to high demand for its AI chips. However, trading volumes have remained low, possibly due to uncertainties surrounding the US election and chip export restrictions.
