Tag: OpenAI

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Big tech companies are increasingly adopting nuclear power to meet the high energy demands of their AI data centres

Data centre powered by nuclear reactors

Why?

Elevated Energy Needs

AI systems, particularly generative AI, necessitate substantial computational power, leading to significant energy use. Conventional energy sources might not meet these growing demands.

Environmental Commitments

Numerous tech firms have pledged to lower their carbon emissions. Nuclear power, a low-emission energy source, supports these environmental commitments.

Dependability

Nuclear energy offers a consistent and uninterrupted power supply, essential for data centres that operate around the clock.

Technological Advancements

Progress in nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMRs), has enhanced the feasibility and appeal of nuclear power for extensive use.

For example, Google has entered into an agreement with Kairos Power for electricity from small modular reactors to bolster its AI operations. In a similar vein, Microsoft has collaborated with Constellation to refurbish an inactive reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility.

These collaborations mark a notable transition in the energy strategies of the tech sector, as they pursue dependable, eco-friendly, and robust power solutions to support their AI initiatives.

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Nvidia hits new record high with new $3.4 trillion market cap

AI chips

Nvidia’s shares have reached a record peak as the company continues to benefit from the surging demand for its AI chips

Tech giants such as Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Amazon are acquiring Nvidia’s GPUs in large volumes to create extensive AI computing clusters.

Nvidia, with a market capitalisation of around $3.4 trillion, ranks as the second most valuable publicly traded company in the U.S., trailing behind Apple, which has a market cap of approximately $3.55 trillion.

And to think… just 6 weeks ago Nvidia hit the news with this headline: Nvidia $279 billion market cap wipeout — the biggest in U.S. history for just ONE company.

Oh, the volatility of tech stocks, don’t you just love it?

The company’s stock rose by 2.4% to close at $138.07, exceeding the previous high of $135.58 set on 18th June 2023. The shares have increased by nearly 180% this year and have experienced a more than ninefold increase since early 2023.

Regarded as the leading supplier in the AI revolution, Nvidia has gained significantly from the generative AI surge initiated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT release in November 2022. Nvidia’s GPUs are instrumental in developing and running sophisticated AI models, including those that operate ChatGPT and related platforms.

You can’t go far wrong when big players such as Microsoft, Meta, Google and Amazon are buying your stuff.

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The AI Race between China and the U.S.

AI development in China and U.S.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a pivotal battleground in the technological race between China and the United States.

“AI is expected to become a crucial component of economic and military power in the near future,” Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2023 stated.

Both countries are significantly investing in AI research and development, striving to achieve a leading role in this revolutionary sector. This post looks at the major figures in China’s AI scene, their progress, and their comparison with their American counterparts.

China’s AI Landscape

China’s AI aspirations are propelled by a number of significant technology firms, each forging their own AI models and applications.

Baidu: Often referred to as the ‘Google of China,’ Baidu leads in AI development. Its premier AI model, ERNIE (Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration), fuels the Ernie Bot, a chatbot aimed to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Baidu asserts that ERNIE 4.0 matches GPT-4’s capabilities, demonstrating sophisticated understanding and reasoning abilities.

Alibaba: Alibaba’s AI model, Tongyi Qianwen (commonly known as Qwen), is a comprehensive set of foundational models adept at a range of tasks, from generating content to solving mathematical problems. Select versions of Qwen are open-source, enabling developers to utilize and modify them for various uses. Alibaba has announced that Qwen models are in use by over 90,000 enterprise clients.

Tencent: The Hunyuan model from Tencent is a prominent component of China’s AI landscape. Offered through Tencent’s cloud computing division, Hunyuan is tailored to facilitate a broad spectrum of applications, encompassing natural language processing and computer vision.

Huawei: In spite of considerable obstacles stemming from U.S. sanctions, Huawei persists in AI innovation. The firm has created its own AI processors, like the Kunlun series, to diminish dependence on international technology. Huawei’s AI features are incorporated into a diverse array of products, including smartphones and cloud solutions.

Comparison to the U.S.

The U.S. continues to be a dominant force in AI, with leading companies such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic and Meta spearheading advancements.

Generative AI: U.S. firms have advanced significantly in generative AI, with OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Google’s Gemini at the forefront. These models excel in creating text, images, and videos from user inputs. Although Chinese models like ERNIE and Qwen are strong contenders, the U.S. maintains a slight lead in capabilities and market penetration.

Semiconductor Design: The U.S. leads the semiconductor design industry, vital for AI progress. U.S. companies command an 85% global market share in chip design, crucial for AI model training and system operation. China’s dependence on imported semiconductors is a notable obstacle, but there are ongoing efforts to create homegrown solutions.

Research and Innovation: Both nations boast strong AI research sectors, yet the U.S. edges out slightly in generating state-of-the-art AI products. U.S. tech giants frequently introduce AI breakthroughs to the market, with Chinese firms quickly gaining ground.

Government Support: The Chinese government ardently backs AI advancement, enacting strategies to spur innovation and lessen foreign tech reliance. Such support has spurred China’s AI industry’s rapid expansion, positioning it as a strong rival to the U.S.

Conclusion

The competition in AI development between China and the U.S. is escalating, as both countries achieve significant breakthroughs. Although the U.S. maintains a marginal lead in some respects, China’s swift advancement and state backing indicate that the disparity might keep closing. The quest for AI dominance by these nations is set to influence the worldwide technological and innovative landscape profoundly.

As of September 2024, it is estimated that China’s AI development is approximately nine months behind that of the U.S.

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U.S. AI Safety Institute to evaluate OpenAI and Anthropic new AI models before release to the general public

U.S. AI Safety Inspection

On Thursday 29th August 2024, the U.S. AI Safety Institute announced a testing and evaluation agreement with OpenAI and Anthropic

This agreement reportedly grants the institute access to significant new AI models from each company before and after their public release.

Recently, several AI developers and researchers have voiced concerns regarding safety and ethics within the growing profit-driven AI industry.

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Microsoft to release Windows Recall AI search feature for testing as soon as October 2024

AI enabled local device

Microsoft announced on Wednesday 21st August 2024 that it will release the contentious Recall AI search feature for Windows users to test starting in October

Recall captures screenshots of on-screen activity, enabling users to search for previously seen information. Security experts raised immediate concerns about the potential risks of Windows capturing images automatically without user consent. In response, researchers developed open-source software demonstrating how attackers could easily access personal information.

Microsoft addressed these concerns in June 2024, stating that Recall would be disabled by default and promising security improvements for the feature.

While Microsoft has not provided a specific timeline for a wider release, it has introduced a new category of Windows PCs, termed Copilot+ PCs, which meet the system requirements for Recall. These PCs, produced by various manufacturers, are designed to handle AI workloads, and Microsoft has demonstrated Recall operating on these devices.

*Manufacturers are eager to demonstrate that AI models can run on local PCs, offering an alternative to cloud-based servers from companies like OpenAI. Following this trend, Apple has launched MacBooks capable of running AI models, and Microsoft’s latest Surface Pro is also a Copilot+ PC with local AI capabilities.

The timing of Recall’s broader release could be pivotal, as consumer interest in new computers may spike during the holiday season if Microsoft extends Recall to all compatible devices by that time.

*Is this a move away from AI cloud-based operations to some extent? AI tasks can easily be run in the cloud – why do we need an AI enabled device?

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OpenAI cements deal with Vogue owner Condé Nast

Magazine AI data

OpenAI has partnered with the global magazine conglomerate Condé Nast to enable ChatGPT and its search engine, SearchGPT, to showcase content from renowned publications such as Vogue, The New Yorker and GQ.

The agreement represents the most recent in a series of deals made by OpenAI with prominent media companies.

The material generated by media organizations is coveted by tech companies for training their AI (Artificial Intelligence) models.

Several media companies, such as the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, have opposed this practice and have pursued legal measures to safeguard their content.

The financial details of the contract between OpenAI and Condé Nast were not revealed.

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Judge ruling says Google’s monopoly of online searches is illegal

Judge

Too much monopolistic power held by too few

A U.S. judge has ruled that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in online searches and related advertising. The lawsuit, brought by the Department of Justice, charged Google with controlling around 90% of the online search market.

It was reportedly noted by the judge that Google’s billions of dollars in investments to become the default search engine on smartphones and browsers could be anticompetitive.

The decision, issued on Monday 5th August 2024, could potentially change how tech giants operate.

It was reported that in his extensive 277-page decision, Judge Mehta remarked, “Google has acted as a monopolist and engaged in anticompetitive practices to maintain its monopoly.”

This represents a significant victory for federal antitrust enforcers who have pursued similar cases against other leading technology companies for illegal monopolistic behaviours.

Companies like Meta Platforms, which operate Facebook and WhatsApp, as well as companies like Amazon and Apple., have also faced lawsuits from federal regulators.

The judgment comes after a 10-week trial where it was argued that Google’s substantial payments to remain the primary search engine have impeded the competition’s ability to challenge effectively.

This is a seismic shift in the way search engines and advertising may operate in the future. Already with the advent of AI, search engines look and feel different.

Recently, OpenAI launched ‘SearchGPT’ – and Microsoft have named it a competitor in the world of search engines.

Times are changing.

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Microsoft says OpenAI is now a competitor search and AI

AI competition

Microsoft’s list of competitors, which is updated regularly, now features OpenAI, previously a long-term strategic ally.

This development follows OpenAI’s announcement of a search engine prototype.

As OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider, Microsoft leverages OpenAI’s AI models for products aimed at commercial clients and consumers. Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor, has reportedly invested some $13 billion in the firm.

Microsoft’s filing lists OpenAI, the entity behind the ChatGPT chatbot, as a competitor in AI solutions, as well as in the realms of search and news advertising. OpenAI recently unveiled a search engine prototype named SearchGPT.

However, recent developments suggest a shift, with both companies encroaching on each other’s domains.

While some opt to directly pay OpenAI for model access, others utilise Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service. Additionally, Microsoft offers the Copilot chatbot as an alternative to ChatGPT, accessible via the Bing search engine and Windows operating systems.

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OpenAI announces a search engine called SearchGPT

A new powerful search engine

OpenAI on Thursday 25th July 2024 announced a prototype of its search engine, called SearchGPT, which aims to give users “fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources.”

The company has announced plans to eventually incorporate the tool, presently in testing with a select user group, into its ChatGPT chatbot.

The introduction of ChatGPT could have significant implications for Google’s search engine dominance. Since ChatGPT’s debut in November 2022, there has been growing concern among Alphabet’s investors that OpenAI may capture a portion of Google’s market share by offering consumers innovative methods to obtain information on the internet.

Alphabet three month share price as of 25th July 2024

Alphabet three month share price as of 25th July 2024

OpenAI’s ChatGPT was incorporated into Microsoft’s search engine Bing as Copilot and the companies have kept market dominance with this shrewd AI move. Google, on the other hand, has struggled to keep up in the AI race and may now be suffering the effects.

This announcement could have implications for Microsoft’s Copilot as well.

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Anthropic releases its most powerful AI Chatbot

Chatbot

Anthropic, a rival to OpenAI, unveiled Claude 3.5 Sonnet on Thursday, touting it as their most advanced AI model to date.

Claude has joined the ranks of widely used chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Founded by former OpenAI research leaders, Anthropic has secured backing from major tech entities like Google, Salesforce, and Amazon. Over the past year, the company has completed numerous funding rounds, reportedly amassing approximately $7.3 billion.

The announcement comes after Anthropic introduced its Claude 3 series of models in March, followed by OpenAI’s GPT-4o in May 2024. Anthropic has stated that Claude 3.5 Sonnet, the initial model from the new Claude 3.5 series, surpasses the speed of its predecessor, Claude 3 Opus.

“It shows marked improvement in grasping nuance, humour, and complex instructions, and is exceptional at writing high-quality content with a natural, relatable tone,” the company said in a blog post.

It can also write, edit and execute code in a real time workspace open for the user to engage.

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Nvidia passes Microsoft in market cap – should investors be concerned about the meteoric rise?

GPU power for AI

Nvidia, traditionally recognised within the gaming community for its graphics chips, has become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company.

On Tuesday 18th June 2024, Nvidia’s shares rose by 3.6%, increasing its market cap to $3.34 trillion and overtaking Microsoft, now valued at $3.32 trillion. Earlier in the month, Nvidia’s valuation reached $3 trillion for the first time, surpassing Apple.

Nvidia $3.34 trillion market cap

Nvidia $3.34 trillion market cap

So far this year, Nvidia’s shares have surged over 170% and saw further gains after announcing first-quarter earnings in May 2024. Since the close of 2022, the stock has increased more than ninefold, paralleling the rise of generative artificial intelligence.

Apple’s shares dropped by 1.1% on Tuesday, resulting in a market value of $3.29 trillion for the tech giant.

Nvidia commands roughly 80% of the market share for AI chips in data centres, a sector that has expanded rapidly as companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta have competed to acquire the necessary processors for constructing AI models and managing growing workloads.

In the latest quarter, Nvidia’s data centre business saw a 427% increase in revenue from the previous year, reaching $22.6 billion and comprising approximately 86% of the company’s total sales.

Established in 1991, Nvidia initially focused on hardware, selling gaming chips for running 3D games. The company has also ventured into cryptocurrency mining chips and cloud gaming services.

However, in the last two years, Nvidia’s stock has soared as investors recognised its pivotal role in the AI boom, a trend that continues to accelerate. This surge has increased the net worth of co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang to an estimated $117 billion, ranking him as the 11th richest individual globally, according to Forbes.

But is the rise too fast and is it time for a share price valuation adjustment in its meteoric rise, to bring it back down to Earth?

Nvidia share price one year chart 18th June 2024

Nvidia share price one year chart 18th June 2024
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Apple finally now has AI and it’s called: Apple Intelligence (AI)

AI

Apple has entered the artificial intelligence race with the announcement of its version of AI – Apple Intelligence on Monday 10th June 2024, in its attempt to catch up in the AI race.

Reportedly to use it on your phone, you’ll need at least the high-end iPhone 15 Pro from this year’s lineup.

According to Apple’s website, Apple Intelligence will also be compatible with devices equipped with the M1 chip, including the iPad Air, iPad Pro, and Macs.

Apple Intelligence, set to launch in beta this autumn, will offer a variety of features. It will be able to proofread and rewrite your text in different tones, create personalized emojis known as ‘Genmoji,‘ and search for specific messages on your iPhone.

Additionally, it will summarize and transcribe phone calls, manage priority notifications, and integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT for enhanced Siri responses.

Nothing new here then, just AI features already available elsewhere. Hopefully it will have a decent Apple AI make-over when it finally and fully arrives across all Apple products and platforms.

Apple isn’t leading in AI… yet – it’s just following for now!

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Is this German chipmaker about to gain more traction in the AI race

Ai microchip

While Nvidia continues to dominate the AI chip market headlines, Infineon, a German semiconductor company, is also making waves.

Infineon is capitalizing on the AI surge, aiming to generate billions in revenue through the sale of premium chips.

As AI applications proliferate, encompassing data centre servers and integrated chipsets for PCs and mobile devices, the demand for AI chips is skyrocketing. This trend has only one direction, and that is up.

Infineon is certainly one to watch – it may just become the next major player in the industry.

Others to watch: ARM Holdings, AMD and Intel

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Intel unveils new AI chips as it seeks to reclaim market share

Ai microchip

Intel announced its new Xeon 6 processors at the Computex tech conference in Taiwan on Tuesday 4th June 2024.

This announcement coincides with the recent launches of new artificial intelligence chips by rivals Nvidia and AMD on Sunday and Monday 2nd and 3rd June 2024 – as they compete for dominance in the rapidly growing industry.

Intel is making efforts to catch up with Nvidia and AMD, having been relatively absent from the AI surge that led tech giants such as Meta, Microsoft, and Google to purchase a significant number of Nvidia chips.

This comes half a year after Intel’s release of its 5th Gen Intel Xeon processors for data centre workloads and a couple of months following the announcement of the Gaudi 3 processor for AI model training and deployment.

Intel also disclosed that the Gaudi 2 and Gaudi 3 AI accelerators are priced lower than those of its competitors.

Furthermore, Intel shared architectural details of its forthcoming Lunar Lake processors, aimed at expanding the AI PC category. These processors, slated for release in the third quarter, are set to rival Nvidia’s and AMD’s offerings tailored for AI PCs.

While Nvidia and AMD focus on chip design, Intel stands out by both designing and manufacturing its chips. Nevertheless, Intel’s foundry business has faced challenges, with its operating loss widening to $7 billion in 2023 compared to the previous year.

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Cisco’s ThousandEyes has unveiled an AI product designed to predict and rectify internet outages

AI net

ThousandEyes, Cisco’s internet monitoring division, has introduced a new suite of AI-driven features known as Digital Experience Assurance, or DXA, on Tuesday 4th June 2024.

The firm asserts that this new AI technology will allow customers to not only monitor but also automatically address issues affecting network quality.

Describing itself as the ‘Google Maps’ of the internet, Cisco ThousandEyes offers a comprehensive, end-to-end perspective of every user and application across all networks.

Established 15 years prior, the company has been heavily investing in AI technology in recent years.

ThousandEyes is now implementing significant AI-centric modifications to its platform, which are designed to enhance its clients’ oversight of network quality and robustness.

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Bitcoin miners rotate millions into AI – but why?

Bitcoin mining

Bitcoin miners have been diversifying operations into artificial intelligence (AI) due to several key factors.

Since Bitcoin halving, miners have been searching for more lucrative income streams as AI and crypto industries collide.

Revenue shift

The revenue from crypto mining, especially Bitcoin, has significantly decreased in recent months. After the ‘Bitcoin halving’ event in April 2024, rewards earned by Bitcoin miners were cut by 50%. As a result, miners have been seeking alternative revenue streams.

AI boom

Following the unveiling of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November 2022, there has been a significant increase in the demand for AI computation and infrastructure. This surge has led to a flurry of investments in AI models and startups, presenting miners with new opportunities to transition into the AI sector.

Energy access

Bitcoin miners are progressively turning to ‘stranded energy site’s – these are locations with surplus or untapped energy for mining operations. At the same time, they are channelling investments into AI at more stable sites. This strategic move enables them to leverage the potentially higher returns from AI.

Core Scientific

Core Scientific, a Bitcoin mining company, has recently entered into a 12-year agreement with cloud provider CoreWeave to supply infrastructure for AI applications. This partnership is anticipated to generate in excess of $3.5 billion in revenue over the duration of the contract. CoreWeave, supported by Nvidia, offers rental of graphics processing units (GPUs) essential for AI model training.

In conclusion, Bitcoin miners are increasingly adopting AI to adjust to the evolving market dynamics and to uncover new revenue streams beyond conventional mining. The merging of AI and the cryptocurrency industry offers promising prospects for both fields.

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Microsoft announces new PCs with AI chips

AI art

Microsoft is promoting new computers equipped with advanced chips, engineered to operate the new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities embedded in the Windows operating system.

On Monday 20th May 2024, Microsoft unveiled a Surface Laptop and a Surface Pro tablet, both featuring a Qualcomm chip capable of executing AI tasks both online and offline.

The new Microsoft Copilot+ PCs feature chips designed by ARM and are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips, which are also based on ARM architecture. These Snapdragon-powered PCs represent the initial series of devices under the Copilot+ PC brand, introducing over 20 models from various manufacturers, such as Acer.

The partnership between Microsoft, Qualcomm, and PC manufacturers is focused on providing superior processing and quick response times, with these ARM-based chips being integral to the new AI designs.

In addition, manufacturers like Lenovo, Dell, HP, Asus, Acer, and Samsung are launching AI-ready PCs featuring Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus processors. These processors offer extended battery life and compatibility with Microsoft’s Copilot AI chatbot.

Microsoft’s powerful AI vision – some tech information

Windows PCs designed for AI, known as Copilot+ PCs, are fitted with new, powerful chips capable of an astounding 40+ TOPS, ensuring all-day battery life and access to cutting-edge AI models.

Promoted as the fastest and most intelligent Windows PCs ever created, they boast features like Recall, Cocreator, and Live Captions, which can translate audio from over 40 languages into English.

These devices include sleek, lightweight, and elegantly designed models from Microsoft Surface and OEM partners such as Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung. Pre-orders are now open, with availability starting on June 18 and prices reportedly beginning at $999. This represents a major shift in the Windows platform, placing AI at the forefront of PC architecture.

This progress is a big part of Microsoft’s wider initiative to drive AI innovation onto devices, enhancing the AI capabilities that are already present in the cloud through Copilot.

This is a massive development in the deployment of AI to the masses.

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Google Unveils AI Chatbot Gemini 1.5 Flash as competition from OpenAI heats up

AI Chatbot Gemini

Google is advancing the frontiers of artificial intelligence (AI) with its new release, Gemini 1.5 Flash, which is set to transform our online information interactions.

Unveiled at Google I/O 2024, this latest model enhances sophisticated features with rapid performance and efficiency. The new AI Chatbot was unveiled on 15th May 2024.

The unveiling comes a day after OpenAI announced its newest artificial intelligence (AI) model, GPT-4o.

Google Gemini 1.5 Flash

The Gemini 1.5 Flash is engineered for exceptional speed, processing queries with reduced latency, which makes it perfectly suited for real-time applications.

Context Understanding

Similar to its forerunner, Gemini 1.5 Pro, Flash is adept at contextual understanding. It is capable of interpreting user prompts through multiple modalities such as text, images, video, and speech.

Smaller Scaled Version

Google also introduced a scaled-down version called Gemini 1.5 Nano, which runs locally on devices.

AI quick answers

A prominent feature of Gemini 1.5 Flash is the AI Overviews integration. These ‘precis’ summaries deliver rapid responses to intricate inquiries. Users are presented with a topical overview and pertinent links for additional research. The AI Overviews feature is currently being introduced to U.S. users, with worldwide availability anticipated by the end of the year.

Future of Google search

Gemini 1.5 Flash is Google’s latest endeavour to improve search experiences. Whether it’s for research, planning, or brainstorming, this AI model simplifies the process. With the advent of generative AI, Google Search is becoming increasingly potent, enabling users to effortlessly access reliable information.

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OpenAI launches new AI model – and it talks, sees and hears!

Chatbot GPT-4o

OpenAI has just unveiled its latest flagship model, GPT-4o. This remarkable model can reason across audio, vision, and text in real time.

Multimodal interaction

GPT-4o accepts any combination of text, audio, and image as input and generates corresponding outputs in any of these modalities. It’s a step toward more natural human-computer interaction.

Fast response time

GPT-4o can respond to audio inputs in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds – similar to human conversation speed.

Improved language understanding

It matches GPT-4 Turbo performance on English text and code, with significant improvements in non-English languages. Plus, it’s 50% cheaper in the API.

Vision and audio understanding

GPT-4o excels in understanding images and audio compared to existing models.

Training

Unlike previous Voice Mode (which used separate models), GPT-4o is trained end-to-end across text, vision, and audio. This means it processes all inputs and outputs using the same neural network.

Exploring capabilities

OpenAI is still exploring what GPT-4o can do and its limitations. It’s a promising step toward more versatile AI interactions.

More here on the OpenAI website

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With a 20,000% increase over the past decade – has Nvidia’s stock peaked?

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) has experienced remarkable growth over the past decade.

Historical stock price trends

As of 10th May 2024, NVIDIA’s closing stock price stood at: $898.78

As of 10th May 2024, NVIDIA’s closing stock price stood at: $898.78

NVIDIA’s stock reached an all-time high of $950.02 on 25th March 2024. The 52-week high stands at $974.00, which is 9.7% higher than the current share price. Conversely, the 52-week low was $280.46, which is considerably below the current price.

Annual percentage changes

In 2024, the average stock price reached $763.29, marking a year-to-date rise of 79.30%.

In 2023, NVIDIA’s stock price experienced a remarkable surge of 239.02%.

Conversely, in 2022, the stock price witnessed a decline of 50.27%.

Throughout the past decade, the stock has undergone considerable volatility, exhibiting both notable gains and significant losses.

Focus

NVIDIA began as a pioneer in PC graphics and has since expanded its focus to artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. Its GPUs (graphics processing units) are pivotal in AI, high-performance computing (HPC), gaming, and virtual reality (VR) platforms.

The company’s parallel processing capabilities, powered by thousands of computing cores, are vital for executing deep learning algorithms. Additionally, NVIDIA is active in emerging markets such as robotics and autonomous vehicles.

Market position

NVIDIA holds a dominant position in the Data Centre, professional visualization, and gaming markets. Its success is bolstered by strategic partnerships with leading cloud service providers and server vendors.

Financial performance

NVIDIA’s revenue and profit have seen substantial growth over time. Its emphasis on AI and new technologies suggests a strong potential for further expansion. In summary, despite NVIDIA’s stock achieving impressive gains, it is still influenced by market trends and technological changes.

Its peak status hinges on multiple elements such as industry movements, competitive landscape, and upcoming innovations. Investors are advised to meticulously assess these factors when determining the stock’s future prospects.

Considering a long-term investment yet expecting a downturn, it might be prudent to realise some profits now, given the enormous 20,000% surge in stock value.

Take some profit and buy again after a pull-back.

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OpenAI unveils new AI software that lets you create realistic video by typing a descriptive sentence

Video

The new AI tool from OpenAI named Sora, can generate realistic videos from text prompts.

OpenAI has developed a new AI tool named Sora that can generate highly detailed videos of up to 60 seconds from descriptive text prompts.

The tool has raised concerns about its potential misuse, particularly in the creation of deepfakes and disinformation.

On the other hand, it is a remarkable achievement in the current AI arena and created in such a short space of time.

OpenAI has stated that it is working with experts in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias, who are testing Sora.

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A new powerful AI is coming but the techies have no clue as to what it will look like

AGI

That’s reassuring then, and they are creating it

Leaders at some of the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies are expecting a form of AI on a par with, or even exceeding human intelligence to arrive sometime in the near future. But what it will eventually look like and how it will be applied are unknown.

Artificial General Intelligence or AGI is coming soon

Leaders from OpenAI, Microsoft and Google’s DeepMind, and many other major tech companies debated the risks and opportunities presented by AI at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2024.

AI has become the talk of ‘town’ around the world through 2023, mainly due to the success of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s popular generative AI chatbot, brought to us by Microsoft. Generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, are powered large language models, algorithms trained on vast quantities of data, but are not AGI.

Executives at some of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies see ‘artificial general intelligence,’ or AGI, a hypothesized form of AI with intelligence on a par or better than humans. This prospect is both exciting and worrying.

Concern

AI and AGI have created concern among governments, corporations and public consultation groups worldwide, owing to the risks around the lack of transparency of AI systems; social manipulation through computer algorithms; job losses due to increased automation; surveillance; and data privacy and worse… the lack of human control!

Extinction event possible

Many industry leaders in technology have warned that AI could lead to an ‘extinction-level’ event where machines become so powerful they get out of control and wipe out humanity.

A new powerful AI is coming but the techies have no clue as to what it will look like

Several prominent technology leaders, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak for example, have called for a pause in AI development, stating that a moratorium would be beneficial in allowing society to catch up.

Turing test

AI chatbots like ChatGPT have passed the Turing test, a test called the ‘imitation game,’ which was developed by British computer scientist Alan Turing to determine whether someone is communicating with a machine and a human. The one big area where AI is lacking is common sense.

It has been reported on many occasions, that the tech world is taking steps to ensure that the AI race doesn’t lead to a ‘Hiroshima moment.‘

Will AGI be created in the image of humans?

Let’s hope not.

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New York Times sues Microsoft and OpenAI

AI

U.S. news organisation the New York Times is suing ChatGPT-owner OpenAI over claims its copyright was infringed to train the system.

The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for using its news stories to train chatbots without permission or compensation. The lawsuit claims that the defendants have infringed on the paper’s intellectual property rights and seek to ‘free-ride’ on its investment in journalism. 

The lawsuit also alleges that the chatbots pose a threat to the jobs of journalists and the quality of news reporting. The New York Times is seeking damages and an injunction to stop the defendants from using its content. The lawsuit, which also names Microsoft as a defendant, says the firms should be held responsible for ‘billions of dollars’ in damages.

Permission

ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) ‘learn’ by analysing a massive amount of data often sourced online. The lawsuit claims ‘millions’ of articles published by the New York Times were used without its permission to make ChatGPT smarter, and claims the tool is now competing with the newspaper as a trustworthy information source.

It alleges that when asked about current events, ChatGPT will sometimes generate excerpts ‘verbatim’ from New York Times articles, which cannot be accessed without paying for a subscription.

Subscription

According to the lawsuit, this means readers can get New York Times content without paying for it – meaning it is losing out on subscription revenue as well as advertising clicks from people visiting the website.

It also gave the example of the Bing search engine – which has some features powered by ChatGPT – producing results taken from a New York Times-owned website, without linking to the article or including referral links it uses to generate income.

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Intel unveils new AI chip

AI micro chip

Intel’s new chip will go head-to-head with Nvidia and AMD

Intel unveiled new computer microchips on Thursday 14th December 2023, including Gaudi3, a chip for generative AI software.

Intel also announced Core Ultra chips, designed for Windows laptops and PCs, and new fifth-generation Xeon server chips. Intel’s server and PC processors include specialized AI parts called NPUs that can be used to run AI programs faster.

AI race

AI models, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, run on Nvidia GPUs in the cloud. It’s one reason Nvidia stock has been up nearly 230% year to date while Intel shares have risen 68%. And it’s why companies like AMD and, now Intel, have announced chips that they hope will attract AI companies away from Nvidia’s dominant position in the market.

Gaudi3 will compete with Nvidia’s H100, the main choice among companies that build huge factories of the chips to power AI applications, and AMD’s forthcoming MI300X, when it starts shipping to customers in 2024.

CEO Gelsinger

‘We’ve been seeing the excitement with generative AI, the star of the show for 2023,’ Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger reportedly said at a launch event in New York where he announced Gaudi3 along other chips focused on AI applications.

Intel upping the anti with its Gaudi AI chip. The AI PC to become the new AI start of 2024 and beyond!

‘We think the AI PC will be the star of the show for the upcoming year,’ Gelsinger added. And that’s where Intel’s new Core Ultra processors, also announced on Thursday, will come into play.

Let the battle commence.

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Meta and Microsoft say they will buy AMD’s new AI chip – Wall Street loves Artificial Intelligence

AI microchips

Meta, OpenAI, and Microsoft said they will use AMD’s newest AI chip, the Instinct MI300X.

An indication that tech companies want alternatives to the expensive Nvidia graphics processors that have been essential for artificial intelligence (AI).

If the MI300X is good enough and inexpensive enough when it starts shipping early next year, it will likely lower costs for developing AI models.

AMD CEO Lisa Su projected the market for AI chips will amount to $400 billion or more in 2027, and she said she hopes AMD has a sizable part of that market.

Wall Street rallies on AMD and Google AI news

Wall Street resumed its rally after a short break as technology giants intensified their AI race, pushing up tech stocks.

When you witness Google launching a new AI model (Gemini) and AMD chasing a slice of the hot AI chip market, you know a pre-Christmas cheer will wash over investors.

To think, just a handful of years ago, other than in Science Fiction novels, the term ‘artificial intelligence’ didn’t exist in our vocabulary and now it is becoming more and more integrated with our day-to-day lives.

Stock markets love it. AI is fast becoming a business necessity and not just an option.

AI chip image
Wall Streets love affair with AI – how long will it last?
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Some tech executives think AI is giving Big Tech ‘inordinate’ power!

The power of AI

Too much power for too few

Tech execs have expressed concern that the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is concentrated in the hands of too few companies, potentially giving them too much power. OpenAI’s ChatGPT marked the start of what many in the industry have called an AI arms race, as tech giants including Microsoft and Google have sought to develop and launch AI models.

A number of tech execs have said that they feel users have lost control of their data online and that it is being harnessed by technology giants to feed their profits.

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) is concentrated in the hands of too few companies, potentially giving them excessive control over the rapidly evolving technology.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT

An explosion of interest in AI was sparked by OpenAI’s ChatGPT late last year thanks to the novel way in which the chatbot can answer user prompts. Its popularity contributed to the start of what many in the tech industry have called an AI arms race, as tech giants including Microsoft and Google seek to develop and launch their own artificial intelligence models. These require huge amounts of computing power as they are trained on massive amounts of data.

Meredith Whittaker reportedly said of large tech companies and the current deployment of AI…

‘Right now, there are only a handful of companies with the resources needed to create these large-scale AI models and deploy them at scale. And we need to recognize that this is giving them inordinate power over our lives and institutions’, Meredith Whittaker, president of encrypted messaging app Signal, is reported to have said. ‘We should really be concerned about, again, a handful of corporations driven by profit and shareholder returns making such socially consequential decisions’.

Whittaker previously spent 13 years at Google but became disillusioned in 2017 when she found out the search giant was working on a controversial contract with the Department of Defence known as Project Maven. Whittaker grew concerned Google’s AI could potentially be used for drone warfare and helped organize a walkout at the company that involved thousands of employees.

‘AI, as we understand it today, is fundamentally a technology that is derivative of centralized corporate power and control’, Whittaker reportedly said. ‘It is built on the concentrated resources that accrued to a handful of large tech corporations, largely based in the U.S. and China via the surveillance advertising business model, which gave them powerful computational infrastructure and huge amounts of data; large markets from which to pull that data; and the ability to process and structure that data in ways useful for creating new technologies.’

In essence, BIG TECH has far too much power in AI technology.

Tim Berners-Lee

The inventor of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, has also raised concerns about the concentration of power among the tech giants. Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, says it is the state of social media that is of particular concern right now. On AI, however, he feels that while the technology giants now are leading the way, there is space for disruption.

Big tech and social media giants are inflicting profound damage on our society, and he believes AI could make this worse.