Generative AI

SoftBank divested its Nvidia stake for $5.83 billion to reallocate capital to OpenAI, signaling a firm belief in generative AI’s potential. Despite market discussions on AI valuations and concerns raised by figures like Michael Burry, SoftBank’s decision reflects a strategic prioritization of investment, aiming to capitalize on perceived greater opportunities within OpenAI. This move underscores SoftBank’s conviction that OpenAI is poised for significant growth across various sectors, making the increased investment a strategic imperative.

Microsoft is forming the MAI Superintelligence Team, led by Mustafa Suleyman, to research advanced AI with a focus on practical, controllable applications designed to serve humanity. This initiative, backed by significant investment, aims to develop AI companions for education, medicine, and renewable energy, contrasting with the pursuit of generalist AI. The team will diversify AI sources beyond OpenAI and prioritize a “humanist” approach to superintelligence, emphasizing ethical considerations and clear boundaries to ensure responsible and beneficial advancements.

A new architectural design, Continuous Autoregressive Language Models (CALM), offers potential cost savings for enterprises deploying AI. CALM predicts continuous vectors instead of discrete tokens, compressing information and reducing computational steps. Experiments show CALM models achieve comparable performance to baselines with significantly fewer FLOPs. This novel approach requires a new “likelihood-free framework” including training methods, a BrierLM evaluation metric, and a likelihood-free sampling algorithm. CALM highlights a shift towards architectural efficiency as a crucial factor in reducing enterprise AI costs and improving sustainability.

NYU Stern MBA students are optimistic about AI’s impact, seeing it as a tool rather than a threat, according to Professor Robert Seamans. His curriculum emphasizes hands-on AI experimentation, including exercises where students use LLMs to build and dismantle arguments, fostering critical thinking. While high school and college students are more cautious, viewing AI as an aid, not a replacement for core skills, Georgia Tech is adapting curricula to emphasize higher-level concepts that AI cannot easily solve. Successful organizations will cultivate continuous learning and leverage AI to augment human ingenuity.

OpenAI’s AI video generation app, Sora, has launched on Android in the U.S., Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, following its iOS debut. The Android expansion targets a larger global audience, aiming to drive adoption and refine AI algorithms. Sora allows users to create videos from text prompts, fostering a creative community similar to TikTok. Analysts predict a significant impact on creative fields due to Sora’s accessible and advanced generative AI video capabilities.

Wall Street saw a volatile Wednesday following the Fed’s rate cut and Chairman Powell’s cautious remarks. The S&P 500 briefly hit an intraday high, driven by semiconductor strength fueled by AI demand. Nvidia’s market cap surpassed $5 trillion. Analysts are revising upwards, anticipating sustained AI capital expenditure. Boeing shares declined on 777X delays. Honeywell’s Solstice spin-off finalized, while analysts are positive on DuPont’s Qnity spin-off. Investors await earnings from Meta, Microsoft, and other major companies.

Amazon is cutting 14,000 corporate jobs, about 4% of its tech workforce, signaling a strategic shift towards generative AI and higher-priority areas. While the layoffs are unlikely to impact short-term results, focus remains on Amazon Web Services (AWS) growth amid strong competition from Microsoft Azure. AWS’s performance, especially a projected 21% revenue growth, is crucial for boosting Amazon’s stock, which has underperformed compared to its peers. Analysts emphasize that CEO Jassy is driving cost-cutting and AI investments crucial for future growth.

Meta’s AI app downloads surged 56% after launching Vibes, an AI-generated video feed. While showing promising initial growth, it lags behind OpenAI’s Sora in downloads. Creators find Sora easier to use for realistic videos. Meta is compensating creators for Vibes content and strategically targeting markets like India. Meta leverages third-party AI and internal development. Meta’s AI strategy, including the Vibes feed and digital AI characters are being closely watch by investors, along with a shift in priority demonstrated by reassigning their Metaverse strategy leader to AI product development.

Adobe unveiled significant AI-powered updates to Creative Cloud at Adobe MAX, enhancing Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere, and Illustrator. New features include an AI Assistant in Photoshop for task automation and personalized recommendations, and AI-powered capabilities in Firefly Boards for expedited ideation. The updates leverage diverse AI models, including Firefly Image Model 5 and partner models, to provide creative professionals with greater control, precision, and efficiency, addressing the rising demand for digital content. Adobe emphasizes an ethical, creator-centric approach to AI development.

Amazon is reportedly planning to announce significant corporate layoffs, potentially impacting up to 30,000 employees across various business segments. This would be the largest restructuring in the company’s history. The cuts are driven by cost-cutting initiatives, a simplified corporate hierarchy, and the integration of generative AI, mirroring a broader trend of workforce adjustments in the tech sector. Other tech giants like Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Intel have also made substantial reductions, citing economic pressures and AI adoption. Amazon has been implementing phased layoffs since 2022, with further workforce reductions expected.