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Investments in generative AI startups reached $3.9 billion in the third quarter of 2024

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Is OpenAI worth $100B?

Not everyone seems to be convinced about the return on investment in generative artificial intelligence. But many investors do, judging by the latest data from funding tracker PitchBook.

According to PitchBook, in the third quarter of 2024, VCs invested $3.9 billion in generative AI startups across 206 deals. (Not counting OpenAI’s $6.6 billion round). $2.9 billion of this financing went to U.S.-based corporations across 127 deals.

Big winners in the third quarter included coding assistant Magic ($320 million in August), enterprise search provider Glean ($260 million in September) and business intelligence company Hebbia ($130 million in July). Chinese company Moonshot AI raised $300 million in August, and Sakana AI, a Japanese startup focused on scientific discoveries, closed a $214 million tranche last month.

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Generative AI, a broad cross-section of technologies that features text and image generators, coding assistants, cybersecurity automation tools and more, has its detractors. Experts query the reliability of this technology and – in the case of generative artificial intelligence models trained without permission on copyrighted data – its legality.

However, VCs are effectively betting that generative AI will gain a foothold in large and profitable industries and that the challenges it faces now is not going to impact its long-term development.

Perhaps they’re right. AND The Forrester report predicts 60% of generative AI skeptics will use this technology – consciously or unconsciously – for tasks starting from summarization to creative problem solving. This is a rather rosier result than Gartner’s forecast earlier this 12 months that 30% of generative AI projects can be abandoned after proof of concept by 2026.

“Large customers are deploying production systems that use startup tools and open source models,” Brendan Burke, senior emerging technology analyst at PitchBook, told TechCrunch in an interview. “The latest wave of models shows that new generations of models are possible that can excel in scientific domains, data mining and code execution.”

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An enormous obstacle to the widespread adoption of generative AI is the enormous computational requirements of the technology. Bain analysts project in a recent release test that generative AI will drive corporations to construct gigawatt data centers – data centers that devour 5 to twenty times more energy than the average data center today – putting strain on an already strained labor and electricity supply chain.

There is already a requirement for data center power powered by generative AI extension life of coal power plants. Morgan Stanley estimates that if this trend continues, global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 could possibly be thrice higher than they might be without the development of generative AI.

Several of the world’s largest data center operators, including Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Oracle, have announced investments in nuclear power to offset growing demand for non-renewable energy. (In September, Microsoft announced that it will draw power from the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.) But it could take years before these investments bear fruit.

Investment in generative AI startups shows no signs of slowing down – negative externalities be damned. ElevenLabs, the viral voice cloning tool, is reportedly searching for to lift $3 billion in funding, while Black Forest Labs, the company behind the notorious X image generator, is reportedly in talks for a $100 million funding round.

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This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com

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Ilya Sutskever uses Google Cloud to supply AI Startup tests

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Co -founder and former scientist of Opeli and former primary scientist ILYA SUTSKEVER, SAFE SUPERINTELELENCE (SSI), uses the Google Cloud TPU systems to supply their AI research, partly latest partnership that corporations announced on Wednesday press release.

Google Cloud claims that the SSI uses TPU to “accelerate its research and development to build safe, overintelical artificial intelligence.”

Cloud suppliers chase a handful of AI Unicorn startups, which spend tons of of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on computing power supply for training AI Foundation models. The SSI agreement with Google Cloud suggests that the primary will spend a big a part of its computing budget with Google Cloud; The well -known source says TechCrunch that Google Cloud is the primary supplier of SSI calculations.

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Google Cloud has the history of striking computing agreements with former AI researchers, a lot of which now lead billions of dollars of AI start-ups. (Sutskever once worked on Google.) In October Google Cloud said that he can be the primary supplier of computers for World Labs, founded by the previous scientist Ai Ex-Google Cloud Ai Fei-Feii Li.

It is just not clear whether the SSI has hit the partnership with other cloud or computers suppliers. Google Cloud spokesman refused to comment. A spokesman for a secure superintelligence didn’t immediately answer to the request for comment.

SSI got here out of Stealth in June 2024, months after Sutskever left his role because the primary scientist Opeli. The company has $ 1 billion in support from Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, DST Global, SV Angel and others.

Since the premiere of the SSI, we’ve got heard relatively little about startup activities. On his websiteSSI says that the event of secure, super -intellectual AI systems is “our mission, our name and our entire product map, because this is our only goal.” SUTSKEVER He said earlier that he identified the “new mountain to climb” and is investigating latest ways to improve the performance of AI Frontier models.

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Before the co -founder of Opeli, Sutskever spent several years on Google Brain examining neural networks. After years of conducting work of security, AI Openai Sutskever played a key role within the overthrow of the overall director of OPENNAI Altman in November 2023. Sutskever later joined the worker’s movement to restore Altman as CEO.

After the Sutskever trial, he was supposedly not seen in Openai offices for months and eventually left the startup to start SSI.

(Tagstransate) ilya SUTSKEVER (T) SSI

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Meta introduces limited teen accounts on Facebook and Messenger

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The apps Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp can be seen on the display of a smartphone in front of the logo of the Meta internet company.

Meta introduces teen accounts on Facebook and Messenger. A function that routinely saves young users for the impression of applications with built -in security, shall be available on these platforms within the USA, Great Britain, Australia and Canada, before it expands to additional regions in the long run.

Teen accounts first appeared on Instagram in September last yr after Instagram, and other popular social networks were grilled by American legislators for not doing enough to guard teenagers. As a part of Tuesday’s announcement, Meta said that he brings a brand new built -in account protection for teenagers on Instagram.

With the extension of Facebook and messengers, teenagers shall be routinely placed in an experience that goals to cut back inappropriate content and unwanted contact. Teens under 16 years of age need parents’ consent to vary any of the settings.

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Image loans:Finish

While Post on the META blog about launching doesn’t provide exact restrictions under which teenagers shall be placed, the corporate told TechCrunch We -Mail that teenagers will only receive messages from individuals who follow or had news earlier.

In addition, only teen friends can see and reply to their stories. Tags, references and comments will even be limited to people they follow or who’re their friends.

Teens will even receive reminders of leaving social networks after using them for an hour a day. In addition, they shall be enrolled within the “quiet mode” overnight.

As for brand spanking new instagram restrictions, teens under 16 years of age is not going to give you the chance to modify to the platform, unless their parents give them permission. In addition, teenagers under the age of 16 can have to get the parents’ consent to show off the applying function, which blur images containing suspicion of nudity in DMS.

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Image loans:Finish

The changes announced on Tuesday show the newest Meta step towards solving problems related to the mental health of teenagers related to social media. These fears were Raised by an American general surgeon and several states, a few of which have even began to limit teenagers from using social media Without the consent of the parent.

The Meta shared insight into how teen accounts on Instagram are doing, because the corporate claims that it has moved 54 million teenagers to teen accounts. The meta claims that there remains to be lots more, because this function remains to be developing all around the world. The company also shared that 97% of teenagers aged 13-15 maintain built-in protection, says finish.

The finish line also commissioned an IPSOS study, which showed that just about all surveyed parents (94%) claim that teen accounts are helpful for fogeys, and 85% consider that they make helping teenagers easier to have positive experiences on Instagram.

(Tagstranslate) Facebook

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Benchmarks meta for new AI models are somewhat misleading

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Meta sign

One of the new flagship AI Meta models released on Saturday, Maverick, Second rating at LM ArenaA test during which human rankings compare the outcomes of models and select which they like. But it appears that evidently the Maverick version, that the finish implemented on LM Arena differs from the version that’s widely available to programmers.

How several And researchers He pointed to X, Meta noticed within the announcement that Maverick on LM Arena is a “experimental version of the chat.” Chart on The official website of LlamaMeanwhile, it reveals that the testing of the LM META Arena was carried out using “Llama 4 Maverick optimized for conversation.”

As we wrote earlier, for various reasons LM Arena has never been essentially the most reliable measure of the performance of the AI ​​model. But AI firms generally didn’t adapt or otherwise adapted their models to higher rating at LM Arena-Lub a minimum of didn’t admit it.

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The problem related to adapting the model to the reference point, suspension of it, after which releasing the “vanilla” variant of the identical model, is that programmers are difficult to predict how good it can work in specific contexts. It can be misleading. It is best if the tests tests – miserably inadequate – provide a shutter of strong and weaknesses of 1 model in various tasks.

Indeed, scientists on X have Stark was observed Differences in behavior From publicly to download maverick in comparison with the hosted model on LM Arena. The LM Arena version seems to make use of many emoji and provides extremely long answers.

We arrived at Meta and Chatbot Arena, a company that maintains LM Arena to comment.

(Tagstotransate) benchmark

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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