Welcome to the newest edition of ID Tech’s AI update. Here’s the latest big news on the shifting landscape of AI and identity technology:
OpenAI announced its newest ChatGPT reasoning models, and they are very smart. Co-founder Greg Brockman said these are “the first models where top scientists tell us they produce legitimately good and useful novel ideas,” and Tyler Cowan thinks it is AGI, writing, “Benchmarks, benchmarks, blah blah blah. Maybe AGI is like porn — I know it when I see it.”
TSMC reported a 60 percent jump in net profits for Q1, thanks in large part to AI-driven demand. The chipmaker warned about potential tariff-related disruption to come, but also noted that all six of its production facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, are now online, with CEO C.C. Wei noting that US manufacturing has had “minimal impact” on margins.
AMD expects to take an $800 million hit from new export controls, especially those targeting its MI308 product line. The controls require AMD to apply for a special license to sell its semiconductor chips to China and certain other countries, and AMD has warned that there is no guarantee its license will actually be approved. China was its second-largest market last year, accounting for nearly a quarter of its revenues.
Nvidia is expected to lose $5.5 billion thanks to the tariffs. It, too, will have to apply for licenses to export AI chips to China as well as Hong Kong, under a new policy that will effectively block sales that were previously allowed during the Biden administration. The policy makes substantial amounts of Nvidia inventory, most notably its H20 chip, unsellable.
The White House is considering sanctions that will be designed specifically to prevent DeepSeek from getting access to American chips and related technologies, according to new reports. DeepSeek caused considerable disruption in the AI sector earlier this year with its launch of a highly capable open source LLM called R1, signalling a Chinese threat to US AI dominance.
Infinite Reality is acquiring Touchcast, Inc., a startup focused on agentic AI that leverages realistic video avatars to conduct face-to-“face” online conversations. Infinite Reality is known for its iR Engine platform, which is meant to offer a framework for building virtual spaces, and it has recently acquired Napster, Obsess, Stakes, and Super League Gaming. The latest deal will reportedly be valued at $500 million.
TDK says its new “Spin Photo Detector” light sensor can transfer data more than ten times faster than traditional semiconductor systems, offering a potential breakthrough for AI technology requiring significant data processing. Rather than just relying on electrical signals, the Spin Photo Detector also uses optical and magnetic effects to transfer data in just 20 picoseconds (20 trillionths of a second). TDK is based in Tokyo and made its name over the past several decades with its magnetic tapes and cassettes, CDs, and now more hi-tech stuff.
The chatbot’s take: We took o3 for a spin.
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April 17, 2025 – by Alex Perala
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