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:
A new lawsuit accuses OpenAI and Jony Ive of trademark infringement with respect to their new AI hardware startup, called “io”. The lawsuit was filed by iyO, a startup focused on AI-powered earbuds that was spun out of Google’s Moonshot lab. In a social media post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that iyO’s CEO “had been hoping we would invest in or acquire his company iyo and was quite persistent in his efforts,” adding that the lawsuit is “silly, disappointing and wrong.”
Meta has poached three OpenAI researchers who will now work on its superintelligence efforts under the direction of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai were all based in OpenAI’s Zurich office. The news comes after recent comments from Sam Altman in which he claimed Zuck was offering $100 million signing bonuses in its efforts to win over top talent — something that Beyer has called “fake news”.
Meta is also in talks to acquire PlayAI, a Palo Alto-based startup focused on AI-powered voice replication and voice cloning technology. The purported deal will reportedly bring PlayAI’s tech and some of its engineering team under Meta’s wing, but nothing has been officially confirmed at the time of writing.
Thinking Machines Lab has reached a $10 billion valuation thanks to a $2 billion seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Conviction Partners and other major investors. Thinking Machines was founded just half a year ago by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, and is ostensibly focused on developing general-purpose, collaborative AI systems – but it doesn’t yet have a product to show off or even demo.
Microsoft’s next-generation AI chip has been delayed by at least half a year, pushing production to 2026, according to a new report from The Information. This is supposed to be the successor to the Maia 100 unveiled in late 2023. Among other problems, its production has reportedly been delayed by high turnover and design changes requested by OpenAI. It’s also expected to fall well short of rival Nvidia’s latest Blackwell chip.
Anthropic has published new research on how its AI model Claude performed running a small shop through their lunchroom vending machine. On the one hand, Claude did a good job finding new suppliers on the internet and ordering niche drinks. On the other hand, it could be browbeaten into giving stuff away, and pressured into ordering things that weren’t food and drinks – including a tungsten cube.
Midjourney has launched its first AI-generated video model, V1. The startup has become a gen-AI darling among certain creative types thanks to its focus on artistic aesthetics – and its apparent lack of outside funding. CEO David Holz says he ultimately wants to establish AI systems that are “capable of real-time open-world simulations.”
The Danish government plans legislative changes that will let citizens copyright their biometrics in an effort to combat deepfake threats. Culture minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt told The Guardian that the planned bill will send “an unequivocal message that everybody has the right to their own body, their own voice and their own facial features, which is apparently not how the current law is protecting people against generative AI.”
The chatbot’s take: It’s easy to say you’d do it better when you’re not in the hot seat.
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By Alex Perala
