Welcome to the newest edition of FindBiometrics’ AI update. Here’s the latest big news on the shifting landscape of AI and identity technology:
Apple will integrate OpenAI’s generative AI technology into some of its own software. The deal, reported by The Information, has not been officially announced, and details are scant. It would seem to signal a kind of surrender on Apple’s part in the AI arms race, despite the fact that the consumer tech giant has been working on pretty impressive AI tech of its own.
OpenAI has established a new “Safety and Security Committee” after several recent high-profile departures led to the collapse of its previous superalignment team. But the new Committee isn’t exactly independent; it’s led by CEO Sam Altman, and while it will report safety concerns to the OpenAI board, the Committee is itself populated by three board members.
xAI has closed a $6 billion financing round that values the company at $24 billion. Elon Musk is trying to position his AI company as a bona fide rival to OpenAI, and has sought financial support from loyal friends including Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding, Andreessen Horowitz, and Sequoia Capital, among others.
Another Saudi fund, Prosperity7 Ventures, has participated in a funding round for the generative AI firm Zhipu AI, marking the first time a foreign firm made a publicly known investment in a major Chinese AI startup. Zhipu was founded in 2019, and is aiming to become China’s own domestic OpenAI.
China has raised its largest-yet funding round to support domestic tech. The “Big Fund” amassed about $47 billion as part of a strategic government effort to establish self-sufficiency in tech development. Officially called “National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Phase III”, it is expected to invest the money into chip companies. Locals like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation and ChangXin Memory Technologies, meanwhile, are reportedly working to make sure their supply chains are rooted in China.
CoreWeave is planning to go public, anticipating an IPO in the first half of next year. The New Jersey-based company offers AI computing services, and is looking to dramatically scale up its number of data centers. It recently raised $7.5 billion in debt financing to help fuel those efforts.
Klick Labs has developed an audio-focused deepfake detection tool. The Toronto-based firm says its system looks for signs of life such as breathing patterns and micropauses during speech, which synthetic voices tend to lack.
NIST released a report on its first assessment of age estimation algorithms in a decade, finding all six of the solutions tested showed “room for improvement”, in the words of one NIST scientist. NIST says it will continue testing Age Estimation and Verification (AEV) algorithms every four to six weeks, anticipating rapid AI advancements.
The chatbot’s take: ChatGPT offers validation to a frustrated iPhone user’s lived experience.
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May 31, 2024 – by Alex Perala
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