A day after raising $500 million, AI startup Cohere told staff it was laying off about 20 employees

July 23, 2024

(Fortune) On Monday generative AI model startup Cohere celebrated a fresh $500 million in new funding at a $5 billion valuation, and on Tuesday company said it was laying off about 20 employees (out of close to 400). Read more here.

OpenAI promised to make its AI safe. Employees say it ‘failed’ its first test.

July 16, 2024

(Washington Post) Employees said OpenAI rushed the release of its latest AI model, called GPT-4 Omni. Read more here.

Silicon Valley Wins Few Government Contracts

July 11, 2024

(WSJ) Total amount of awards received by country’s top national security startups less than half of what venture capitalists have invested. Read more here.

How Big Tech is swallowing the AI industry

July 1, 2024

(Verge) Amazon and Microsoft have shown how Big Tech is going to consolidate the AI industry one way or another. Read more here.

Sanctioned and exposed, Predator spyware maker group has gone awfully quiet

July 1, 2024

(CyberScoop) Sanctions, newspaper investigations and reports exposing the Intellexa alliance’s infrastructure all might have led to its diminished state. Read more here.

BlackRock to Acquire Data Provider Preqin for $3.22 Billion

July 1, 2024

(WSJ) The deal is part of the efforts by the world’s largest asset manager to bolster data capabilities as it expands into private-market investments. Read more here.

A lifelong media maven grapples with the misinformation crisis

June 30, 2024

(Washington Post) In his new book, Steven Brill points to a flood of bad information as the culprit behind the rise of polarization. Read more here.

Meta created a ‘Supreme Court’ for content. Then it threatened its funds.

June 30, 2024

(Washington Post) Once hailed as a model for internet governance, Meta’s Oversight Board has been criticized as slow-moving and increasingly irrelevant. Read more here.

Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit?

June 25, 2024

(Goldman Sachs) Tech giants and beyond are set to spend over $1tn on AI capex in coming years, with so far little to show for it. So, will this large spend ever pay off? MIT’s Daron Acemoglu and GS’ Jim Covello are skeptical… Read more here.

Stanford’s top disinformation research group collapses under pressure

June 14, 2024

(Washington Post) The Stanford Internet Observatory provided real-time analysis on viral election falsehoods but has struggled amid attacks from conservatives. Read more here.