The AI Rundown by Lightscape Partners - 08/12/24

Good morning, happy Monday, and welcome back to another week of the AI Rundown by Lightscape Partners.

• Figure debuts its newest robotic model, propelled by $675 million raised last February.

• ChatGPT’s mobile app has had its largest month since its release following the release of ChatGPT Voice.

• Humane’s AI Pin continues to falter, with product returns outpacing purchases.

Keep reading to catch up on last week in AI.

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Top AI Stories of the Week

Figure releases its newest humanoid: Figure 02. Link.

• The humanoid robotics company founded by Brett Adcock released its second iteration, calling it the “world’s first commercially-viable autonomous humanoid robot.” Watch the launch here.

• The robot comes in at 5’6” tall, weighing 70 kg, with a 20 kg payload. It is all electric and can reach speeds of 1.2 m/s.

• The robot utilizes OpenAI technology to enable natural speech conversations.

ChatGPT’s mobile app has its biggest month to date. Link.

• ChatGPT's mobile app recently recorded its highest usage month to date, with nearly 24 million downloads in July 2024.

• Additionally, daily active users reached around 12 million, reflecting growing user engagement.

• The app's popularity continues to grow, driven by its increasing adoption for various applications.

• According to Appfigures, the mobile app has seen substantial growth in both downloads and active users, highlighting its role as a key tool in the AI and chatbot landscape.

Humane’s AI Pin sees more daily returns than sales. Link.

• The Humane AI Pin, a wearable device with AI capabilities, has been generating more daily returns than actual sales, according to recent reports.

• The news comes after a notable turnover in Humane’s executive roles, seeing departures from the Director of Customer Experience.

• Customers are returning the product due to unmet expectations and issues with its practical use.

• This trend raises concerns about the future viability of the AI Pin and the overall reception of wearable AI technology.

Venture

Groq secures $640M, led by BlackRock. Link.

• Groq, an AI chip startup, has secured significant funding from BlackRock to advance its AI chip technology.

• This investment underscores the growing interest in specialized AI hardware as companies seek to enhance their computational capabilities.

• Groq's chips are designed to support high-performance AI applications, and this funding will help the company scale its operations and compete in the rapidly evolving AI hardware market.

Anduril raises a $1.5 billion Series F, valued at $14 billion. Link.

• Anduril Industries, a defense technology start-up, has been valued at $14 billion following a recent funding round.

• The company specializes in AI-powered defense systems and has rapidly grown by securing contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense.

• This valuation reflects Anduril's significant impact on the defense sector, as it continues to innovate in areas such as autonomous systems, surveillance, and border security.

Hugging Face acquires XetHub. Link.

• Hugging Face has acquired XetHub, a platform developed by former Apple researchers, to strengthen its AI model hosting capabilities.

• This acquisition will help Hugging Face improve collaboration and version control for large-scale AI projects.

• XetHub's expertise in data management will complement Hugging Face's offerings, enabling more efficient development, deployment, and maintenance of AI models.

• XetHub raised a $7.5 million round last year from Madrona Ventures, but the terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Model Training

Google DeepMind trained a competitive table tennis robot. Link.

• Google DeepMind has created a robot capable of playing table tennis at an amateur level. Check out the post here.

• The robot demonstrates a solid understanding of the game, with the ability to rally and return shots consistently.

• While it's not yet ready to compete at a professional level, this development showcases advancements in robotics and AI, particularly in real-time decision-making and physical coordination.

Leaked messages reveal Nvidia has been scraping ~80 years of video per day for a video model. Link.

• Nvidia has been accused of scraping a massive amount of video content, equivalent to 80 years' worth of footage daily, to train its AI models.

• This practice has raised significant ethical concerns about data usage and privacy, especially as AI companies increasingly rely on large datasets for training.

• The allegations highlight the ongoing debate over the methods used by tech companies to develop advanced AI systems.

Founder Migrations

Character.AI co-founder returns to Google. Link.

• Google has hired Noam Shazeer, the co-founder of Character.AI, to join its AI division.

• Shazeer, a key figure in the development of Transformer models that underpin modern AI and co-author of “Attention is All You Need,” is expected to bring significant expertise to Google's AI efforts.

• This move underscores Google's commitment to staying at the forefront of AI research and development by bringing in top talent from innovative startups.

Three OpenAI founders are leaving the company. Link.

• Two leaders at OpenAI have left the company, and president Greg Brockman is taking a leave of absence.

• John Schulman will join Anthropic, the rival AI firm, and creator of the Claude models.

• Peter Deng, VP of consumer product, left the company as well.

• This shake-up highlights the evolving landscape of AI leadership and could signal strategic shifts within OpenAI as it navigates the challenges of maintaining its position at the forefront of AI development.

Market Map of the Week

Open Source AI Market Map. Link.

Thank you for reading the AI Rundown by Lightscape Partners. Please send any questions, comments, or suggestions to [email protected].