Safe Superintelligence, an AI startup with offices in Silicon Valley and Israel that announced itself in June, has raised over $1 billion in first-round funding.
Why it matters: The monster investment reflects the pedigree of the company's co-founders, who include former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, fellow OpenAI vet Daniel Levy and former Apple AI chief Daniel Gross.
Driving the news: The funding is all in cash rather than in cloud credits, even though lots of the money will surely be needed to purchase computing power in one form or another.
Investors includeAndreessen Horowitz, DST Global, Sequoia Capital, and SV Angel, along with the NFDG partnership Gross runs with Nat Friedman.
What they're saying: "We have started the world's first straight-shot SSI lab, with one goal and one product: a safe superintelligence," the firm posted on X.
"Our singular focus means no distraction by management overhead or product cycles, and our business model means safety, security, and progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures."
Between the lines: Sutskever was among the board members of OpenAI who voted to fire Sam Altman last year, though he later said he regretted his vote and supported Altman's return. His status at OpenAI remained in limbo for months before it was confirmed in May that he was officially leaving the company.
The bottom line: SSI's mission statement is a pretty blunt rebuke of OpenAI, even if many of its investors have stakes in both.
Yes, but: Promising to build superintelligent computing could take significant time and money. If the work leading up to that brings in no revenue, $1 billion may not last long, and the startup could be in frequent need of cash infusions.
Nearly one-third of the36.2 million Latinos who are eligible to vote are between the ages of 18 to 29 and form a politically independent voting bloc that candidates will need to turn out come November.
Why it matters: Winning the Latino youth vote could be crucial to political parties far in this year's election and beyond.
Due to a rise in bots — automated programs that simulate human engagement online— social media chatter is becoming less of a bellwether for public perception or stakeholder sentiment.
Why it matters: Knowing how and when to respond to misinformation or bot activity is now well within a communicator's job description.
A Russian influence operation used unwitting, prominent right-wing influencers to spread propaganda ahead of the 2024 election, the Justice Department alleged Wednesday.
Why it matters: The influencer scheme is yet another chapter in Russia's long running effort to infiltrate the opinions of American audiences via social media and online manipulation.
Safe Superintelligence, an AI startup with offices in Silicon Valley and Israel that announced itself in June, has raised over $1 billion in first-round funding.
Why it matters: The monster investment reflects the pedigree of the company's co-founders, who include former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, fellow OpenAI vet Daniel Levy and former Apple AI chief Daniel Gross.
Driving the news: The funding is all in cash rather than in cloud credits, even though lots of the money will surely be needed to purchase computing power in one form or another.
Investors includeAndreessen Horowitz, DST Global, Sequoia Capital, and SV Angel, along with the NFDG partnership Gross runs with Nat Friedman.
The NOAA is adding to its high-performance computing resources in a bid to bolster its uses of AI and machine learning for weather and climate.
Why it matters: The agency's $100 million investment comes as it faces rapid advances in forecasting techniques, and new entrants build accurate weather models trained on historical data.
Verizon has agreed to buy Frontier Communications for $20 billion, the company announced on Thursday.
Why it matters: This is the latest in a series of massive telecom mergers, and strengthens Verizon's fiber businesses to help it better compete with rivals like AT&T.
Qualcomm's days as the lone provider of chips for Microsoft Copilot+ AI PCs are coming to an end, with machines powered by AMD and Intel set to be on shelves by the holidays.
Why it matters: The entire PC industry is counting on AI to boost the upgrade cycle and maybe even sway some Mac users over to the Windows camp.
A recent legal win by the hospital industry over its use of website tracking technology could leave patients' data vulnerable to being shared with online marketers, data brokers, and social media platforms.
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