AI funding rounds, acquisitions, partnerships and leadership changes, plus regulation, copyright lawsuits and big compute deals.
Valve just clarified that its goal is not to discourage AI-generated games on Steam, but rather to avoid copyright infringement. The company explained that recent rejections came down to developers being unable to prove they owned the necessary rights, noting its review policy simply reflects current copyright law.
AI godfather Geoffrey Hinton just cast doubt on the industry's optimism at the Collision conference, warning he isn't convinced good AI can control bad AI. From killer combat robots to AI widening wealth gaps, he argues ethical adoption will come at a steep societal cost, standing in stark contrast to sunny outlooks from DeepMind and Roblox.
Valve is turning away games featuring AI-generated art and text from Steam, citing legal uncertainties over training data copyrights. Developers report rejections unless they can prove full ownership of the data used to train the models. While the policy isn't officially documented yet, it signals a massive roadblock for indie devs leaning on generative AI.
Inflection AI just raised a staggering $1.3 billion in a new funding round led by Microsoft, Bill Gates, and Nvidia, pushing its valuation to $4 billion. The startup is partnering with CoreWeave and Nvidia to build an unprecedented 22,000 H100 GPU cluster to train models for its personal assistant, Pi.
Meta just published 22 "system cards" explaining how AI algorithms rank content across Facebook and Instagram. The cards break down predictive models and ranking signals used in Feed, Stories, and Reels, alongside expanded controls for users to tune recommendations. Why it matters: It offers a rare peek inside the recommendation engines driving global social media.
OpenAI just announced plans to open its first international outpost in London, expanding beyond its San Francisco base for the first time since 2015. The new hub will focus on engineering, research, and local policy collaboration. Setting up in DeepMind's backyard gives OpenAI direct access to world-class talent while bolstering its European lobbying efforts.
Over 300 Hollywood actors just signed an open letter warning SAG-AFTRA leaders they are ready to strike if their next contract doesn't deliver major wins. Alongside higher wages, the actors are demanding strict protections against AI, specifically requiring compensation and consent whenever their work is used to train AI models.
Microsoft just launched a global AI Skills Initiative alongside LinkedIn and data.org, rolling out the online learning market's first free Generative AI Professional Certificate. The push also includes an open grant challenge giving nonprofits funding, Azure cloud compute, and technical training. All coursework remains free through 2025.
OpenAI was just hit with a federal class-action lawsuit alleging it stole internet data to train ChatGPT. Filed by a California law firm, the suit claims OpenAI massively violated people's privacy and copyrights for commercial gain. Why it matters: The case targets the core foundation of generative AI, pushing courts to set guardrails on training data and user compensation.
Nvidia just swept all eight tests in the latest MLPerf training benchmarks, setting records across the board with its H100 GPUs. In one standout test, a cluster of 3,584 H100s run by CoreWeave completed a massive GPT-3 workload in under 11 minutes. Why it matters: The near-linear scaling proves Nvidia’s full-stack hardware and networking dominance remains virtually untouchable for training frontier AI.
Databricks just announced the acquisition of generative AI startup MosaicML in a massive $1.3 billion deal. Known for efficient models like MPT-7B and MPT-30B, MosaicML specializes in helping companies train and fine-tune LLMs on their own proprietary data at lower costs. Why it matters: Enterprise customers can now build secure, tailored models directly inside Databricks Lakehouse without exposing sensitive data to third parties.
A new survey from The Verge and Vox Media shows that only one in three Americans has tried a dedicated AI tool, with usage heavily skewed toward younger generations for tasks like brainstorming and answering questions. Yet, over 76% of respondents want government regulations and mandatory labeling for AI-generated content. Why it matters: Public curiosity is high, but people are anxious enough about disruption and extinction risks to demand rules before the tech gets away from us.
Adobe just introduced an IP indemnity clause for enterprise customers, promising to pay legal claims if they get sued over artwork created with Firefly. Because the model was trained exclusively on Adobe Stock and public domain content rather than the open internet, the company is treating copyright protection as an insurance policy to win over skittish corporate buyers.
Cybersecurity firm Group-IB just revealed that over 100,000 stolen ChatGPT credentials have surfaced on dark web marketplaces. OpenAI pushed back, clarifying that the logs came from malware on user devices rather than a platform breach. Why it matters: Stolen accounts expose stored chat logs, potentially leaking proprietary code and sensitive company secrets.
AWS just launched a $100 million Generative AI Innovation Center to pair its data scientists and engineers directly with enterprise customers. The program offers free workshops, strategy planning, and model fine-tuning to help businesses take generative AI from concept to production on AWS.
Method Studios just pushed back against online outrage over the AI-generated opening credits in Marvel's Secret Invasion, clarifying that the tech didn't cost anyone their job. The studio explained that AI was merely one supportive tool in their pipeline, and traditional animators, directors, and compositors handled the heavy lifting throughout production.
Wimbledon is teaming up with IBM to roll out AI-generated audio commentary and captions for match highlights on its official app and website. The watsonx platform analyzes court and player tracking data to produce natural tennis commentary in near-real-time. While it is limited to video clips for now, IBM views it as an early step toward AI commentary for full matches.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang told Cannes Lions attendees that generative AI will augment, not replace, human creativity across text, 3D, and video. Through a partnership with ad giant WPP, NVIDIA is building an AI content engine to produce personalized marketing assets at scale. Why it matters: The $700B digital ad market is moving from retrieving a few static ads to generating billions of tailored variations on the fly.
Cisco just unveiled its G200 and G202 networking chips, built specifically to connect AI supercomputers and challenge rivals Broadcom and Marvell. The new silicon doubles previous performance, connects up to 32,000 GPUs, and cuts power consumption by up to 40%. Five of the top six cloud hyperscalers are already testing them, signaling heated competition in the AI hardware backbone.
The White House just signaled it will roll out "decisive actions" on AI in the coming weeks to stay ahead of the technology's rapid rise. White House officials are meeting multiple times a week to draft federal agency rules and secure voluntary guardrails from top AI labs, as President Biden gathers with researchers in San Francisco.
