AI funding rounds, acquisitions, partnerships and leadership changes, plus regulation, copyright lawsuits and big compute deals.
AI marketing copilot Jasper just acquired image platform Clipdrop from Stability AI, closing the deal on February 20. The Paris-based team joins Jasper immediately to spearhead multimodal research. Enterprise clients get instant access via the Jasper API, while the standalone consumer app stays live.
ElevenLabs just announced it was selected for the 2024 Disney Accelerator program. The voice AI startup aims to tap into Disney's massive creative sandbox to break down language barriers. Why it matters: Landing a spot with Disney gives ElevenLabs a direct pipeline into Hollywood's biggest media powerhouse.
Google just shut off image generation of people in its Gemini chatbot after the tool churned out historically inaccurate and overcorrected images. The company admitted its diversity safeguards went too far, causing the model to misapply diversity to specific historical contexts and become overly cautious.
Tech giants are cutting jobs, and everyone is blaming AI — but experts say that's mostly a cover story. Oxford researchers and analysts point out there's little evidence of robots directly replacing workers at scale; instead, companies are just cutting standard costs or slashing other budgets to fund expensive AI pivots.
Match Group just inked an enterprise deal with OpenAI, buying over 1,000 licenses to help employees with coding, design, and analysis. In peak dating-app fashion, the announcement was written with ChatGPT and packed with cringey romance puns. It's all part of Match's $20M+ bet on AI this year.
Adobe just set up a new 50-person research group called CAVA, short for Co-Creation for Audio, Video, & Animation. Formed right after OpenAI dropped Sora, the team focuses squarely on generative AI for motion and sound. It signals Adobe is gearing up to defend its creative turf against frontier multimodal models.
Google DeepMind just created a new AI Safety and Alignment organization to tighten safeguards around Gemini and tackle future AGI risks. Led by UC Berkeley professor Anca Dragan, the U.S.-based unit will expand beyond London's existing alignment team to address current issues like misinformation and medical advice while researching superintelligent control. Why it matters: Google is scrambling to show regulators and enterprise buyers that its models can be trusted without flying off the rails.
The AI crypto sector just added $10.21 billion in market value over 17 days, leaping 142.79% following OpenAI's reveal of text-to-video model Sora. Heavyweights like TAO jumped 145.38% alongside widespread triple-digit gains. Why it matters: Hype around generative AI can instantly reroute billions into speculative tokens, even before the model is publicly accessible.
Elon Musk's X is reportedly exploring a partnership with text-to-image generator Midjourney. If finalized, the deal could integrate Midjourney's visual capabilities directly into Grok, letting users generate and post images right from their feeds. While details remain sparse, the feature will likely be locked behind an X Premium subscription.
Air Canada just lost a lawsuit after its AI customer service chatbot made up a fake refund policy for a grieving passenger. The airline tried to argue in court that the bot was a "separate legal entity" responsible for its own actions, but the tribunal flatly rejected it, ruling companies are fully liable for what their AI tells customers.
Reddit just inked a $60 million content licensing deal with an unnamed major tech company to train AI models, according to Bloomberg. Ahead of its planned $5 billion IPO in March, the platform is turning its vast forum discussions into cash, though the move risks reigniting fury among users already frustrated by recent API price hikes.
ElevenLabs just introduced new safeguards to prevent its AI voice tech from meddling in the 2024 elections. The company rolled out a "no-go voices" safeguard that blocks users from mimicking active political candidates, starting with US and UK races, and explicitly outlawed political robocalls and impersonation chatbots. Why it matters: With critical elections taking place worldwide, the pressure is on AI voice platforms to curb convincing deepfakes before they derail voter trust.
Twenty leading tech companies just teamed up to curb deceptive AI in elections. At the Munich Security Conference, companies including Meta, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI pledged to coordinate on detecting and labeling misleading AI deepfakes targeting candidates and voters. Why it matters: With dozens of national elections underway, it's an unprecedented joint effort, though the voluntary accord notably avoids outright bans or binding penalties.
A federal judge just dismissed nearly all claims in Sarah Silverman and other authors' lawsuits against OpenAI, throwing out allegations of vicarious infringement and DMCA violations. The judge noted plaintiffs failed to show ChatGPT outputs were substantially similar to their works. OpenAI still faces direct infringement claims, but the authors' case just took a massive blow.
OpenAI just teamed up with Microsoft to terminate accounts tied to five state-affiliated threat groups. The hackers were caught using its models for basic tasks like debugging code, drafting phishing content, and researching open-source vulnerabilities. Why it matters: OpenAI found that AI currently offers only incremental advantages for cyberattacks over existing tools, but shutting them out early keeps the pressure on.
OpenAI founding member and prominent AI researcher Andrej Karpathy has departed the ChatGPT creator. Karpathy, who rejoined OpenAI in 2023 after leading Tesla's Autopilot efforts, noted on social media that his immediate plan is to work on personal projects. His departure marks the loss of one of OpenAI's most influential research voices.
Mozilla just announced it is cutting around 60 jobs and shutting down side projects like 3D platform Hubs to refocus on its flagship browser. The organization is combining its Pocket, content, and AI/ML teams directly into Firefox to build 'trustworthy AI' features. Why it matters: After years of chasing diversified bets, Mozilla is retreating to its core base to survive the generative AI era.
Google just deployed a new machine learning algorithm to catch fraudulent reviews faster than ever. The system analyzes long-term patterns to flag sudden rating spikes and coordinated scam rings, helping block over 170 million policy-violating reviews in 2023—a 45% jump from the previous year.
AI companies just dropped millions on Super Bowl ads to convince a nervous public they are here to help, not steal jobs. With 52% of Americans more concerned than excited about AI, Microsoft and Google used $7 million spots to rebrand their tools as humble companions for everyday tasks like photo-taking and starting a business.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned that "subtle societal misalignments" — rather than rogue killer robots — are what keep him up at night. Speaking at the World Governments Summit, he reiterated calls for an IAEA-like oversight body while comparing today's AI to early black-and-white cellphones. Why it matters: The industry's top figure insists AI makers shouldn't be the ones writing the rulebook.
