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This Week in AI: Exploring Ethics, Game-Changing Chips, and Social Media Strategies
OpenAI is funding research into ‘AI morality’
Unfold by harman
November 22, 2024
Good morning! This week's focus kicks off with OpenAI's intriguing venture into the realm of AI ethics.
"Can machines truly understand morality, or are we just teaching them to mimic our own flawed judgments?"
But don't worry—there's plenty more to cover today. In this edition of Unfold Now:
🧠 AI Ethics: OpenAI Dives into Moral Dilemmas
🌍 AI Innovations: Google Alums Shake Up Chip Industry
🏛️ Social Media: Threads Follow X's Lead
— Harman, Unfold Now
🔍 Spotlight: Amazon Doubles Down on AI
Amazon is set to invest an additional $4 billion in Anthropic, an OpenAI rival, signalling its commitment to advancing AI technology. This substantial investment underscores the fierce competition in the AI industry and Amazon's determination to secure a leading position. As AI continues to reshape various sectors, Amazon's move could have far-reaching implications for cloud computing, e-commerce, and beyond.
Amazon bringing its total funding amount to $8 billion. This latest round follows $1.25 billion last September and another $2.75 billion in March.
Along with the money, Amazon wrote in its blog post that Amazon Web Services (AWS) would be named Anthropic’s “primary training partner” and that the OpenAI rival would use Trainium and Inferentia chips for future models.
The investment and deeper partnership align with previous reporting by Reuters that Claude will power Amazon’s new Alexa voice assistant. The improved Alexa — the release of which has been delayed — reportedly performed better with Claude than it did when using Amazon’s in-house model.
Source: The Verge
🧠 AI Ethics: OpenAI Explores the Moral Compass of Machines
Summary: OpenAI is venturing into uncharted territory by funding research on "AI morality" at Duke University1. This $1 million, three-year grant aims to develop algorithms that can predict human moral judgments across various fields, including medicine, law, and business2. The project, led by ethics professor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Jana Schaich Borg, seeks to align AI systems with human ethical decision-making.
Why it matters: As AI becomes increasingly integrated into our daily lives, ensuring these systems can make ethically sound decisions is crucial. However, this endeavor faces significant challenges, including the subjective nature of morality and the potential for AI to internalize biases present in its training data12. The outcome of this research could profoundly influence how we trust and interact with AI in morally complex situations.
Source: TechCrunch
🌍 AI Innovations: Google Alums Shake Up Chip Industry
Summary: MatX, an AI chip startup founded by former Google employees, has successfully raised a Series A funding round, valuing the company at over $300 million3. This significant investment highlights the growing interest and competition in the AI chip market, as companies seek to develop more efficient and powerful hardware to support advanced AI applications.
Why it matters: The development of specialized AI chips is crucial for advancing AI capabilities and reducing the computational costs associated with training and running large AI models. MatX's success could potentially lead to more efficient AI systems, enabling broader applications of AI technology across various industries.
Source: TechCrunch
Summary: Meta's Threads platform is testing AI-powered summaries of trending topics, a feature reminiscent of X (formerly Twitter)4. This move indicates Threads' ambition to become a more comprehensive news and discussion platform, potentially challenging X's dominance in real-time conversation and news dissemination.
Why it matters: The introduction of AI-powered topic summaries could enhance user engagement on Threads by providing quick, digestible overviews of current events. This feature may also help combat misinformation by offering concise, AI-generated summaries of complex topics, potentially influencing how users consume and interact with news on social media platforms.
Source: TechCrunch
🚀 In Other News:
Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows — it’s not just AI code editors (source: TechCrunch)
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman warns against Elon Musk’s ‘conflict of interest’ in setting AI policies (source: TechCrunch)
Fondo wants to mitigate the US’ accountant shortage with its AI bookkeeping service (source: TechCrunch)
Tech Memes 😂
Thanks for reading today's edition of Unfold Now! Stay curious, stay informed, and we'll see you in the next one.
— Harman
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