OpenAI poaches from Tesla, Nvidia's origins, and Big Tech buys more: AI news roundup
The billions going into AI is reminiscent of crypto and means a “bunch of hype and maybe some grifting,” Google’s AI chief said — but Google reportedly might start charging for AI-powered search. And Google just hired a former OpenAI executive to boost the company’s AI efforts.
Check out those and more highlights from the week in AI news.
Google might charge for AI-powered search
Google parent Alphabet might start charging for an AI-powered upgrade to its search engine, which would be the first time a core product from the company gets put behind a paywall.
Elon Musk says OpenAI is ‘aggressively recruiting Tesla engineers’ in ‘the craziest talent war I’ve ever seen’
Not even the (sometimes) richest man in the world is immune from the AI talent war.
Google just hired a former OpenAI executive to boost its AI efforts
OpenAI’s former head of developer relations, who left the Sam Altman-helmed startup in March, announced this week that he has joined Google.
The biggest AI acquisitions by Apple and other Big Tech firms
Big Tech is swallowing up AI companies, with Apple quietly leading the pack. Meta, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, and Apple have closed acquisitions of 88 AI and machine learning companies over the past two decades, according to PitchBook data reviewed by Quartz.
An animated AI chatbot for Xbox? Microsoft is reportedly testing one
Microsoft’s dive into AI is spreading to its gaming division in the form of an animated character chatbot.
Yahoo just announced a big AI acquisition
Yahoo, the former king of the internet, said Tuesday that it’s acquiring an AI news aggregation company.
AI could radically change the future of bank lending — and who gets approved for loans
AI could fundamentally change the future of bank lending — and make it a lot less risky.
Nvidia is an AI superpower. It started at a Denny’s
Nvidia and its high-flying stock have exploded on the market over the past year, as the AI craze — and the expensive chips Nvidia sells to power AI models — brought a special sparkle to investors’ eyes.
The $2 trillion dollar company had humble beginnings. Its now-billionaire founder and CEO Jensen Huang worked as a dishwasher to make money as a teenager, and the company almost went bankrupt in its first two years.
Now Nvidia stock is up a whopping 87% so far in 2024, 223% over the last 12 months, 1,793% over the last five years. Let’s take a look at how we got here.
Google’s AI chief says the billions going into AI means a ‘bunch of hype and maybe some grifting’
The billions of dollars going into AI is reminiscent of crypto hype, and it’s getting in the way of science and research, Google’s AI chief is warning.
An AI startup that’s not even 6 months old says it’s worth $2 billion
As analysts debate whether high investments and valuations in the AI space are creating a bubble akin to the dot-com bubble of the 90s, a less than six-month-old startup is seeking a valuation in the billions.
A major Amazon and Nvidia supplier has found the new AI hot spot
For many, hearing the name Foxconn immediately brings to mind iPhone production. It’s true, the Taiwanese company is a major producer of Apple’s smartphones and other products. But it also makes something companies like Nvidia, Amazon, and more are in high demand of: AI-related hardware. And Big Tech companies in the U.S. would like that hardware to come from Mexico and not China, thank you very much.