OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist quits

TODAY

• OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist quits

• Google’s updates to its Gemini AI

• AI funding, valuations, and acquisitions: Malted AI, NATIX, and more

• Tool highlight: HIX AI

• Midjourney AI creations from the community

INDUSTRY NEWS
OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist quits

Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, announced his departure from the prominent AI research company on Tuesday. Sutskever, who has been with OpenAI since its inception in 2015, played a key role in the company's growth and the development of its groundbreaking AI technologies.

Here’s what you should know:

• Sutskever announced his decision to leave OpenAI after nearly a decade with the company

• In November 2023, Sutskever was involved in a failed attempt to oust CEO Sam Altman, but later expressed regret for his actions

• Following the coup attempt, Sutskever was removed from the board but remained with the company until his recent departure announcement

• Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI's former Director of Research who led the development of GPT-4, will succeed Sutskever as the new Chief Scientist

• Sutskever hinted at working on a new project that is "very personally meaningful" to him but did not provide further details

Significance: Sutskever's departure marks a significant shift for OpenAI, as he was instrumental in establishing the company's early prominence in the field of generative AI. His exit follows a series of high-profile departures from OpenAI in recent months and raises questions about the company's future direction. As one of the leading minds in AI research, Sutskever's next move will be closely watched by the industry. Meanwhile, OpenAI will need to navigate this transition and maintain its position at the forefront of AI development under the leadership of its new Chief Scientist, Jakub Pachocki.

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FUNDING 
Some notable funding rounds, valuations, and acquisitions

Malted AI, a Scottish AI firm helping enterprises build smaller, more focused AI models, closed a €6.9 million funding round.

Stupa Sports Analytics, an Indian sports tech leader, secured INR 280 million (around $3.4 million) in pre-Series A funding to expand its AI-driven solutions worldwide.

NATIX, an AI camera and drivers-powered decentralized private identification network (DePIN) completed a $4.6 million Strategic Round backed by DCG, Crypto.com, and Velocity.

Toggle AI is acquiring financial data/analysis platform Atom Finance to bolster its AI-powered investment platform. The acquisition amount was not disclosed.

INDUSTRY NEWS
Google’s updates to its Gemini AI

Google unveiled significant updates to its Gemini AI technology during the Google I/O 2024 developer conference. The company introduced new Gemini models, expanded capabilities, and deeper integrations across its product ecosystem.

What to know:

• Google introduced Gemini 1.5 Pro, delivering a breakthrough in long context by running 1 million tokens in production, more than any other large-scale foundation model.

• Gemini 1.5 Flash, optimized for faster responses in narrow, high-frequency, low-latency tasks, was also announced.

• Gemini Live aims to make voice chats feel more natural, with an updated voice and the ability for users to interrupt Gemini mid-sentence.

• Gemini is getting new integrations with Google Calendar, Tasks, and Keep, allowing it to update or draw information from these apps using multimodal features.

• Gemini's multimodal capabilities are expanding, enabling users to ask questions about on-screen videos and PDFs (for Gemini Advanced users).

• Google is bringing Gemini's capabilities to various products, including Search, Photos, Workspace, and Android.

Significance: Google is showing its commitment to advancing its Gemini AI technology and integrating it deeply into the Android user experience and across its product ecosystem, as well as competing with OpenAI. With improved natural language processing, multimodal capabilities, and accessibility features, Gemini is set to change how users interact with their devices and access information.

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Midjourney creations from the community
Fashion explorations

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POLL RESULTS
Poll results from the last edition of AI Disruptor

“Are you more excited about the AI advancements in Google's software (Maps, Docs, Chrome, Gmail) or the new Pixel 9 hardware?”

AI advancements in software. (34.62%)

New Pixel 9 hardware. (65.38%)