Check it out! The latest episode of AI Inside! But really quick, if you haven’t subscribed to the new AI Inside YouTube channel, please do! I am trying to get the channel to 1000 subscribers so I can begin to make a little extra dough off of the episodes there. Every little bit helps. Thank you IMMENSELY!
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Paris AI Action Summit: Safety vs. Growth?
The two-day AI Action Summit in Paris wrapped up, with 60 countries signing a final statement pledging to develop AI inclusively, openly, safely, and ethically. Notably, the US and UK didn't sign, citing overly restrictive language. Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance urged the EU to prioritize growth over safety, warning against over-regulation. Europe seems to be having regulation regrets, and it really seems like ethics in big tech is suddenly out of fashion. Policymakers are being fed the idea that AGI is imminent, almost certainly during Trump's term.
Elon Musk's $97.6B Bid for OpenAI's Non-Profit Assets
Elon Musk's xAI company, along with some investment funds, submitted an unsolicited $97.6B bid to merge with OpenAI's non-profit assets. Altman responded on X, "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." OpenAI director Larry Summers said yesterday he hasn't received any formal bid yet. Whether Musk actually intends to pursue or not, this really DOES smell a lot like his kneejerk "I'll buy Twitter" tweet that led to him buying X ultimately. A troll move that has the potential to become reality. With Musk's cozy position in the Trump administration, and his influence over the easing of regulation, it would practically ensure a dominant force.
Copyright Lawsuit: Thomson Reuters vs. Ross Intelligence
We are starting to get some rulings on some of the earlier copyright lawsuits related to AI. Thomson Reuters just won its lawsuit against AI startup Ross Intelligence, a legal research company. The ruling says the startup was NOT permitted to copy the editorial content of Thomson Reuters to build its AI-based legal platform, and did NOT constitute fair use. What does this ruling mean for them?
Big Tech's AI Spending Spree
If you thought DeepSeek was shifting the big spending approach of big tech on AI, think again. The race is very much on with Microsoft, Google, and Meta projected to increase spend on AI by 45% from last year, reaching at least $215 billion combined. And with that investment comes... layoffs...buyouts... same thing. It looks like it is Meta is trying to clear desks for AI people, and WSJ report shows how tech sector unemployment rose from 3.9% in Dec to 5.7% in Jan passing the overall unemployment rate of 4%.
On the show, Jeff poses the question: “Would you talk your kids out of a computer science major given the influence of AI right now?”
Google IO and AI-Powered Search
Google IO is announced and happening May 20-21. The four key areas: AI, Android, Search, Chrome. Hints: the IO 2025 site links to Gemma open model, Google AI studio, and NotebookLM. Same week as Microsoft Build where MS is sure to detail its own AI efforts.
Speaking of NotebookLM - NotebookLM Plus now available with Google One AI Premium ($20 mo).
Finally, a NEW "AI mode" for search being dogfooded at google according to an internal email shown to 9to5google. It’s a custom version of Gemini 2.0 enabling "advanced reasoning and thinking capabilities." Pichai has hinted at 2025 being "one of the biggest years for Search innovation yet.”
The AI Crawler Conflict: Can the Open Web Survive?
An MIT Technology Review article analyzes the conflict that is brewing between websites and AI companies. AI crawlers reach out to the web for content that ties into its operational goals, while sites are employing systems that block crawlers to protect their content from AI usage for training and analysis. Can the open web survive? The article says that this ultimately concentrates power into the hands of a few large AI companies
The Agent Age: ChatGPT's $31 Egg Order
Speaking of Agents that crawl around the internet... Geoffrey Fowler from Washington Post Played around with ChatGPT's Operator. In his article, he says he asked it to find cheap eggs nearby. The agent went out, researched, then used his credit card to buy a dozen eggs for $31.43 and have them delivered to his house, without his approval. Its another one of those questions of we say we want THIS thing... but part of this thing is this OTHER thing that we also say we do not want.
That's all for this week!