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OpenAI Drama: Co-Founder Leaves and President Takes Leave
OpenAI co-founder leaves, NVIDIA steals YouTube videos, Figure's new humanoid robot and more!
Everyday AI
August 06, 2024
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Today in Everyday AI
6 minute read
🎙 Daily Podcast Episode: What’s going on at OpenAI? Why is the Co-founder stepping down and the president taking a leave? We break it all down. Give it a listen.
🕵️♂️ Fresh Finds: Chuck Schumer looks to pass AI deepfake bill, Google’s Nest gets AI update, the problems with California’s proposed AI bill and a way to reduce AI’s energy consumption. Read on for Fresh Finds.
🗞 Byte Sized Daily AI News: OpenAI drama continues, NVIDIA is in copyright trouble and a YouTuber is suing OpenAI. For that and more, read on for Byte Sized News.
🚀 AI In 5: We’re showing you a fun way to use open-source AI and some free tools to create hands-free AI learning! See it here
🧠 Learn & Leveraging AI: Wondering what’s happening over at OpenAI? Here’s everything you need to know and its impact on the AI world. Keep reading for that!
↩️ Don’t miss out: Did you miss our last newsletter? We talked about the Feds warning Elon over Grok's misinformation, AI stocks tumble with U.S. economy and big Runway AI video updates. Check it here!
OpenAI Drama: Co-Founder Leaves and President Takes Leave 🧐
What the heck is happening at OpenAI?
In a somewhat shocking development, an OpenAI co-founder has left OpenAI for rival Anthropic.
And President Greg Brockman is taking an 'extended leave of absence.'
What's it all mean?
We did some digging and are breaking it all down.
Join the conversation and ask Jordan questions on OpenAI here.
Also on the pod today:
• Major Changes at OpenAI 🔀
• Legal Trouble for OpenAI 🧑⚖️
• OpenAI's Technology and Impact 🤔
It’ll be worth your 46 minutes:
Listen on our site:
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Here’s our favorite AI finds from across the web:
New AI Tool Spotlight – Upmetrics is an AI-powered business plan software, Me.bot turns your ideas into an AI life coach and Minvo is an All-in-one AI video shorts platform.
AI regulation — The ‘godmother’ of AI is clapping back at California’s proposed AI bill.
Trending in AI – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is looking to pass a deepfake AI bill.
AI Startups - AI startup ProRata.ai has raised $25M and has partnered with major media companies.
Google – Google’s Nest Thermostat is getting an AI upgrade.
Read This – Researchers have developed a memory device that could reduce the energy needed for AI.
AI development — OpenAI just released an update for structured outputs, which could change a LOT for some!
new: structured outputs in the @OpenAI API. for some developers this is an incremental improvement, for others it changes everything
— Steven Heidel (@stevenheidel)
5:39 PM • Aug 6, 2024
1. OpenAI Shake-Up: Co-Founder Jumps Ship to Rival Anthropic 🗣
In a surprising twist, John Schulman, one of OpenAI's co-founders, has left the company to join rival startup Anthropic, where he aims to deepen his focus on AI alignment research. Schulman expressed his desire to engage in hands-on technical work, stating he believes he'll gain new perspectives alongside like-minded people in the field.
Meanwhile, Greg Brockman, the president and another co-founder, is taking an extended leave until the end of the year to relax and recharge after nine intense years at OpenAI.
2. Nvidia's Sneaky Video Scrape Sparks Legal Drama 📉
Nvidia is under scrutiny after reports revealed the company downloaded 100,000 YouTube videos in just two weeks to train its new AI model, Cosmos. In addition, NVIDIA also used videos from Netflix. While Nvidia asserts that their practices comply with copyright law, both YouTube and Netflix consider these actions a violation of their policies.
The situation intensified when Nvidia's VP acknowledged that the decision to acquire data in this manner came from top management.
3. YouTube Creator Sues OpenAI for Alleged Copyright Violations 🚀
A YouTube creator, David Millette, just dropped a bombshell by filing a class action lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming the company used millions of YouTube transcripts to train its AI models without so much as a "thank you" or a dime in compensation.
The complaint alleges that OpenAI’s practices violate copyright laws and YouTube’s own terms of service, as they profited off creators’ hard work without consent. With $5 million on the line, this lawsuit could spark a massive change in how AI companies handle data from content creators
4. Figure Unveils Game-Changing Figure 02 Humanoid Robot 📜
Figure has officially unveiled its latest humanoid robot, Figure 02, showcasing significant advancements over its predecessor. Standing at 5'6" and featuring a refined exoskeleton design, this model can lift objects weighing up to 44 pounds while performing tasks with remarkable dexterity thanks to its six onboard cameras and enhanced visual reasoning.
With a powerful 225 KWh battery, it can operate for 20 hours a day, positioning it as a valuable asset for factories and warehouses.
But for real though….. this thing looks crazy.
Meet Figure 02 - the world's most advanced AI hardware
— Figure (@Figure_robot)
11:59 AM • Aug 6, 2024
5. ByteDance Joins AI Video-Generating Frenzy 🔌
ByteDance, owner of TikTok, is getting in on the action with its new text-to-video app, Jimeng AI, now available for Chinese users on the Apple App Store. This launch follows a flurry of similar releases from Chinese tech giants, including Kuaishou's Kling AI, which just went global last month.
With subscriptions starting at 69 yuan ($9.65), users can whip up around 168 AI videos each month.
Hands-Free AI Learning: Llama 3.1 + Groq + Speechify
GenAI is a great resource for efficient learning.
But what if you could learn hands-free?
We’re showing you a fun way to use open-source AI and some free tools to create hands-free AI learning!
Check out today's AI in 5.
🦾How You Can Leverage:
Like a daytime Soap Opera, there’s always something juicy happening at OpenAI. And hot off the presses — three key players at OpenAI are gone.
(Although one could be coming back in a few months.)
Here’s the latest, which derived from reports from The Information:
Peter Deng: Former Vice President of Consumer Product, has left OpenAI.
John Schulman: Cofounder and lead of post-training team, left OpenAI for Anthropic.
Greg Brockman: President and cofounder, on extended leave to relax and recharge after nine years.
You might be thinking…. So what?
How does this impact me or my company?
Welllllllll, glad you asked.
It’s actually so important, we did a kinda deep dive episode today on what the recent OpenAI shakeups means for you, your company and even… society.
(Yeah, we got a lil philosophical today shorties.)
Here’s the high-level of what you need to know. 👇
1 – The Great AI Exodus 🤖
OpenAI's talent is leaving faster than free pizza at a tech meetup.
We're not just talking about a few random devs here - we're looking at a mass exodus of some serious brain power.
John Schulman, a co-founder and post-training team lead, just bounced to Anthropic.
Peter Dang, VP of consumer products? Sayonara.
Greg Brockton is taking like 5+ months off. (If he comes back?)
And let's not forget the earlier departures of Andrej Karpathy and Ilya Sutskever.
Out of what we would call OpenAI's "Mount Rushmore" (Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Karpathy, and Sutskever), only Sam's still showing up to the office regularly.
Greg's on an "extended leave," but in Silicon Valley, that's often code for "I'm outta here."
What it ACTUALLY means:
This brain drain could seriously shake up the AI landscape.
Keep your eyes on companies like Anthropic - they're scooping up top talent like it's going outta style.
If you're heavily invested in OpenAI's tech, it might be time to start diversifying your AI portfolio, or at least understanding what that process looks like.
Don’t get us wrong, y’all. We still think OpenAI makes the best models. And it aint even close. But things are looking a lil shaky TBH.
2 – Big Tech (and the U.S.) Runs on OpenAI 🏃
You might think OpenAI is just another tech startup, but think again.
The three biggest companies in the world - Apple, Microsoft, and NVIDIA - are all tied to OpenAI's success.
We're talking trillion-dollar giants here, folks.
(Insert cha-ching sound.)
Microsoft's got a reported 49% equity stake in OpenAI, to the tune of $13 billion worth of investment.
Apple's upcoming AI features? Yep, partly powered by OpenAI.
Even NVIDIA, while less dependent, counts OpenAI as a key customer for their fancy GPU chips.
What it ACTUALLY means:
Any wobbles at OpenAI could send shockwaves through the entire tech industry and potentially the broader U.S. economy.
If you're in tech or finance, keep a close eye on OpenAI's long-term stability - it could impact your company's strategy or even your 401(k).
3 – Is OpenAI Reckless in Pursuit of AGI? 🚨
OpenAI's not just chasing better chatbots - they're after the holy grail of AI: Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
We're talking about AI that could be smarter than humans at, well, everything.
And some folks are worried OpenAI might be moving too fast and breaking too many things.
Jan Leike, former head of alignment at OpenAI, dropped a truth bomb when he left, saying OpenAI was putting "shiny products" ahead of safety culture.
But over the past years, safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products.
— Jan Leike (@janleike)
3:57 PM • May 17, 2024
And with Ilya Sutskever starting a company called "Safe Superintelligence Inc.," it's clear there are some serious concerns about the direction OpenAI is heading.
What it ACTUALLY means:
Buckle up shorties.
Sure, a lot of this “Did OpenAI discover an AI so powerful that it’s making everyone scared” talk is just conjecture.
But, there’s gotta be some fire where there’s smoke, right?
We might be closer to AGI than you think - some experts are betting on less than 5 years.
For businesses, this means the AI revolution isn't just coming; it's at your doorstep with a battering ram.
Start thinking now about how AGI could upend your industry.
And for society? We might need to have some serious conversations about AI safety and ethics.
The future's coming at us quickly, and there’s a good chance that future is being created at OpenAI.
(Or your fave LLM like Claude, Gemini, Copilot, etc)
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