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Today:

• Eric Schmidt Concerned Over China's AI

• OpenAI Considers Advertising for Revenue

• Arc’s Creator Launches AI Browser

• World Labs Transforms Photos into 3D

• Nvidia Leads $700M Nebius Funding

• A16z Leads $200 Million Black Forest Investment

• Amazon Connect Adds Generative AI

Ex-Google CEO "SHOCKED" by new AI capabilities | Eric Schmidt

Eric Schmidt expressed concern over China's rapid advancements in AI, particularly with their open-source models like DeepSeek R1, which are now comparable to OpenAI’s latest offerings. 

These models use “thought tokens,” allowing more time to process answers, improving accuracy. Schmidt highlighted the growing competition between the U.S. and China, which is accelerating after China managed to replicate and even improve on U.S. AI models.

WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE

OpenAI Considers Advertising for Revenue

OpenAI is considering introducing advertising to its products as it looks for new revenue sources while restructuring as a for-profit company. Although there are no active plans yet, OpenAI has been hiring advertising talent from companies like Google and Meta. The company is exploring ads for its AI-powered search engine to capitalize on its growth, driven by ChatGPT's popularity. 

OpenAI's CFO, Sarah Friar, acknowledges the risks of ad models but sees other revenue opportunities. The company is focused on expanding its existing business and addressing the significant costs of developing AI technology.

Arc’s Creator Launches AI Browser

The Browser Company is developing a new AI-powered web browser called Dia, set to launch in early 2025. Dia aims to simplify internet tasks by integrating AI directly into the browsing experience. Features include tools to fetch information, summarize tabs, and automate tasks like sending emails or managing shopping carts. 

The browser will perform actions based on user prompts, such as finding specific documents or adding items to online carts. While Dia is a separate product, The Browser Company CEO Josh Miller reassured users that its original browser, Arc, will not be discontinued.

World Labs Transforms Photos into 3D

World Labs, founded by AI expert Fei-Fei Li, has launched an AI system that transforms a single photo into interactive 3D scenes. Unlike other AI tools, these scenes are modifiable and explorable, offering a more dynamic experience. The system’s 3D scenes remain consistent and follow basic physical laws, making them feel solid and real. 

While the technology is still in development, World Labs aims to improve the scale and quality of its worlds. The company, which has raised $230 million, plans to provide tools for professionals in gaming, filmmaking, and design, with a product expected by 2025.

Nvidia Leads $700M Nebius Funding

Nebius Group, an AI infrastructure firm, announced it raised $700 million in a private placement led by Nvidia, Accel, and Orbis Investments. Founded by Arkady Volozh, Nebius emerged from a split of Russian tech giant Yandex after its assets were divided following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The funding will help Nebius expand its AI capabilities by building GPU clusters, cloud platforms, and tools for developers. The company plans to invest $1 billion by mid-2025 and focus on growing its presence in the U.S. market, where over half its clients are based. Nebius aims to reach $750 million to $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025.

A16z Leads $200 Million Black Forest Investment

Black Forest Labs, a German AI startup behind the image generation technology used by Elon Musk’s Grok, is in discussions to raise up to $200 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. 

The potential deal would value the company at over $1 billion. This follows a $31 million seed round less than four months ago. While no final decisions have been made, the funding amount could change as talks progress.

Amazon Connect Adds Generative AI

Amazon Connect has launched several enhancements aimed at improving contact center operations, including the integration of generative AI, advanced security features, and simplified bot management. Key updates include AI-powered customer segmentation for targeted campaigns, native WhatsApp Business messaging, secure data collection for sensitive information, and new analytics capabilities through Contact Lens. 

These updates aim to create more personalized customer experiences, boost self-service resolution rates, and enhance security while streamlining bot management and operations.

🧠RESEARCH

DeMo: Decoupled Momentum Optimization

DeMo improves neural network training by reducing the need for high-speed interconnects. It decouples momentum updates, allowing controlled divergence across accelerators. This method reduces communication requirements, supports scalable training, and outperforms AdamW, making it suitable for large-scale models with limited network bandwidth.

Beyond Examples: High-level Automated Reasoning Paradigm in In-Context Learning via MCTS

HiAR-ICL, a High-level Automated Reasoning paradigm that improves In-Context Learning (ICL) by shifting focus from specific examples to abstract thinking patterns. It introduces five atomic reasoning actions and uses Monte Carlo Tree Search to explore reasoning paths. HiAR-ICL achieves state-of-the-art performance on the MATH benchmark.

Video Depth without Video Models

RollingDepth, a video depth estimation model that enhances single-image latent diffusion models for video depth. It uses a multi-frame depth estimator and an optimization-based registration algorithm to create consistent depth videos. RollingDepth outperforms both dedicated video depth models and high-performing single-frame models, handling long videos efficiently.

🛠️TOP TOOLS

Runway Frames - An image generation model offering unprecedented stylistic control.

Ultimate - Automate +80% of your support requests across all digital channels with the next generation of AI-powered bots. 

Foundry - Build, evaluate, and improve AI agents that deliver reliable outcomes, blending automation speed with human quality.

WrapFast - The SwiftUI boilerplate with all you need to build monetizable AI Wrappers or any iOS app FAST.

llms.txt Generator - Generate a llms.txt file for your website to provide information to help LLMs use your website at inference time.

📲SOCIAL MEDIA

🗞️MORE NEWS

• Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, is pushing for urgent access to advanced AI hardware. Musk reportedly contacted Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, offering a premium to fast-track a $1.08 billion order for their cutting-edge GB200 chips.

• ChatGPT glitch prevents mentioning 'David Mayer', raising concerns about censorship by tech companies like OpenAI. Users' attempts to make ChatGPT say the name through various methods have failed. Speculation that the glitch may be related to GDPR request by David Mayer de Rothschild; potential impact on AI company's value and future plans discussed.

• The "Death Clock" app uses AI to predict your death date based on lifestyle data like diet, exercise, and sleep. It offers free predictions and paid plans with personalized longevity advice. Since its release, it's gained popularity with 125,000 downloads.

• Cohere’s Rerank 3.5 model improves enterprise search by breaking language barriers, enhancing query reasoning, and increasing precision. It outperforms existing systems, offering faster, more accurate results in global business sectors like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing.

• Intel's CEO Pat Gelsinger retired amid struggles to compete in the AI chip market, losing ground to Nvidia. The company faces challenges in AI chip production and its costly foundry business, impacting investor confidence and stock performance.