Meta Scale AI investment to boost AGI plans   Meta has agreed a deal to buy a 49% stake in ScaleAI as part of the Facebook parent company’s bid to achieve computerised “superintelligence”. According to several reports, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg is expected to announce the company will invest in ScaleAI, a startup led by […]

Meta Scale AI investment to boost AGI plans

 

Meta has agreed a deal to buy a 49% stake in ScaleAI as part of the Facebook parent company’s bid to achieve computerised “superintelligence”.

According to several reports, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg is expected to announce the company will invest in ScaleAI, a startup led by Alexandr Wang and co-founded by Lucy Guo.

ScaleAI offers data-labelling and annotation services.

The investment will see the 28 year old Wang join Meta to oversee its AI research and development lab, after Zuckerberg grew frustrated with the social media giant’s current progress, according to CNBC.

In March, Wang, signed a deal to build a US defence department system called ThunderForge to apply AI to US military planning and operations, starting with the Indo-Pacific and European commands. The company also received early investment from Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

Trump to keep Starlink in the White House despite Musk feud

 

Amid a war of words between Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the President has denied plans to abandon government contracts with the billionaire’s space business, Starlink.

Trump and his former advisor Musk broke into all out warfare last week after the latter criticised a Republican spending bill. The feud led Tesla shares to plummet amid fears Trump would begin cancelling government contracts.

Musk had even gifted the President with a Tesla vehicle, which Trump said he may move “off site”.

“I may move the Tesla around a little bit, but I don’t think we’ll be doing that with Starlink. It’s a good service,” Trump told reporters, referring to the SpaceX division.

Read more

Uber to launch self-driving taxis in London

 

Uber is set to bring forward plans to trial self-driving taxis on the streets of London in partnership with UK artificial intelligence (AI) firm Wayve.

The announcement followed a UK government decision to adjust its rules about driverless cars, which were originally set to accelerate from 2026, before the date was change to 2027.

The UK now says it is introducing an accelerated framework for small autonomous “bus and taxi like” commercial services to get them underway earlier – clearing to road for Uber’s self-driving plans to launch trials next Spring.

Fully driverless cars have done millions of miles on public roads in other countries, including China, UAE, Singapore, and the USA.

Read more

VodafoneThree unveils “all corners” connectivity plan

 

The newly merged VodafoneThree mobile operator has pledged to connect “every corner” of the UK while maintaining a multibrand strategy in consumer with Vodafone, Three, MVNOs Voxi, Smarty, and Talkmobile all remaining.

Vodafone Group and CK Hutchison completed the merger of their UK mobile operations in a £15 billion deal last week.

At a launch even in London, execs from the newly merged firm reiterated plans to invest £11bn ($14.93bn) to ramp up its connectivity across the UK.

“We will connect every nation, every community, in every corner of the UK,” said Max Taylor, CEO, VodafoneThree.

“We will build the UK’s best 5G network with an unprecedented £11bn privately-funded infrastructure project, laying the digital foundation for our country’s growth ambitions.

Read more

Altman downplays environmental impact of AI

 

OpenAI founder Sam Altman has downplayed concerns about the environmental impact of AI by claiming a ChatGPT query only uses around 0.000085 gallons of water, or “roughly one fifteenth of a teaspoon.”

On a blog post, the OpenAI chief also revealed the average query uses “about 0.34 watt-hours, about what an oven would use in a little over one second” or the same as a high-efficiency lightbulb would use in a couple of minutes. OpenAI did not disclose its methodology for calculating those figures.

Altman’s blog post comes as AI companies face increased scrutiny over the environmental impact of large language models. Recent research forecasts that AI could consume more power than Bitcoin mining by the end of the year.

Read more

Personalized Feed
A Coffee With... See More
Personalized Feed
A Coffee With... See More