| Here’s a look at today's AI briefing: - U.K. self-driving startup Wayve raises $1B.
- Microsoft developing in-house large language model.
- Docusign to acquire AI contract-management startup Lexion.
- Biden Administration offers $285M for 'digital twin' chip institute.
- U.S. claims most newly-funded AI startups in past decade.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | U.K. self-driving startup Wayve raised $1.05B in funding, marking Europe's largest AI funding round to date. SoftBank Group led the Series C round, with participation from Nvidia and Microsoft. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the deal “anchors the U.K.’s position as an AI superpower." More: - Wayve is building a self-learning rather than ruled-based system for autonomous vehicles.
- Its AI system can learn while driving, allowing it to navigate new locations and road scenarios without pre-programming.
- The company is in talks to sell its self-driving model to car manufacturers rather than equip it in its own vehicles.
- Its technology is integrated into advanced driver assistance systems of six vehicle platforms, including the Jaguar I-PACE and Ford Mustang MachE.
Zoom out: - The new funding will support Wayve's global expansion, staff and computing, and product development for assisted and fully automated driving and other AI-driven auto applications.
- Last year, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Wayve's CEO took a test ride of a Wayve-equipped autonomous vehicle in London.
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| 2 | Microsoft is developing MAI-1, a large language model designed to compete with top models from Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI. The 500B parameter model will be much larger than Microsoft's smaller open-source models, making it costlier to develop, according to The Information. More: - To train its in-house model, Microsoft is reserving servers with Nvidia GPUs and compiling a dataset from ChatGPT and web-based public information.
- The development team for MAI-1 is led by Mustafa Suleyman, a Deepmind co-founder and former CEO of Inflection AI.
- Microsoft recently signed a $650M deal with Inflection to license the startup's AI models and hire most of its staff.
- MAI-1 is separate from Inflection's models, though some data from Inflection could be used to train Microsoft's model.
- Microsoft could reveal more at its Build conference May 21-23.
Zoom out: - In a LinkedIn post, Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott clarified the company has built AI models for years and "there will be more of this in the future too," naming MAI.
- He clarified that Microsoft builds supercomputers for AI training, which partner OpenAI uses to develop advanced models.
- Both companies integrate these models into products and services, he said.
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| 3 | | Docusign is acquiring AI contract-management startup Lexion for $165M. Lexion's natural language processing platform converts contract text into structured data, which is stored in a smart repository equipped with search capabilities, reporting tools, and more. More: - Docusign will incorporate Lexion's AI-powered contract management tech into its Intelligent Agreement Management Platform.
- The company says Lexion’s technology will help it offer better contract insights and an AI-powered Word plugin.
- The deal comes as Docusign has been in talks to sell to private equity firms, though those discussions have recently stalled.
Zoom out: - The deal marks a successful exit for Lexion, which formed in 2018 when its co-founders met at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), where Lexion was incubated.
- Initially a smart repository for legal contracts, Lexion has expanded to include contracts for sales, IT, HR, finance, and more.
- Co-founders Gaurav Oberoi, Emad Elwany, and James Baird will join DocuSign in senior positions.
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| 4 | | The Biden administration is offering $285M for entities to create an institute to develop "digital twins" of semiconductors. Using the virtual models combined with AI could accelerate chip development and manufacturing, according to the administration. More: - The funding comes from the U.S. CHIPS Act.
- Digital twins mimic physical chips, making it easier to test them in different virtual scenarios before production.
- The Biden administration is seeking proposals from companies to set up and run an institution for developing the digital re-creations.
- The "CHIPS Manufacturing USA" institute will focus on the R&D and use of digital twins for chip manufacturing, packaging, assembly, and testing.
- Interested companies, universities, and state governments have until June 20 to submit bids.
Zoom out: - The global market for digital twin platforms is projected to reach $86B by 2028.
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| 5 | | The U.S. claimed the most newly funded AI startups of any country from 2013 to 2023. 
What happened: Visual Capitalist used Quid data from Stanford's 2024 AI Index Report to display the top 15 countries with the most AI startup activity over the last decade. What the numbers show: The data shows the number of AI startups that received at least $1.5M in private investment from 2013 to 2023. The U.S. led with 5,509 new AI startups, followed by China, the U.K., Israel, and Canada. U.S. AI startups also led in private funding with $335B, followed by China with $104B, and the U.K. with $22B. What else: In 2023, private AI investment surged across sectors. Infrastructure, research, and governance claimed the lion's share, attracting $18.3B. Natural language processing followed closely with $8.1B, trailed by data management at $5.5B. | | | |
| 6 | | AI Events and Conferences: - Rise of AI Conference: May 14-15, Berlin, Germany, and virtual.
- Generative AI Summit London: May 20-22, London, U.K.
- Enterprise Generative AI Summit West Coast: May 21-22, Silicon Valley, California.
- AI Expo Tokyo: May 22-24, Tokyo, Japan.
- AI World Congress 2024: May 30-31, London, U.K.
- Data Cloud Summit 2024: June 3-6, San Francisco.
- AI and Big Data Expo North America: June 5-6, Santa Clara, California.
- SuperAI: June 5-6, Singapore.
- The AI Summit London: June 12-13, London, U.K.
- 2024 IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence: June 25-27, Singapore.
- Ai4 2024: Aug. 12-14, Las Vegas, Nevada.
- The AI Conference: Sept. 18-19, San Francisco.
- AI Summit Seoul: Dec. 10-11, Seoul, South Korea.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a contributing editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters. She has written for publications including USA Today, the Arizona Business Gazette, and The Arizona Republic, where she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for collaborative reporting on state pension cost increases. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Beth Duckett | |
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