Plus: AI employees call for more transparency, stronger whistleblower protections.
| For June 04, 2024 |  |
| Here’s a look at today's AI briefing: - Intel unveils next-gen AI chips for data centers.
- AI employees call for more transparency, stronger whistleblower protections.
- Tesla redirects Nvidia AI chips to X Corp. and xAI Corp.
- Canadian LLM startup Cohere secures $450M.
- Cisco announces $1B fund to invest in AI startups.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | Intel unveiled its latest AI chips for data centers shortly after Nvidia and AMD announced new AI chips. Intel said its Xeon 6 processors promise superior performance and power efficiency in data centers compared to its predecessor. More: - Intel debuted the 5th Gen Xeon processors six months ago. The new Xeon 6 chips are tailored to fulfill the demands of AI and high-performance computing.
- "Simply put, performance up, power down," CEO Pat Gelsinger said.
- Intel also shared more details about its upcoming Lunar Lake processors for specially designed AI PCs.
- Lunar Lake, launching in Q3, offers a boost in on-device AI capabilities for the PCs, with up to 40% less power consumption.
- Lastly, Intel said its Gaudi 3 AI accelerator chips will be competitively priced below rivals. Its Gaudi 3 accelerator kit, with eight chips, sells for $125,000, while the earlier Gaudi 2 is priced at $65,000.
- By comparison, an HGX server with eight Nvidia H100 AI chips can exceed $300,000.
Zoom out: - The announcement comes just days after Nvidia and AMD revealed new AI processors.
- AMD announced new AI chips for data centers and PCs, while Nvidia announced its next-generation AI chip platform, Rubin, due out in 2026.
- Nvidia's data center segment, including GPU sales, continues to lead in revenue. Nvidia's data center unit generated $18.4B in Q4 2023, with significant growth over quarters compared to AMD and Intel.
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| 2 | | Insiders from top AI firms signed an open letter urging more AI transparency and protections for those voicing concerns about AI's risks. The letter was signed by current and former employees of OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic PBC. More: - The letter, “A Right to Warn about Advanced Artificial Intelligence,” is also endorsed by AI experts Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and Stuart Russell.
- The signatories claim that AI companies hold non-public data on AI risks, making insiders key for public accountability.
- They argue that AI firms "have strong financial incentives to avoid effective oversight."
- The letter urges AI companies to foster more open criticism and protect employees who disclose risks when other avenues fail. It calls for anonymous channels for staff to report AI risks and protections for whistleblowers against retaliation.
Zoom out: - In response, OpenAI said it's "proud of our track record providing the most capable and safest AI systems and believe in our scientific approach to addressing risk."
- Last week, OpenAI formed a new Safety and Security Committee led by CEO Sam Altman and other board members. The move came after OpenAI dissolved its "superalignment" team for managing long-term AI risks and making sure AI is aligned with its objectives.
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| 3 | | Elon Musk redirected Nvidia AI chips intended for Tesla to his companies X Corp. and xAI Corp. Musk wrote on X that the chips would have sat unused in a warehouse as Tesla "had no place to send the Nvidia chips to turn them on." More: - Musk rediverted 12,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs from Tesla to his AI company xAI and social media company X, according to CNBC.
- Musk's decision to prioritize X over Tesla delays the automaker's $500M GPU receipt by months
- Following the CNBC report, Musk posted on X that Tesla couldn't take the Nvidia GPUs due to its unfinished Austin factory.
- The south extension of the Texas plant is nearly finished and will house 10,000 H100 chips for Full Self-Driving training, he explained.
Zoom out: - Musk also estimated that Tesla would spend $3B to $4B on Nvidia hardware purchases this year.
- The CEO noted that about half of Tesla's $10B AI capital expenditures this year are for internal projects like the "Tesla-designed AI inference computer and sensors" in its vehicles and its Dojo supercomputer.
- Earlier this year, Musk said Tesla would increase H100 acquisitions from 35,000 to 85,000 by year's end, as it seeks to advance its autonomous driving software and robotics.
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| 4 | | Canadian LLM startup Cohere secured $450M from investors like Nvidia and Salesforce Ventures. The investments mark the first tranche of Cohere's ongoing fundraising at a $5B valuation, Reuters reports. More: - Investors in the round also included Cisco and Canadian pension fund PSP Investments.
- Cohere's new $5B valuation more than doubles its previous $2.2B valuation in a $270M raise last June.
- Cohere, headquartered in Toronto, provides enterprise-oriented LLMs led by Command R+, which can handle prompts with up to 128,000 tokens.
- Command R+ is available to companies via a paid API and on Microsoft Azure, with plans to expand availability to other cloud platforms.
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| 5 | | Cisco Systems announced a $1B fund to invest in startups working on "secure and reliable” AI. Cisco, through its corporate investment arm, has committed nearly $200M of the fund to companies like Cohere, Mistral AI, and Scale AI. More: - In a news release, Cisco said the strategic investments can "advance customers’ AI readiness and complement Cisco’s AI innovation strategy."
- Cisco said it plans to partner with the AI startups to potentially use their tech in its products and help sell the services, says CSO Mark Patterson
- The tech giant said it's made over 20 AI-focused acquisitions and investments in recent years.
- These have furthered "generative AI and machine learning and integration of AI across its portfolio," Cisco said.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: *This is sponsored content | | | |
 | 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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