The news in the tech world is completely dominated by AI, in a way that recalls the breakthrough of the World Wide Web in 1993 after the launch of the Mosaic browser and the period 15 years ago after the first iPhones and Android phones were introduced. The latter two (smartphones and the Internet) are the carrier for today's technological revolution, for that is what we must now call AI. And yet I found something else more striking last week: that OpenAI founder Sam Altman, with his other company Tools for Humanity, raised a whopping $115 million for the Worldcoin project. Because as a tech entrepreneur, since Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, you don't count with one billion-dollar company; you have to have at least two. And you meet with world leaders, apparently in brown shoes.
It is remarkable, to say the least, that Tools for Humanity, which presents itself on its 1-page website with the slogan "a technology company committed to a more just economic system," is raising as much as $115 million for the Worldcoin project. Because Worldcoin is an open-source protocol, or platform whose use is open to all, while further scrimping on funding startups in the crypto world. What does Worldcoin do?
"We seek universal access to the global economy, regardless of country or background, and accelerate the transition to an economic future that welcomes and benefits everyone on earth," according to the slogan on Worldcoin's website.
That's still pretty vague, but Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity and Worldcoin project leader, clarifies it somewhat in the press release, "As we enter the era of AI, it is imperative that individuals be able to maintain their personal privacy while proving their humanity. In this way, we can ensure that everyone can realize the financial benefits of AI."
So AI again after all ... there's no escaping it. But Blania definitely has an important point: it is important that people can prove to be human in all kinds of transactions, without having to share personally identifiable data. At Worldcoin, verification of being human is ensured through the use of an Orb, a sphere: a biometric iris scanner.
When Worldcoin was launched, it was not Worldcoin's intention to create its own hardware, but earlier this year it explained that there was no other way to prove that you were dealing with a living human being other than through the use of biometric measurement devices. Those interested in learning more about the reason for the large investment in Worldcoin can hear about it in this podcast with Spencer Bogart of Blockchain Capital. Those who want to download the Worldcoin app, click here.
Sam Altman on tour
Sam Altman is not only co-founder and chairman of the Supervisory Board of Tools for Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, but most importantly founder and CEO of OpenAI, maker of the wildly popular ChatGPT and the company that raised $300 million for ... 1 percent of the company. In that role, Altman toured Europe last week, with President Macron, who has never seen a mirror he didn't like, being quick to invite Altman to the Elysee.
Once Macron vowed that France and Europe would not once again fall behind in new technology, but meanwhile Europe hardly plays a role in the AI battlefield. Europe is nice as an outlet, and Altman was savvy enough to mention that OpenAI will obediently abide by all European rules. Meanwhile, I wonder why the English establishment is still so fanatically against brown shoes under dark suits that the Guardian devoted an article to it.
Everything is AI right now
OK, so I tried this week; to not just write about AI. But it's not easy. Not only does Worldcoin appear to have been created primarily to prove humanity in the age of AI, but major crypto funds are removing the word crypto from their websites and suddenly focusing on AI as well. For example, Paradigm has been saying this since the beginning of this month: 'Paradigm is a research-driven technology investment firm.' Nothing wrong with that. But they used to say this: 'Paradigm backs disruptive crypto/Web3 companies.' That's akin to the cousin who introduced himself as a crypto expert and life coach at your aunt's birthday last year, but appeared on Mother's Day the other day in a t-shirt with ChatGPT on it and bragged around that he's been fistful of AI for years.
While investments in the technology world continue to decline globally, the AI sector is a magnet (or a bottomless pit?) for big money. Crunchbase counted as much as $20 billion in AI investments. Early last week, investors put $700 million into two AI startups - Builder.ai ($250 million) and Anthropic (a whopping $450 million) - and mid-week another $105 million into AI marketing platform Insider. In which I noticed that QIA, Qatar's state fund, invested in both Builder (from London) and Insider (from Istanbul). That won't sit well with Macron.
Among all the raving press releases about the millions being invested in AI, it is important to keep looking at applications of AI. Michiel Schoonhoven of NXTLI pointed me to this fascinating presentation by Sal Khan on TED, about how AI will not destroy education, but rather save it. And Microsoft announced that Windows 11 will be brimming with AI because Bing Chat will be integrated. I got flashbacks to Clippy, that talking yellow paperclip.
Notable links:
- JP Morgan, it says, is introducing a ChatGPT-like service with investment tips, perhaps called IndexGPT. This service could make the personal investment advisor obsolete, but it is unimaginably difficult to get the right information into the system so automated good buy and sell advice generation will be a challenge for JP Morgan. This is going to be fascinating.
- According to GeekWire, venture capital investments around Seattle, home to Microsoft and Amazon, among others, have dropped by as much as 79%. In the Netherlands, the drop would be only a third, and the suspicion is that this downward trend will continue sharply.
- The Economist reports on mass layoffs in the tech sector, with an estimated, 120,000 people losing their jobs.
- The Information came up with a map of cafes where investors often sit so you can attack them with a bad story during their almond milk cappu. Replace the word "investors" in that sentence with "young women" and it becomes clear how creepy these kinds of articles are.
- Amazon has abandoned a significant part of its climate pledge and removed the blog post announcing the "Shipment Zero" initiative. Companies like to score with press releases, but in practice short-term profits are often preferred over a livable planet for the next generation.
Spotlight 9: GPU makers are winners of the week, maybe of the year?
The most important acronym in the tech and business world today is AI, but another acronym - GPU - is not far behind. GPU stands for Graphics Processing Units, the type of chips needed for AI applications. GPUs are optimized for training models for artificial intelligence and deep learning because they can perform multiple calculations simultaneously. The profit forecast of chip designer Nvidia, which makes GPUs for ChatGPT and the like, shows the rising demand for these types of chips , according to the Wall Street Journal.
'Nvidia said it expects to generate about $11 billion in revenue in the current fiscal quarter ending in July, up 64% from the same period last year. That figure, which CEO Jensen Huang said will be driven by demand for artificial intelligence software, would be $2.5 billion higher than Nvidia's previous record for quarterly revenue. Then there's the expected increase in earnings: Nvidia said gross margins will rise nearly 4 percentage points in the July quarter. Analysts expect the company's earnings per share to rise 30% over the next 12 months, compared with 6% for a basket of 11 other chip companies.'
And Nvidia's smaller competitor, Marvell, also benefited from investors' attempt to get their grabby hands on some of the AI fortune. Marvell's CEO came up with a striking prediction:
'Given the speed at which AI infrastructure is evolving, the technology is renewed within 18 to 24 months, compared to more than four years with standard infrastructure.'
In other words, we're going to earn ourselves crazy from this technology because it's going to be written off much faster by the customer.
Marvell shares rose as much as 45% over the past week, even more than Nvidia, which climbed 26%. Since January 1, Nvidia shares rose as much as 176%, compared to 25% for the Nasdaq. The GPU makers' results are especially extreme when compared to my 'traditional' Spotlight 9, which includes the largest tech companies, the two dominant crypto stocks and the Dow Jones and S&P 500 as representative of the largest companies. Even Bitcoin rose 'only' 7.6% this week. Plenty of Bitcoin fanatics will gloat that their favorite currency is not called BitcAIn.