Trending AI news stories + papers

Today's Top AI news stories and papers

AI news stories

1. OpenAI Rival Mistral Nears $2 Billion Valuation

   Mistral AI, a French AI startup competing with OpenAI, is close to reaching a $2 billion valuation with a new funding round of about €450 million ($487 million), including major investments from Nvidia and Salesforce. This round is led by Andreessen Horowitz, with over €325 million in equity and an additional €120 million in convertible debt from Nvidia and Salesforce. Mistral, known for its efficient, open-source AI software for chatbots, was founded by ex-DeepMind and Meta Platforms scientists and previously raised $113 million. The funding deal also involves partial stake sales by company insiders, including adviser Cedric O.

2. How AWS clients HP and BMW are implementing AI in their products today

   HP is using AI to enhance workplace efficiency through its Workforce Experience Platform, optimizing device performance and employee engagement in large organizations. BMW, meanwhile, is implementing AI in customer service with "Proactive Care" for diagnosing car issues and in manufacturing through a partnership with Nvidia. BMW is cautious, prioritizing safety and avoiding overloading customers with AI features, and plans to introduce the AI-powered BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant in 2024​.

3. Nvidia CEO says he will try to prioritise Japan for AI processors

   Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, has pledged to prioritize supplying the company's AI processors to Japan, recognizing the extremely high market demand there. Japan is actively working to revitalize its semiconductor industry, once a global leader, and to advance its development in AI technology.

4. OpenAI COO thinks AI for business is overhyped

   Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's COO, warns that AI for business is often overhyped, especially the belief that it can quickly transform a business. He notes that while AI can improve, it's not a complete solution for complex business problems and is still in an experimental phase. OpenAI has launched an enterprise version of ChatGPT to address data security and customization needs, but is facing a long waitlist. Despite the potential of generative AI, its practical applications have seen mixed results, with early adopters in industries like finance and journalism facing challenges in integrating AI effectively into their workflows.

5. AssemblyAI lands $50M to build and serve AI speech models

   AssemblyAI, an "applied AI" startup, has raised $50 million in a funding round led by Accel, boosting its total capital to $115 million. The company specializes in AI speech models and has seen its customer base grow by 200% to 4,000 brands. It handles 25 million API calls per day and is used by over 200,000 developers. Founded in 2017, AssemblyAI offers advanced speech-focused AI models for tasks like speech-to-text and content moderation. Despite competition from larger tech firms, AssemblyAI distinguishes itself with more advanced and feature-rich models. The new funding will help develop a universal speech model and expand its workforce, aiming to simplify access to AI models through an easy-to-use API.

AI Repos

1. microsoft/TaskWeaver

   TaskWeaver by Microsoft is a framework for planning and executing data analytics tasks, utilizing coded snippets and plugins. Key features include support for rich data structures, custom algorithms, domain-specific knowledge, stateful conversations, code verification, and security.

2. HumanAIGC / AnimateAnyone

   Consistent and Controllable Image-to-Video Synthesis for Character Animation

3. coqui-ai/TTS

   Coqui-ai is a deep learning toolkit designed for Text-to-Speech generation, suitable for both research and production. It offers pretrained models in over 1100 languages, tools for training and fine-tuning models, and utilities for dataset curation.