Robinhood’s OpenAI and SpaceX tokens are controversial, but the fine print indicates that they offer indirect exposure to these companies through derivatives. Robinhood’s stock token offerings are under regulatory scrutiny in the European Union after OpenAI warned investors that the digital brokerage’s so-called OpenAI tokens do not represent any equity stake in the company. OpenAI’s warning prompted an inquiry by Lithuania’s central bank, which serves as Robinhood’s primary regulator in the region. The Bank of Lithuania is “awaiting clarifications” regarding Robinhood’s stock token offerings linked to OpenAI and SpaceX, CNBC reported on Monday, citing Giedrius Šniukas, a spokesperson for the Bank of Lithuania. Read more
The platform's OpenAI private equity tokens were disavowed by the company, prompting OpenAI co-founder, Elon Musk, to call the AI firm "fake." OpenAI issued a statement on Wednesday clarifying that OpenAI tokens distributed to European Union users by the trading platform Robinhood do not represent equity in the company. "We are not involved in this and do not endorse it,” representatives of the company wrote on social media. “Any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer. Please be careful." Robinhood distributed $5 worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to clients in the EU region on Monday as part of the company's push into tokenized stock trading, which included launching a layer-2 blockchain network to settle tokenized equity trades. Read more
Meta's latest AI hire follows several developments and partnerships aimed at making the tech giant a leader in the burgeoning sector. Tech company Meta has hired Trapit Bansal, a former key researcher at artificial intelligence company OpenAI, who was central to developing the firm's o1 reasoning AI model. Bansal is the latest ex-OpenAI researcher to join the Meta team, following the addition of Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, according to TechCrunch. The hires are part of Meta's push to expand its AI operations and overhaul the capabilities of its reasoning models by training its AI on real-world scenarios to cultivate intelligence. Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun previously said: Read more
OpenAI is dropping Scale AI from its data labeling suppliers days after the startup’s acquisition by Meta. OpenAI is scaling back its contracts with Scale AI, a data labeling startup recently acquired by social media giant Meta. According to a Thursday report from Bloomberg, the ChatGPT maker is winding down its reliance on the startup's data, a few days after Meta announced a $14.8 billion deal for a 49% ownership stake in Scale AI. The acquisition was Meta’s second-largest and will also have Scale CEO Alexandr Wang joining Meta’s experimental AI project. The companies announced the deal on June 12. Read more
Sam Altman didn’t specify how the new devices would operate or what they would look like. OpenAI is planning to develop AI “companion” devices that will integrate artificial intelligence capabilities with everyday life, potentially opening the door to a new high-tech innovation used alongside laptops and smartphones. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he and designer Jony Ive are developing these secret devices for mass consumption, with plans to ship 100 million units upon launch. Ives joined OpenAI after his startup, io, was acquired by Altman’s company in a $6.5 billion deal, the Journal reported on May 21. Read more
OpenAI’s doomsday bunker plan, the “potential benefits” of propaganda bots, plus the best fake books you can’t read this summer. AI Eye.. In the last AI Eye, we reported that scientists from the four leading AI companies believe theres at least a 10% chance of AI killing around 50% of humanity in the next decade one scientist was buying farmland in the US Midwest so he could ride out the AI apocalypse. This week, it emerged that another doomsday prepper is OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. According to Empire of AI author Karen Hao, he told key scientists in mid-2023 that “we’re definitely going to build a bunker before we release AGI.” Artificial General Intelligence is the vaguely defined idea for a sentient intelligence smarter than humans. The underground compound would protect the scientists from geopolitical chaos or violent competition between world powers once AGI was released. Read more
News of the deal follows restructuring plans from OpenAI to focus on a public benefit corporation controlled by a non-profit organization. Tech company Microsoft and artificial intelligence firm OpenAI are reportedly in talks to renegotiate the investment deal between the AI firm and Microsoft, which is OpenAI's biggest financial backer. According to a report from the Financial Times, Microsoft may give up a portion of its equity in OpenAI for continued access to the AI company's products and models beyond 2030, when some of the original terms of a deal signed between the two companies expire. Microsoft has invested over $13 billion into OpenAI since 2019, when it first acquired an interest in the artificial intelligence firm. Read more