The Godfather of AI quits Google

Welcome to The Alignment. AI’s Godfather has left Google, Samsung does not want employees to use AI chatbots and OpenAI continues to push.

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Here’s what we have lined up for you today -

1. The Godfather of AI quits Google

2. Samsung says no to AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard

3. Open AI is still firing on all cylinders

4. Sal Khan and the future school

The Godfather of AI quits Google

Geoffrey Hinton, the man responsible for inventing back propagation, discovering the commercial use of GPUs for AI and often regarded as the godfather of AI has quit his role at Google.

He explained that his decision to quit was driven by his motivation to speak freely about the possible consequences of AI’s exponential growth and the risk it poses. He exclaimed ,

"Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now….take the difference and propagate it forwards. That's scary."

Hinton expressed that the competition between tech giants to push new AI technologies at dangerous speeds can enable bad actors to use the technology to spread misinformation and other scary applications.

Hinton’s fear stems from the fact that for the first time scientists working at the bleeding edge of AI themselves are not completely aware of the mechanisms that make LLMs so powerful. "Maybe what is going on in these systems is actually a lot better than what is going on in the brain,"

The step away from Google will allow Hinton to better share what he understands these systems are capable of and advise the larger technology community accordingly.

Samsung says no to AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard

Samsung is not cool with its employees using AI chatbots. This comes after the company found out that 3 employees had uploaded sensitive internal code onto ChatGPT.

Till the company puts in secure environments where employees can interact with Generative AI technologies, there will be a blanket restriction in place. Similar steps have been taken by the biggest banks in the world including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and CitiGroup.

Samsung’s employees largely agree with the policy with 65% noting that AI tools definitely come with security risks. Employees will be free to use these tools on their personal devices for non work issues. Additionally, Samsung is developing its own suite of Generative AI tools both for internal teams and its end users.

Open AI is still firing on all cylinders

ChatGPT is back in Italy. The move comes after OpenAI has added an additional form that users can submit to remove all personal data from the platform. Additionally an age verification tool will be put in place to verify the users’ age when they sign up.

Folks expect to see similar demands from other European nations and OpenAI is most likely preparing strategies on how they can scalably work with different jurisdictions to deploy their technologies.

OpenAI has also reportedly raised fresh investment through a share sale in which VCs including Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive and K2 Global have invested over $300 million at a $27 billion – $29 billion valuation.

While Microsoft and OpenAI continue to strengthen their partnership, this funding from VCs is to strengthen OpenAI’s financial backing. For VCs as exciting OpenAI’s technology is, the creation of an entire ecosystem of businesses being built on top of GPT is the value creation opportunity.

Remember folks, this “overnight success” is a result of 8 years of singular focus on building AGI.

Fresh from the press -

1. IBM to pause hiring for jobs that AI could do: CEO

2. AI is being used to generate whole spam sites

3. Amazon is developing an improved LLM to power Alexa

4. ChatGPT returns to Italy after ban

5. OpenAI closes $300M share sale at $27B-29B valuation

6. Brain Activity Decoder Can Reveal Stories in People’s Minds

7. Tech, AI Driving Job Changes for Nearly a Quarter of All Workers

Product Corner -

There are way too many cool products to showcase just one !

• Style : Build your website faster than you can finish reading this sentence.

• Landing AI : Explain your product, branding, and get a unique landing page with our generative AI

• Lettria : The no-code AI platform for text

• Monterey : Decipher voice of users at the speed of thought

• Guidde : Guidde is the generative AI platform for business that helps your team create video documentation 11x faster.

Sal Khan and the future of schooling

If you watch one thing today, watch this.