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- Microsoft and Apple DROP OpenAI board seats
Microsoft and Apple DROP OpenAI board seats
PLUS: Samsung's new AI-infused phones
Rowan Cheung
July 11, 2024
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Welcome, AI enthusiasts.
OpenAI's boardroom drama just took another twist — with both Microsoft and Apple stepping back from the AI giant’s inner circle.
But with antitrust watchdogs circling, is this sudden move just a friendly parting and vote of confidence, or a more calculated move? Let’s investigate…
In today’s AI rundown:
Microsoft and Apple exit OpenAI board
Samsung folds AI into new Galaxy devices
Animate portraits for free with LivePortrait
A ‘general-purpose brain’ for robots
6 new AI tools & 4 new AI jobs
More AI & tech news
Read time: 4 minutes
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
OPENAI
Image source: DALLE-3
The Rundown: Microsoft just withdrew from its observer role on OpenAI's Board of Directors, while Apple has reportedly scrapped plans to take up a similar position — with the moves coming as regulatory scrutiny continues in the AI sector.
The details:
Microsoft relinquished its non-voting observer seat gained following the November 2023 board drama, citing confidence in the company’s new direction.
Apple, which was expected to join the board following the company’s partnership announcement in June, will now no longer take an observer role.
The moves come as antitrust authorities in the U.S. and EU continue to advance investigations into the partnerships between big tech companies and AI startups.
Microsoft emphasized that OpenAI remains one of its "most valued partners,” while OpenAI said it is “grateful for the vote of confidence in the board.”
Why it matters: There’s never a dull moment when it comes to OpenAI’s Board of Directors. While the companies seem positive in their statements, Microsoft’s relationship with the AI giant has felt off for a while. With the growing uncertainty surrounding antitrust issues, these moves feel more regulatory-focused than a sign of confidence in the board’s direction.
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SAMSUNG
Image source: Samsung
The Rundown: Samsung just unveiled its latest AI-infused foldable smartphones at the company’s Galaxy Unpacked event, also revealing the hotly-anticipated Galaxy Ring and an upgraded line of Galaxy Watches.
The details:
The Galaxy Z Fold6 and Flip6 gain new Galaxy AI capabilities, including:
Interpreter and Live Translate for real-time translation
A new AI-powered ProVisual Engine for advanced photo capture and editing
Note Assist, Composer, and Sketch-to-image for enhanced productivity
Built-in integration for the Google Gemini app, allowing for easy overlay access and AI-powered search functions
The Galaxy Watch7 and new Galaxy Ring feature AI health monitoring, including FDA-approved sleep apnea detection and diabetes tracking.
Samsung's new ‘Energy Score’ uses Galaxy AI to analyze sleep, exercise, and other metrics to provide an overall view of users' fitness levels.
Pricing starts at $1,899 for the Fold6, $1,099 for the Flip6, and $399 for the Galaxy Ring.
Why it matters: Samsung is bringing the heat with some new AI integrations to level up its new lines of phones and wearables — but with Apple Intelligence around the corner, it’s TBD if it will move the needle. The sleek Galaxy Ring, on the other hand, looks poised to be a serious new player in the competitive health wearable market.
AI TRAINING
The Rundown: LivePortrait is a free tool available on Hugging Face that allows users to transform static photos into moving, portrait animations.
Step-by-step:
Visit the LivePortrait tool in Hugging Face.
Upload a source portrait (static image) and a driving video (facial movements).
Click "Animate" to generate your portrait animation
Review and download the animated portrait and side-by-side comparisons 🎉
Pro tip: Use the provided examples to understand what types of portraits and videos work best.
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SKILD AI
Image source: Skild AI
The Rundown: Pittsburgh-based startup Skild AI just emerged from stealth mode with a massive $300M Series A funding round, with plans to develop a ‘general-purpose brain’ capable of adapting to a range of robots.
The details:
The startup claims its foundational AI model is trained on a dataset 1,000x larger than competitors, collected through remote robot operation and public videos.
Skild AI's ‘general-purpose brain’ aims to work across a variety of robot types, enabling them to handle complex tasks in household and industrial settings.
The startup was created in 2023 by two former Carnegie Mellon University professors.
The company plans to operate similarly to OpenAI, allowing customers to fine-tune its foundational model for specific robotic applications and use cases.
Why it matters: Elon Musk has predicted there will soon be billions of humanoid robots — and these coming fleets will need systems capable of advanced adaptability to meet a variety of complex needs. Skild’s new robot brain could help both accelerate deployment and reduce costs.
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👥 Crew - Easy hire and onboard your global team with AI
📧 Pinecone - Senior Email Marketing Manager
💼 Databricks - Senior Manager, Treasury
🧠 Meta - AI Research Scientist - Computer Vision
🛠️ Glean - Solutions Engineer
QUICK HITS
Free event: Top 10 AI Use Cases with Dan Shipper. Every founder and CEO Dan Shipper joins Section to reveal his top 10 AI use cases from hundreds of executive interviews. RSVP here.*
Neuralink hosted a livestream with new updates on its BCI, including potential telepathic and limb-controlling integrations with Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots, new patient testing, and more.
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati revealed in an interview that the company’s Sora video generation model still has no public release date, with the tool still undergoing safety red teaming and testing for usefulness.
The Washington Post introduced ‘Climate Answers’, a new AI climate chatbot that answers user questions from the outlet’s own reporting.
AMD is acquiring Silo AI, a Finnish startup specializing in end-to-end-AI solutions, for $665M — aiming to bolster its chip development and deployment to compete with rival Nvidia.
OpenAI announced a partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory to evaluate the safe use of models like GPT-4o in bioscience lab settings and assess AI’s potential to enhance research while reducing risks.
Scale is partnering with AWS to boost enterprise and government adoption of genAI, offering customization tools and secure platforms to leverage and deploy the tech effectively.
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