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Top stories today:
1. Google to announce PaLM 2 and multimodal Bard tomorrow
2. Tech earnings roundup: Palantir AI up, Covid, EVs, and lower margins down
0. Data and calendar
All values as of 6 AM ET / 3 AM PT, other than S&P500 close (4 PM ET / 1 PM PT).
All times are ET.
1. Google to announce PaLM 2 and multimodal Bard tomorrow
PaLM-E visual. Tomorrow we should get the announcement of its v2.
The materials to be presented at Google I/O tomorrow got leaked to CNBC:
āPaLM 2 includes more than 100 languages and has been operating under the internal codename āUnified Language Model.ā
Itās also performed a broad range of coding and math tests as well as creative writing tests and analysis.ā
Multimodal Bard: āThe company has worked on a multimodal version called āMulti-Bard,ā which uses a larger data set and solves complex math and coding programs, according to separate documentation viewed by CNBC. The company has also tested versions called āBig Bardā and āGiant Bard.āā
AI for Workspace:
āTemplate generation in Sheets and image generation in its Slides and Meet productsā
āSlides sidebar with a chat box that allowed a user to enter text with the option to ācreateā an image based on the words.ā
Google Lens: āThe company will show advancements to āmulti-searchā for camera and voice, after last year allowing users to ask questions about what theyāre viewing in images.ā - CNBC
Our view: Google can catch up to OpenAI, but will it actually release products?
Google has all it takes to catch up and compete effectively with OpenAI: the talent, the technology, the history ā of note, Google researchers created (and patented) Transformers technology, the T in ChatGPT.
The question is: will it actually release the best products? Google explicitly just released Bard, one of its smaller LLMs, and it was a total flop ā of course, how could it compete with GPT-4, OpenAI's largest model?
It would be a game-changer if Google released this āGiant Bard.ā We're certainly eager to try it and compare it with GPT-4.
2. Tech earnings roundup: Palantir AI up, Covid, EVs, and lower margins down
BioNTech's profit plunges to $554M as Covid vaccine demand fades.
Lucid misses on revenue, which jumps 159% to $149M.
Palantir has strong earnings forecast on high demand for AI products.
Paypal drops on worse guidance on operating margin; revenue +9% to $7B.
*SPONSORED: Tangle is an independent, non-partisan politics newsletter that summarizes the leading arguments from the right, left, and center on one big debate every day. Sign up for free to get a 360-degree political read. - Tangle
4. Tesla to provide 1-month free trial of Full Self Driving once service is āsuper smoothā
Lithium refinery: Tesla also said its Texfinery will build battery metal for 1M cars by 2025. - Techcrunch
Our view: if Tesla can provide good updates at a distance, a hacker can provide bad updates
Imagine malicious software that caused all Teslas to crash, rather than drive properly. With 2M cars sold, it could be a āBlack Swanā event that kills millions.
This is true of any vehicle that can be updated or controlled by software from a distance. Scary stuff. - Techcrunch
5. Ranking: most trusted media organizations
Republicans distrust the media more than Democrats across the board.
This might be why they are more prone to believing fake news (e.g., Covid vaccines have 5G chips).
Their view on CNN, MSNBC, and the NYT is fascinating, at between -30 and -40 net trust.
Pro-tech pro-business WSJ is well up high, and we're glad to see it.
Bloomberg is shockingly in the middle ā but that is likely explained by founder Michael Bloomberg being a controversial political figure.
6. Chart: Roundup of Big Tech's AI server chips
Read more: The Information.
7. Other headlines
Tech
VicunaChat: possibly the best open-source version of ChatGPT.
MultiModal-GPT: new paper on an open-source multimodal LLM.
LinkedIn to cut 716 jobs, 3.5% of staff; shutting down China app.
iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max to feature larger 6.3-in and 6.9-in displays.
Meta to end news content in Canada if āflawed legislationā is approved.
AI emergent abilities are a mirage, actually linear: Stanford researchers.
Twitter purging accounts with āseveral yearsā inactivity to free up usernames.
Whatsapp allowing in-app payments for Singapore, after Brazil.
Potential to become a super-app, but so far has been slow.
Biotech
EU: on the difficulties of launching new medicines across all 27 states.
AI identifies 3 new antiaging senolytic drugs for Integrated Bio.
IPOs: only 6 so far this year, compared to 19 in 2022.
Epigenetic contribution to aging: proposing a model.
Business
Yellen calls CEOs to warn on debt ceiling and ask for pressure on GOP.
Saudi Aramco's profit -19% YoY to $31.9B in Q1.
NYT to get $100M from Google over 3 years of content partnership.
Biden to propose airline rule with compensation for cancellations, delays.
Puck co-founder and CEO leaving. Company at 240K free subs / 30K paid.
Goldman to pay $215M to end case of underpaying women.
Crypto
Coinbase not leaving the U.S. despite regulations: CEO.
SEC v. Ripple lawsuit to cost company $200M: CEO.
SBF moves to dismiss most criminal charges, citing extradition agreement.
Sam Altman's WorldCoin launches World App wallet; 500K MAUs.
BTC tx fees larger than block subsidy, as BRC-20 explodes in demand.
BRC-20 tokens have 900M in value; Ordi, a memecoin, $540M.
Bittrex, U.S. crypto exchange, files for bankruptcy in Delaware.
Apollo involved in NovaWulf's bid for Celsius: source.
Blockchain Association calls for revisions to SEC custody rule.
Family offices invested in crypto rise from 16% in 2021 to 26% now.
U.S. politics
World
8. Interesting tweets, memes, and images
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