Top stories today:

1. Google announces Gemini, slightly better than GPT-4
2. SpaceX valued at $175B+ in $500M-$750M tender offer
3. Meta launches Imagine text-to-image generator
4. Sam Altman wins TIME's CEO of the Year

0. Data and calendar

1. Google announces multimodal AI Gemini, slightly better than GPT-4

• 3 versions: Ultra (better than GPT-4), Pro (most use cases), and Nano (for in-device running).

  • Pro available now on Bard.

  • Dec. 13: Pro API available for developers via Google Cloud.

  • Ultra in 2024, “soon.” Google is busy doing safety studies.

  • Nano used on the Pixel 8 Pro for Smart Reply on the keyboard and Recorder auto-summarization. Eventually, it will come to all Android devices.

• Interviews with Sundar Pichai and Demis Hassabis: Platformer, Wired, MIT Technology Review.

• Chrome will get AI features like “Help me write” soon.

Gemini Ultra beats GPT-4 on most text, coding, image, audio, and video metrics

• AlphaCode 2 is a fine-tuned version of Gemini Pro that Google says won multiple AI coding competitions.

  • Google didn't release the 1st version of AlphaCode, and they haven't announced whether they will launch AlphaCode 2.

Gemini is particularly good at complex multimodal questions

Alphabet's stock was little changed for the day, as Gemini failed to significantly differentiate vs. GPT-4

Our view: GPT-4's invincibility has been cracked, but we could be approaching a peak in LLM capabilities

1. Clearly, Google can build an LLM as competently as OpenAI, as we've been expecting.

2. But are LLM capabilities approaching a plateau? We may need new technologies (e.g. Q*) to take another leap in capabilities. Ilya Sutskever's and Demis Hassabis's teams are certainly working on it.

3. Bard is unlikely to take over ChatGPT for the time being, at least until it is powered by Gemini Ultra (better than GPT-4), rather than Pro (similar to GPT-3.5):

2. SpaceX valued at $175B+ in $500M-$750M tender offer, from $150B in summer

• 2023E revenue: $9B. 2024E revenue: $15B.

• Starlink cleared 9 months of military tests, potentially anticipating a large Pentagon contract for SpaceX.

4. Meta launches Imagine text-to-image generator, available online or in Messenger

Imagine.meta.com:

Inside Facebook's Messenger app:

• Image quality appears competitive but inferior to top closed-source models like DALL-E 3 and Midjourney.

• Meta's AI characters are now live across its U.S. apps, with support for Bing Search.

5. Sam Altman wins TIME's CEO of the Year, as Taylor Swift wins Person

Read more: Sam Altman, Taylor Swift.

6. Advertisers moved from X to TikTok in 2023

7. Creator economy funding plummets in 2023, as influencer marketing spend rises

9. Interesting videos, posts, and memes

10. Other headlines

AI

• Meta, Microsoft say they will buy AMD's new AI chips.

• Apple launches MLX machine-learning framework for Apple Silicon.

• C3 AI's revenue +17% YoY to $73M; 2nd most shorted stock.

• Liquid AI raises $37.5M at $303M to build liquid neural networks.

• Leonardo, AI art platform with 7M users, raises $31M.

• Google Cloud launches TPU v5p.

Tech

• New M3 Macbook Air, iPad Air, iPad Pro expected early next year.

• Robinhood launches commissions-free trading app in Europe, after UK.

• Messenger getting E2E encryption by default in one-on-one chats.

• Tidal lays off 40 employees, 10% of staff.

• TikTok's biggest U.S. hit in 2023: makeup routine with 504M views.

• Flippa: get a FREE online business valuation.*

• The CEO Report: become a better leader by subscribing, 100% free.*

• Mercury Magazines: sign up to win a $250 Apple gift card!*

• Kinde: authentication for modern applications.*

*Sponsored.

Tech & law

• EU nears AI Act deal, goal to pass by June.

• U.S. government using push notifications to pursue suspects: senator.

• FTC argues against Microsoft, Activision deal in appeals court.

• Meta steering child predators to kids, New Mexico AG alleges.

Biotech

• AbbVie acquires Cerevel Therapeutics (neuro) for $8.7B.

• Astaxanthin extends lifespan in mice by 12%: study.

• Interface raises $3M for AI drug discovery for inflammatory diseases.

Business

• McKinsey: 250 new partners this year, from 380 last year.

Crypto

• Helium launches nationwide $20/mo unlimited plan.

• CZ's guilty plea accepted by judge, TBD whether CZ can go home.

• Exchange Bitzlato co-founder pleads guilty to U.S. money transmitting.

• Jamie Dimon: “if I was the government, I'd close [crypto] down.”

• Solana's Saga phone “under review” after <50K units sold.

U.S. politics

• Ukraine aid: Biden open to concessions on border security, after Senate GOP blocked bill.

• ~$900B defense bill likely to pass, including 5.2% raise for military.

• House passes bill blocking Biden's EV rule, unlikely to pass Senate.

• GOP debate: moderators fail to inject Trump.

• University presidents under fire over responses to Oct. 7.

• Nevada 3rd state to see 2020 Trump electors indicted.

• McCarthy to retire from Congress.

World

• IDF surrounding Hamas military leader's home: Netanyahu.

• Xi, EU leaders meet in effort to stabilize relationship.

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