Top stories today:

1. Llama 3 being developed to be open to controversial questions
2. Stripe allows employees to cash out at $65B
3. X launches Video Spaces on iOS
4. Snowflake’s product revenue +32% to $738M in Q4, as CEO is swapped
5. Bitcoin crosses $62K, nearing all-time high of $70K

0. Data and calendar

1. Llama 3 being developed to be more responsive to controversial questions

The top Llama-derivative, WizardLM, currently lags behind AI models of OpenAI, Google, Mistral, Anthropic, Alibaba, and 01:

• Response to the backlash Google Gemini has received.

• July: target launch date.

• GPT-4 quality, Meta hopes.

Our view: Llama 3, when launched, will likely become the world’s best open-source LLM

• OpenAI and Google should continue to lead the way in LLM quality.

• Meta will join the likes of Mistral and Anthropic as being 6-12 months behind the leaders.

2. Stripe allows employees to cash out at $65B

• $1B of employee equity being bought by Stripe and some of its investors.

• IPO likely delayed to 2025+.

4. X launches Video Spaces on iOS

• Android, web versions TBD.

• Only hosts can turn on video, meaning it’s not a video-conferencing app yet.

5. Snowflake’s product revenue +32% to $738M in Q4, as CEO is swapped, stock -20%

• Operating margin still at -36%.

• Former CEO Frank Slootman took the company public in 2020, after joining in 2019.

  • Valuation grew from $4B to $76B yesterday.

• The new CEO is Sridhar Ramaswamy, former Google ad chief and CEO of Neeva, which Snowflake acquired for $185M in June.

• Fiscal-year growth guidance at 22%, below what analysts were expecting.

The stock was -22% after the news of the CEO change and lower-than-expected guidance

6. Bitcoin crosses $62K, nearing all-time high of $70K, as Coinbase has temporary outage

• Coinbase says services are restored after outage, bugs.

• Solana +15% to $129.

7. 1.7% of consumer startups that raise Series B go public, 1.5% for enterprise ones

8. Interesting videos, posts, and memes

9. Other headlines

AI

• OpenAI being investigated by SEC over potentially misleading investors.

  • Sued by The Intercept, Raw Story, AlterNet.

• StarCoder 2: new open-source coding model.

• Ideogram raises $80M Series A for AI image generation.

• Tim Cook: Apple will “break new ground” in gen. AI this year.

• Alibaba cutting prices for cloud services by ~20%.

• HubSpot: download 100 curated ChatGPT prompts, for free.*

*Sponsored.

Tech

• Apple held talks with Elon about acquiring Tesla.

• Vision Pro returns only 1%, U.S. sales exp. at 200K-250K in 2024: analyst.

• Webull to go public on NASDAQ via $7.3B SPAC deal.

• EA to cut 5% of staff, eliminating ~670 employees.

• Zoho's new CRM, Bigin, can be the game changer for your business success.*

• Sidebar: accelerate your career in 2024.*

• citizenM has 14 tech-ready hotels stateside for the best night's sleep of your life.*

*Sponsored.

Tech earnings

• HP's revenue -4% to $13.2B.

• Salesforce’s revenue +11% to $9.3B.

Tech & law

• Google sued by 32 media groups over digital ad practices, stock -2%.

• FCC chair: domestic abuse law should cover carmakers.

• X goes to court against CCDH’s alleged false claims.

Biotech

• Cannabis use linked to cardiovascular disease in new study.

• Ultra-processed food linked to 32 harmful health effects.

• Every Cure to use AI to rank FDA-approved drugs for every disease.

Business

• Boeing given 90 days by FAA to develop quality-control plan.

• GDP in Q4 revised from 3.3% to 3.2%.

Crypto

• Gemini to return $1B to customers, pay $37M fine, in deal with NY.

• Telegram introduces ad revenue sharing, 50:50, payouts in TON.

• Ether.fi, liquid restaking protocol, raises $23M Series A.

• Nigeria detains Binance execs in crackdown.

• Uniswap: making it easier to buy, sell and trade tokens on Ethereum.*

• ALL.ART partners with Coca Cola HBC for Solana-based verification system.*

*Sponsored.

U.S. politics

• Partial shutdown appears delayed with last-minute deal.

• SCOTUS to hear Trump's immunity arguments in Apr., decision exp. in Jun.

• IL judge blocks Trump from ballot, as Trump has until Fri. to appeal.

• Trump’s $454M judgment delay request rejected by judge.

• McConnell to step down as Senate GOP leader in Nov.

• Biden's medical report: “fit for duty,” few details.

• San Francisco to start drug-testing welfare recipients.

World

• Ukraine sees risk of Russia breaking through defenses in summer.

• Hamas's Sinwar thinks group will continue to rule Gaza post-war.

• Putin does State of the Nation address.

• Xi’s critics all disappear from view: report.

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