Top stories today:

1. Microsoft training own LLM, 500B-parameter MAI-1
2. Boeing Starliner 1st crewed launch delayed due to valve issue
3. Robinhood Crypto receives Wells Notice from SEC
4. Apple expected to launch new iPads, Pencil today at 10 AM ET
5. Apple may be developing server chip focused on AI inference

0. Data and calendar

1. Microsoft training own LLM, 500B-parameter MAI-1

Microsoft so far has been focused on small language models, having launched their best-in-class Phi 3 SLMs in April:

• MAI-1 team is being led by Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI who previously co-founded Deepmind (now Google Deepmind) and Inflection AI.

• Microsoft is increasingly diversifying away from OpenAI, in which they have invested $10B+ but over which they have no legal control.

Our view: MAI-1 will probably perform similarly to the best models available today

• Unclear whether significant improvements to the current benchmarks are possible without novel algorithms/architectures.

2. Boeing Starliner 1st crewed launch delayed due to valve issue, could happen today, Fri., or Sat.

• Canceled 2 hours before take-off.

• Relatedly, Boeing admitted to falsifying records related to the inspection of its 787 Dreamliner plane.

4. Robinhood Crypto receives Wells Notice from SEC, preempting enforcement action