💣OpenAI can mimic your voice in 15 seconds

ALSO: Microsoft’s building a $100B supercomputer

Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes

OpenAI is making waves this week. Not just with their (scary) voice cloning tech, but with literal waves of cash. How much? Try $100B.

• OpenAI can mimic your voice with a 15 second clip.

• NYC’s chatbot gives wrong legal advice.

• Microsoft and OpenAI are building a $100B supercomputer.

• The US and Japan are teaming up against China.

🤯OpenAI reveals dangerous voice cloning technology

What happened: OpenAI revealed Voice Engine, their new technology that can fully replicate any voice from a tiny audio clip. And they won’t release it (yet).

The details: 

• Voice Engine only needs a 15 second clip (wow) of your voice to create an identical mimicry.

• Voice Engine will not be released until OpenAI resolves security and deepfake concerns.

• OpenAI plans to add features to show when a voice has been generated, and to protect famous voices from being copied.

Some examples of how this could be misused:

• Voice authentication for bank accounts can be faked.

• AI and services using your voice without your permission.

• Deceptive marketing which fools consumers into thinking a celebrity is endorsing something.

• Personal deepfakes such as fake voice messages pretending to be from you and pornography.

Why it matters: The rising fear over deepfakes and AI has given way to new laws and regulations. But these won’t be enough to stop rampant AI scams and personal attacks. And this technology will definitely change the entertainment industry forever.

NYC’s “MyCity” chatbot hallucinates and gives wrong legal advice. The chatbot was designed to help business owners with info about compliance and regulations. Instead it’s usually downright wrong about really basic city policies. Just goes to show AI is not ready for serious use like this.

Amazon is reportedly investing $150 billion over the next 15 years in data centers to support AI applications and maintain its lead in the cloud services market. These data centers will accommodate the anticipated surge in AI’s use. Data centers are the “heart” of any AI model. Without the massive computing power provided by a data center, AI as we know it wouldn’t exist.

😱Microsoft and OpenAI are building a $100 billion supercomputer

What happened: Microsoft and OpenAI are reportedly partnering to build a $100B supercomputer named “Stargate”. The supercomputer is designed specifically to run AI projects.

The details:

• The $100B supercomputer is planned to be ready by 2028 and help power OpenAI’s projects.

• The project would be over 100 times more expensive than the largest data centers today.

• The data center may be too power hungry, and Microsoft may have to look to alternative power sources such as literal nuclear power.

• Microsoft is creating another smaller supercomputer for OpenAI by 2026.

• The supercomputer will support a variety of chips, possibly moving beyond reliance on Nvidia. 

Why it matters: That’s a lot of money! This level of investment is unheard of. It shows how far Microsoft thinks AI will go. It also presents some serious energy challenges. Are we headed to a future reliant on nuclear energy just to power AI?

👀The US and Japan are teaming up in AI

What happened: The US and Japan will announce closer cooperation in high tech areas like AI. This is set to happen when Biden visits Japan on April 10.

The details:

• The US and Japan will strengthen cooperation in AI and semiconductors.

• The purpose is to reduce reliance on China for chips and tech gadgets.

• The two countries will likely set up a framework for AI research and development, working with Nvidia, Arm and Amazon.

• The US has recently been halting shipments of advanced AI chips to China in an effort to stop their military from gaining advanced technology.

Why it matters: Things are heating up. World conflicts are officially affecting major AI companies. Tech relies on China, so how will companies respond if production moves toward other countries?

💰AI is in a FOMO-powered investment frenzy

As you’ve read in this very newsletter, AI investments are off the charts. Billions are dollars are getting thrown around like candy. Amazon just invested over $4B into Antrhopic. Microsoft is investing tens of billions into multiple AI companies. And Apple is spending insane amounts of cash to catch up.

The AI industry has seen $29.1 billion invested from over 700 deals in 2023. 2024 has just started, but we’re already seeing massive numbers set to overshadow the previous year.

So why is this happening?

Reason #1: Tech companies believe AI is a fourth industrial revolution.

From the automation of white collar jobs using generative AI, to the replacement of blue collar jobs with robotics. It’s a common belief that AI will revolutionize the world and work as we know it. Who doesn’t want to have a piece of that action?

But there’s flip side to the coin. What happens if a tech company has no AI investments? Well the fear is they’ll get annihilated in the future. So it’s not just a good opportunity to invest in AI… it’s downright essential to survive in the future.

Reason #2: The winners now will secure their place in the future.

Whoever positions themselves now will have a massive advantage years down the road.

Imagine ten years from now. A tech company with no AI investments tries to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft. It’d be almost impossible because the competition is already so far ahead. And yet it might become impossible to compete in the tech space without powerful AI investments.

Reason #3: AI is expected to exceed $1 trillion in revenue within the decade.

So we know that AI will massively impact the future, and that the winners now will have a foothold for that future. But it’s the profit that drives these crazy investments.

Everyone’s afraid they’re missing out on the biggest opportunity that’s ever existed. And this fear of missing out drives AI investment more than any other factor.

What this means: The current investment frenzy may turn out to be more hype than reality… but it doesn’t look that way. The future of every tech company and every gadget you own may be in AI. And the massive dollar spend only justifies this belief. This is an insane year to invest in AI.

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