Sunk cost (32 minute read)
NFTs haven't recovered despite crypto values rising. While they're hanging on, the technology is in troubled waters. OpenSea, once the largest marketplace for NFTs, is facing pending litigation from the SEC, a previous unreported 'matter' with the FTC, inbounds from US and international tax authorities, heightened competition, accusations of gender discrimination, and employee attrition. This article tells the story of the marketplace's rise and fall.
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OpenAI reportedly in talks to close a new funding round at $100B+ valuation (2 minute read)
OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise funds at a valuation of more than $100 billion, substantially higher than the company's previous $86 billion valuation. Investors include Thrive Capital and Microsoft. The financing will be OpenAI's biggest outside infusion of capital since Microsoft invested nearly $10 billion in January last year. While OpenAI's revenue eclipsed $3.4 billion early this year, the company is on track to lose nearly $5 billion by year end. It has already burned through $8.5 billion on AI training and staffing.
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Science & Futuristic Technology
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Sparks are flying day and night as SpaceX preps Starship pad to catch a rocket (8 minute read)
Workers have been making last-minute upgrades to SpaceX's Starship launch pad in South Texas pretty much every day for the last couple of weeks. If all goes well on the Starship's next test flight, the launch pad's mechanical arms will close together to capture the Super Heavy booster as it descends back to Earth. SpaceX announced that Starship and Super Heavy were ready to fly, pending regulatory approval, on August 8. The FAA is still evaluating SpaceX's proposed flight profile. It is unclear how long approval will take, but the state of the launch pad suggests that the next test is still at least a couple of weeks away.
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AI Inference Competition Heats Up (6 minute read)
The competition for AI inference is heating up, particularly in terms of power efficiency. ML Commons has released the results of its latest AI inferencing competition. The round included first-time submissions from teams using AMD Instinct accelerators, the latest Google Trillium accelerators, chips from Untether AI, and Nvidia's new Blackwell chip. This article looks at the results - while Nvidia's chips are still ahead in many categories, chips from other manufacturers are starting to catch up.
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Programming, Design & Data Science
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Programming With ChatGPT (4 minute read)
Using ChatGPT to code can be a real productivity boost. Instead of reading examples on Stack Overflow and adapting them to their particular case, developers can instantly get code tailored to their specific needs. It can make developers more efficient, but they need to remember that it is still a tool. It is important to always test the code it provides to quickly discover any hallucinations.
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State and time are the same thing (5 minute read)
State is time and time is state. The only way to see the passage of time is by measuring changes in observable state. Changes in state matter in that they create new times. If a state update is purely internal and cannot affect the observable state, then it doesn't advance time. This model can be used to reason about abstract systems.
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Nvidia Revenue Jumps 122% in Positive Sign for Tech's A.I. Boom (4 minute read)
Nvidia recently reported that its sales and profits had more than doubled during the last quarter. The company also projected that sales in the current quarter will increase by 80% compared to a year ago, exceeding earlier estimates. Nvidia's revenue was $30.04 billion last quarter, and its net income rose to $16.95 billion. It will spend $50 billion on repurchasing its own shares. Nvidia now supplies more than 90% of the chips essential to building AI, but competition is on the rise, with other companies developing custom chips to lessen their dependence on Nvidia.
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Telegram CEO charged with numerous crimes and is banned from leaving France (3 minute read)
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been indicted in France on charges including web-mastering an online platform in order to enable an illegal transaction in an organized group, complicity in drug trafficking, distribution of child pornography, and providing cryptology services without making required declarations to government officials. Telegram has released a statement saying that it follows the law and industry standards on moderation and that it was absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform. Durov was ordered to post bail of 5 million euros. He is forbidden from leaving the country and must report to police twice a week while the case continues.
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