In today’s newsletter:

• News - 💰 Big Tech Pours Billions into AI

• Productivity - 🎙️ Streamline Your Podcast Workflow with Podwise AI

• Culture - 🛑 TikTok Intern Sacked Over AI Scandal

Check out our Meme of the Day at the bottom of the newsletter for your daily dose of AI-powered humor!

💰 Big Tech Pours Billions into AI

This week, billions have poured into AI data centers as major players invest heavily in infrastructure. Blackstone Group announced an $8.2 billion investment in Spanish data centers, while Crusoe Energy Systems raised $3.4 billion for a Texas data center supporting OpenAI. Amazon also plans to invest $100 billion in AI centers over the next decade. This surge in funding is trickling down to startups, with $1.3 billion invested in database-related startups this year alone, approaching 2022’s total.

Notable deals include Lightmatter's $400 million Series D, valuing the photonics-based deep learning startup at $4.4 billion. With the growing need for energy-efficient innovations, more investment in data center-related startups is expected as AI continues to boom.

🗞️ In Other News…

• Penguin Random House has updated the copyright page in new and reprinted books to explicitly prohibit their use for AI training, becoming the first major publisher to take this stance in response to AI-related concerns.

• Microsoft’s Copilot AI now allows businesses to build autonomous agents that can act on their behalf, with new capabilities launching in public preview this November.

• The producers of Blade Runner 2049 have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, Tesla, and Warner Bros. Discovery, alleging that AI-generated images from the film were used without permission during the launch of Tesla’s Robotaxi.

• News Corp has filed a lawsuit against AI search engine Perplexity, accusing it of infringing copyrighted content from outlets like The Wall Street Journal and New York Post by copying articles and analysis on a large scale without permission.

• Apple is launching iOS 18.1 next week, featuring Apple Intelligence AI tools and the ability for AirPods Pro 2 to function as hearing aids, offering a more affordable solution for those with hearing loss.

🎙️ Streamline Your Podcast Workflow with Podwise AI

Podwise is a podcast management platform designed to make the production process smoother and more efficient with the help of AI. Its key features include AI-generated episode summaries, SEO-optimized transcripts, and automatic content tagging, helping you enhance visibility and streamline tasks without added effort. These tools allow you to focus more on crafting high-quality content while Podwise handles the more tedious backend processes.

With Podwise, you also benefit from improved discoverability, as its AI ensures your episodes are optimized for search engines and easy to find by listeners. It’s an all-in-one solution to simplify podcast management, making it a great fit for creators who want to save time while growing their audience.

🛑 TikTok Intern Sacked Over AI Scandal

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, made headlines after firing an intern for allegedly sabotaging one of its internal AI projects. The company stated that the intern “maliciously interfered” with the training of AI models, which fueled rumors across Chinese social media about significant disruptions. While ByteDance acknowledged the interference, it downplayed the scale of the damage, denying reports that thousands of AI chips were affected or that losses reached tens of millions of dollars.

This incident comes at a sensitive time for ByteDance, as it faces increasing scrutiny regarding AI safety and the potential risks posed by generative AI models. The company is also grappling with pressure from the U.S. government, which is threatening to ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells its stake by January due to national security concerns. Despite these challenges, ByteDance clarified that its commercial products and AI models remain unaffected by the intern's actions.

VC Fundraising Rounds

• SchooLinks, a career readiness platform that engages students in career education and college planning and application, has raised $80M in Series B funding. (10/21/24)

• Carbon Robotics, an AI-powered farming robotics company enhancing efficiency with precision agriculture tools, has raised $70M in Series D funding. (10/21/24)

• E2B, a cloud infrastructure tailored for AI agents and applications., has raised €10.6M in seed funding. (10/18/24)

• Rollstack, an application that automatically creates and updates slide decks and documents, has raised $11M in Series A funding. (10/18/24)

Meme of the Day

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