Sam-I-Am! The Altman Edition
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1. The Unimaginatively Named App That Could
Oh, look at that! OpenAI's ChatGPT app is apparently a smashing success, with over 500,000 downloads in just six days! Their ChatGPT app managed to outperform its rivals, including the Bing and Edge apps from Microsoft. We'd like to also highlight the brilliant strategy of giving the app a completely original and creative name like "ChatGPT." We're sure that really helped it stand out among all those other apps with names like "AI chatbot" and "Chat with Ask AI." It ranks as one of the highest-performing new app releases across both this year and the last, topped only by the February 2022 arrival of the Trump-backed Twitter clone, Truth Social.
2. Altman and AI Walking on Sunshine
Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, embarked on a European tour, hobnobbing with politicians and startups to discuss AI regulation. He recently graced the stage at Station F in Paris, where he delighted the audience with his optimistic views on artificial intelligence. He even had a tête-à-tête with Emmanuel Macron himself, discussing the thrilling topic of regulation and emphasizing how AI can revolutionize education, boost productivity, solve climate change, yada yada. Altman sees AI as a tool to augment humans, not steal their jobs and he espouses the belief that, and we quote, “This technology and society will coevolve. People will use it in different ways and for different reasons.” End quote. You heard it here first, folks! People use technology in different ways and for different reasons! Mind = blown.
3. Vietnam's Tax Solution: Million-Dollar Hugs for Companies Feeling the 15% Squeeze
Vietnam is considering offering multi-million-dollar consolation prizes to Samsung and other companies to make up for those pesky higher taxes they'll soon face under a global tax reform. Starting in January, a minimum tax rate of 15% for large multinationals will be implemented so to prevent companies from withdrawing money, Vietnam plans to compensate them. The government is preparing a resolution that could be approved in October, providing after-tax cash or refundable tax credits. Samsung, a major investor in Vietnam, employs 160,000 people and produces half of its smartphones there. This compensation party is estimated to cost several hundred million dollars annually, but hey, it's all good because it should roughly match the extra tax revenues rolling in. This move aims to maintain Vietnam's competitiveness and attractiveness for foreign investment. Money makes the world go round!
4. Nvidia's Israel-1 Supercomputer Will Rule the AI Universe... In Israel, At Least
Nvidia is building Israel's most powerful AI supercomputer, Israel-1, to meet increasing demand for AI applications and because they couldn't find an off-the-shelf option on Amazon. The system will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and deliver up to eight exaflops of AI computing power. It aims to accelerate AI training and tackle complex problems, like calculating how many times the Kardashians have been mentioned on Instagram in a given day. The project was developed by the former Mellanox team, which Nvidia acquired in 2019. The supercomputer will initially only serve Israeli partners with the potential for collaboration expansion in the future.
5. Worldcoin Raises $115 Million: Unifying the World, One Eyeball at a Time
Worldcoin, the crypto project led by the oh-so-famous Sam Altman, just got even more coin, raising $115 million in a Series C round. With their grand mission of creating a global identification system, a global currency, and an app that lets you buy stuff with their token, Worldcoin is really shooting for the stars. Of course, there are some people worried about privacy risks because, you know, they want to scan a billion people's eyeballs with a giant orb. But don't worry, they claim they only keep an "iris code" and destroy the actual biometric data. Totally reassuring, right? Despite all that, investors are still flocking to this project like seagulls to a French fry after the app managed to onboard two million users in their beta testing phase. Worldcoin might just become the biggest onramp to crypto, and their World App could be the most popular crypto wallet ever! Or maybe we'll never hear of "iris codes" again. Time will tell!