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The Year That Big Tech Joined Forces With AI Startups

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The Year That Big Tech Joined Forces With AI Startups

Throughout the year, a new wave of artificial intelligence startups has upended Silicon Valley and the larger business community, but one thing has remained constant: Big Tech continues to hold sway.

Following Microsoft Corp.’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI in January, other tech behemoths hurried to collaborate with top AI startups via funding and cloud computing agreements. At a $4.5 billion valuation, Salesforce Inc. spearheaded a round in Hugging Face. Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. made billion-dollar investments in Anthropic, an OpenAI rival. And it appeared that Nvidia Corp. supported nearly all notable AI startups.

Ultimately, this means that a large number of the most promising AI startups now rely significantly on the traditional tech industry heavyweights for infrastructure and funding. Regulators are beginning to take notice of that dynamic.

Competition authorities in the US and the UK are once again scrutinizing Microsoft’s collaboration with OpenAI. The Biden administration has assigned the US Federal Trade Commission the responsibility of advancing “a fair, open, and competitive AI ecosystem.” Regarding the question of whether or not large cloud computing contracts are anti-competitive, the agency has previously asked for public input.

“What regulators might be concerned about is that the story of Big Tech’s strategic investment in AI startups could have the potential to become the story of Big Tech’s AI monopoly,” stated Ngor Luong, a senior research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technologies who specializes in AI investment trends.

These agreements with Big Tech can be an important lifeline for AI companies. The technology that powers AI chatbots like ChatGPT, large language models, is very expensive and computationally demanding to build. Big tech companies belong to the small group of companies that have the resources and infrastructure to back these initiatives.

These acquisitions can help Big Tech companies maintain control over a competitive and quickly changing market, as some were taken aback by the tremendous success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT a year ago. Tech behemoths can increase demand for their goods through these alliances, whether it’s Nvidia’s chips or Microsoft, Google, and Amazon’s cloud computing services.

In a blog post this month, Nvidia said it has made “more than two dozen investments” this year. “These partnerships stimulate joint innovation, enhance the NVIDIA platform and expand the ecosystem,” the company said.

Apart from OpenAI, Microsoft has also made investments in billion-dollar AI startups like Adept and Inflection AI. However, these transactions pale in comparison to the $13 billion that Microsoft has already committed to the ChatGPT company.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, was briefly fired in November, a move that highlighted Microsoft’s special relationship with the startup. Along with other investors, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was a major factor in getting the board to change its mind. Microsoft had previously declared that it would bring on Altman and his OpenAI colleagues to establish a new Microsoft AI division.

Microsoft clarified that it does not hold a conventional stake in OpenAI in response to regulators’ concerns. The company stated last week that “it is important to note that Microsoft does not own any portion of OpenAI and is simply entitled to a share of profit distributions.”

While Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon have all been actively supporting AI startups this year, Apple Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. have been largely absent from these kinds of transactions.

Apple Inc. launched an internal chatbot known as “Apple GPT” and developed its own large language model known as Ajax. In the meantime, Meta has partnered with Microsoft and Amazon in addition to having an open source large language model.

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Apple has revealed a revamped Mac Mini with an M4 chip

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A smaller but no less powerful Mac Mini was recently unveiled by Apple as part of the company’s week of Mac-focused announcements. It now has Apple’s most recent M4 silicon, enables ray tracing for the first time, and comes pre-installed with 16GB of RAM, which seems to be the new standard in the age of Apple Intelligence. While the more potent M4 Pro model starts at $1,399, the machine still starts at $599 with the standard M4 CPU. The Mac Mini is available for preorder right now and will be in stores on November 8th, just like the updated iMac that was revealed yesterday.

The new design will be the first thing you notice. The Mini has reportedly been significantly reduced in size, although it was already a comparatively small desktop computer. It is now incredibly small, with dimensions of five inches for both length and width. Apple claims that “an innovative thermal architecture, which guides air to different levels of the system, while all venting is done through the foot” and the M4’s efficiency are the reasons it keeps things cool.

Nevertheless, Apple has packed this device with a ton of input/output, including a 3.5mm audio jack and two USB-C connections on the front. Three USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, Ethernet, and HDMI are located around the back. Although the USB-A ports are outdated, it’s important to remember that the base M2 Mini only featured two USB-A connectors and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. You get a total of five ports with the M4. You get an additional Thunderbolt port but lose native USB-A.

Depending on the M4 processor you select, those Thunderbolt connectors will have varying speeds. While the M4 Pro offers the most recent Thunderbolt 5 throughput, the standard M4 processor comes with Thunderbolt 4.

With its 14 CPU and 20 GPU cores, the M4 Pro Mac Mini also offers better overall performance. The standard M4 can have up to 32GB of RAM, while the M4 Pro can have up to 64GB. The maximum storage capacity is an astounding 8TB. Therefore, even though the Mini is rather little, if you have the money, you can make it really powerful. For those who desire it, 10 gigabit Ethernet is still an optional upgrade.

Apple has a big week ahead of it. On Monday, the company released the M4 iMac and its first Apple Intelligence software features for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. (More AI functionality will be available in December, such as ChatGPT integration and image production.) As Apple completes its new hardware, those updated MacBook Pros might make their appearance tomorrow. The business will undoubtedly highlight its newest fleet of Macs when it releases its quarterly profits on Thursday.

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Apple Intelligence may face competition from a new Qualcomm processor

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The new chip from Qualcomm (QCOM) may increase competition between Apple’s (AAPL) iOS and Android.

During its Snapdragon Summit on Monday, the firm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform, which includes a new, second-generation Oryon CPU that it claims is the “fastest mobile CPU in the world.” According to Qualcomm, multimodal generative artificial intelligence characteristics can be supported by the upcoming Snapdragon platform.

Qualcomm, which primarily creates chips for mobile devices running Android, claims that the new Oryon CPU is 44% more power efficient and 45% faster. As the iPhone manufacturer releases its Apple Intelligence capabilities, the new Snapdragon 8 platform may allow smartphone firms compete with Apple on the AI frontier. Additionally, Apple has an agreement with OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, to incorporate ChatGPT-4o into the upcoming iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.

According to a September Wall Street Journal (NWSA) story, Qualcomm is apparently interested in purchasing Intel (INTC) in a deal that could be valued up to $90 billion. According to Bloomberg, Apollo Global Management (APO), an alternative asset manager, had also proposed an equity-like investment in Intel with a potential value of up to $5 billion.

According to reports, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the situation, Qualcomm may postpone its decision to acquire Intel until after the U.S. presidential election next month. According to the persons who spoke with Bloomberg, Qualcomm is waiting to make a decision on the transaction because of the possible effects on antitrust laws and tensions with China after the election results.

According to a report from analysts at Bank of America Global Research (BAC), Qualcomm could expand, take the lead in the market for core processor units, or CPUs, for servers, PCs, and mobile devices, and get access to Intel’s extensive chip fabrication facilities by acquiring Intel. They went on to say that Qualcomm would become the world’s largest semiconductor company if its $33 billion in chip revenue were combined with Intel’s $52 billion.

The experts claimed that those advantages would be outweighed by the financial and regulatory obstacles posed by a possible transaction. They are dubious about a prospective takeover and think that Intel’s competitors may gain from the ambiguity surrounding the agreement.

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iPhone 16 Pro Users Report Screen Responsiveness Issues, Hope for Software Fix

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Many iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max users are experiencing significant touchscreen responsiveness problems. Complaints about lagging screens and unresponsive taps and swipes are particularly frustrating for customers who have invested $999 and up in these devices.

The good news is that initial assessments suggest the issue may be software-related rather than a hardware defect. This means that Apple likely won’t need to issue recalls or replacement units; instead, a simple software update could resolve the problem.

The root of the issue might lie in the iOS touch rejection algorithm, which is designed to prevent accidental touches. If this feature is overly sensitive, it could ignore intentional inputs, especially when users’ fingers are near the new Camera Control on the right side of the display. Some users have reported that their intended touches are being dismissed, particularly when their fingers are close to this area.

Additionally, the new, thinner bezels on the iPhone 16 Pro compared to the iPhone 15 Pro could contribute to the problem. With less protection against accidental touches, the device may misinterpret valid taps as mistakes, leading to ignored inputs.

This isn’t the first time Apple has faced challenges with new iPhone models. For instance, the iPhone 4 experienced “Antennagate,” where signal loss occurred depending on how the device was held, prompting Steve Jobs to famously suggest users hold their phones differently. Apple eventually provided free rubber bumpers to mitigate the issue.

To alleviate the touchscreen problem, using a case might help by covering parts of the display and reducing the chances of accidental touches triggering the rejection algorithm. The issue appears on devices running iOS 18 and the iOS 18.1 beta and does not occur when the phone is locked. Users may notice difficulties when swiping through home screens and apps.

Many are hopeful that an upcoming iOS 18 update will address these issues, restoring responsiveness to the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max displays.

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