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How OpenAI Uses Complex and Circular Deals to Fuel Its Multibillion-Dollar Rise: OpenAI receives billions from tech companies, then returns that capital by purchasing computing power and services from those same companies. Sam Altman has built a financing model that works like a closed loop. The approach funds development in capital-intensive AI work, but raises questions about sustainability and transparency.
Nvidia takes $1B stake in Nokia: Nvidia bought $1 billion worth of Nokia shares—166 million newly issued—and formed a partnership to develop 6G technology. They're also adapting Nokia's networking software for Nvidia chips. This matters because AI and telecommunications infrastructure are converging fast.
OpenAI's Corporate Restructuring Raises Governance Concerns: OpenAI is becoming a Public Benefit Corporation. The nonprofit foundation keeps 26% financial stake and partial control. Investors get uncapped profit shares. That's a major shift from nonprofit-controlled to investor-controlled. Watch this closely—it sets precedents for AI company governance.
Israel's Secret Cloud Computing 'Wink' Demand to Tech Giants: In 2021, Israel asked Google and Amazon to build a covert mechanism into a $1.2 billion cloud contract. The mechanism would help the companies bypass legal obligations to share data with foreign law enforcement. This reveals the tension between national security interests and global data governance. Government contracts with tech giants are getting more complicated.
EuroLLM: Europe's Multilingual AI Model Launch: The EU launched EuroLLM, a large language model covering all 24 official EU languages. The flagship 9B parameter model trained on over 4 trillion tokens across 35 languages. This gives European companies an alternative to US and Chinese AI models, with better EU regulatory compliance and more accurate handling of European languages.
AWS to Bare Metal Two Years Later: Answering Your Questions About Leaving AWS: OneUptime moved from AWS to bare-metal infrastructure two years ago. They achieved 99.993% availability, kept their $230,000 annual cost savings, and reduced customer-facing latency by 19%. The case study shows that cloud exits can work if you plan carefully and have predictable workloads at sufficient scale.
Claude for Excel Beta Release: Anthropic released Claude for Excel in beta. It offers AI assistance with model analysis, formula explanations, and spreadsheet navigation. Advanced features like pivot tables and macros aren't supported yet. This could reduce time spent on routine spreadsheet work.
Samsung Makes Ads on Smart Fridges Official with Upcoming Software Update: Samsung's 2024 Family Hub refrigerators will display ads on their screens during idle times. These fridges cost between $1,899 and $3,499. The update comes soon. This signals a shift in how appliance manufacturers monetize premium products after purchase.
Denmark Withdraws Chat Control Proposal Following Controversy: Denmark dropped its push for an EU law that would have mandated scanning of electronic messages, including encrypted ones. Germany opposed it. The proposal aimed at combating child sexual abuse material but faced significant pushback. CSAM detection remains voluntary for tech companies.
Austrian Ministry Kicks Out Microsoft in Favor of Nextcloud: Austria's Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism migrated 1,200 employees from Microsoft to Nextcloud. They join a broader European trend of government agencies moving away from foreign tech providers. Data sovereignty and regulatory compliance are driving these decisions. Government contracts with major US tech companies may become less stable in Europe.
That's what I'm watching. What caught your attention this week?
-Eric
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