Gm! It’s Brett! Some exciting news - I’ll be taking over writing Homescreen and we’re switching the newsletter to just once a week! With so many awesome newsletters in inboxes these days, we figured we’d take a step back and focus our energy on just 1 edition each week. We may also be experimenting with the format down the line - all feedback is welcome - but we’ll continue bringing you the best tech, AI and crypto news and memes every week no matter what!

Also, Stephen will be continuing on with his own endeavours - you can follow him on Twitter here.

🏠 AI

Elon: “My Ex Is Evil”

When Elon Musk helped found OpenAI in 2015, the mission was clear: artificial intelligence should benefit all of humanity. The word "open" was key. Fast forward to 2024, and OpenAI sits atop the AI scene, valued at $86 billion! But something isn't right, at least according to Elon. In a surprise lawsuit, he's accusing his former partners of selling out that founding ideal.

At the heart of the lawsuit is Microsoft. Back in 2019, OpenAI shifted its structure, creating a for-profit arm that took a $1 billion investment from Microsoft. Sure, there's still a non-profit part of it, but it's all a bit... shady.

What Elon is basically saying is: nonprofits shouldn't drastically change their mission without being transparent. Imagine donating to an organization to protect the Amazon rainforest, only to find out the organization became a profit-driven logging company. He believes this deceptive practice shouldn't be allowed by default.

OpenAI has gone from an idealistic project to a Microsoft subsidiary with profit, not humanity as the primary motive, as per the lawsuit.

Elon is particularly salty about the way OpenAI's tech is now closed-source and costs a pretty penny to use. He sees this as a betrayal of the founding principles. 

Is Elon feeling FOMO with everything that’s happening at OpenAI, or is he just trying to buy some time for xAI? 👀

The Big Picture: This isn't just about OpenAI anymore. The Elon vs. OpenAI drama exposes deep-rooted questions about AI development:

• Can groundbreaking AI research exist without the drive for massive profit?

• Is it possible for a company that was originally founded as open-source and non-profit to change course and become closed-source and for-profit?

• Is it ethical for a potentially world-altering technology to reside in the hands of a single company?

Some interesting tweets on this saga:

🤝 THE LATEST IN…

TECH

• Nikon is working on a camera that you can take to space.

• Chipmaker Nvidia sores to $2 Trillion.

• Whatsapp gets full access to Pegasus Spyware.

• Waymo receives approval to charge for robotaxi services in California.

AI

• Researchers show how AI worms can spread through emails.

• AI makes headways in cancer research

• Hugging face models can backdoor your computer

• The real danger lies in the unpredictability of large language models (LLMs).

SCIENCE

• Futuristics chips will be made of exotic materials instead of silicon

• Scientists are playing with nanoparticles and exploring quantum limits.

• Climate model forecasts El Niño will break heat records this year

• Optical disks reach petabit (125 terabyte) size capacity.

CRYPTO

• Bitcoin is hitting all-time highs around the world.

• Taiko, an Ethereum-equivalent ZK rollup project, announced a $15 million Series A round ahead of its mainnet launch.

• Grayscale Investments is lobbying the SEC to approve options on spot bitcoin ETFs.

• Crypto projects have received $90B+ in all-time funding since 2017.

🏃‍♀️ QUICKIES

Raise: Kenai Therapeutics, a biotech co, emerges from stealth with a $82M Series A, to treat Parkinson’s disease.  

Stat: $70M. How much Alphabet Inc. lost in market cap after Gemini was exposed as being 'woke'.

Rabbit hole: Moore's Law for Everything (Sam Altman)

🤩 MONDAY MOTIVATION

“If you're afraid of failing, you won't get very far.”

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