🤖 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Exclusive: AP strikes news-sharing and tech deal with OpenAI

• The Associated Press (AP) has reached a two-year news-sharing deal with OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, marking one of the first official agreements between a major U.S. news organization and an AI firm.

• OpenAI will license a portion of the AP's text archive dating back to 1985 to train its AI algorithms, while the AP will gain access to OpenAI's technology and product expertise.

• The technical details of how the sharing will work are still being worked out between the two companies.

• The AP has been using automation technology for over a decade, expanding its use in various aspects of news-gathering and production processes.

• The partnership with OpenAI aims to explore responsible use cases for generative AI in news products and services while protecting intellectual property and ensuring fair compensation for content creators.

• The AP is open to exploring similar deals with other AI companies but currently maintains longstanding relationships and ongoing dialogue with various technology companies.

AI Startup Hugging Face Is Raising Fresh VC Funds At $4 Billion Valuation

• Hugging Face, an AI startup, is reviewing competing term sheets for a Series D funding round that could raise over $200 million at a valuation of $4 billion.

• Ashton Kutcher's venture capital firm, Sound Ventures, is leading the investor interest, but Hugging Face has received multiple offers, and the CEO is still considering options.

• The funding round may potentially raise up to $300 million, and existing investors could increase their participation.

• Hugging Face is a prominent player in the AI industry, known for its open-sourced AI models and enterprise-grade tools, with a revenue run rate estimated between $30 million and $50 million.

• The funding frenzy in the AI sector has seen large investments in companies providing language models, and Hugging Face aims to become one of the highest-valued companies in the category at $4 billion.

• The CEO of Hugging Face envisions the potential for multiple $100 billion companies in the generative AI tools space.

Bard’s latest update: more features, languages and countries

• Bard, an AI-powered tool, has expanded its availability to new languages and countries, offering collaboration in over 40 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, German, Hindi, and Spanish.

• Users can now listen to Bard's responses in over 40 languages and adjust the tone and style of the responses to better suit their needs.

• New productivity features include the ability to pin and rename conversations, export Python code to Replit, share responses with others using shareable links, and use images in prompts with the help of Google Lens.

• The expansion follows Bard's commitment to a responsible approach to AI, incorporating user feedback and privacy protection measures.

• The goal of Bard is to augment creativity, imagination, and idea generation, providing users with tools to bring their ideas to life and discover new ones.

⚡️ POWER PROMPTING!

Imagine you are given an opportunity to design a new programming language from scratch that would become widely adopted in the tech industry. What key features would you include in this language and why? Consider its potential syntax, semantics, use cases, and how it could address some of the current issues we face with existing programming languages. Would it be designed more for front-end or back-end development, and why?

Want to submit your own? Tweet me @MarcHoag!

🤖🔥🤯 COOL AI TOOLS, APPS, VIDEOS, PODCASTS, LINKS, AND MORE!

• IMGCreator: AI-powered sketch to image.

• Originality.ai: Condenses text to whatever length you need.

• Cheerleader.ai: Get AI-powered group motivation for whatever you need to get done.

🌡️ CLIMATE CHANGE & CLEAN ENERGY

Reality Check: The True Climate Risk Of Natural Gas

• Natural gas has long been promoted as a climate-friendly alternative to coal, but considering methane releases throughout the supply chain challenges its climate safety credentials.

• Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a climate pollutant over a 20-year period.

• Tackling methane emissions can lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at lower costs compared to complex strategies targeting carbon dioxide.

• Leaky gas, primarily due to unintentional and intentional releases, poses a climate risk equivalent to coal when considering the net emissions from all greenhouse gases.

• Methane leakage in the gas supply chain can be mitigated through simple and cost-effective interventions, such as prohibiting venting and routine flaring and implementing equipment fixes and upgrades.

• Taking action to cut methane emissions is crucial for the natural gas industry to reduce its environmental impact and align with emission reduction goals.

Changing Seasons: Jet Shift Causes Seasonally Dependent Future Changes In The Midwest Hydroclimate

• Global warming-induced poleward shift of the westerly jet is affecting the climate and water cycle in the U.S. Midwest differently in the spring and summer seasons.

• A study reveals that future mean precipitation during the Midwest rainy season is projected to remain relatively unchanged, but there will be a substantial increase in late spring precipitation and a decrease in late summer precipitation.

• The poleward jet shift plays a critical role in driving these seasonally dependent changes in precipitation patterns.

• The predicted changes in precipitation patterns pose significant societal and economic impacts for the agricultural region of the U.S. Midwest, increasing the risk of late-spring deluges and late-summer droughts.

• The study improves scientists' understanding and confidence in climate models' predictions for future changes in the Midwest hydroclimate.

Making sense of the latest climate tech funding trend stories

• Climate tech funding slipped by more than a third in Q1 2023 and dropped 40% in the first half of the year, indicating a slowdown in venture capital investment.

• Europe saw a significant decline in VC funding for climate tech, with a drop of almost 43% in the first half of 2023, particularly in Series B or later-stage deals.

• Energy-focused firms in Europe experienced a gentler decline of 19% in funding compared to the broader climate tech sector.

• Startups focused on carbon removal and carbon accounting, specifically emissions mitigation, received $4.1 billion in VC funding globally, signaling a stronger year compared to 2022.

• The overall decline in climate tech funding doesn't discount the positive outlook for specific areas like emissions mitigation, driven by factors such as low-carbon technologies and increasing climate awareness.

🚗 AUTONOMOUS & ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Volkswagen’s autonomous ID.Buzz EVs to begin transporting passengers in Germany

• Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will begin transporting actual passengers in its autonomous ID.Buzz electric vans in Germany, including government officials.

• The autonomous rides are part of a pilot project developed in collaboration with MOIA, Volkswagen's European rideshare arm, and Apex.AI.

• The pilot project started in Munich, Germany, and has now expanded to Austin, Texas in the United States.

• The ID.Buzz vans will operate with Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities, as per SAE standards, focusing on urban centers and ridesharing services.

• MOIA will be the first to use Volkswagen's autonomous vehicles and share ride data to contribute to the development and commercialization of the technology.

• Volkswagen intends to outsource operations in the US to external companies in the mobility and transport sector in the future.

DHL Express Gets Hundreds Of EV Charging Stations

• DHL Express has installed 415 Level 2 charging stations provided by PowerFlex to support its electrification efforts.

• The charging stations are installed at DHL service center facilities and vehicle depots, allowing for easy expansion as the company adds more electric vehicles (EVs) to its fleet.

• The chargers are equipped with PowerFlex X energy management software, which monitors and optimizes charging activities.

• DHL Express aims to reduce its carbon footprint and achieve zero emissions, making fleet electrification a key strategy.

• The Adaptive Load Management (ALM) feature of the chargers helps balance power usage and prevent spikes in energy demand, making them grid-friendly.

• The installation of Level 2 chargers is suitable for logistics fleets that spend a significant amount of time parked, as they provide cost-effective and reliable charging.

Tesla Plans To Manufacture A $24,000 Car In India

• Tesla plans to manufacture a $24,000 car in India and is ready to invest in building a factory in the country with an annual production capacity of half a million vehicles.

• The starting price of the vehicles manufactured in India is expected to be 2 million rupees ($24,401), filling a gap in Tesla's product lineup.

• Talks between Tesla and the Indian government have been ongoing since May, discussing incentives for automobile and battery manufacturing.

• Tesla intends to use the factory in India as an export base to ship cars to other Asian countries and measure demand in those markets.

• India, with its large population and growing EV market, presents an opportunity for Tesla to expand its presence and promote the EV revolution.

• The Indian government aims to achieve a significant share of electric vehicles in the automotive market by 2030 and has also invested in a lithium-ion battery cell factory.

🎉 THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY!

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Thanks for reading!

-Marc 👋

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