Microsoft exec called AI scraping ‘the largest theft of labor in human history,’ new unredacted filings reveal

New unredacted information in the copyright lawsuit The New York Times brought against OpenAI and Microsoft three years ago reveals an admission that AI scraping was tantamount to theft, and that AI products pose a major threat to publications. Per the lawsuit, a top Microsoft executive privately described the companies’ AI training practices as “theft,” … Read more

PrismML hopes its tiny LLM will change how we all use AI

If AI lab PrismML isn’t on your radar yet, it should be — not because it’s raised gobs of money (it hasn’t yet, just a $22.25 million seed round), but because of the technical minds involved and the potentially industry-changing tech it’s developing. PrismML is betting that capable, high-performing, reasoning large language models don’t, in … Read more

Google DeepMind launches institute to widen the AGI debate

Google and Google DeepMind researchers launched the DeepMind Institute on Wednesday to advance the conversation around artificial general intelligence (AGI). The institute lists DeepMind co-founder Shane Legg, Google executive James Manyika, and Google DeepMind chair Demis Hassabis as directors, with Legg serving as managing editor.  The new institute aims to surface differing views between Google, … Read more

Khosla-backed Mazama Energy just raised $135M to drill deeper into super-hot-rock geothermal

Geothermal startup Mazama Energy raised $135 million in an oversubscribed Series B, the startup said Thursday. The fresh funding will help the company develop horizontal wells in super-hot rocks capable of generating 15 megawatts of electricity per well. Mazama plans to start generating electricity sometime next year and said its first site in Oregon is … Read more

Crusoe raises $3.9B to build massive data centers and small modular “AI factories”

Data center developer Crusoe said Thursday it raised $3.9 billion in a Series F round that pushes its valuation to $30.9 billion. The massive round was co-led by Atreides Management, Mubadala Capital, and Valor Equity Partners. Founders Fund, GIC, Nvidia, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Radical Ventures, and TPG also participated, according to Crusoe. Crusoe also … Read more