OpenAI signed $51M deal to buy ‘brain’ chips from Sam Altman portfolio firm
Sam Reynolds, Computerworld, Dec, 3, 2023.
A story that got left out of the corporate infighting that led to Sam Altman’s firing, then re-hiring as CEO of OpenAI, was about the firm’s relationship with a startup called Rain Neuromorphics, which is developing a neuromorphic processing unit (NPU) designed to replicate features of the human brain.
Rain says their brain-inspired NPUs could potentially offer 100 times more computing power and, for AI training purposes, deliver up to 10,000 times greater energy efficiency than the GPUs predominantly used by AI developers.
In theory, these NPUs could provide a big boost in processing power for portable “edge” devices such as smartphones or vehicle infotainment devices located far from a data center. Samsung, for instance, says that the Galaxy S24 – its next-generation flagship phone – will be AI-enhanced, but smartphones are limited in their processing abilities by their portable nature.
Altman’s conflict of interest
Before Sam Altman was fired and then rehired at OpenAI, last month, the company had signed a Letter of Intent to buy $51 million worth of Brain’s NPU chips, Wired reported. Complicating the issue further is the fact that this firm is one of Altman’s portfolio companies, bringing up a potential conflict of interest, with the CEO of OpenAI personally investing $1 million in the firm.
On X, VC Jason Calacanis pointed out that Letters of Intent – what OpenAI and Altman drafted to buy chips from Rain – are non-binding making the deal far from confirmed.
There's more at the link.
Hi Bill and thanks for your blog and articles.
ReplyDeleteI'm over OpenAI. Sam shenanigans + Larry Summers. My wallet is getting thinner already. And I don't have a vote other than using / not using the products.
I'd be very interested on your thoughts re Friston and;
https://www.verses.ai/press-2/vers-karl-friston
I only found these two post here;
"Friston offers no specific proposals about how symbolic computation is implemented in the brain, nor, as far as I know, does Hawkins – I should note that I will be looking into his ideas about grid cells in the future."
http://new-savanna.blogspot.com/2022/06/more-post-publication-thoughts-on-rna.html
And;
A computational perspective on mood
http://new-savanna.blogspot.com/2018/02/a-computational-perspective-on-mood.html
Thanks in anticipation.
Well, in that first post of mine you link, I quote Grace Lindsey on grand unifying theories of mind, like Friston's. I still like that line of thought. I've downloaded a bunch of his stuff over the years and looked into it a bit, but am not inclined to look further. He want's too much from that one idea. On the mood business, perhaps he's in better shape on that one, but I've not pursued it.
ReplyDeleteThese days I'm consumed by trying to figure out what's going on inside ChatGPT and, by extension, LLMs in general. I think I'm making progress there and may have found a collaborator. That's where my effort is going these days.
I think OpenAI is over. Yes, they've got momentum, visibility, and tech, but like the field as a whole, at least the commercial side, they seem to be going all-in on scaling LLMs. That's not going to get them there. When that realization finally sinks in, what do they do? Microsoft, Google, & Meta are large enough to support some basic research. OpenAI is not. & when LLMs grinds to asymptote, will they have enough $$ to simply buy new tech? Will there be any new tech for them to buy?
You should take a look at my new piece around the corner at 3 Quarks Daily: https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2023/12/aye-aye-capn-investing-in-ai-is-like-buying-shares-in-a-whaling-voyage-captained-by-a-man-who-knows-all-about-ships-and-little-about-whales.html