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Headlines of the week
GPT ‘hype cycle’?
Some AI engineers and investors are urging caution around the “hype cycle” of generative AI, saying they’re getting a case of deja vu.
“With this launch of OpenAI we are at peak hype. It was metaverse before that, cannabis before that. Five years ago it was 3-D printing,” one investor told the Wall Street Journal.
Investors last year poured an estimated $2.6B into 110 generative AI-focused startups in the U.S. Though funding remains around the same level, new startups are cropping up daily in pursuit of VC funding for their GPT-powered innovations. To investors’ annoyance, some of these companies are simply using the API of OpenAI for new applications and acting as a marketing/distribution layer.
Can AI write this headline better?
Speaking of... new startups are cropping up to harness the power of GPT to help engineers write coherent blog posts. From creating ideas to write about to drafting entire paragraphs in the author’s voice to generating headlines, companies say anyone can now write with confidence using their tools. Some are still in private testing. While they show promise, on Bloomberg reporter concludes: “I’m not worried about my job yet."
Snapchat now recommends gift ideas
Snapchat released its own GPT-powered chatbot that’s trained to offer a “unique tone and personality” and do things like recommend birthday gift ideas, dinner recipes, and “even write a haiku about cheese for your cheddar-obsessed pal,” the company said in a blog post. It’s available only to Snapchat Plus members for now, with plans to expand to all users.
Crypto’s deep freeze
The digital-assets industry shed more than 2k jobs in the first two months of 2023, signaling a further retreat even as some crypto prices have recovered somewhat, according to Bloomberg. Coinbase cut 20% of its workforce in January and says more layoffs could be coming. Crypto.com, Huobi Global, Gemini and Luno also announced job cuts.
‘Golden handcuffs are off’
Tech companies laid off more than 260k workers since the beginning of 2022, according to Layoffs.fyi. Many of those laid off workers are opting to become their own bosses. They’re using healthy severance payments to take a shot at a passion project. “The golden handcuffs are off, and I can do whatever I want now.” founder Jen Zhu told Wired.
Tweet of the week
Trending in tech
Women-founded AI companies are hiring
The women of AI have arrived. They’re hard at work disrupting a dizzying array of industries and hiring tech talent to help.
Proven Skincare is the world's “first Intelligent skincare system.” The company, co-founded by Amy Zaoshi Yuan and Ming S. Zhao, raised over $20M to use AI to isolate ingredients and formulate products to address individual skin types and issues. Zhao got the idea for the company when she looked in the mirror and realized her skin “was starting to wrinkle” even though she was in her 20s.
“This job was robbing me of my soul and my youth, which was even more upsetting,” she told Forbes. Since then there's been no turning back — Proven Skincare continues to grow and is hiring skin-enthusiasts and tech nerds alike.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Lily AI raised $160M to develop AI-powered software that helps big-box retailers and other consumer brands understand the emotional context of their shoppers. The company produces a real-time psychographic analysis of a customer while they’re shopping online to determine their state of mind and then recommends ways to engage that customer. The company was founded by Sowmiya Chocka Narayanan and Purva Gupta.
San Francisco-based Revero raised $10M to reverse autoimmune disease by addressing the root causes. The digital clinic integrates nutritional therapy and clinical expertise with AI and machine learning to deliver data-driven continuous remote care. The company was founded by AI engineer Mahsa Rostami.
Norway-based Vic.ai wants AI into your finance team improves processing time, cuts hours spent on repetitive work and lays the groundwork for more intelligent spend. The company’s co-founders built the first iteration training the platform on historical accounting data and processes from tens of thousands of public companies.
What we're reading
- Twitter shut off its internal Slack, and now ‘everyone is barely working’ (The Verge)
- ‘Even an emoji is better’: LinkedIn users tire of ‘commenting for reach’ replies (Yahoo)
- Facebook’s new $12 fee is straight out of Don Corleone’s playbook (Washington Post)
- Why Do A.I. Chatbots Tell Lies and Act Weird? Look in the Mirror. (New York Times)
- ChatGPT could become a personal tutor to millions of students if it learns lessons from the robot teachers that came before (Fortune)
Companies in the news
- London-based Zipzero, an NFT protocol, raised a $1M seed fund led by Craig Dewar and other angels to enable people to economically benefit from the value of their data.
- Richmond, Vir.-based NeoSwap AI, an NFT trading startup, secured $2M in pre-seed funding at a valuation of $15M.
- San Diego, Calif.-based Term Labs, a blockchain R&D company, raised a $2.5M seed fund led by Electric Capital with participation from Coinbase Ventures and others to pursue fixed-rate lending on blockchains.
- Salt Lake City-based Gauge, an online car auction for car dealers, raised a $5.3M seed fund led by Maniv Mobility to help consumers sell their used cars directly to dealers.
- Colorado Springs, Colo.-based PteroDynamics, which makes vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, raised a $7.5M seed fund led by Kairos Ventures to help fulfill orders from the U.S. military.
✓ Startups hiring now
- Stealth AI: Build software that gives doctors AI superpowers | 4 open roles
- Donner Music: Engaged in audio products, electronic instruments, and acoustics| 4 open roles
- Covariant: Universal AI that allows robots to see, reason, and act on the world around them | 10 open roles