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Quick Hits
Creative study: AI rivals college students in originality.
Entertaining offers: Disney recruits AI/ML superteam.
ML or MLB?: Netflix lures talent with $900k pay.
Blockchain gain: VCs launch Ordinals accelerator program.
Added pressure: Apple Watch X adds blood pressure tracking.
‘Unmet expectations’: Big Tech enforces in-office mandates.
‘ChatGPT chaos’: Professors confront AI in the classroom.
Humans vs. chatbots: Defcon hackers expose chatbot flaws.
Pressing pause: PayPal halts U.K. crypto sales until 2024.
Who owns crypto?: Study finds it’s mostly young men.
Companies pay top $ for AI/ML talent
Companies in the midst of an AI recruiting frenzy are upping salary offers to win top talent. Netflix stirred debate with an offer of $900k for one role. “We do not magically have thousands of additional AI developers, product managers and everything else,” one recruiter says. The average expected salary for a machine learning engineer at a startup is hovering around $128k, with top firms paying an average of $192k, according to Wellfound data.
‘AI made it possible’
British researchers are expanding their arsenal of AI tools to monitor and protect wildlife. They’re dotting landscapes with AI-controlled cameras and microphones to identify and track a rapidly expanding list of species that includes birds, bats, and even hedgehogs—all without human interaction.
Ag tech seeks ‘ground truth’ data
Many of the 200+ U.S.-based ag techs are developing personalized AI assistants for farmers—but first they need “ground truth data.” Seattle-based Aigen’s robots collect soil and plant data to feed quantized AI model. Others use satellite imagery, drones, and IoT devices. McKinsey says 4 in 10 farmers plan to adopt new tech within the next couple of years.
$3.5B for carbon capture
In a potential boon for U.S.-based green tech startups, the Department of Energy pledged $3.5B toward carbon capture. Four regional hubs will each store 1M+ metric tons of carbon dioxide per year using direct air capture (DAC). That’s a mere fraction of the carbon that must be captured or stored to achieve Net Zero by 2050, according to DOE.
Your next VC could be NATO
Deep tech startups in over a dozen countries are preparing slide decks for a new type of VC partner: NATO. Billed as the world’s first multi-sovereign venture capital fund, the NATO Innovation Fund will start investing in startups in over two dozen participating countries with a focus on deep tech for defense and security.
From the Founders
In this From the Founders interview, we talk to Kristy Kim from TomoCredit about her passion for opening credit markets for young generations and immigrants like herself.
Kristy shares her journey from first-generation American with no credit score, to investment banker, to startup founder, now leading one of the most diverse teams in fintech.
The Weekly Pulse
40% of workers will be impacted by AI and automation.
Source: World Economic Forum
In a new report, the World Economic Forum predicts new technologies will disrupt 85M jobs globally and create 97M new roles by 2026. Employees are more likely to be augmented than replaced by generative AI, and entry-level employees are expected to see the biggest shift. A little over 75% of executives reported that entry-level positions are already seeing the effects of generative AI.
Poll of the week
Companies Hiring Now
San Francisco-based DynamoFL raised a $15.1M Series A to help businesses train large language models on sensitive data.
London-based Phasecraft raised a $16.5M Series A led by Playground Global to improve quantum algorithms.
Singapore-based Web3 startup ZTX raised a $13M seed fund led by Jump Crypto to develop a 3D open-world platform.
Australia-based Marqo raised a $5.2M seed led by Blackbird Ventures to improve search for e-commerce, generative AI, and other uses.
Arlington, Va.-based ElectroTempo raised a $4M seed led by Buoyant Ventures for its software for electric charging networks.
Phoenix, Ariz.-based Toothio raised a $4M seed led by Craft Ventures for its dental staffing platform.
Seattle-based Membrion, a University of Washington spinoff that creates ceramic membranes for wastewater treatment, raised a $12.5M Series B.
Tweet of the Week
What we're reading
Companies Put AI to Work Outside the Cloud, Trimming Costs (WSJ)
A Crypto Mystery: Who Controls This Fast-Growing Stablecoin? (WSJ)
The future of crypto hinges on a fight between the SEC and a former burger flipper (NPR)
‘There’s no such thing as a neutral algorithm’: the existential AI exhibition confronting Sydney (Guardian)
The Dream Was Universal Access to Knowledge. The Result Was a Fiasco. (NYT)
Microsoft’s Role in Hack Conjures Ghost of Gates ‘Choose Security’ Memo (Bloomberg)
Podcast of the week
Communication, Jobs, and Remote Work: Staying Connected (What The Tech)