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Quick hits
- Hybrid work: Amazon orders employees back to the office three days a week.
- 6G coming: U.S. pushes plans for 6G wireless networks up to 100X faster than 5G.
- ARTificial: AI-generated pop song tops charts fueling the debate over AI in the arts.
- 50/50 split: Music artist Grimes says anyone can use her voice for half of the proceeds.
- Self-driving win: California jury finds Tesla auto-pilot did not fail in a bellwether case.
- Code error: Google’s answer to Chat GPT automatically debugs code—but beware of errors.
- Bank of Apple: Apple gets into savings, offering 4.15% interest.
We (HuggingChat) open-source AI
Databricks released Dolly 2.0, calling it the first open source, instruction-following large language model (LLM) for commercial use. Unlike other LLMs (ahem, ChatGPT), Dolly 2.0 was fine-tuned on a transparent and freely available dataset. AI researcher Simon Willison called Dolly 2.0 "a really big deal."
In related news: Stability AI released its own suite of open-source large language models (LLMs) collectively called StableLM that’s trained on a dataset known as the Pile, which includes sources like Wikipedia, Stack Exchange, and PubMed.
And Hugging Face, a leading voice for open-source AI development, launched an open-source alternative to ChatGPT called HuggingChat.
Billionaires dream of fusion power
Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, and Marc Benioff are among the tech founders and investors working to harness the power of the universe to deliver almost limitless energy. They’re working to make fusion reactors a reality. “It’s the holy grail,” Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, told The Wall Street Journal. Fusion is seen as a clean energy alternative to fossil fuels.
Workers needed to build high-speed Internet
The U.S. government faces a worker shortage to make good on its $42.5B plan to expand access to high-speed Internet in rural areas. They’re looking for so-called fiber slicers, the people who install and maintain wired broadband networks. “We’re running around like chickens with our heads cut off,” a CEO told the Wall Street Journal.
Legislating teen social media use
There’s a growing effort across the U.S. to curb teen social media use through legislation, by requiring stricter age verification and, in some cases, parental consent before teens can join some platforms. Arkansas and Utah have laws on the books already, and states including California, Connecticut, Maryland, and Ohio are debating their own restrictions.
The Weekly Pulse
Talent recruitment tool: Debt assistance
In a new twist on tuition assistance benefits, companies are luring talent with debt assistance packages, which can be tax-exempt up to $5,250, to help employees pay off loans. HR pros report that it’s proving to be an effective strategy for attracting and retaining talent.
Tweet of the Week
Trending in Tech
Top 5: Thermal imaging
While it might seem that the tech sector is pivoting away from smartphone apps and towards AI, many suspect the next great breakthrough in the tech sector will be the incorporation of thermal imaging technology into consumer phones. Startups shaping the emerging field include Skydio, ChrysaLabs, Kernel, Owl Autonomous Imaging, and Athena Security.
What We’re Reading
- Internal FAQ: What Amazon is telling employees before they return to the office next week (GeekWire)
- Twitter alternative T2 readies expansion with launch of invites system (TechCrunch)
- People are using A.I. chatbots to write Amazon reviews (CNBC)
- Spotify CEO Calls AI ‘Cool and Scary’ as It Hits Music Industry (Wall Street Journal)
- YouTube case at Supreme Court could shape protections for ChatGPT and AI (Reuters)
- ‘Some people will quit over this decision’: Read Redfin CEO’s memo on back-to-office mandate (GeekWire)
- The tech entrepreneur betting he can reverse his age (BBC)
Recently Funded
Amsterdam-based Weaviate, a developer of an AI-native vector database, raised a $50M Series B led by Index Ventures. They’re hiring site developers and reliability engineers.
Munich-based Smart Reporting , which uses AI in medical documentation, received a $15M venture debt loan from the European Investment Bank. They’re hiring stack developers, financial specialists, and medical developers.
New York-based Insur, an on-demand insurance provider, raised $26M in funding led by JVP. They’re hiring data analysts, DevOps engineers, and claims technicians.
Startups hiring now
- Dare Drop: Connecting People to Products they Need, Through Content they Love | 8 open roles
- Design To Be: A community for designers to grow their emotional intelligence | 1 open role
- YipiData: A remote-first company with employees across the globe | 51 open roles