We’re back after the holiday break. Below: AI’s implications for 2024 elections, new producers entering the chip-making game, and AI’s potential to address human loneliness.

First, the FTC is investigating large tech companies’ involvement in AI startups.

What’s happening:

• The FTC has opened an inquiry to “shed light on whether investments and partnerships pursued by dominant companies risk distorting innovation and undermining fair competition” said Lina Khan.
• Focus: Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, and Google and Amazon’s investments in Anthropic

Why this is important:

• Previously, regulators were more focused on tech giant’s acquisitions of smaller companies - this focuses on their investments in other companies
• This highlights two trends:
• FTC effort to modernize antitrust law application
• Global trend toward more scrutiny re: how investments influence competition

Policy: latest stories – organized by region

Americas

Federal

• Tech Giants Will Have to Warn the US Government When They Start New AI Projects
• Commerce Department starts requiring AI model operators to report key security data
• US Lawmakers Tell DOJ to Quit Blindly Funding ‘Predictive’ Police Tools
• The campaign to take down the Biden AI executive order
• Social Media CEOs testify on responsibility and child safety. More here and here.

States

• Washington governor signs AI order plotting yearlong policy path
• California Lawmakers Push for Watermarks on AI-Made Photo, Video

Elections

• Officials to Investigate A.I. Robocalls Mimicking Biden
• AI turbocharges campaign fundraising
• Could Techno-Optimism Sway the Election?

Europe

• ChatGPT is violating Europe’s privacy laws, Italian DPA tells OpenAI
• Germany to approve EU's planned AI act

Asia

• China approves over 40 AI models for public use in past six months
• Biden’s new firewall to halt China’s AI development via US cloud firms
• South Korea invests big in becoming a global chip leader

AI Development + Deployment: industry trends, intentional development, and more

Chips

• Nvidia’s Big Tech Rivals Put Their Own A.I. Chips on the Table
• New raises: Rebellions raises $124M, Semron raises $7.9M for AI chips with 3D packaging
• More: OpenAI’s discussion with congress, Musk Plans to Buy AMD Chips

Capacity

• Google’s Hugging Face deal puts ‘supercomputer’ power behind open-source AI
• Meta releases ‘Code Llama 70B’, an open-source behemoth to rival private AI development

Copyright

• The Sleepy Copyright Office in the Middle of a High-Stakes Clash Over A.I.
• Nightshade, the tool that ‘poisons’ data, gives artists a fighting chance against AI

Platform Governance

• Explicit Deepfake Images of Taylor Swift Elude Safeguards and Swamp Social Media
• OpenAI partners with Common Sense Media on kids' safety

Intentional development

• Etching AI Controls Into Silicon Could Keep Doomsday at Bay
• Why AI needs to learn new languages
• Resource: https://www.deeplearning.ai/short-courses/

Where AI is going: growth, breadth, and pace of technology

Humanity

• AI chatbots take aim at human loneliness
• AI holds tantalising promise for the emerging world

Policy

• Opinion: What if Regulation Makes the AI Monopoly Worse?

Economy

• As layoffs deepen, AI’s role in the cuts is murky – but it definitely has one
• How AI could help curb global labor shortages
• Opinion: The Knowledge Economy Is Over. Welcome to the Allocation Economy

Startups

• This Chinese Startup Is Winning the Open Source AI Race
• Refact aims to make code-generating AI more appealing to enterprises
• Arc Search combines browser, search engine, and AI into something new and different
• Essential AI chooses Google's Cloud

ICYMI

• What’s next for AI regulation in 2024?
• Bill to regulate state's use of artificial intelligence introduced in California Senate
• Making sense of 2023’s tsunami of AI policy changes
• What Generative AI Reveals About the Human Mind
• Survey of 2k AI researchers on timelines of AI advancement

Thanks for reading. Feel free to get in touch with your questions, thoughts, or recommendations for next time.