AI: Weekly Summary. RTZ #604

AI: Weekly Summary. RTZ #604

  1. Biden Administration AI Diffusion Moves: The outgoing Biden administration is cranking up the AI Chip ‘war’ with China, with its rollout this week of new AI Diffusion rules. It adds new friction points for major US technology companies like Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle and others, in the sale and deployment of AI GPU chip infrastructure, and AI Data centers around the world. Over a 100 countries are tiered into three groups, with accelerating licensing requirements further up the tiers. China of course is Tier 3. The 20 allied nations in Tier 1 have the least restrictions, but there are still close monitoring requirements. All of this adds meaningful headwind to US trade and proliferation of its AI technologies around the world. And an opportunity for China to sell into these markets more aggressively. Outgoing Commerce Secretary Raimondo did add a 120 day review period, for the Trump administration to modify the AI Diffusion Rules as needed. More here.

  1. US Tech leans into Trump 2.0: The US Tech industry has positioned itself tactically and strategically with the incoming Trump Administration. Next week’s inauguration has a host of Silicon Valley investors and executives participating, not to mention a range of non-tech companies and their senior executives. It’s all in the context of a ‘pragmatic approach’ by business leaders, focusing on a range of issues that have priority for them. Some tech leaders are more critical than others of course. The most visible and likely most consequential shift in terms of mainstream social media markets of course, is the shift by Meta founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It’s all part of the tech industry’s ‘RealPolitik’ approach (aka ‘RealTekPolitik’) to DC going forward. More here.

  1. OpenAI/Axios Local News deal: This week saw another ‘win/win’ arrangement between an AI and a news publishing company, with OpenAI and Axios signing a partnership to develop ‘local newsrooms’ in a host of US cities. This continues a trend of similar deals earlier by Google and McClatchy, as well as Meta with Reuters last year. The broader context of course is the ongoing tussle between LLM AI and content publishers over the use of their content in current and future AI models. The issue of ‘Fair Use’ is at the core here, and will take a while to sort out through the courts and regulators. In the meantime, the flow of deals to test out new opportunities on both sides will likely continue. More here.

  1. EU open to AI/Tech discussions: The EU is re-evaluating its tech investigations against Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta according to reports. The actions are on the eve of the Trump administration inauguration next week. US companies like Meta and others are urging intervention by the new administration on ‘overzealous EU enforcement’. Not to mention Elon Musk’s recent involvement in European politics as well. The other development is ongoing transition in EU tech governance in the New Year, with Denmark’s Margrethe Vestager and France’s Thierry Vreton, both stopping down from the commission late last year. Both had been taking a toughline against US Tech companies. For now, this issue joins the broader array of US/EU issues under discussion with the political changes here and there. More here.

  1. US TikTok 1/19 Judgment Day: With the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the US TikTok ban, the decisions now shift to the Biden and incoming Trump Administrations. The outgoing Biden administration is signaling they won’t force TikTok to go dark on Sunday 1/29. And with Trump also opposing a TikTok ban, and the TikTok CEO attending the Trump inauguration next week, it is likely that over 170 million US users will continue to get their daily TikTok fix. With a lot of uncertainty of millions of creators. A transaction for the US assets will likely take more time than the weekend so for now, a brief extension is likely. Number of options are possible going forward. And Bytedance’s founder Zhang Yiming, China’s richest man, along with China with its ‘Golden Share’ control, can drive deal dynamics with Elon Musk and possibly other US investors. Other winners and losers will of course shake out. The Drama continues. More here.

Other AI Readings for weekend:

  1. Google rolls out Titans AI paper, a promising solution to the memory challenges with AI Transformers.

  2. FTC bans GM selling driver data to reporting agencies, a precedent for driving internet/AI data going forward.

Up next, the Sunday ‘The Bigger Picture’ tomorrow. Stay tuned.

(NOTE: The discussions here are for information purposes only, and not meant as investment advice at any time. Thanks for joining us here)





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