• Unnamed sources say that Microsoft is paying approximately $650 million in its deal with Inflection AI. $620 million was paid for non-exclusive licensing fees for Inflection's technology and $30 million was paid to get Inflection to agree not to sue over Microsoft's poaching. Inflection will pivot away from building a personalized AI chatbot to becoming an AI studio that helps other companies work with large language model AI. Microsoft has several reasons for needing a backup for OpenAI - for one, its deal with OpenAI is being scrutinized by the FTC.

    Friday, March 22, 2024
  • Accelerated timelines, competition, and a lack of concern from superiors about real-world effects are themes common across a broad spectrum of the biggest effect companies. Engineers are increasingly saying that a large part of their jobs is focused on satisfying investors and not falling behind in the competition rather than solving actual problems for users. Some have been switched over to AI teams to help support fast-paced rollouts without adequate training, even if they are new to the technology. The immense pressure, long hours, and constantly changing mandates are causing burnout.