Lumian Gen AI Newsletter Issue #38

Welcome to the 38th edition of the Lumian Weekly Gen AI Newsletter!

So, Anthropic's Claude 3 Opus just outpaced OpenAI's GPT-4 on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena leaderboard. The Chatbot Arena, for those uninitiated, is less Colosseum and more a sophisticated version of those "Which burger tastes better?" blind tests, but for AI models. It's where Silicon Valley's finest go to flex their algorithmic muscles, and everyone else goes to find out if their new chatbot can actually fool their mom into thinking it's human.

Now, GPT-4 has been the reigning champion, a kind of IBM in the early days of computers—seemingly unbeatable, a monolith. Then along comes Claude 3, the scrappy startup to GPT-4’s established corporation, if you will. Like when Netflix started making its own shows and suddenly the Emmys were like, "Oh, you're actually serious about this."

Using the Elo ranking system, Claude 3 Opus achieved a ranking of 1253, slightly above GPT-4-1106-preview's 1251, marking the first time Claude surpassed a model from OpenAI in this context. The backdrop here is the AI equivalent of a trading floor, where the currency is votes from anonymous internet users who decide which AI sounds less like a robot. Claude 3's victory is a bit like when a dark horse candidate starts leading in the polls. It's surprising, a little exciting, and makes you wonder about the betting odds.

What does this all mean for the layperson? Well, it's a bit like when your favorite indie band goes mainstream. Sure, the purists might grumble about selling out, but at the end of the day, more people get to enjoy good music. In this case, that 'music' is sophisticated AI that can write, joke, code, and maybe even help you cheat at crossword puzzles.

OpenAI's expected response, possibly in the form of GPT-5, is the financial market equivalent of Apple launching a new iPhone. It's expected, eagerly anticipated, and will probably sell out in seconds—even if it's just marginally better than the last model. Because in both AI and smartphones, the latest model is always the greatest, at least until the next one comes along.

What’s equally fascinating is that Claude 3's mastermind, Anthropic, has been stirring the pot in more ways than one. 

Anthropic, the brain behind the AI model, has been in the spotlight also for its strategic financial maneuvers. A noteworthy development involves FTX's bankruptcy estate, which has finalized a deal to sell a significant portion of its shares in Anthropic to a constellation of institutional investors, pooling a hefty sum of $884 million. Leading the charge in this investment spree is ATIC Third International Investment Company, under the aegis of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, earmarking $500 million for a slice of Anthropic. This investment maneuver is a clear indicator of the global race for AI dominance, with sovereign funds and institutional giants betting big on companies like Anthropic to lead the charge.

Adding another layer to this complex tale is Amazon Web Services (AWS), whose whopping $4 billion investment in Anthropic signifies more than just financial backing—it's a strategic alliance aimed at solidifying AWS's dominion as the cloud computing colossus. Yet, this partnership also shines a light on the cutthroat competition AWS faces, particularly from Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, both of which are making significant strides in generative AI, intensifying the race for supremacy in this explosive field.

The AI arena might not have cheerleaders or halftime shows, but it's got all the drama and suspense of a championship game, with none of the sweat.

Happy reading! 📚🤖🎵

In this week’s issue:

• News Flash: Hume’s EVI, Apple’s AI Strategy, OpenAI x Hollywood 

• AI Frontier: AI Wearables you can use today

• Twitter Spotlight: Deepfakes

• Fundraising: The biggest deals in AI

• Nerd Out: Technical and Business Content for Everyone

🚀 Twitter Spotlight

Deepfakes

🚀 AI in Practice

Cutting-Edge AI Wearables You Can Use Today

• Tone - A $299 AI wearable that acts as your second brain

• Humane - A $699 AI wearable that lets you interact with the world