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Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, we’re looking at OpenAI’s latest – and biggest – from its “12 Days of OpenAI” event; Apple’s entry into the folding market; and why Databricks is choosing to wait to go public. Let’s get into it.
PS We’re off on vacation! Week in Review will be back in your inbox in the new year.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced successors to its o1 model family: o3 and o3 mini. Although the samples are not yet widely available, security researchers can register for a preview. The reveal marks the end of the company’s “12 Days of OpenAI” event, which it announced real time vision, ChatGPT search, and even Santa’s words for ChatGPT. You can find it everything you missed here.
Ray-Ban Meta smart sunglasses We have a big promotion this week. Members of the Meta program have early access now you can download firmware v11, which adds “Live AI.” The feature allows wearers to continuously interact with Meta AI to narrate past conversations in conversations – and it works with real-time video. Instant translation between English and Spanish, French, or Italian, as well as functionality with Shazam is also included in v11.
UnitedHealth’s Optum ditches AI chat, used by employees to ask questions about complaints, disclosed online – and anyone can access it with a browser. Although the chatbot has not appeared to contain or release personal or protected health information, its inadvertent exposure comes at a time when its parent company is facing the use of AI tools and algorithms that it says are suppressing doctors’ medical decisions and rejecting patient claims.
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Story
Oura earns $200M: The smart ring maker closed a $200 million Series D round, valuing the company at $5.2 billion. Oura says the investment will help the company expand its product offerings and resell products, science, AI, and more. read more
Now you can call ChatGPT from a landline: In an effort to make ChatGPT as accessible to as many people as possible, OpenAI announced a 1-800 number to call the chatbot – whether it’s on a landline or by phone. Users can call 1-800-CHATGPT, and an AI assistant will answer over the phone. read more
Tesla tries to boost sales of the Model S: After ending its free Supercharging offer for life in 2018, Tesla is bringing back some Tesla Model S cars by the end of the year. But it’s worth noting that Tesla just increased the price of the Model S by $5,000. read more
Google wants to acquire Sora: Google DeepMind has announced Veo 2, its next generation video AI. The Veo 2 can produce two-minute clips-plus at resolutions up to 4k. That’s 4x the resolution – and more than 6x the time – that OpenAI’s Sora can achieve. read more
Apple is targeting the curved market: Apple plans to launch two foldable devices in the next few years, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Another report from Bloomberg, however, says that the company is looking at a larger, foldable iPad. read more
Bob Lee’s Verdict: A San Francisco jury found Nima Momeni guilty of the 2023 murder of Bob Lee, the developer of the Cash App and former CTO of Block. The jury concluded that Lee’s murder was not premeditated and found Momeni not guilty of first degree murder. read more
Disruption gets Carbon: Disruption found Carbon, a small startup that connects AI systems with external data sources. The company says Perplexity will be able to search your files and messages in Notion, Google Docs, or Slack sometime in early 2025. read more
The term is still up: Temu was also the most downloaded free app in the US, according to Apple’s list of top apps and games on the App Store. The sales program moved to No. 1 slot last year, stealing TikTok’s place. read more
GitHub is launching a free version of Copilot: GitHub now has a free version of its popular Copilot code completion/AI pair programming tool. Until now, developers had to pay a monthly fee, with only certified students, teachers, and open source administrators getting free access. read more
Google releases its “ideas”: Google has released the Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental, which it calls its new AI version of “thinking”. It is currently in the testing stages, and from our brief testing, there is room for improvement. read more
Analyzing
To IPO or not to IPO: Databricks has just closed one of its largest fundraising rounds, raising $10 billion. Naturally, tech investors were quick to ask what this meant for the highly anticipated IPO. In an interview at the Axios AI Summit, CEO Ali Ghodsi said “it’s stupid for an IPO this year” and instead they’re waiting until 2025. Databricks is using this “Series J” to allow early adopters to raise money and continue to grow. Although 2024 was uncertain in many ways, the IPOs of ServiceTitan, Reddit, and other companies have done very well. But, as Maxwell Zeff writes, why take the risk when you can just make more money like Databricks? read more
