AI News Roundup – Microsoft and Apple forego seats on OpenAI’s board, Washington Post launches AI chatbot, universities revise approach to AI research, and more

To help you stay on top of the latest news, our AI practice group has compiled a roundup of the developments we are following.

• • The Financial Times reports that Microsoft and Apple are foregoing their observer seats on OpenAI’s board as the AI industry faces increasing scrutiny from regulators around the world. Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion in OpenAI, announced its immediate withdrawal from its board role, while Apple decided not to take up its expected position. This move comes amid growing antitrust concerns in the EU and US regarding Big Tech’s investments in AI startups, particularly the partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI. In response, OpenAI plans to implement a new strategy to engage key partners (including Microsoft and Apple) and investors (including Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures) through regular meetings. The company maintains that it remains independent and will continue to be governed by its unique non-profit structure. Despite the move, a source within the U.S. Federal Trade Commission told the Financial Times that it was “unlikely to resolve the agency’s concerns.”

• • The Washington Post has launched a generative AI-powered chatbot to help readers learn about climate issues. The feature, dubbed Climate Answers, will answer questions “directly from articles published by The Washington Post since 2016 that are in the Climate & Environment and Weather sections,” though it will not provide a response if it cannot find a relevant article. According to the company, Climate Answers was developed with the intent “not to replace the critical role our journalists play, but to offer readers new ways to engage with the work we have already published.” It is “an experiment we are releasing so we can learn from [readers] how to improve the experience.” The company has also asked readers to provide feedback on the results to improve its future outputs.

• • Axios reports that OpenAI is partnering with the Los Alamos National Laboratory to research the benefits and risks of using generative AI in a laboratory setting. The collaboration aims to explore how AI can assist in scientific tasks, with an initial experiment focusing on using AI to guide non-experts in performing basic biomedical procedures, such as producing insulin with genetically engineered E. coli bacteria. This initiative is believed to be the first of its kind and could help identify areas where generative AI systems can be most beneficial in scientific research. While OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has emphasized the potential of AI to advance scientific understanding, the partnership also addresses concerns about potential misuse, such as the creation of bioweapons. The study will expand on previous text-based research by incorporating vision and voice data, providing a more comprehensive assessment of AI’s capabilities and risks in a real-world laboratory environment.

• • Universities are revising their approach to AI research as the resource gap between themselves and large tech firms grows, according to The Wall Street Journal. Faced with the high costs of training large AI models, which can exceed $100 million, academic institutions are seeking innovative ways to remain relevant in the field, including forming consortiums to share computing resources, or leveraging partnerships with national laboratories and industry leaders. Additionally, universities are shifting their research focus to areas that require less computing power, such as developing specialized applications for large language models or creating synthetic training data. Despite these efforts, there are concerns about the long-term implications of this resource disparity on AI talent development, research diversity and the broader societal impact of AI technology. University leaders interviewed by The Wall Street Journal emphasized the importance of maintaining academic involvement in AI research to balance industry and government influences on the technology’s development and application.

• • Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will acquire the Finnish AI startup Silo AI for about $665 million as it attempts to catch up to its rival Nvidia in the AI race, according to a report from Reuters. AMD said in a statement that the acquisition will help the company “improve the development and deployment of AMD-powered AI models and help potential customers build complex AI models” with the company’s chips. Silo describes itself as “Europe’s largest private AI lab” and has companies such as Unilever, Rolls-Royce, BMW and Philips among its customers. The move is the latest in a series intended to strengthen AMD’s footing in the AI space; last year, the company acquired AI software firms Mipsology and Nod.ai and has invested more than $125 million across a dozen AI companies over the last 12 months.