Latest AI News
Reid Hoffman weighs in on the ‘tokenmaxxing’ debate
Days after Metashut downits internal “tokenmaxxing” dashboard following news of the AI leaderboardleaking to the press, LinkedIn co-founder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman came out in support of the concept that’s recentlytaken Silicon Valley by storm. An AI token is a small chunk of data that an AI model processes when it’s trying to understand a prompt and generate a response. It’s also the unit that’s used to measure AI usage and determine how much AI services cost. As a result, many companies have begun internally tracking which employees are using the most tokens as a proxy for understanding those who are more readily embracing AI tools. They’re calling this concept “tokenmaxxing” — the “maxxing” being Gen Z lingo for optimizing something, as you may have heard in other slang, like “looksmaxxing” or “sleepmaxxing.” However, engineers at tech companies have been arguing whether or not this metric is a viable measure of productivity in the workplace, as it’s akin to ranking people based onwho spends more moneythan others. .@johncoogansays the recent reporting on Meta's 'tokenmaxxing' is less of a sign of bad incentives at the company, and more of a tell about its potential strategy for more vertical integration:"I think it makes clearer the strategy with MSL. Because it's clear that they're…https://t.co/osZD8c6JT3pic.twitter.com/mjh46Diwei Leaderboards that celebrate employees by how much they use AI are sparking debate—critics call it the wrong metric, while supporters say “tokenmaxxing” is critical for mastering the AI agehttps://t.co/ZBHZSWrQ3L Hoffman, in an interview aired at Semafor’s World Economy summit this week, offered his advice for companies adopting AI, saying he had a favorable view of the practice. Though he didn’t refer to the metric in Gen Z-speak, he did express that tracking employee token spend was a good idea. “You should be getting people at all different kinds of functions actually engaging and experimenting [with AI],” Hoffman said at the event. “Here’s one of the things that is a good dashboard to be looking at — doesn’t mean it’s a perfect example of productivity, but… how much token usage are people actually doing as they’re doing it?” He went on to explain that some people may be using a lot of tokens, but in more random or exploratory ways, which is why you want to pair tracking the “tokenmaxxing” practice with an understanding of the things people are using their tokens to do. “Some of it will be experiments that’ll fail — that’s fine. But it’s in that loop, and you want a wide variety of people using it essentially, collectively, and simultaneously,” Hoffman added. Hoffman shared other advice to companies trying to figure out their AI strategies, too, suggesting that AI should be embedded across the entire organization. He also suggested regular check-ins to share what works with others. “We should have, essentially, a weekly check-in. It doesn’t have to be everyone, all the time with each other –but a group check-in about ‘what did we try to do new this week, to use AI for both personal and group and company productivity, and what did we learn?’ Because what you’ll find, some of the things are really amazing,” Hoffman said.
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After sale of its shoe business, Allbirds pivots to AI
After selling its shoe brand and assetslast month for $39 million, Allbirds is pivoting to AI. Of course, the company is also changing its name, since the footwear brand “Allbirds” was part of the sale. Introducing: NewBird AI, a “fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud solutions provider,” the companyannouncedvia its investor relationssiteon Wednesday. The rebranded AI company also announced a $50 million investment from an undisclosed institutional investor in the form of a convertible financing facility. It’s objectively pretty funny that Allbirds is becoming an AI company — not because it’s unusual for companies to pivot, but because of how extreme this pivot is. The maker of the shoesonce craved by the Silicon Valley tech setis now going to be a provider of GPUs. It’s somewhat absurd — and risky — but you can see how the business came to this decision. After the asset and brand sale, Allbirds can keep the public company’s shell (it’s been traded on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “BIRD”) and then reuse it to invest in the hot AI sector. This recalls the time in 2017 when theLong Island Iced Tea company pivoted to the blockchain, prompting the stock to jump some 275% after the rebranding. That pivot didn’t pan out, as theNasdaq stock exchange delisted the stockthe following year after bitcoin fever died down. Allbirds-turned-NewBird is likely hoping for a different outcome. The company says that the financing and the asset sale are still subject to stockholder approval, with a meeting planned to take place on May 18. If the sale goes through, stockholders will receive a dividend during the third quarter. The new owner of the Allbirds brand and assets, American Exchange Group, will continue to make products for Allbirds customers. Meanwhile, NewBird AI plans to use the new financing to acquire GPU assets, which it will offer to customers seeking AI compute capacity. Over time, the company hopes to grow its service offerings through partnerships and even strategic mergers and acquisitions — if the opportunity arises.
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Indian IT Majors Report Rise in Sexual Harassment Complaints Since FY21
TCS has attributed higher reported cases to increased employee awareness and reporting.
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Karnataka Prepares an Ambitious Quantum Roadmap to Secure 20% of Global Market
The state has raised its quantum fund by 17x and named two new research institutions.
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Karnataka to Unveil Global Innovation Alliance 2.0 for Deeper Tech Partnerships
Representatives from 80+ countries will attend the April 17 conclave in Delhi as Karnataka pitches itself as a gateway for global innovation into India.
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Axtria Acquires Conexus Solutions to Build AI-Powered CRM Stack for Life Sciences
Axtria said the combined offering will enable life sciences companies to move from fragmented workflows to an integrated model spanning data, analytics, CRM, and field execution.
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Meta Partners With Broadcom to Develop Next Generation of Its AI Chipsets
Meta announced a new partnership with semiconductor giant Broadcom on Tuesday. The collaboration is focused on developing multiple generations of custom silicon for Meta's artificial intelligence (AI) apps and services. Currently, the company powers its AI compute via the Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) chips. The Menlo Park-based tech giant recently shared that in the next two years, it plans to release four new generations of its MTIA chips. It is likely that all of them will be developed in partnership with Broadcom.
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Google’s SynthID AI Watermarking Tech Claimed to Be Reverse-Engineered
In the world of artificial intelligence (AI) detection, Google's SynthID stands out. First previewed in 2023, it is a watermarking technology that adds an invisible and imperceptible layer of watermark into the content, including text, images, videos, and audio. The Mountain View-based tech giant claims that SynthID cannot be removed, but a developer is now claiming that he was not only able to reverse engineer the watermarking tech, but also distort it to the level that it confuses systems detecting AI content.
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Robots are Ready on India's Factory Floors, But There's No One to Operate Them
The mismatch between industry requirements and skill training has left many workers unprepared to handle complex robotic systems.
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Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan Joins Anthropic’s Board to Steer AI in Healthcare
The appointment was made by Anthropic Long-Term Benefit Trust, whose members have no financial stake in the AI giant.
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India to Manufacture 99 F414 Jet Engines for Tejas Mk2 Fighters in Landmark GE-HAL Pact
The facility will be owned, operated, and maintained by the IAF, while GE Aerospace will provide technical inputs, training, support staff, and the supply of necessary spares and specialised equipment.
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Wipro-Owned Mindsprint, monday.com to Drive AI-Powered Enterprise Management
The companies aim to streamline workflows across IT service management, customer relationship management, and work management.
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