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- [00:05]
Brian McCullough
Welcome to the Techmeme ride home for Monday, January 6th, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough. Today Sam Altman says AGI isn't cool. You know what's cool? Super intelligence. Why is nobody using meta's AI profiles? Keep an eye on Zuck is my advice. The big trend at CES so far is AI inside of smart TVs and our first day wrap up of some of the cool things we've seen so far at ces. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Sam Altman was making the rounds this weekend on his personal blog. Sam said OpenAI is, quote, now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it, and that OpenAI is thus turning its focus to super intelligence because of that. Quoting Sam himself, We are now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it. We believe that in 2025 we may see the first AI agents join the workforce and materially change the output of we continue to believe that iteratively putting great tools in the hands of people leads to great broadly distributed outcomes. We are beginning to turn our aim beyond that to superintelligence in the true sense of the word. We love our current products, but we are here for the glorious future. With superintelligence we can do anything else. Super intelligent tools could massively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation well beyond what we are capable of doing on our own, and in turn massively increase abundance and prosperity. This sounds like science fiction right now, and somewhat crazy to even talk about it. That's all right. We've been there before and we're okay with being there again. We're pretty confident that in the next few years everyone will see what we see and that the need to act with great care while still maximizing broad benefit and empowerment is so important given the possibilities of our work. OpenAI cannot be a normal company, end quote. But what about being a normal company that makes money? In separate remarks, Altman said that OpenAI, which isn't profitable, remember, is even losing money on its $200 per month ChatGPT Pro plan because people use it much more than we expected. Quoting TechCrunch I personally chose the price, altman wrote in a series of posts on X, and thought we would make some money. ChatGPT Pro, launched late last year, grants access to an upgraded version of OpenAI's O1 Reasoning AI Model 01 Pro mode and lifts rate limits on several of the company's other tools, including its Sora video generator OpenAI isn't profitable despite having raised around $20 billion since its founding. The company reportedly expects losses of about 5 billion dol on revenue of $3.7 billion last year. Expenditures like staffing, office rent and AI training infrastructure are to blame. ChatGPT was at one point costing OpenAI an estimated $700,000 per day. Recently, OpenAI admitted it needs more capital than it imagined as it prepares to undergo a corporate restructuring to attract new investments. To reach profitability, OpenAI is said to be considering increasing the price of its various subscription tiers. The company optimistically projects its revenue will reach $100 billion in 20, matching the current annual sales of Nestle. Which brings us back to the long whispered questions of can you reach scale in a profitable way if you are an AI model provider, or is the model itself so expensive to produce and run that you can never really recoup the costs? They can't make money on their $20 a month plan, and they can't make money on their $200 a month plan either. Pricing power is somehow counterproductive. At least over the weekend this backlash happened. Summing it up from 404 media quote earlier this week, Meta executive Connor Hayes told the Financial Times that the company is going to roll out AI character profiles on Instagram and Facebook that, quote, exist on our platforms kind of in the same way that accounts do. They'll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform, end quote. This quote got a lot of attention because it was yet another signal that a social network ostensibly made up of human beings and designed for humans to connect with each other is once again betting its future on distinctly inhuman bots designed with the express purpose to pollute its platforms with AI generated slop, just like spammers are already doing. And just like Mark Zuckerberg recently told investors, the explicit plan is in the immediate aftermath of the Financial Times story, people began to notice the exact types of profiles that Hayes was talking about and assumed that Meta had begun enacting its plan. But the meta controlled AI generated Instagram and Facebook profiles going viral right now have been on the platform for well over a year, and all of them stopped posting 10 months ago after users almost universally ignored them. Many of the AI generated profiles that Meta created and announced have been fully deleted. The ones that remain have not posted new content since April 2024, though their chat functionality continues to work. People's understandable aversion to the idea of meta controlled AI bots taking up space on Facebook and Instagram has led them to believe that these existing bots, the new ones announced by Hayes to the Financial Times and Hayes's quote, he says that Meta ultimately envisions releasing tools that allow users to create these characters and profiles and for those AI profiles to live alongside normal profiles. So Meta has not actually released anything new, but the news cycle has led people to go find Meta's already existing AI generated profiles and to realize how utterly terrible they are. Meta actually announced these profiles back in September 2023 alongside the AI celebrity chatbots that Meta has already killed because of total disinterest from users. Of the 28 AI profiles that Facebook announced at time, Meta has already deleted 15 of them, all of which were based on celebrities in some way. Most of the remaining 13 profiles stopped posting in April. What is obvious from scrolling through these dead profiles is that Meta's AI characters are not popular. People do not like them and they did not post anything interesting. They are capable only of posting utterly bland and at times offensive content, and people have wholly rejected them, which is evidenced by the fact that none of them are posting anymore. End quote. Now, I don't know that I agree with all that. It's still early days to see what people want to do with AI bots and the like. But I said this on social media over the weekend. Mark my words, if the AI hype bubble bursts this year, it will be Mark Zuckerberg that burst it. Because think about it, Zuck has spent 20 years doing one thing religiously watching what people do on his platforms, seeing what gets engagement. Mark will see before anyone else if these bots are not something people want to use. And so if you see Meta pull back on capex spending on AI stuff, that will be the real canary in the coal mine. Meanwhile though, Microsoft has announced that it expects to spend $80 billion in fiscal year 2025 on the construction of data centers that can handle AI workloads. So what do I know as CES kicks off this week, there's already one big trend. What do you think? AI and everything. But I'm not just talking about wearables and smart glasses. No AI is coming to TVs. Every manufacturer's TVs, seemingly. But what do you get with AI on your smart TV? Well, let's look at Samsung's new TV lineup for example. Sure, AI upscaling auto HDR remastering, boosting color via AI trickery. But also quoting VentureBeat, click to search can identify people, places or products on your screen and provide information tailored to you in real time. With just one click of the new AI button on your solar cell remote, you can learn who the actors are in a given scene, where that scene is taking place, or even the clothing the characters are wearing. The TVs can also take the dishes from movies or TV shows you're watching and show you how to make them via recipes with Samsung Food leveraging the AI processor, it recognizes the food on your screen and provides recipes for bringing them to life. Samsung Food can also analyze what's in your fridge and build a shopping list of missing ingredients. Plus, you can purchase groceries or takeout using provider apps and monitor delivery right from your tv. AI will also provide security and accessibility features Samsung AI Home Security transforms your TV into a smart security hub. It analyzes video feeds from your connected cameras and audio from your TV's microphone to provide comprehensive home monitoring. It can detect unusual sounds and movements such as falls or break ins, and give you more peace of mind whether you're at home or away. You'll receive alerts and notifications on your phone or directly on your TV screen, helping you stay connected to your home while ensuring the safety and well being of your loved ones. End quote or Can I interest you in bringing Microsoft Copilot to your tv? LG and Samsung hope that I can. Quoting the Verge LG is adding an entire AI section to its TVs and rebranding its remote to AI remote in an effort to sell consumers on the promise of large language models. While it's not clear exactly how CoPilot works on LG's latest TVs, the company describes access to Copilot as a way to allow users to quote, efficiently find and organize complex information using contextual clues. LG hasn't demonstrated its Copilot integration just yet, but it has shown off its own AI chatbot that's part of its TVs. It appears Copilot will be surfaced when LG TV users want to search for more information on a particular subject. End quote and here's more on LG Quoting the verge the usual AI Picture Pro and AI SoundPro optimization modes are present. The C5 series is getting the same virtual 11 channel surround sound that debuted in the G4 last year. LG is also expanding on the picture wizard it introduced two years ago, where viewers pick from a series of images to land on their ideal image settings with a similar process for audio. But this year, the AI focus is much, much bigger than that. LG has new LG AI branding. That's what the mic button now activates. Oh, and I'm sorry, did I call it the magic remote before. This remote has been rebranded as the AI Remote, and there's a whole damn LLM chatbot built into these TVs. Hell, even Microsoft Copilot is being thrown in. The risk LG faces here is getting in the way of pushing this stuff on consumers too aggressively. The company's OLEDs are some of the very best TVs on the market. They offer brilliant visuals with every feature home theater enthusiasts want in 2025. That includes an enhanced filmmaker mode that takes your room's ambient lighting into account and adjusts picture settings accordingly, all the while making sure to maintain the filmmaker's original intent, even if you think it's a bit overhyped. AI is suddenly everywhere, from self driving cars to molecular medicine to business efficiency. If it's not in your industry yet, it's coming fast. But AI needs a lot of speed and computing power, so how do you compete without costs spiraling out of control? Time to upgrade to the next generation of the cloud Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or OCI OCI is a blazing, fast and secure platform for your infrastructure, datab application development, plus all your AI and machine learning workloads. OCI costs 50% less for compute and 80% less for networking, so you're saving a pile of money. Thousands of businesses have already upgraded to oci, including Vodafone, Thomson Reuters and Sunoai. Right now, Oracle is offering to cut your current cloud bill in half if you move to oci for new US customers with minimum financial commitment. Offer ends March 31st. See if your company qualifies for this Special offer@oracle.com Techmeme that's oracle.com Techmeme if.
- [11:45]
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- [11:54]
Brian McCullough
You don't really need me to tell you about the Washington Post when it.
- [11:56]
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Comes to their tech coverage, because I quote from them all the time. But it's not just tech that they're.
- [12:00]
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Good at, they're one of my personal.
- [12:02]
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- [12:05]
Brian McCullough
I even signed up to get the.
- [12:06]
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Post's for your Newsletter, which sends me my very own personalized roundup of stories every morning based on my interests and reading history. Their app makes it easy for me to stay up to date on the latest news, save and share stories, and follow my favorite authors. The Post even offers a cool feature for audio lovers like you. You can actually listen to articles in addition to reading them, so you can tackle your to do list and catch up on the news at the same time. Now more than ever, it's important to stay up to date on the world. So go to washingtonpost.com ride to subscribe for just 50 cents per week for your first year. That's 80% off their typical offer, so this is truly a steal. Once again, that's washingtonpost.com Ride to subscribe for 50 cents per week for your first year.
- [12:50]
Brian McCullough
CES is all about flagship new gadgets and devices, but the fun of it is also the variety of odds and ends that show up. So in the spirit of ces, some of the most interesting new things I've seen so far. For example, how about a robot vacuum that can also pick up the socks and things that might get in its way? Quoting CNET Envision a robot vacuum cleaner. Now envision a mechanical arm extending in front of it to pick up a sock that someone peeled off and tossed to the ground. And now imagine the same robot vacuum cleaner picking up a bunch of discarded items and neatly arranging them while cleaning your floor. That's The Roborock Ceros Z70, a new robot vacuum we spent hours making pickup socks to demonstrate in innovative feature in the world of mechanized cleaning. It's a first and it's a dream come true. The Roborock Saros Z70 is the first mass market robot vacuum with a mechanical arm designed to pick up and move larger debris while it cleans. At the preview event in New York before CES and at the trade show, we noticed that the Saros arm might not always pick up an item on the first try, and the number of objects it can manipulate is pretty small for now, but the technology shows potential to go far beyond just socks. The 5 axis robotic arm called OmniGrip, can pick up things that weigh as much as 300 grams, about 10.5 ounces, and can deposit them in designated areas where you tell them to. The Zarus Z70 isn't on the market just yet, although Roborock told us they expect it to be available sometime in the first half of the year. The price also isn't available yet, but high end robot vacuums routinely run $1,500 or more, end quote. How about a tiny device that you can put on your mug that slowly blows on your tea or coffee to cool it? Quoting CNET Again, it's called the Foo Foo robot and it looks like a cute little cat. But unlike my real cat who only ever sneezes on my hot drinks, this little feline robot hangs over the side of your bowl of soup or coffee mug and blows gentle gusts of cool air onto anything you want to cool down. Inside is a fan that generates breaths in a randomized rhythm designed to mimic human breathing. As it silently breathed on the back of my hand with its button sized cat mouth, it occurred to me that it would likely be much more effective at cooling hot food than warm human breath because it was genuinely cold. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test anything the robot had blown on to double check that it didn't burn my tongue, but it's supposed to bring your food and drink to the perfect temperature within three minutes. Nekojita, translated into Japanese, means cat tongue, a phrase used to describe an intolerance of hot food. Many adults have sensitive tongues, but the idea for the robot initially came from one Yukai engineering team member who wanted an easier way to cool down for food for his baby. LV has an app, controlled Smart Bouncer, for babies that can transform into a bassinet. Quoting TechCrunch. In bouncer mode, the product uses LV's Soothe Loop technology to record and repeat the bounce. Originally established by a parent or caregiver, it can also be used as a manual bouncer if parents don't want automated bouncing in bassinet mode. The Smart Bouncer follows the American Academy of Pediatrics Sleep Safe guidelines, allowing babies to sleep safely at night and during nap time. Parents and caregivers can use the companion LV Rise Sleep and Soothe app to control automated bouncing. The app will also provide parents with valuable insights about their baby's sleep patterns. End quote and finally today, TiVo is back. @ least the brand is quoting the Verge. The company is putting its TiVo OS platform inside a new Sharp TV, arriving as soon as February, rivaling the likes of Roku, Google TV and Amazon's Fire TV. TiVo first announced TiVo OS in 2022, but the platform didn't actually launch until last year. The company bills its operating system as a neutral platform, allowing TV manufacturers to put their own spin on the viewing experience, it says TiVo OS supports a wide range of streaming services and comes with a recommendation system that serves up personalized suggestions. TiVo OS also offers voice controls for select TVs, but it doesn't say whether this sharp one is included. The TiVo equipped Sharp TV seems pretty standard. It comes with a 55 inch 4K QLED panel along with three HDMI ports and Dolby Atmos. There's still no word on how much it will cost or if TiVo plans on bringing its operating system to other TV brands over in Europe, TiVo OS comes packaged in TVs from several different companies, including Sharp, Panasonic, Daewoo and others. Still, TiVo OS is up against some tough competition in the smart TV platform business. Roku powered TVs remain one of the most popular choices in the US while a wide selection of brands already use Amazon and Google's os. It will likely have to be priced competitively if it wants to stand out in the sea of smart TVs. End quote. Hey, it is a new year, so if we've accumulated some new listeners in the past few months, a reminder that the Ride Home Fund exists. It's a rolling fund that I've run for four years now to invest in early stage startups, and all of the LPs in the fund are listeners to the show, just like you. As I say, it's a rolling fund, so if you're interested, you can dip in and out. In terms of investing, the minimum you have to commit is just to four quarters at $5,000 a quarter. If that sounds interesting to you, check out more info@ridehomefund.com where you can subscribe to invest in the fund via Angellist at any time. And if you if you're curious for more info, contact me directly@brianidehomefund.com Talk to you tomorrow.