Microsoft

Microsoft Bing AI chatbot gives misleading election info, data

A recent study from two European nonprofits revealed that Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot, now rebranded as Copilot, gives misleading or inaccurate information about election information.

A study from two Europe-based nonprofits has found that Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) Bing chatbot, now rebranded as Copilot, produces misleading results on election information and misquotes its sources.

The study was released by AI Forensics and AlgorithmWatch on Dec. 15 and found that Bing’s AI chatbot gave wrong answers 30% of the time to basic questions regarding political elections in Germany and Switzerland. Inaccurate answers were on candidate information, polls, scandals and voting.

It also produced inaccurate responses to questions about the 2024 presidential elections in the United States.

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Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic led failed shareholder proposal asking Microsoft to study AI safety

“Proposal 13” asked Microsoft to consider the potential for shareholder harm if its AI products created legal issues for the company over the long term.

Krist Novoselic, co-founder and bass guitarist for the seminal rock band Nirvana, recently led a shareholder proposal presentation urging Microsoft to reevaluate its approach to generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Called Shareholder Proposal 13: Report on AI Misinformation and Disinformation, per a press release, the proposal was submitted by Arjuna Capital “on behalf of Krist Novoselic” and several other shareholder groups.

The proposal cited several key shareholder concerns, including the potential for Microsoft-developed or -backed models to participate in the spread of mass disinformation and misinformation.

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Microsoft faces UK antitrust probe over OpenAI deal structure

The regulator’s examination will assess whether the collaboration constitutes an “acquisition of control,” implying the substantial influence of one party over another.

The United Kingdom’s antitrust regulator is considering initiating a merger investigation into Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar collaboration with OpenAI.

This announcement resulted in a response from Microsoft, declaring that it only plays a non-voting observer role on the board of the ChatGPT maker.

The investigation announcement follows the ChatGPT maker’s disclosure that the United States tech giant would hold a non-voting board seat. The examination will assess whether the collaboration constitutes an “acquisition of control,” implying the substantial influence of one party over another, as stated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday, Dec. 8.

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Meta’s AI boss says there’s an ‘AI war’ underway, and Nvidia is ‘supplying the weapons’

The outspoken executive also said that Meta isn’t pursuing quantum computing because it isn’t currently useful.

Meta AI boss Yann LeCun sounded off on the industry-wide state of artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing during a recent event to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the founding of Meta’s Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) team.

During LeCun’s commentary, he commented on Nvidia’s current stranglehold on the AI hardware industry, the likelihood that human-level AI will emerge in the near future, and why Meta isn’t currently pursuing quantum computing alongside its competitors.

The artificial intelligence war

LeCun’s views on the imminence of so-called human-level AI are well-documented.

By comparison, Elon Musk recently made the bold prediction that a “digital god” would arrive within the next three to five years.

In the middle, perhaps, lies Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. He recently stated that AI would be able to complete tests in a manner “fairly competitive” with humans in the next five years.

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12 days of unemployment later, Sam Altman is officially back at OpenAI

Sam Altman addressed employees in a company memo on Nov. 29, marking his official return to the top leadership position at OpenAI.

OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman has officially returned to office as the firm’s CEO, ending a whirlwind few weeks caused by his abrupt and unexpected temporary departure. 

Addressing OpenAI employees in a company memo made public on Nov.

Altman also confirmed a “new initial board” with Salesforce CEO Bret Taylor as chair, former United States Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo, the CEO of social question-and-answer website Quora.

“I have never been more excited about the future.

It was signaled to Altman that he would be reinstated as CEO on Nov. 22, only two days after he was initially fired.

Microsoft gets non-voting seat on OpenAI board

Altman revealed that Microsoft will also be included as a non-voting observer on the new board. 

“We clearly made the right choice to partner with Microsoft and I’m excited that our new board will include them as a non-voting observer,” he said. 

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Crypto Biz: EU looks under the hood of Big Tech algorithms, Musk’s TruthGPT and more

This week’s Crypto Biz explores the fast-growing AI market, MicroStrategy’s integration with Bitcoin Lightning Network, and Microsoft’s efforts to power AI development.

Whether the intelligence can provide truthful answers will have to be seen, but the move would undoubtedly strengthen Musk’s business portfolio, which already includes SpaceX and Twitter, both companies sharing Musk’s curiosity about the universe and his approach to truth.

Speaking of facts, European authorities are strengthening regulations on AI projects by launching a new research hub to investigate Big Tech algorithms. A team of multidisciplinary experts will be in charge of looking “under the hood” of large search engines and online platforms to examine how those algorithms contribute to the spread of illegal and harmful content.

This week’s Crypto Biz looks at the latest developments in the fast-growing AI market, MicroStrategy integration with the Bitcoin Lightning Network, and Microsoft’s efforts to power AI development.

Artificial intelligence (AI) might soon answer a profound philosophical question. Finding what the truth is will be the focus of Elon Musk’s new endeavor TruthGPT, an AI dedicated to finding the fundamental nature of the universe and addressing an alleged “left-wing” bias in the industry. 

Microsoft is developing its own AI chip to power ChatGPT

Since 2019, Microsoft has been developing its own artificial intelligence chips to cut down growing costs for both its own and OpenAI projects, reducing its reliance on Nvidia’s GPUs. The move reflects a chip shortage that affected many industries worldwide during the pandemic. One of the most popular GPUs for training machine learning systems, the Nvidia H100 can be purchased for $40,000 on reseller services such as eBay amid increasing market scarcity.

MicroStrategy’s Saylor fuses work email address with Bitcoin Lightning

MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor disclosed the integration of email addresses with the Bitcoin Lightning Network, allowing transactions using emails instead of wallet addresses. In a screenshot, Saylor showed a few transactions sent to his corporate email account in the form of satoshis, the smallest unit of Bitcoin (BTC). It’s unclear if the solution is available for other MicroStrategy email addresses. The Lightning Network is a popular Bitcoin scaling solution capable of processing 1 million transactions per second at the cost of 1 satoshi per transaction.

Elon Musk to launch truth-seeking artificial intelligence platform TruthGPT

Elon Musk is developing a ChatGPT rival known as “TruthGPT,” a large language model that will be trained to explore the “nature of the universe.” During an interview with American cable network Fox News, Musk said that the truth-seeking AI would also push back against what he perceives as “left-wing” bias in the industry. ChatGPT “is programmed by left-wing experts, which train the chatbots to lie,” according to Musk. That is not the first time Musk has attacked ChatGPT; he recently spearheaded a letter calling for the halt of advanced AI development claiming societal concerns.

Before you go: OpenAI has until April 30 to comply with EU laws, ‘next to impossible’ say experts

OpenAI faces its biggest regulatory challenge as Italian authorities insist the company has until April 30 to comply with local and European data protection and privacy laws. Under the EU’s laws, tech outfits must solicit user consent to train with personal data. Companies operating in Europe must also allow Europeans to opt out of data collection and sharing. According to experts, this will be difficult for OpenAI since its models are trained on massive data troves, which are scraped from the internet and conflated into training sets.

Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse of the business behind blockchain and crypto, delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.

Warren Buffett was wrong about a ‘rat poison’ Bitcoin portfolio, data shows

Warren Buffett is not a big fan of Bitcoin, and this position has cost his investment portfolio at least a 320,000% potential gain.

Legendary investor Warren Buffett sees no value in Bitcoin (BTC), infamously calling it “rat poison squared.” But data shows that adding Bitcoin to a so-called “rat poison portfolio,” an equally weighted portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft, JPMorgan and BlackRock stocks, would have produced much better returns for The Oracle of Omaha.

“Rat poison portfolio” with Bitcoin does better 

Since 2014, allocating only 2.5% Bitcoin yearly to the rat poison portfolio increases returns by nearly 20% with reduced risks, according to independent market analyst Alpha Zeta. For now, the portfolio’s returns stand around 16%.

Rat poison portfolio with Bitcoin allocations. Source: Alpha Zeta

Despite Bitcoin’s notorious price volatility, Alpha Zeta noted that BTC’s correlation with the stocks of Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft, JP Morgan and BlackRock is very low.

Correlation between Bitcoin and Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft, JP Morgan and BlackRock stocks since 2014. Source: Alpha Zeta

For instance, during the 2021–2023 bear market, allocating Bitcoin to the rat poison portfolio could have negated losses by around 10%.

Rat poison portfolio drawdown including Bitcoin’s 2.5% allocation. Source: Alpha Zeta

In other words, BTC typically negates losses imposed by downside movements in the said stocks. Therefore, allocating a small portion of Bitcoin to the rat poison portfolio has proven to be a reasonable hedging strategy to offset potential negative returns.

Bitcoin has outperformed Berkshire Hathaway by 320,000%

Bitcoin proponents have projected it as an alternative to traditional safe-haven assets, such as gold, given the scarcity that comes with its fixed supply of 21 million BTC and increasing deflation over time.

This has attracted many people to buy Bitcoin as a way of offsetting fiat debasement and excessive money printing by central banks around the world. For instance, the number of non-zero Bitcoin addresses has grown from around 2,500 in 2009 to over 45 million in 2023, per Glassnode.

The number of non-zero Bitcoin addresses since 2009. Source: Glassnode

Nonetheless, Buffett has recently said that Bitcoin is a gambling token, noting that “it doesn’t have any intrinsic value […], but that doesn’t stop people from wanting to play the roulette wheel.”

However, the veteran investor continues to have exposure in the broader crypto market through his popular investments, such as Nubank, which offers crypto-related services in Latin America.

Related: Financial analyst agrees Bitcoin could be ‘rat poison,’ but not in the way you think

As of April 2023, Bitcoin is down nearly 60% from its record high of $69,000 in November 2021 but is up 100% so far this year.

Since its launch in January 2009, Bitcoin has outperformed Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio by over 320,000%.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Microsoft is developing its own AI chip to power ChatGPT: Report

The software giant is reportedly developing its own machine learning chips to power AI projects for OpenAI and its own internal teams.

Microsoft has secretly been developing its own artificial intelligence (AI) chips to deal with the rising costs of development for in-house and OpenAI projects, per a report from The Information.

Reportedly in the works since 2019, Microsoft’s recently revealed hardware venture appears to be designed to reduce the Redmond, Washington company’s reliance on Nvidia’s GPUs.

A Google search reveals that the Nvidia H100, one of the more popular GPUs for training machine learning systems, costs as much as $40,000 on reseller services such as eBay amid increasing market scarcity.

These high costs have pushed several Big Tech companies to develop their hardware, with Meta, Google and Amazon all developing machine-learning chips over the past few years.

Details remain scarce as Microsoft hasn’t officially commented yet, but The Information’s report claims that the chips are being developed under the code name “Athena” — perhaps a nod to the Greek goddess of war, as the generative AI arms race continues to heat up.

Related: Italy ChatGPT ban: Data watchdog demands transparency to lift restriction

The report also mentions that the new chips are already being tested by team members from Microsoft’s internal machine-learning staff and OpenAI’s developers.

While one can only speculate at this time as to how OpenAI intends to use Microsoft’s AI chips, the company’s co-founder and CEO, Sam Altman, recently told a crowd at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that the infrastructure and design that got the company from GPT-1 to GPT-4 is “played out” and will need to be rethought:

“I think we’re at the end of the era where it’s going to be these, like, giant, giant models. We’ll make them better in other ways.”

This comes on the heels of a busy news cycle for the AI sector, with Amazon recently entering the arena as a (somewhat) new challenger with its first self-developed models leaping onto the scene as part of its Bedrock AI infrastructure rollout.

And, on April 17, tech mogul and world’s richest person Elon Musk announced the impending launch of TruthGPT, a supposed “truth-seeking” large language model designed to take on ChatGPT’s alleged left-wing bias, during an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.

Google ChatGPT rival AI faces in-house resistance: Report

A new report reveals that two former Google employees were vocal about their concerns for society over the release of the company’s new AI chatbot.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a major talking point with the rise to prominence of AI chatbot ChatGPT from OpenAI and generative AI image makers like Midjourney and DALL-E 2. However, not everyone sees eye to eye with this emerging technology.

A new report from The New York Times (NYT) revealed that in March, two Google employees tried to stop the company from launching its own AI chatbot rivaling OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

According to the NYT report, the employees’ jobs are specifically to review Google’s AI products. The employees allegedly believed the technology generated “inaccurate and dangerous statements.”

Microsoft employees and ethicists raised similar concerns months prior, as it, too, planned the release of an AI chatbot to be integrated into its Bing browser. Concerns were voiced at Microsoft about the degradation of critical thinking, disinformation and eroding the “factual foundation of modern society.”

Nonetheless, Microsoft released its Bing-integrated chatbot in February, and one month later, Google released its “Bard” chatbot toward the end of March, both of which succeeded OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT-4 in November 2022. 

Since its release, ChatGPT has stirred up major conversations around the ethics and usage of AI chatbots and image generators.

Midjourney — an application that uses artificial intelligence to generate realistic images — discontinued its free trial to curb problematic deep fakes. Around the same time, an Australian media executive called for monetary compensation from ChatGPT and AI for the news it consumes.

Related: OpenAI finds fresh support from Japan amid global country-wide bans

Meanwhile, there are concerns for the future of society and truth in a letter penned by over 1,000 researchers and thought leaders in the tech space, including Elon Musk. The letter calls to slow the pace of development of the technology.

Global governments have been tackling the emerging technology in a similar tone, with Italian officials temporarily blocking ChatGPT in the country. United States President Joe Biden has also urged tech firms to address risks posed by AI.

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Government requests for user data from Big Tech increased by 25%: Report

Requests for user data from Big Tech companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft continue to rise year-over-year from governments worldwide.

How Big Tech companies treat user data has been controversial for some time. Meta, Apple, Google and Microsoft are often accused of collecting and selling the personal data of their users. Though, where exactly this data goes, and how much of it is given over to companies and governments, is unclear.

However, a new study from Surfshark reveals requests for personal user data from global governments are on the rise. The study focused on the period from 2013 to 2021, with 2020 seeing the largest year-over-year increase of 38%, followed by a 25% increase in 2021.

Meta, Microsoft, Apple and Google were the four Big Tech firms included during the survey, with Meta having the most accounts of interest from authorities. Two out of five accounts hosted by Meta were requested (6.6 million) during the study period. 

Total number of accounts requested (2013–2021). Source: Surfshark

Apple, on the other hand, had the fewest, with just 416,000 requested accounts from global authorities. 

The study shows that 60% of requests came from authorities in the United States and Europe. However, the U.S. requested more than double the accounts per 100,000 users than all countries in the European Union combined.

Following the U.S. in the top spots are Germany, Singapore, the United Kingdom and France.

Related: Nodes are going to dethrone tech giants — from Apple to Google

According to the report, data requests are often related to criminal investigations and civil or administrative cases in which digital data is necessary.

Gabriele Kaveckyte, a member of the privacy counsel at Surfshark, said, along with data requests, authorities are also looking into ways to monitor and tackle crime via online services.

“On one hand, introducing such new measures could help solve serious criminal cases, but civil society organizations expressed their concerns of encouraging surveillance techniques….”

On the part of tech companies, the disclosure rate of user data has increased by nearly 71%. Apple leads the pack when it comes to disclosing such information, with an average disclosure rate of 86% in 2021 and 82% across the study period. 

Percentage of partially or fully disclosed user data requests (yearly average). Source: Surfshark

Decentralization and Web3 tools have often been touted as solutions to overcome Big Tech’s monopoly on user information. Some have even said Web2 platforms like Facebook and Twitter will be “obsolete” thanks to blockchain technology. 

In February, a decentralized version of Twitter, called Damus, officially launched in app stores to be a “social network you control.”

Even Big Tech companies have begun to break into the Web3 space, with Meta unsuccessfully introducing nonfungible tokens on Instagram and Facebook.

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