# 182 - Alexa 2.0, MiniMax, Surskever raises $1B, SB 1047 approved
01:38:47 Share

Our 182nd episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! With hosts Andrey Kurenkov) and Jeremie Harris).

Read out our text newsletter and comment on the podcast at https://lastweekin.ai/). If you would like to become a sponsor for the newsletter, podcast, or both, please fill out this form).

Email us your questions and feedback at [email protected] )and/or [email protected])

Sponsors:

• Agent.ai) is the global marketplace and network for AI builders and fans. Hire AI agents to run routine tasks, discover new insights, and drive better results. Don't just keep up with the competition—outsmart them. And leave the boring stuff to the robots 🤖

• Pioneers of AI), is your trusted guide to this emerging technology. Host Rana el Kaliouby (RAH-nuh el Kahl-yoo-bee) is an AI scientist, entrepreneur, author and investor exploring all the opportunities and questions AI brings into our lives. Listen to Pioneers of AI, with new episodes every Wednesday, wherever you tune in.

In this episode:

• OpenAI's move into hardware production and Amazon's strategic acquisition in AI robotics.
• Advances in training language models with long-context capabilities and California's pending AI regulation bill.
• Strategies for safeguarding open weight LLMs against adversarial attacks and China's rise in chip manufacturing.
• Sam Altman's infrastructure investment plan and debates on AI-generated art by Ted Chiang.

Timestamps + Links:

(00:00:00) Intro / Banter

(00:05:15) Response to listener comments / corrections

Tools & Apps (00:07:32) Amazon Picks Anthropic to Power Alexa 2.0)

(00:12:12) Forget Sora — MiniMax is a new realistic AI video generator and it’s seriously impressive)

Applications & Business (00:14:56) Ilya Sutskever’s startup, Safe Superintelligence, raises $1B)

(00:22:20) TSMC’s A16 Process Creates a Buzz Before Mass Production, as OpenAI Reportedly Secures Capacity)

(00:29:13) Amazon hires the founders of AI robotics startup Covariant)

(00:33:33) OpenAI weighs changes to corporate structure amid latest funding talks)

(00:37:43) Chinese GPU-maker XCT, once valued at $2.1B, is on the verge of collapse — shareholders now suing founder)

(00:40:34) TSMC aims to ready next-gen silicon photonics for AI in 5 years)

Projects & Open Source (00:44:10) Alibaba releases new AI model Qwen2-VL that can analyze videos more than 20 minutes long)

Research & Advancements (00:48:32) Fire-Flyer AI-HPC: A Cost-Effective Software-Hardware Co-Design for Deep Learning)

(00:55:52) 100M Token Context Windows)

(01:03:50) Smaller, Weaker, Yet Better: Training LLM Reasoners via Compute-Optimal Sampling)

(01:06:16) AnyGraph : An Effective and Efficient Graph Foundation Model Designed to Address the Multifaceted Challenges of Structure and Feature Heterogeneity Across Diverse Graph Datasets)

Policy & Safety (01:08:16) California Legislature Approves Bill Proposing Sweeping A.I. Restrictions)

(01:11:14) Tamper-Resistant Safeguards for Open-Weight LLMs)

(01:17:12) China's chip capabilities just 3 years behind TSMC, teardown shows)

(01:20:50) China Threatens to Cut Off ASML Over New US Chip Curbs)

(01:23:22) Altman Infrastructure Plan Aims to Spend Tens of Billions in US)

Synthetic Media & Art (01:26:23) NaNoWriMo is in disarray after organizers defend AI writing tools)

(01:28:54) Tom Hanks warns followers to be wary of 'fraudulent' ads using his likeness through AI)

(01:30:48) Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art)

(01:34:28) Outro