Microsoft hires Inflection founder as AI CEO

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Welcome back, Superhuman

The scramble to secure the best talent in AI is reaching a fever pitch. Microsoft has just snagged the CEO of Inflection and cofounder of DeepMind to be the new CEO of Microsoft AI. But where does the move leave Inflection?

TODAY’S MENU

• DeepMind cofounder Suleyman is Microsoft AI’s new CEO

• How to use AI to grow your following on LinkedIn

• The SEC’s bid to prevent an AI-induced financial meltdown

• Chart: Software developer salaries since 2019

• 5 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• AI Generated Images: Tennis courts around the world

NEWS

Today in AI & Tech

• Queue in the Clouds: The UK’s Department for Transport wants flying taxis to take off inside the country as soon as 2026, with driverless versions coming several years later.

• Crystal Ball: Just days after OpenAI’s Sam Altman said he thinks the latest version of ChatGPT “kind of sucks,” sources say a “materially better” GPT-5 is coming this summer.

• Big Bucks: Saudi Arabia is reportedly planning to create a gigantic $40Bn fund to invest in AI.

• Weather Whisperer: Nvidia announced a new supercomputing platform called Earth-2 that can help predict extreme weather events.

• Poke War Cont.: Facebook saw a 13x spike in “pokes” after introducing several updates to the oft-derided feature, with the highest rate of engagement being among young people.

NEXT IN AI

Inflection AI CEO departs company to become CEO of Microsoft’s new AI division

Another day, another coup for Microsoft. After forming an alliance with OpenAI last year, Microsoft has now appointed Inflection AI CEO and DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman as the CEO of its consumer AI business.

But the deal has raised some eyebrows. Inflection has raised over $1.5Bn in funding and Suleyman is reportedly taking most of the company’s team with him to Microsoft. In a blog posted yesterday, Inflection AI announced that the company will move away from its consumer business to focus on enterprise customers.

Reading between the lines: The move is another chapter in the high-stakes race to secure the best talent in AI. It also highlights Microsoft's efforts to diversify its bets in the space and potentially avoid putting all of its eggs in one basket with OpenAI, despite investing billions in the ChatGPT maker.

The nature of the deal also highlights the growing complexity of M&A in the space. In a post on X, venture capitalist Sheel Mohnot observed: “Microsoft is making the Inflection shareholders whole via a licensing deal… and they still keep their shares in Inflection, which is an ongoing concern.“

Suleyman says he will be leading all consumer AI products and research at Microsoft, including Copilot, Bing and Edge.

AI AT WORK

How to use AI to grow your following on LinkedIn

Building an audience on LinkedIn comes down to 2 key problems that you have to solve:

• Find interesting ideas to write about

• Write about these ideas in an interesting way

Here's how to find interesting ideas to write about:

• Go to the Taplio website and sign up for a free trial

• Once you're logged in, go to the bar on the left and click on Viral content

• You'll find a list of viral content that you can use to generate ideas

• You can also add filters to find content for specific keywords

Once you have an idea you want to write about, it's time to do the actual writing:

• Go to the bar on the left and click Write a post

• In the text box on the right, write a draft of your post (or even a first line) and click on the purple bolt icon

• You'll get a drop down menu, where you can do everything from generating the rest of your post to improving your writing

Once you're done you can schedule your post by clicking on Add to Queue and you're done! If you want a more detailed understanding of how the process works, check out this video.

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GOVERNANCE & POLICY

The risks of using AI to make economic predictions

For many, AI-related doomsday scenarios usually involve a superintelligent system becoming self-aware, then turning against humanity. But the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission is raising alarm bells about an entirely different scenario — one that could prove much more likely. 

In an interview with the Politico Tech podcast, SEC chair Gary Gensler said he fears that AI could contribute to a future economic crisis, especially as financial analysts turn to LLMs for help predicting how the market might shake out. 

The biggest concern: That the world’s largest banks will get stuck in an AI echo chamber. What happens if each of them asks the same LLM for advice? If the model happens to get it wrong, that misinformation could easily cascade through the economy. 

What’s the solution? Gensler thinks the key to protecting financial institutions is “diversity of models and diversity of data sources. Otherwise, you end up with a pretty fragile system.” That could come in the form of new regulations that would require banks to get advice from a variety of AI-powered platforms before making big decisions. 

Wall Street isn’t happy about those potential safeguards. But Gensler pointed out that human advisors already have to abide by certain rules, like avoiding conflicts of interest — and that AI systems should be held to the same standard. If the government refuses to act, Gensler warns that the economy could see an AI-fueled downturn within the next decade or two.

CHART

How software developer salaries have evolved since March 2019

According to Indeed data, software developer salaries ballooned by more than 9% year-over-year in April 2022. But in Feb 2024, wages dropped for the first time since Indeed began tracking pay in 2019.

Postings for coding jobs have reportedly fallen by about 67% since March 2022 as well. But generative AI jobs are still in high demand, with companies offering an average $174,727 per year for AI-related positions.

PRODUCTIVITY

5 AI Tools to Supercharge Your Productivity

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Sidekick: Helps you schedule meetings, hold dynamic conversations with your customers, and talk just like a human.

Cyguru: Secure your company’s infrastructure and establish a fully operational Security Operation Center with just a few clicks.

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AI GENERATED IMAGES

Tennis Trails

“My AI generated Tennis Courts exist at the intersection of imagination and technology, transforming the traditional notion of a tennis court into surreal and otherworldly landscapes. By placing these courts in diverse and unexpected environments such as the ocean, desert, rainforest, and snowy mountain, I seek to challenge the boundaries of our perception and expand the possibilities of where sport can take place. These digitally created scenes invite viewers to explore the intersection of nature and artificial intelligence, prompting them to reconsider the potential of sports, recreation in the digital age and enhance our experiences with the world around us.”

— Photographer Apeksha Agarwal

All images were created using Midjourney and then edited in PS.

Prompts included describing:

• The tennis courts as objects

• The landscape around the courts- eg. An ocean, or a rainforest, etc.

• The angle- eg. Drone/Arial view etc.

• Parameters like aspect ratio 4:5

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Thanks for reading.

Until next time!

Zain

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