Google – The Black Box Problem

The more AI is controlled, the less useful it becomes. Google is scrambling to fix its AI howlers (see here) but because it has no idea how its machines are working, it is having to play whack-a-mole with a large sledgehammer and wrecking the AI in the process. Google has started putting controls and protections into its AI Overview product...

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OpenAI – Time Bomb

Philanthropy and profits don’t mix. OpenAI looks like a badly run company where there is constant infighting between the executives and the board highlighting that the core problems have not been fixed which is likely to lead to another implosion. This is a risk that Microsoft cannot afford to have materialise and so my long-term expectation remains that it will...

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Artificial Intelligence – Reasoning Debate

A highly misleading marketing message. In an effort to promote the prowess of their models, the last few weeks have seen the great and the good in generative AI claim that their models can reason which would mark a big step towards truly intelligent machines if it were not demonstrably false. The debate over whether large language models (LLMs) can...

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xAI – Crowded Market

From investors’ hands to Nvidia’s pockets. xAI has raised $6bn in new funding that will be used to bring products to market and build infrastructure but with an unremarkable product suite so far, the main beneficiary of this new cash looks like it will be Nvidia. The AI bubble continues to inflate with another $6bn being raised valuing xAI at...

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Windows on Arm – The Empire Strikes Back

Intel is not going down without a fight. Intel has rushed out a new processor to combat the threat posed by Qualcomm to its laptop business and while I am certain that Intel will do fine on the performance counts, it is power consumption and battery life of the devices it powers that will decide whether or not this is...

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Nvidia FQ1 25 – Rush!

Competition crushed in the stampede. Nvidia contemptuously swept aside both its critics and its competition and reported another huge set of results that confirmed that the AI frenzy and the bubble continue to grow and inflate. FQ1 25 revenues / Adj-EPS were $26.0bn / $6.12 ahead of forecasts of $24.6bn / $5.60 and Nvidia signalled that the strength will continue....

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Microsoft Build – Crystal Clear

Microsoft clarifies its AI ecosystem ambition. Although the real action was yesterday, Microsoft used its 2024 Build keynote to lay out its proposition to developers for using Microsoft tools to build AI and it did a far better job of it than Google and in half the time. Microsoft’s message was very clear in that it showed the AI technology...

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Windows on Arm – Icing on the Cake

CoPilot+ good. Battery life better. Microsoft is so confident that Windows on Arm is going to work that it didn’t even mention this fact when it presented its new Arm-powered devices leaving AMD and Intel with everything to do. In a very carefully scripted keynote (see here) Microsoft launched two new Surface devices and showcased more than ten others all...

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Electric Vehicles – Unready For Reality pt. II

The financial noose tightens. The end of Fisker, the imminent end of several others as well as worsening financial conditions in China clearly point to the ongoing slowdown and shakeout in EVs where only the strongest are going to survive. The problem with EVs is relatively straightforward in that the proposition of an EV is immature and not ready for...

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Windows on Arm – Crusade Commences

Arm’s 3rd shot at Windows laptops might just work. Apart from AI, Microsoft Build is likely to see the main launch of Qualcomm, Arm & Microsoft’s 3rd attempt at addressing the Windows laptop market, and this time around, it has by far its best chance of success. This will then be followed by the PC trade show of the year,...