OpenAI insiders warn of risks with AI and Elon buying more chips from Nvidia 🤝

HAPPY WEDNESDAY SCOOPERS 🍦

It’s Wednesday, which means we’re halfway to the weekend. It’s been an exciting week in tech and you know what that means. We’re back with another hard hitting, scoop delivering, brain busting edition of Product Scoop - the newsletter delivering insights, news, analysis, and an inside view into the world of tech.

Without further ado, here’s your scoop below👇

👨‍💻OpenAI insiders warn of serious risks with AI

• A group of OpenAI insiders has called for increased transparency from AI companies regarding the serious risks associated with artificial intelligence and the protection of employees who voice concerns. In an open letter, current and former employees from AI companies, including OpenAI, emphasized the need for AI companies to foster a culture of open criticism and resist financial incentives that discourage oversight. They highlighted the risks posed by AI, such as manipulation and potential human extinction, and urged companies to educate the public and avoid retaliating against whistleblowers. Read more

✋ ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity crash at the same time

• In a rare incident, OpenAI's ChatGPT experienced a multi-hour outage on Tuesday morning, which also affected other major AI providers like Anthropic’s Claude and Perplexity, although their issues were resolved more quickly. During the outage, ChatGPT's landing page displayed a capacity message in pirate speak, indicating the service was at capacity and offering to notify users when it was back online. Similarly, Claude's website showed an error message advising users to try again. The simultaneous downtime for these AI providers suggests a potential broader infrastructure issue or internet-scale problem, possibly exacerbated by a surge in traffic due to ChatGPT's outage. Read more

🍏 Apple Developer conference coming up on June 10th

• Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicks off on Monday, June 10, with Tim Cook's keynote expected to unveil Apple's generative AI plans, a significant focus given the competitive landscape. Unlike other Apple keynotes, WWDC begins a weeklong event dedicated to developers, running both online and in-person. Despite speculation of hardware updates, recent rumors suggest the keynote may lack new hardware announcements, following a standalone iPad event in May that introduced new iPad Pro and iPad Air models without major AI integrations. With pressure mounting from advancements by competitors like Google and OpenAI, Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised significant strides in generative AI. Read more

🤝 Elon is buying LOTS of chips from Nvidia

• Elon Musk is driving Tesla towards becoming a leader in AI and robotics, with plans to significantly boost its infrastructure using Nvidia’s H100 processors. Musk announced that Tesla will increase its active H100s from 35,000 to 85,000 by year-end and expects to spend $10 billion on AI development in 2024. Despite some internal Nvidia emails suggesting a reallocation of GPUs to X (formerly Twitter), this strategic move aligns with Musk’s vision of integrating AI across his ventures. By prioritizing AI infrastructure at X, Musk demonstrates his commitment to advancing technology on multiple fronts, potentially benefiting all his companies, including Tesla. Read more

💰 Databricks is acquiring Tabular for over $1B

• Databricks has announced its acquisition of Tabular, a startup that enhances cloud-stored data, for over $1 billion, as stated by CEO Ali Ghodsi. This move aims to accelerate Databricks' product offerings amidst stiff competition from Snowflake and other companies. With significant venture capital backing, Databricks has also recently acquired Arcion and MosaicML. The acquisition of Tabular, which integrates Apache Iceberg tables for cost-effective data queries, aligns with Databricks' strategy to leverage open-source formats and potentially attract Snowflake's clients. Read more