The AI Weekly Briefing: January 19, 2025
OpenAI’s Economic Blueprint, Biden’s AI Chip Export Rules, OpenAI’s Longevity Science Breakthroughs, and More.
In this week’s briefing:
OpenAI Unveils an Economic Blueprint: A Plan to Shape the Future of AI in the US
Biden Administration Proposes AI Chip Export Rules: Balancing Security and Economic Interests
NVIDIA Partners with Healthcare Leaders: Advancing Genomics, Drug Discovery, and Healthcare Through AI
NovaSky Unveils Sky-T1: A Reasoning Model Rivaling OpenAI, Built for Just $450
OpenAI Develops AI Model for Longevity Science: A New Frontier in Protein Engineering
Plus: 5 Additional Resources to Explore
OpenAI Unveils an Economic Blueprint: A Plan to Shape the Future of AI in the US
OpenAI has released its "Economic Blueprint," advocating for U.S. leadership in AI through increased investment in chips, energy, and data infrastructure while implementing streamlined, common-sense regulations. The plan calls for significant federal spending on power and data transmission, with a focus on renewable energy sources like solar, wind farms, and nuclear power to support AI data centers. It highlights the risks of fragmented state laws, stresses the importance of AI safety standards, and warns against allowing adversarial nations like China to dominate AI innovation. OpenAI also advocates for using publicly available data, including copyrighted materials, for AI training while protecting intellectual property rights to prevent unauthorized digital replicas. CEO Sam Altman underscores the urgency for decisive action to secure the U.S.'s position at the forefront of AI innovation.
Learn More:
OpenAI Article: OpenAI’s Economic Blueprint
Tech Crunch Article: OpenAI presents its preferred version of AI regulation in a new ‘blueprint’
OpenAI Document: AI in America OpenAI's Economic Blueprint
Biden Administration Proposes AI Chip Export Rules: Balancing Security and Economic Interests
The Biden administration has proposed a framework to regulate the export of advanced AI-related computer chips, aiming to safeguard national security while maintaining economic competitiveness. The framework restricts chip access in 120 countries, excluding key allies like the UK, Japan, and Germany, who face no limitations. Critics, including Nvidia and tech industry groups, warn the rules could fragment global supply chains and harm U.S. AI leadership. With a 120-day comment period, the framework may be revised by the incoming Trump administration, which will face pressure to balance innovation with security.
Learn More:
Time Article: Biden Proposes New Export Curbs on AI Chips, Provoking an Industry Pushback
Department of Commerce Document: Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion
Carnie Endowment for International Peace Article: With Its Latest Rule, the U.S. Tries to Govern AI’s Global Spread
NVIDIA Partners with Healthcare Leaders: Advancing Genomics, Drug Discovery, and Healthcare Through AI
NVIDIA has announced partnerships with IQVIA, Illumina, Mayo Clinic, and Arc Institute to accelerate drug discovery, genomic research, and healthcare innovation using AI and accelerated computing. These collaborations aim to address the $10 trillion healthcare industry by enabling AI-powered clinical trials, genomic breakthroughs, and advanced pathology solutions. NVIDIA's technologies, such as AI Foundry, BioNeMo, and DGX cloud, will empower precision medicine, improve patient outcomes, and drive transformative advancements in life sciences.
Learn More:
NVIDIA Press Release: NVIDIA Partners With Industry Leaders to Advance Genomics, Drug Discovery and Healthcare
NVIDIA Article: NVIDIA AI Foundry, The end-to-end platform and service for building
NVIDIA Article: Clara for Biopharma, Accelerate drug discovery with NVIDIA Clara™ for Biopharma, a collection of frameworks, applications, generative AI solutions, and pretrained models.
NVIDIA Article: NVIDIA DGX Cloud, A high-performance, fully managed AI platform.
NovaSky Unveils Sky-T1: A Reasoning Model Rivaling OpenAI, Built for Just $450
NovaSky, a team of researchers from UC Berkeley's Sky Computing Lab, unveiled Sky-T1, a reasoning AI model trained for under $450. The open-source model, developed using synthetic data and advanced AI tools, outperforms OpenAI's early o1 preview on benchmarks like MATH500 and LiveCodeBench. Sky-T1’s advanced reasoning capabilities make it reliable for physics, math, and coding challenges, though it lags in some areas like GPQA-Diamond. This marks a step toward cost-effective, high-performance open-source AI in the reasoning domain.
Learn More:
Tech Crunch Article: Researchers open source Sky-T1, a ‘reasoning’ AI model that can be trained for less than $450
NovaSky Website: NovaSky (Next-generation Open Vision and AI) is a collaborative initiative led by students and advisors at UC Berkeley’s Sky Computing Lab
NovaSky Article: Sky-T1: Train your own O1 preview model within $450
OpenAI Develops AI Model for Longevity Science: A New Frontier in Protein Engineering
OpenAI says it has trained GPT-4b micro, a specialized AI model designed to advance longevity science by optimizing protein engineering. In collaboration with Retro Biosciences, the model has successfully re-engineered Yamanaka factors—proteins critical for transforming regular cells into stem cells—achieving a more than 50x increase in efficiency. Unlike protein-folding models like AlphaFold, GPT-4b micro focuses on redesigning protein sequences to enhance functionality, offering breakthroughs in cell rejuvenation and replacement therapies. While results are preliminary, this marks OpenAI’s first foray into biological data and a pivotal moment in exploring AI's potential for scientific discovery.
Learn More:
MIT Technology Review Article: OpenAI has created an AI model for longevity science
Retro Bio: We're Adding 10 Years to Healthy Human Lifespan
Beyond The Key Updates: More To Explore
Perplexity acquires Read.cv to bolster its AI-powered search engine
TechCrunch Article | Estimated read time: 5 minutes
AI search engine Perplexity has acquired the professional social media platform Read.cv, marking its third acquisition. Read.cv, known for resume sharing and job postings, will shut down, while its team joins Perplexity to enhance consumer and social experiences. Users can export their data until May 16, 2025Raspberry AI Secures $24M to Revolutionize Fashion Design with GenAI
Business Wire Article | Estimated read time: 6 minutes
Generative AI platform Raspberry AI raised $24M in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) to accelerate product development and expand its team. Trusted by brands like Under Armour and MCM Worldwide, Raspberry AI empowers fashion creatives with tools to instantly transform sketches into photorealistic renderings, enabling faster and more sustainable design cycles.Bioptimus Raises $41M to Build ‘GPT for Biology’
TechCrunch Article | Estimated read time: 5 minutes
French startup Bioptimus secured $41M to develop a foundational AI model simulating biology, enabling disease prediction and treatment innovations. Backed by major investors, the platform builds on multimodal data to drive advancements in biotech, medical, and cosmetic industries.ChatGPT Introduces New ‘Tasks’ Feature for Scheduling and Recurring Reminders
Economic Times Article | Estimated read time: 4 minutes
OpenAI's latest update to ChatGPT allows users to schedule reminders and manage recurring tasks, transforming it into a proactive digital assistant. Available for paid plans, the 'Tasks' feature integrates with scheduled web browsing but cannot make continuous searches or purchases, making it a step closer to rivalling Siri and Alexa.AWS to Invest $5B in Mexico with New Server Region Launch
TechCrunch Article | Estimated read time: 5 minutes
AWS announced a $5 billion investment in Mexico over 15 years, launching the AWS Mexico (Central) Region to boost GDP by $10 billion and support 7,000 supply chain jobs. The data center will be air-cooled to address environmental concerns in drought-stricken Querétaro.