AI Showdown: OpenAI vs. Google in the Battle for Startup Supremacy
Four Insights #7: Unveiling the High-Stakes Game of Thrones in the AI Realm, Exploring the Fate of Startups, and Discovering the Latest Buzz from the Axios Event 🚀
Welcome back to Four Insights! 👋 This week, we're diving into the intense AI battle between OpenAI and Google, exploring the future of startups like Hume.ai, and sharing exclusive insights from the recent Axios event in San Francisco. Buckle up, because this issue is packed with juicy details! 🚀
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🎧 Is OpenAI a Startup Killer?
Tomorrow, I will do a podcast themed around OpenAI being a startup killer. In the episode podcast I delve into a pressing question: Is OpenAI becoming a startup killer?
We'll explore the implications of a tech behemoth like OpenAI launching features that directly compete with the core offerings of startups.
One of the companies that is no doubt impacted by this week’s announcements is Hume.ai and we'll ponder over what happens when OpenAI potentially threatens its existence.
Is the future of startups being reshaped due to this? Tune in to our upcoming episode and let's unravel this together! Stay tuned and don't miss it.
Join the upcoming episode of our podcast discussing OpenAI's impact on startups. As a listener of the Stretch Four Podcast, your reviews on podcast platforms are vital. They guide our improvements and help others discover us. So after listening, please rate and review us. Don't miss the episode!
Open AI vs Google, and Everybody Else
This week felt like a turning point in technology, with AI being the driving force. The focus was on OpenAI vs Google. Both tech giants demonstrated their upcoming AI tools that can understand not just text, but also spoken commands and visuals. OpenAI's Spring Update, which included a series of YouTube demos, lasted 26 minutes. Google I/O, on the other hand, had a 2.5-hour long keynote, showcasing the extent of their business operations.
I liken this to the prolific rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. In this analogy, OpenAI is Kendrick Lamar - the fan favorite and most groundbreaking AI company worldwide. Google, with its vast business and numerous products, is akin to Drake, who has had disagreements with nearly twenty people and had to address them all in his diss records. At scale, Google has a vastly larger user base — but OpenAI is head and shoulders above everyone when it comes to modeling.
The developments from OpenAI and Google are set to revolutionize our interaction with computers. The big question is, who will lead in this transformative field? And how will it affect startups? While OpenAI is technically a startup with a valuation nearing $100 billion, what does this mean for other companies?
All the Money in Technology is Being Swallowed Up by LLMs and Training
OpenAI, with a substantial backing of $13 billion from Microsoft, spent approximately $78 million in computing power to train its GPT-4, according to the Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024. In contrast, Google's Gemini Ultra cost $191 million to train. Both models utilized graphics processors from Nvidia, currently the primary supplier of these costly and hard-to-acquire components.
In the venture capital realm, 1,812 new AI companies were funded last year, a 40.6% increase from 2022. Tom Blomfield, a partner at Y Combinator, shared with Harry Stebbings that he expects this trend to continue upward, noting that 70% of the most recent batch of startups are AI companies.
Another startup, Perplexity, is using subscription fees to offset computing costs and gauge demand. For $20 a month, it provides answers derived from several large language models, including OpenAI's GPT-4 and Anthropic's Claude 3. By offering more reliable responses than typical chatbots and search engines, Perplexity is challenging Google. Google recently launched a revamped search experience at its annual I/O conference, featuring AI-generated summaries from search results. Despite the innovations at OpenAI and Google, Perplexity’s CEO remains unfazed. At an Axios event, he remarked that Google’s I/O conference was merely a repetition of the previous year's event with no significant changes. Reports suggest that OpenAI is also developing an AI search engine to compete with Google and Perplexity.
Check out the funniest tweet from Google's I/O Conference here.
Movements and activity
A Major Shift at OpenAI and Fresh Start at Anthropic
In a surprising development or maybe not so much after what happened last November, Ilya Sutskever, a key figure in the formation of OpenAI, has announced his departure, and will likely go on to raise billions in his yet-to-be-disclosed next project.
This significant decision has set off a chain reaction, leading to some subsequent resignations within the company. It signifies the end of a notable era in OpenAI's history, a period that has left a lasting impact on the AI landscape but it creates more controversies and begs more questions of what is happening inside the organization.
Nonetheless, every ending marks a new beginning. This saying rings true as Mike Krieger, the renowned Co-founder and CTO of Instagram, assumes the role of Chief Product Officer at Anthropic. I have been bullish on Anthropic and it is still the only AI product I pay for directly. Krieger's foray into the AI domain is a significant win for Anthropic and strengthens their standing as a strong competitor for talent. While his last company flamed out and was sold for parts to Yahoo — he has to be one of the top product hires in the past few years and this is no double a major coup for Anthropic’s team.
With Krieger's demonstrated prowess in developing consumer products, this also sends the bat signal that Anthropic's consumer focus will likely be ramped up to compete more directly with OpenAI and Perplexity which is clear with the recent launch of their iOS app.
Startup Spotlight: Artisan AI
In this week's startup spotlight, we feature Artisan AI, a company that's creating advanced digital workers to revolutionize the way businesses operate. 🤖💼 With the potential to save companies hundreds of thousands in annual costs, Artisan AI is definitely one to watch. 👀 Click through to learn more about how they're pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence.
Artisans work alongside your human team in our highly functional platform that contains every tool needed to complete their role, starting with sales.
From the looks of the website, the company is helping you offer scalable lead outreach and email marketing services. It integrates with your CRM, and email service, and essentially gets to work for you autonomously.
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Best,
Matt
Great stuff! I like the Google vs Open AI as a rap battle!