Hey AI enthusiasts!

After a long break, Adepto is back again with some exciting new developments. From now on we are back to the regular schedule. Let's get you back up to speed with what you might have missed the past month!

In today’s AI world:

• YC Demo Day shows we're in a bubble
• Stability AI CEO resigns
• Mustafa Suleyman becomes CEO of Microsoft AI
• More AI startup news

Together with Talkie

​Build your Dream AI characters​

What if you could meet all your dream characters, have infinite long chats, call them anytime 24/7, and even receive stunning collectible cards to capture the best memories?

Talkie AI brings your ideal soulful companions to life!

Immerse yourself in a creative journey with diverse AI personas, from crafting your ideal companion to immersive role-playing. Whether you enjoy imaginative roleplay or realistic interactions, Talkie takes your connection with AI to new levels.

​Try it out here​

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

🚀 Most Promising AI Startups of the Y-Combinator W24 Batch​

The Y Combinator Winter 2024 cohort has 86 AI startups (double the number from the W23 batch). Call it a bubble or overhyped, but clearly, AI is the life of the party. I went through this YC cohort and picked out some of the more interesting AI startups:

• ​Hazel - An AI solution automating the government contracting process, from discovery to compliance, saving time and resources for firms bidding on contracts.
• ​Andy AI - An AI-powered scribe designed to ease the documentation burden for home nurses by transcribing patient visits and generating electronic health records.
• ​Precip - An AI-powered weather forecasting platform providing high-precision precipitation metrics and forecasts to aid various industries like agriculture and transportation.
• ​Maia - An app that offers AI-powered guidance to couples, aiming to strengthen relationships through daily questions and interaction in a group chat.
• ​Datacurve - Provides expert-quality, curated datasets for training generative AI models, particularly in coding, through a gamified annotation platform engaging engineers with coding challenges.

Our take: The evolution and impact of these startups showcase the versatility and transformative potential of AI across industries, from simplifying government contracts with Hazel to enhancing personal relationships with Maia. Datacurve's approach to curating high-quality datasets for AI training underlines the importance of quality data in achieving breakthroughs.

​Read more here​

🖼️ Stability AI CEO Steps Down​

​Stability AI founder and CEO Emad Mostaque recently resigned from his position following a string of high-level departures and investor pressure, leaving the startup in a state of chaos.

The details:

• Mostaque left his job because he wants to work on AI that isn’t controlled by just a few people. He thinks it’s not good for everyone when only a few have all the power.
• He decided to leave after having disagreements with big investors, such as Coatue Management, who wanted him to quit.
• Right before Mostaque quit, several important people who did research for the company also left.
• As of October 2023, the company was spending $8 million every month.

Our Take: Even though the company’s name is Stability, it has been having problems for quite some time. Even though they have made some good progress with their technology that anyone can use, they are facing money problems and a lot of people are leaving the company. This makes people wonder if the company will be able to keep going in the future.

​Read more here​

🛍️ Microfot hires DeepMind’s co-founder to run the consumer AI division​

​

Microsoft Corp. has named Mustafa Suleyman head of its consumer artificial intelligence business, hiring most of the staff from his Inflection AI startup as the software giant seeks to fend off Alphabet Inc.’s Google in the fiercely contested market for AI products.

The details:

• Microsoft hired Mustafa Suleyman from Inflection AI to lead their consumer AI division.
• Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, will work on AI projects like making Windows and Bing smarter.
• Inflection AI is shifting focus from consumer chatbots to business AI software.
• Microsoft continues investing in AI, including a partnership with OpenAI and a new investment in Mistral AI.

Our take:

Microsoft snagging Mustafa Suleyman is like collecting the rarest Pokémon to boost their AI gym. With Suleyman in their corner, they're plotting to make Bing so strong, it might overtake Google. Meanwhile, Inflection AI's pivot sounds like they realized nobody needs a 5th or 6th chatbot that claims to be better than everybody else's. The future holds what new products and partnerships Microsoft is cooking up.

​Read more here​

MORE AI NEWS

🤝 DataStax acquires the startup behind low-code AI builder Langflow​

​DataStax, a company known for its work with databases, has bought Logspace, the creator of Langflow, a tool that makes it easier to build AI applications without needing a lot of coding. Langflow has been helpful for businesses wanting to use machine learning, and by joining DataStax, it aims to help developers create AI apps more easily and quickly. DataStax's acquisition is part of its bigger plan to provide a comprehensive set of tools for building generative AI applications, and Langflow will keep running as its brand.

​Read more here​

🗃️ Aerospike raises $109M for its real-time database platform to capitalize on the AI boom​

​Aerospike, a company that offers a NoSQL database optimized for real-time operations, has successfully raised $109 million in a Series E funding round. This funding will help Aerospike grow and improve its technology, especially for AI and machine learning applications, by enhancing its database with features like graph and vector capabilities. The company aims to support the rapid development of AI with its efficient and scalable database solution, attracting interest from both existing and new investors due to the ongoing boom in AI technology.

​Read more here​

📈 SiMa.ai secures $70M funding to introduce a multimodal GenAI chip​

​SiMa.ai, a company that specializes in making special computer chips for AI, got $70 million to make a new type of chip that can handle different kinds of AI tasks all at once. This chip is being made because more gadgets are starting to process AI information right where they are, instead of sending data to big computers far away. SiMa.ai's new chip is designed to be very flexible and efficient, working with lots of different AI jobs like understanding speech or recognizing things in pictures, and they're planning to make this chip widely available by 2025.

​Read more here​

🔥 Get your product in front of 115k+ AI aficionados

Adepto is read by thousands of tech professionals, investors, managers, and business owners around the world.

​Get in touch today.​

AI WILL NOT REPLACE YOU, A PERSON USING AI WILL