😺 Washington talks AI

PLUS: $100 million burned 🔥

Welcome, humans.

Happy Easter! Also, when will someone use ChatGPT to create their own religion? It seems inevitable...

Here’s what’s going on in the world of AI today:

Lawmakers debate how to regulate AI 💻
$100 million burned in cash 🔥
ChatGPT's March numbers 📈
A personal reflection chatbot ☎️

Two Ways to Play 🇺🇸 🇪🇺

The age-old question: to regulate or not to regulate?

Washington finds itself at the center of a tug of war between consumer advocates and tech entrepreneurs.

So far, we're seeing more words than actions.

President Biden has (only) met with tech leaders to emphasize the industry's responsibility to guardrail products before releasing them (i.e., Microsoft).
In a similar vein, the FTC put tech companies on notice that there will be repercussions if they exaggerate the capabilities of their AI products.

This week a delegation of lawmakers met with tech execs In Silicon Valley. Their takeaway: some regulation is needed, but America still needs to maintain its technological advantage over China.

For now, it's a 'wait-and-see' approach.

This is unlike the European Union, which is working hard to pass a comprehensive legal framework that would put the clamps on AI development through its bill the Artificial Intelligence Act.

Why it matters: The US is quickly becoming the tamest environment for developing new AI systems. Let's just hope its sluggish regulatory approach to regulation doesn't have consequences down the line.

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Stability AI Is Burning Cash 🔥

Stability AI, once among the trendiest AI startups in Silicon Valley, is quickly burning through its $100 million bankroll as it struggles to generate revenue.

The company took the world by storm with its introduction of Stability Diffusion last summer.
Now, its frantic and largely unorganized operations are making it hard to raise its new round, which would value the company at a whopping $4 billion.

Our take: Stability AI plays an important role in the AI ecosystem, but it needs to stay alive:

Stability's "open source first" approach could keep the world free from an AI industry monopolized by 1-2 players.
Yet, building a business around open source is hard - though obviously not impossible - since you give away a big part of your tech away for free.
Semafor's reporting of Stability's "radical independence" (read: no plan?) matches what we've heard on the ground. That's not encouraging when the cards are stacked against you.

We think Stability AI has a big opportunity but needs to move into wartime mode - and fast.

Around the Horn 🦄

Alibaba is inviting businesses to test its ChatGPT-competitor Tongyi Qianwen.
Inside YC's latest batch of AI startups seeking to make a name for themselves.
Some fanfiction authors are being accused of writing with AI, and they have no idea why (The Verge).
An AI startup was given access to actor Edward Herrmann's voice to narrate audiobooks even though he passed away nearly a decade ago.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke out against the proposed 6-month AI pause due to concerns that it would "simply benefit China."
ChatGPT attracted 1.6 billion users in March, up 56% since February.
Inside the rival factions predicting both AI doomsday and AI utopia scenarios (Washington Post).

Treats To Try 🍿

DoctorGPT is a lightweight GPT model that helps doctors error diagnose.
Integrate over 200 ready-to-use prompts into your daily tasks with Trickle.
wyd is a personal reflection companion that helps you pause, reflect, and make better decisions.
HeyGPT links GPT-3.5 to the internet to pull real-time information.
Intellibase helps you conduct AI-driven user feedback analysis.

DM us links on Twitter: @nonmayorpete & @noahedelman02.