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Tesla Shareholders Approve Musk's $56 Billion Pay Package Amidst Tough Times
Tech update.
Kristoffer Lindström
June 14, 2024
Sponsored by
INSIGHT
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has rapidly expanded its international lobbying team from three to 35 members as it seeks to influence AI regulations amid increased political scrutiny. The company is strategically building its team of up to 50 members, located in AI legislation hot spots, with a goal of ensuring artificial general intelligence benefits humanity. Despite these efforts, OpenAI lags behind Meta and Google in its outreach, spending significantly less on government engagement.
💡 Insight: OpenAI's aggressive expansion of its lobbying team signals its strategic pivot from mere technical prowess to proactive regulatory engagement. By placing seasoned policymakers in critical global locations, OpenAI aims to shape AI regulations in its favor, addressing public and governmental concerns. This reflects a broader industry trend where influence over AI governance is becoming as crucial as technological advancements.
Tesla shareholders have approved a $56 billion pay package for CEO Elon Musk, previously rejected by a Delaware court. The 2018 plan will pay Musk provided Tesla is worth $56 billion within a decade. Despite a turbulent 2024 for Tesla with a recall, production halt, and poor quarterly results, shareholders also voted to move Tesla from Delaware to Texas.
💡 Insight: Tesla shareholders' approval of Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package, despite a recent court rejection, underscores strong investor confidence in Musk's leadership amid the company's challenges. The simultaneous approval to redomesticate to Texas reflects strategic alignment with Musk's broader operational preferences.
BRIEF
Alexa's new AI-powered version, expected with more natural conversational capabilities, has faced numerous delays due to technical and structural challenges within Amazon. This has eroded Alexa's competitive stance against Google, Microsoft, and Meta, despite promising demonstrations. Problems include inadequate data and internal politics surrounding the use of advanced AI tools like Claude from AI startup Anthropic. Given these setbacks, uncertainties hang over Alexa's abilities to pivot from a command-driven bot to a conversational digital assistant.
Adobe saw a rise in stock after strong Q2 earnings, beating Wall Street's and its own forecasts with a revenue of $5.31 billion, a 10% increase YoY, and net profit climbing to $1.573 billion. These promising results are reportedly driven by the growing adoption of AI technologies. The company also noted strong performance of its subscription-based offerings and a surge in revenue from its Digital Experience and Digital Media units. Forecasts for Q3 were slightly mixed, yet Adobe raised its annual guidance from $21.3 billion to $21.5 billion to $21.4 billion to $21.5 billion.
Amazon is allotting $230 million in Amazon Web Service credits to artificial intelligence startups, providing them free access to computing power, AI models, and infrastructure on AWS. This initiative, which targets generative AI startups, will also facilitate 80 early-stage firms through AWS's AI Accelerator program. Amazon's cloud credits extension earlier this year aimed to amplify its AI platform market share. The increased demand for AI is positively impacting cloud services usage, thereby fuelling the growth of cloud providers like AWS.
As traditional exit options like IPOs and M&A activities slow down, venture capitalists (VCs) and Limited Partners (LPs) are increasingly leveraging secondary funds to secure liquidity. These funds have raised billions in recent years. StepStone Group, a private markets investment firm, spearheaded this effort with a new secondary venture fund amounting to $3.3 billion, surpassing the combined amounts raised by all such funds last year. The firm also identifies potential deals among LP-backed startups to buy stakes at significant discounts.
TikTok is emerging as a vital news source for Americans, especially among young adults, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The study revealed that while only 15% use the app with news as a primary focus, 35% reported receiving news there they wouldn’t have found elsewhere. The platform's growing role in news distribution has raised concerns among lawmakers about the potential influence of TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, on 170 million American users' information exposure.
Valve, the force behind Steam, is confronted with a £656 million class action lawsuit in the UK, led by digital rights advocate Vicki Shotbolt. The lawsuit challenges the company's alleged anti-competitive practices and accuses it of unfairly forcing pricing rules on game publishers, thus blocking competition and maintaining inflated prices for PC games and in-game content for 14 million UK consumers. The case could take years to resolve.
Adobe recorded Q2 revenues of $5.31 billion, an annual increase of 10.2%, in line with estimates. Profits rose to $4.48 per share, beating $2.82 per share last year. Despite expecting Q3 earnings below estimates, Adobe forecasts a non-GAAP profit of $4.53 per share, higher than projections. With record revenues driven by growth across multiple platforms, the announcement saw Adobe stocks jump 12.6%.
Tesla purports to have two Optimus humanoid robots autonomously operating in its factory, marking an industry first if substantiated. Despite previous reports indicating the bots were being trained via virtual reality and remote control, recent optimism suggests autonomous workflows becoming a reality. Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, anticipates the robots, expected to cost under $25,000, may hit the market as early as next year.
QUICK
Apple WatchOS 11 Update: Unveiling New Features this Fall - The upcoming watchOS 11 introduces features including interactive app experiences via Double Tap API, automatic Check-In notifications, Smart Stack display refinement, effort metrics for workouts, and proactive health management through vitals monitoring during sleep.
Luma's AI Video Generator Dream Machine Outperforms OpenAI's Sora - Luma's Dream Machine AI video generator, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, is challenging OpenAI's Sora, causing long wait times due to high demand. China's Kuaishou and Google are also introducing competitive AI video generators, Kling and Lumiere.
Spotify Ventures into Ad Space with In-house Agency, Will Test AI Voiceover Ads - Spotify is launching Creative Lab, its first in-house creative agency, aiming to boost bespoke marketing and brand promotions while initiating generative AI-ad trials. Additionally, it's developing a generative AI tool called "Quick Audio" for advertisers.
WhatsApp Enhances Video Calls with Screen Sharing, 32 Participant Limit - WhatsApp announces video call enhancements, including support for up to 32 participants, screen sharing with audio, and a speaker spotlight. Improvements in call quality and reliability are also promised.
Sony Enhances PS5 Discord Integration for Direct Calls - Sony is enhancing PS5's Discord integration for direct voice call joins from the console and easier server or DM group selections. This update aligns with Microsoft's Xbox Discord experience.
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