Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, is facing scrutiny as several engineers and co-founders have departed, reportedly due to concerns about the company's safety protocols. This comes amidst the acquisition of xAI by Musk's SpaceX and follows reports that the Grok chatbot is being pushed to become more "unhinged," according to a former employee who spoke to The Verge.
At least 11 engineers and two co-founders have left xAI, with some citing a desire to pursue new ventures. However, sources who previously worked at the company indicated that employees were increasingly disillusioned by a perceived disregard for safety. This has raised concerns, particularly after Grok was used to generate over a million sexually explicit images.
Meanwhile, the tech industry continues to evolve. Stacy Brown-Philpot, former TaskRabbit CEO, is focusing on supporting overlooked founders through her venture capital firm, Cherryrock Capital. She noted a gap in the market for capital access, particularly for underinvested entrepreneurs building software companies. Brown-Philpot launched Cherryrock a year ago after leaving TaskRabbit, aiming to address this need by writing smaller Series A and B checks.
In other tech developments, Hollywood organizations are voicing opposition to Seedance 2.0, a new AI video model from ByteDance. Critics claim the tool, similar to OpenAI's Sora, facilitates copyright infringement. Seedance 2.0 allows users to create 15-second videos via text prompts. The model is currently available to Chinese users and will soon be accessible globally through ByteDance's CapCut app.
In a different application of AI, designer Kate Barton collaborated with Fiducia AI and IBM to create a multilingual AI agent for her New York Fashion Week presentation. The agent, built with IBM watsonx on IBM Cloud, will help guests identify and virtually try on pieces from Barton's collection. Barton stated that she sees technology as a tool to expand the world around the clothes and how they are presented.
In a separate event, The Verge reporter Victoria Song experienced AI companions at a pop-up dating cafe. She went on speed dates with AI companions, highlighting the growing presence of AI in various aspects of life.
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