AI Gets a Summer Break as Researchers Call for Pause on 'Giant AI Experiments'; Meanwhile, Tech Companies Race to Build Bard AI Upgrades, Bing Chat Ads, and LayerZero Labs Boosts Funding and Jobs

1. Google CEO Promises Bard AI Upgrades, but Can It Catch Up to ChatGPT?

• Google CEO Sundar Pichai promises upgrades to the company's Bard AI chatbot in the next week to improve its capabilities.

• Google initially used a less powerful language model, LaMDA, for Bard's debut, but is now working to move it to the more advanced PaLM models.

• Pichai defends the caution shown in not rolling out more powerful AI chatbots and believes current regulations are sufficient to keep AI in check.

• Google is playing catchup with OpenAI, who have many former Googlers on staff and developed the more advanced ChatGPT.

• Pichai addresses concerns about the creation of artificial general intelligence and suggests that humanity will be able to anticipate and "evolve" to meet the challenge.

2. From Search Engine to Sales Pitch: Microsoft's Bing Chat Goes Ad-Crazy!

• Microsoft is considering including ads in some of the results provided by its Bing Chatbot, which uses OpenAI's ChatGPT.

• Bing now has 100 million daily users, and a third of them are new to the platform, creating a new opportunity for Microsoft to boost its partners' profits by sending traffic through search results.

• The company is experimenting with two methods to send traffic to third parties: an enhanced hover functionality for publishers and "rich captions" for licensed content that appears next to the chat text.

• Although the ads are clearly labeled, it goes against the idea of having a friendly chatbot guide users through search results, and users may not notice the ads and click on them.

• This move may not build trust in the fledgling technology, and it remains to be seen how it will be received by users.

3. AI Researchers Call for Time-Out on 'Giant AI Experiments' - Will Robots Finally Get Their Summer Break?

• A group of AI researchers and tech executives have signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on "giant AI experiments."

• They argue that AI systems with "human-competitive intelligence" have the potential to disrupt the history of life on Earth and should be managed with extreme care.

• The authors warn that AI more powerful than GPT-4 poses inherent risks to reliable information-sharing, the labor market, and civilization as a whole.

• The letter has 1,124 vetted signatures, including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and Yoshua Bengio, among others.

• The signatories encourage labs and independent experts to collaboratively develop safety protocols and rigorous audit processes during the pause to ensure future programs are "accurate, safe, interpretable, transparent, robust, aligned, trustworthy, and loyal."

4. LayerZero Labs: A $120 Million Funding Boost to Connect Blockchains!

• LayerZero Labs' valuation tripled to $3 billion after raising $120 million in Series B funding from nearly three dozen investors.

• The Vancouver-based blockchain messaging protocol developer previously raised $135 million in Series A funding in March 2022.

• LayerZero Labs is working on solving the interoperability problem among different blockchains through its protocol that enables cross-chain messaging.

• The company aims to create a future where a single user-facing application can use different blockchains' features to create a seamless experience.

• LayerZero Labs plans to use the funds to increase its headcount, grow its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, and push growth initiatives.

5. AI Job Market Booms as California Keeps its Crown - Even DC Wants a Piece of the Pie!

• Nearly 800,000 AI-related job openings were posted in the US in 2022, backed by billions of dollars in investment from venture capital firms and tech companies.

• California had the most AI-related hiring with over 142,000 positions posted, followed by Texas, New York, and Florida.

• Some regions not typically known as major tech hubs, such as Delaware and Arkansas, were above the national average for AI job postings.

• Private industry research in AI dwarfed academic collaboration, with the US and China leading in collaborative research, though the relationship between the two countries slowed in 2021.

• In 2022, nonacademic research from private companies or think tanks resulted in 10 times as many models as were put out by researchers.

Lastly:

5 Funded Fintech Startups That Are Hiring: The article features a roundup of five fintech startups that have raised funds in the past year, have not reported any layoffs in the past year, and are currently hiring for multiple positions.