Elon Musk and other tech giants call for a research break in AI

More than 1000 experts have signed an open letter to stop the arms race. Also: Electronic Arts is cutting jobs and national coach Hansi Flick is among the founders.

Good morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.

The top topics:

Elon Musk and more than 1,000 tech industry executives in an open letter calling for a six-month hiatus in the development of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) like the startup’s OpenAI developed GPT. The signatories cite a “profound risk for society and humanity” as the reason. The AI ​​labs found themselves in an “uncontrolled race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds” that no one can “understand, predict or reliably control anymore,” the letter said. Signatories include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, historian and best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari, and Stuart Russell, professor of computer science at the University of Berkeley.

The letter was initiated by the Future of Life Institute, a US foundation founded by Musk, Tallinn and others in 2014. According to its own statements, the foundation takes care of “the reduction of existential risks, especially of advanced AI”. Critics accuse Future of Life of fueling the AI ​​hype with the campaign. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt und Financial Times]

On Founder Scene: Laura Böntert runs a marketplace for second-hand bridal wear. The beginnings of your startup Bride Cycle But things went bumpy: in addition to money and time, she lost almost all rights of use. In an interview with the start-up scene, Böntert admits: “Bootstrapping was an absolutely wrong decision.” [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

Apple has announced the start of its annual developer conference WWDC for June 5th. The first day of the conference, which will be held at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., will feature a launch event, led by CEO Tim Cook, which will typically feature new software. Most of the time, the tech group does not announce new hardware at WWDC. This year, however, Apple could unveil its long-awaited virtual and augmented reality headset at the conference — the first major new product since the smartwatch debuted eight years ago. In addition, Apple could announce new powerful Macs. [Mehr bei CNBC und Bloomberg]

Electronic Arts (EA) is cutting around 800 jobs and reducing its office space, the video game company announced on Wednesday. CEO Andrew Wilson said in a note to employees: “As we seek to further focus our portfolio, we are divesting projects that are not contributing to our strategy, reviewing our real estate portfolio and restructuring some of our teams.” Layoffs are the hardest part . EA employs nearly 13,000 people, according to a March 2022 quarterly report. In January, the company missed expectations for quarterly sales and the forecast for business development was also weaker than expected. [Mehr bei CNBC und Reuters]

Google intentionally destroyed employee chat receipts as part of antitrust proceedings in California and must therefore pay fines – a US judge has now decided. San Francisco District Judge James Donato found in his order that Google failed to comply with its records retention obligations. The ruling is part of a class action lawsuit involving up to 21 million citizens, 38 states and the District of Columbia, and companies such as Epic Games and Match Group involved. The judge asked the plaintiffs’ attorneys to provide by April 21 the amount of attorneys’ fees they are seeking in redress. [Mehr bei Reuters]

National coach Hansi Flick has the startup together with partners The Padel City founded, which wants to set up facilities for the trend sport padel tennis throughout Germany. Among other things, Flick cites the special community and the fun factor as motivation for his decision to found a company. In addition to Flick, three experienced entrepreneurs are on board as co-founders and investors: serial founders Jonathan Sierck and Marcus Englert and Sebastian Weil, former top managers of ProSiebenSat.1. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]

Lalamove, one of China’s largest delivery companies, last valued at $13 billion, is looking to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company could be a trailblazer for many other Chinese startups whose plans to go public were postponed after Beijing tightened regulations on listing Chinese companies outside of mainland China in 2021. If the filing goes smoothly, the IPO could happen in the second half of this year, according to an investor. [Mehr bei The Information]

Intel announced at an investor event that it intends to build its own cloud for AI developers with 256 Xeon and 512 Gaudi processors. It should help developers train and operate new AI systems. With the announcement, the US semiconductor group is attacking the market leader Nvidia which currently has an 80 percent market share for AI processors. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: With homemade broths wants J. Kinski become one of the largest organic producers in Europe. Also one of the first Gorillasinvestors is involved in the startup from Thuringia. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

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A nice Thursday!

Your Gründerszene editors