CEO Mark Zuckerberg has presented a language model for researchers. Also: Flix should examine the IPO and Ericsson saves costs and lays off 8,500 employees.
Good morning! Even during the weekend, work in the digital scene continued in many places.
The top topics:
Meta will release a new, extensive language model for researchers and thus also get involved in the topic of chatbots. This was announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday. The model, called LLaMA, is designed to help scientists and engineers test artificial intelligence (AI) applications, such as helping them answer questions and summarize documents.
Meta’s model was developed by the in-house team for Fundamental AI Research, FAIR for short. In his post, Zuckerberg wrote that LLM technology could solve math problems or conduct scientific research. LLMs have shown promise in generating text, holding conversations, summarizing written material, and more complicated tasks such as solving mathematical theorems or predicting protein structures. The application will not currently be used on Facebook or Instagram. [Mehr bei CNBC und Reuters]
On Founder scene: Elon Musk had Tesla launched at a time when there were practically no electric cars. All important parts like battery and software should come from the own house. But the carmaker is no longer alone, many brands are also retrofitting. That can get Tesla in trouble, says our Torque columnist Don Dahlmann. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]
And here are the other headlines of the night and the past few days:
Flix According to a report by the “Handelsblatt”, it is considering going public. The Munich long-distance bus and train operator, which operates the Flixbus and Flixtrain brands, is apparently in the process of hiring consultants for an IPO. Where the IPO will take place – on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange or abroad – is not yet clear. An exact date is also not known, but the shares should not be sold before Easter 2024. 2022 was a successful year for the company: It was able to book revenues of 1.5 billion euros – almost three times as much as in the previous year. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]
Ericsson 8,500 employees are laid off to save costs. The Swedish telecommunications company employs over 100,000 people worldwide. A spokesman said most of the layoffs would take effect in the first half of 2023. The company is targeting cost reductions of nine billion Swedish kronor, or about $860 million, by the end of 2023. [Mehr bei Bloomberg und CNBC]
Sequoia is cutting back on Chinese tech investments, according to a media report. The US government is expected to announce investment restrictions in the near future as concerns about US national security mount. These could then prevent US capital from flowing into companies and startups in China that are developing cutting-edge technologies, for example in the area of advanced semiconductors. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal]
Poshmark, a second-hand clothing marketplace based in Redwood City, California, is laying off some of its employees. It is not known how many of the more than 800 employees are affected. The cuts come about two months after the South Korean internet company Naver acquired the company for $1.2 billion earlier this year. [Mehr bei Techcrunch]
Stripe is said to be on the verge of raising $4 billion in investments. The deal is expected to close next month, a person familiar with the matter told US media The Information. But Goldman Sachs, which markets the fintech’s offering and related sale of shares, arguably had to reach out to a broad group of investors to raise the money. Some investors apparently thought the payment company’s valuation of between $55 billion and $60 billion was too high. [Mehr bei The Information]
TSMC wants to diversify and build a second plant in Japan. The Taiwanese chip manufacturer is probably still negotiating subsidies. The plant could be up and running by the end of the decade. At the same time, it was announced that investor Warren Buffett was leaving TSMC, even though the industry is actually still growing. [Mehr bei Reuters und Handelsblatt]
Our reading tip on Gründerszene: After a failed crowdfunding campaign, the Munich startup stops They are Motors the production of his electric car Sion – and announces that hundreds of people will be laid off. Three quarters of the workforce have to go. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]
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Have a good start into the week!
Your Gründerszene editors
Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/business/meta-rennen-fuehrungsposition-kuenstliche-intelligenz/
