🕶️ Global AI safety: progress or political posturing?

Six bullets of updates

1. 📈 Oyo shelves IPO plans for the second time, raising eyebrows as the once $10B-valued company faces challenges.

2. 🌊 Blue bioeconomy startups focus on oceanic solutions for climate change, with over 90% of aquaculture emissions stemming from fish feed production.

3. 🎥 TikTok launches a $1M program for socially-driven creators amid potential U.S. ban.

4. 🌱 VCs wanted FarmboxRx to pivot to meal kits, but they bootstrapped, achieving $10M ARR in 2023.

5. 🔗 Linktree surpasses 50M users and launches a beta social commerce program, enabling creators to monetize directly.

6. 💸 Kickstarter now allows users to pledge funds after a campaign ends, providing creators with more flexible funding options.

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Global AI safety pact: nations and giants unite

There is a convergence of global AI safety efforts, mirroring the EU's stringent risk-based regulatory approach. Following the AI Seoul Summit, numerous nations, including those in the EU, signed a pact to combat AI risks like the development of biological and chemical weapons. Sixteen major AI companies endorsed the "Frontier AI Safety Commitments", focusing on voluntary risk assessment and lifecycle management of AI technologies. This move aligns with the EU's new AI Act, which mandates stricter regulatory measures, showcasing an emerging trend towards harmonized global AI governance efforts.

Despite these strides, there are ongoing challenges in achieving comprehensive international AI regulation. The differences between voluntary commitments and enforced regulations highlight the complexities of managing AI's rapid advancement. The EU's stringent measures may serve as a model, but global cooperation and consistent standards are crucial for addressing the multifaceted risks AI poses.

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. How to close a Funding Round (it’s not just the pitch deck) | June 4 | Webinar

2. SaaStr Europa (London) | June 4-5 | Conference

3. South Summit: Madrid | June 5-7 | Summit

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These companies just raised money

1. 💸 DeepL reaches $2B valuation with new $300M investment, poised to enhance AI-powered translation capabilities globally.

2. 🤖 H raises $220M in a seed round, positioning itself to revolutionize AI technology from France.

3. 🌐 Farcaster raises $150M with just 80K daily users, ready to scale its crypto-based social network.

4. 📈 Brazil's ABSeed raises $30M for Seed 3, ready to propel early-stage B2B SaaS startups across Latin America.

5. 🌍 Majority secures $20M for Series A, set to enhance financial services for immigrants and expand community reach.

6. 🛡️ Bolster raises $14M led by Microsoft's M12, aiming to advance phishing detection and prevention technologies.

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Sam Altman’s take on voice, safety, and UBC

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, recently dropped some futuristic nuggets on the "All-In" podcast. Just before launching GPT-4o, Altman expressed his long-term vision for AI, emphasizing voice interaction as a game-changer. He candidly discussed AI safety, even amid OpenAI’s internal shakeups. Altman's dream? Universal Basic Compute—giving everyone a slice of AI’s productivity. While he foresees transformative benefits, he remains wary of over-regulation. Entrepreneurs should watch AI’s trajectory closely; it’s poised to reshape industries and economies. For more on Altman's AI vision, dive [deeper here]

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