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The Big One: OpenAI, Microsoft to combat AI election disinformation
OpenAI and Microsoft are rolling out tools to help researchers detect artificial intelligence-generated content, in addition to launching a new fund that will support media-literacy efforts, to combat election-related disinformation.
They have earmarked $2 million for voter-education programs to boost AI literacy through what they're calling the "Societal Resilience Fund."
The fund will provide grants to organizations including AARP, the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (also known as C2PA), the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and Partnership on AI.
The goal is to "further AI education and literacy among voters and vulnerable communities," Microsoft said.
OpenAI is also making a new image-detection tool available to researchers that will help predict whether an image was produced with DALL-E 3, the company's latest version of its image generator.
A tool for audio watermarking is also in the works, the company said, and for images, the new tool can correctly identify DALL-E 3-produced images around 98% of the time, though it's not yet optimized for detecting images created by software from other companies.
READ MORE: OpenAI, Microsoft launch new tools to combat AI election disinformation
Startups to Watch
- Veterans of augmented-reality unicorn Magic Leap are betting on a new startup that helps businesses adopt AR. Trace has landed paying clients such as T-Mobile and Qualcomm to test its templates that aim for plug-and-play ease, similar to what Squarespace did for websites and Canva for graphic design. The technology creates 3D immersive displays in a room — a sample video shows a golden dragon flying loops through the atrium of the Columbus Museum of Art. The images can be seen using a smartphone or virtual-reality goggles such as the recently released Apple Vision Pro, Columbus Inno reports.
- Kyle Hency, who co-founded Chubbies Shorts in 2011, has launched a new company called GoodDay Software, which is focused on enterprise resource planning, or ERP. The startup, which announced a $6 million seed round May 8, pitches itself as an easy-to-use interface to help brands manage inventories, Austin Inno reports.
- Seattle-based agriculture-tech startup Carbon Robotics has landed an undisclosed investment from NVentures, the venture arm of computer-chip giant Nvidia Corp. Carbon Robotics, founded in 2018, makes a robot called the LaserWeeder. The machine uses lasers to kill weeds, and it's meant to replace hand weeding, spraying or mechanical weeding, Seattle Inno reports.
- Chicago cleantech startup Mycocycle, which trains fungi to eat trash, recently raised $3.6 million in new funding. The startup uses mushrooms to transform waste into a renewable, low-carbon material in an attempt to divert waste from landfills, Chicago Inno reports.
- Lucid Bots, a fast-growing Charlotte, North Carolina startup, recently raised $9.1 million in Series A funding to enhance its fleet of cleaning drones and pressure-washing robots. Lucid's drones are primarily used for airborne projects, such as cleaning corporate buildings or disinfecting stadiums after games, Charlotte Inno reports.
D.C.'s AI Growth
Over the past year, the D.C. metro area has outpaced most of the nation in new job creation tied to artificial intelligence, a trend likely to continue as demand for AI-based products and services climbs.
That's according to data compiled by UMD-LinkUp AI Maps — a joint effort from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business and LinkUp, a global labor-market tracking firm — as part of an initiative that monitors AI job creation across the country.
Per the findings, D.C. itself ranks ahead of all 50 states when it comes to the ratio of AI-related job postings to the total number of all new job postings over the past 12 months. From March 2023 to March 2024, 1.77% of all job postings in D.C. were tied directly to roles involving AI, the research found, compared with the 1.55% figure for No. 2 Washington state and 1.46% for Virginia. California, at 1.21%, and Massachusetts, at 1.08%, rounded out the top five.
READ MORE: D.C. region's AI job growth ranks second only to California
Florida Governor's beef with lab-grown meat
Florida is pushing back against lab-grown meat, which Gov. Ron DeSantis described as a plan from "the global elite" that wants to "force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish."
DeSantis signed a controversial law on Wednesday that will bar the sale or manufacturing of lab-grown meat in the Sunshine State.
DeSantis said the bill (SB 1084), which includes a series of changes related to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, will protect the state’s cattle industry against “an ideological agenda that wants to finger agriculture as the problem.”
Opponents have contended that preventing sales or manufacturing of lab-grown, or cultivated, meat will halt innovation and create barriers for the free market.
READ MORE: Why Florida governor Ron DeSantis has a beef with lab-grown meat
Weird and Wired: Silicon Valley ... the musical?
It's been 14 years since David Fincher gave Facebook the Hollywood treatment, and a solid decade since Mike Judge brought Silicon Valley into our living rooms on HBO.
So, it seems like a fitting time for a new art project to emerge that reflects, and contemplates, this moment.
Bay Area Inno's Sara Bloomberg was recently invited to preview "Silicon Valley: The Musical," an upcoming production created by a trio of twenty-something Bay Area founders.
"Silicon Valley: The Musical" follows two MIT dropouts who founded an artificial-intelligence startup called RobotMe, represented on stage by a toaster. The drop-outs-turned-founders navigate San Francisco, venture capital, demo days, AI, and of course, are trying to save the world. But a vengeful VC investor lashes out when things don't go his way.
READ MORE: Tech founders' latest startup idea: Put Silicon Valley to music
