NBCUniversal is cloning Al Michaels' voice ahead of the summer 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Michaels is a legendary sport announcer who has covered major events for decades, including the 1980 winter Olympics where the U.S. hockey team beat Russia and Michaels famously exclaimed, "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"
His voice will be used for a segment called "Your Daily Olympic Recap" on Peacock.
NBC told Vanity Fair that it's using a large language model to analyze its own live Olympics coverage and an AI model that was trained on Michaels' voice.
The broadcaster hasn't disclosed whether it's using third-party software and model from OpenAI or other companies, though.
“Frankly, it was astonishing. It was amazing … And it was a little bit frightening,” Michaels told Vanity Fair.
Bonus: the Sports Business Journal profiled Michaels last year as one of its "champions" of 2023. You can read it here: Champions 2023: Al Michaels
Legal Watch
A Bay Area non-profit news organization is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement and unauthorized use of its content, AP News reported on Thursday. The Center for Investigative Reporting filed the lawsuit in New York. Based in Emeryville, the news organization publishes Mother Jones and Reveal.
Data Deals
Earlier this week, the WSJ reported that Apple and Meta had discussed integrating the social media giant's AI model with Apple Intelligence. Apparently those talks were nixed. Apple didn't move forward with the partnership due to privacy concerns, Bloomberg News reported. Apple announced it had partnered with OpenAI instead earlier in June during its annual World Wide Developers Conference. The iPhone maker could still sign additional deals with other generative AI model developers in the future.
Marc Benioff-owned Time Magazine inked a deal with OpenAI. It's a "multiyear content licensing deal and strategic partnership," Axios reported on Thursday, that will give OpenAI access to 101 years-worth of Time's archives plus new content.
Rules and regulations
OpenAI is cracking down on unauthorized access to its products in China.
The organization's software is technically not available in China but users in the country use virtual personal networks and other means to get around firewalls.
Even TikTok's parent company, China-based ByteDance, was caught secretly using OpenAI's models last year, an investigation by the Verge showed.
OpenAI recently has been sending users in China a notice that it will take "additional steps to block API traffic" beginning on July 9, Reuters reported.
The move has spurred local competition in China among other AI software providers including Baidu and Alibaba. Bloomberg News has more details about that, as well.
Departures
Sunnyvale-based humanoid robotics startup Figure AI recently lost CTO Jerry Pratt who is starting his own robotics startup called Persona AI. TechCrunch has more details.
M&A Watch
OpenAI recently announced acquisitions of two Bay Area startups: Multi, a video collaboration service, and Rockset, a search and analytics provider.
OpenAI acquired Multi (fka Remotion), an S.F. video collaboration service that had raised $13 million from firms like Greylock, WndrCo, First Round Capital and Script Capital. This comes on the heels of OpenAI's acquisition of Rockset, a San Mateo-based provider of tools for real-time search and data analytics that had raised over $100 million.
Brazil's Nubank acquired San Francisco data intelligence startup Hyperplane. The terms of the deal weren't disclosed. TechCrunch has more.
Funding rounds to know
Two San Francisco startups raised megarounds.
Bright Machines raised a $106 million Series C round from Nvidia, Microsoft and other investors, Reuters reported. The company is focused on automating manufacturing processes.
And chip developer Etched raised $120 million in a Series A round that included Peter Thiel, Replit CEO Amjad Masad and other investors. Reuters has more details.
Must reads
Multiple AI companies bypassing web standard to scrape publisher sites, licensing firm says -Reuters
Why a $14 Billion Startup Is Now Hiring PhD’s to Train AI From Their Living Rooms -the Information
Tech Investor Sean Parker Leads Rescue of Struggling AI Startup -WSJ
Silicon Valley leaders are once again declaring ‘DEI’ bad and ‘meritocracy’ good — but they’re wrong -TechCrunch
The owner of Toys ‘R’ Us just used OpenAI’s Sora to animate the zombie brand -The Verge
OpenAI delays rolling out its 'Voice Mode' to July -Reuters
Apple Won’t Roll Out AI Tech In EU Market Over Regulatory Concerns -Bloomberg News
260 McNuggets? McDonald’s Ends A.I. Drive-Through Tests Amid Errors -NYT
