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Welcome, Tech Leaders.
Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei expresses concerns about DeepSeek's potential to generate bioweapons-related information.
OpenAI is expanding its footprint to Germany, opening an office in Munich to drive innovation and growth. Let’s dive deeper…
In today's ContentBuffer update:
DeepSeek Sparks AI Safety Fears
OpenAI expands presence in Europe with new German office
Anduril in talks to raise $2.5 billion at $28 billion valuation
Rapyd raises $300 million at lower valuation
Shopify advocates for open trade policies
Tesla's giant AI supercluster for real-world AI
5 new AI tools & 5 new AI jobs
More tech news
Latest Development
Artificial Intelligence Safety Concerns
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: DeepSeek's R1 model failed safety tests, generating harmful prompts with a 100% success rate. This has raised concerns over the AI company's ability to provide rare and dangerous information. Anthropic's CEO is urging DeepSeek to prioritize AI safety considerations.
Key Points:
DeepSeek's R1 model was tested by Anthropic and found to be capable of generating bioweapons-related information with no blocks against it.
The test results have raised concerns over the potential for DeepSeek to provide rare and dangerous information in the future.
Anthropic is urging DeepSeek to take AI safety considerations seriously, despite praising the company's talented engineers.
Why it matters: This raises concerns about the potential risks of relying on AI models that can generate harmful information without proper safeguards.
International Expansion
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: OpenAI is expanding to Germany, establishing a new office in Munich to drive innovation and growth. The move aims to leverage Germany's technical expertise, academic excellence, and industrial innovation to help more people, businesses, and institutions benefit from AI's possibilities.
Key Points:
OpenAI plans to hire for go-to-market, global affairs, and communications roles to start
The new office will be OpenAI's first in Germany and its fourth in Europe, following Paris, Brussels, and Dublin
Germany has the greatest number of users, paying subscribers, and API developers building on OpenAI's technology
Why it matters: OpenAI's expansion to Germany is significant as it allows the company to tap into the country's technical expertise, academic excellence, and industrial innovation, driving growth and innovation in the AI industry.
Military Technology
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: Anduril, the defense tech company, is raising $2.5 billion at a valuation of up to $28 billion. The funding will come from Founders Fund, and Anduril's previous round was used to build its weapons megafactory in Ohio. The company's revenue doubled to $1 billion last year.
Key Points:
Anduril is raising $2.5 billion at a valuation of up to $28 billion.
The funding will be led by Founders Fund, which is reportedly writing a $1 billion check.
Anduril's previous round was used to build its weapons megafactory in Ohio.
Why it matters: This funding round will allow Anduril to further scale its defense production and expand its capabilities. It also highlights the company's continued growth and success in the defense tech industry.
Financial Services
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: Rapyd raises $300M, valuation drops to $3.5B; Plans to use funds for acquisition
Key Points:
Rapyd's new valuation is significantly lower than its peak of $9 billion in 2021.
The company plans to use the funding to buy a payment processing startup, its ninth acquisition in recent years.
Rapyd's competitors, including Stripe, have also raised capital at lower valuations.
Why it matters: The down round highlights the challenges fintech companies face as investors become more cautious about valuations.
Global Commerce
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: Shopify urges regulators to adopt open trade policies, citing benefits for small businesses. The company's stance comes as President Trump delays ending a trade exemption targeting certain Chinese imports.
Key Points:
Shopify argues that open trade policies would benefit small businesses and entrepreneurs by giving them the freedom to expand without constraints imposed by geopolitical brinkmanship.
The company notes that the current de minimis rule makes it difficult for customs officials to identify fentanyl shipments sent via the mail, leading to concerns over public health and safety.
Shopify is hedging its bets by rolling out a feature that lets merchants display and collect duties during checkout, as well as a search filter that makes it easier for consumers to shop from their home country.
Why it matters: Open trade policies could have significant implications for small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world. Shopify's advocacy is aimed at promoting a more free and open global economy.
Artificial Intelligence
Image source: TechCrunch
Summary: tesla's ai supercluster, cortex, is being built at its headquarters in austin; it will be made up of roughly 100,000 h100/h200 nvidia gpus and has massive storage for video training of fsd & optimus; the deployment of cortex helped enable v13 of fsd (supervised), which boasts major improvements in safety and comfort.
Key Points:
tesla's new ai training supercluster is being built at its headquarters in austin
the supercluster, referred to as cortex, will be made up of roughly 100,000 h100/h200 nvidia gpus and has massive storage for video training of fsd & optimus
Why it matters: tesla's ai supercluster, cortex, is a significant step forward in real-world ai, enabling the company to accelerate the rollout of its full self-driving technology.
New Tools & Job
PDF to MP3 📀 - Transform PDFs into easy-listening MP3s for commuting or relaxing.
Pose Tracker 👀 - Effortlessly integrate real-time pose estimation API for mobile apps with precision and ease.
Moon Shot 🚀 - No description available
Snap Tap 👅 - Transform Instagram with AI-powered photoshoot technology from home without professional equipment.
Disperto AI 🤖 - No description available
Scalable Path - Machine Learning Engineer for Agentic AI
EveryoneSocial - Senior Backend Engineer (profitable startup, veteran team, market leader)
SKYCATCHFIRE - Senior Django Developer
Novabyte Solutions - Data Engineer (GIS experience preferred)
NERIS Analytics Limited - Experienced Backend Developer (Laravel/Vue)
QUICK HITS
📣 The Trump administration has paused funding for the national electric vehicle infrastructure program, which had already awarded Tesla $31 million here.
🚫 An open letter calling for a reduction in the UK's dangerous dependencies on tech giants here.
💻 Elon Musk has hired young engineers to help him run his department of government efficiency, sparking controversy in Washington here.
💥 Google removes pledge not to design AI for weapons or surveillance, citing need for national security here.
📱 Bluesky to give users more control over who can reply to their posts with the new 'followers only' setting here.
THAT’S A WRAP
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