Sam Altman’s Stealthy AI Device Startup Raising $1 Billion

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As a growing number of marketing pros grapple with how to safely and successfully harness the emerging capabilities of AI, big and small tech players continue to innovate and make up new rules as they go along. Meanwhile, the US Congress busts a move toward nationwide laws governing data privacy…

TODAY’S AI-POWERED MARKETING UPDATE:

• Top Story: Sam Altman’s Stealthy AI Device Startup Raising $1 Billion

• Transparency Trend: Meta Implements Stricter Labeling Rules for AI-Gen Content

• Data Privacy: US House and Senate Introduce Comprehensive Data Privacy Bill

• Hot Money: Startup Social Media Video AI Company Higgsfield Raises $8 Million | Chipmaker for Gen AI Edge Devices Hailo Raises $120 Million

• Briefs: Canva Acquires Design Software Company Affinity | OpenAI Now Enables Image Editing in DALL-E

• Today’s Master Marketing Tip: Marcus Chan

TOP STORY

Sam Altman’s Stealthy AI Device Startup Raising $1 Billion

A stealth-mode startup that’s developing a new kind of AI device, which was founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Jony Ive, is currently in negotiations with major venture capital firms to raise up to $1 billion.

Ive exited his role as Apple's chief product designer in 2019, but continued working for the company as a consultant until 2022, through his company LoveFrom.

It’s not publicly known yet precisely what type of device his new startup with Altman is working on, but it’s a “product that challenges the conventional smartphone experience and explores new interaction modalities with artificial intelligence,” according to a report in Maginative.

“It is highly likely that OpenAI's technologies, including their state-of-the-art GPT models, will power the AI capabilities for the device,” the outlet reported.

Investors in current negotiations to fund the startup include Thrive Capital, which initially backed OpenAI, and Emerson Collective, a venture capital firm founded by Laurene Powell Jobs, according to published reports.

OpenAI is also expected to take an ownership stake in the new company.

TRANSPARENCY TREND

Meta Implements Stricter Labeling Rules for AI-Gen Content

Meta announced it will begin requiring labeling for a wider range of video, audio and image content on Facebook, Instagram and Threads as “Made with AI” when its detects industry standard AI image indicators, or when people disclose that they’re uploading AI-generated content.

“We agree with the [company’s] Oversight Board’s argument that our existing approach is too narrow since it only covers videos that are created or altered by AI to make a person appear to say something they didn’t say,” Monika Bickert, Meta’s Vice President of Content Policy announced.

“Our manipulated media policy was written in 2020 when realistic AI-generated content was rare and the overarching concern was about videos,” Bickert writes.

“In the last four years, and particularly in the last year, people have developed other kinds of realistic AI-generated content like audio and photos, and this technology is quickly evolving. As the Board noted, it’s equally important to address manipulation that shows a person doing something they didn’t do.”

Meta plans to start the broader requirements for labels on AI-generated content in May.

DATA PRIVACY

US House and Senate Introduce Comprehensive Data Privacy Bill

Committees in the US House and Senate introduced a bipartisan bill titled the American Privacy Rights Act that would set “clear, national data privacy rights and protections for Americans, eliminates the existing patchwork of state comprehensive data privacy laws, and establishes robust enforcement mechanisms to hold violators accountable, including a private right of action for individuals,” according to an announcement.

"This landmark legislation gives Americans the right to control where their information goes and who can sell it,” said House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA). “It reins in Big Tech by prohibiting them from tracking, predicting, and manipulating people’s behaviors for profit without their knowledge and consent.”

According to Brandon Pugh, an analyst with the DC-based policy research firm R Street, "there is still a long path forward" in the legislative process before the introduced bill might become federal law.

HOT MONEY

Startup Social Media Video AI Company Higgsfield Raises $8 Million

Higgsfield AI, a startup developer of AI-powered video production tech for the social media space, has raised $8 million in a seed funding round led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Charge Ventures, Bitkraft Ventures, K5 Tokyo Black, AI Capital Partners, DVC and other funds.

The company was co-founded by its CEO, Alex Mashrabov, who previously co-founded AI Factory, a video AI company that enables people to create animated versions of themselves.

Snap acquired AI Factory in 2020 and appointed Mashrabov as its head of generative AI, where he led development of a suite of ML-powered products and filters. Among these was MyAI, launched in 2023, which rapidly became the world's second-largest consumer AI chatbot.

“Just as Adobe and Canva increased the number of people who create digital images by orders of magnitude, Higgsfield will do the same for video creation,” Mashrabov said in an announcement.

Chipmaker for Gen AI Edge Devices Hailo Raises $120 Million

Hailo, a chipmaker for edge artificial intelligence (AI) processors, announced it has extended its series C fundraising round with an additional investment of $120 million led by current and new investors including the Zisapel family, Gil Agmon, Delek Motors, Alfred Akirov, DCLBA, Vasuki, OurCrowd, Talcar, Comasco, Automotive Equipment (AEV), and Poalim Equity.

The company also just announced the release of its new Hailo-10 high-performance generative AI (GenAI) accelerators that enables users to own and run GenAI applications locally, without registering to any cloud-based GenAI services.

“We designed Hailo-10 to seamlessly integrate GenAI capabilities into users’ daily lives, freeing users from cloud network constraints,” said Hailo co-founder and CEO Orr Danon.

“This empowers them to utilize chatbots, copilots, and other emerging content generation tools with unparalleled flexibility and immediacy,” he said.

Hailo’s funding now exceeds $340 million.

BRIEFS

Canva Acquires Design Software Company Affinity

Canva, the provider of an online graphic design tool, has acquired Affinity, an image design software company, for an undisclosed price.

“Trusted by more than three million creative professionals across the globe, Affinity’s award-winning suite of professional design software has become a sought-after solution for everything from photo editing to complex graphic and vector design,” according to an announcement from Canva.

“From our very first conversations, we knew Affinity’s vision to pioneer simple yet state-of-the-art technology was a perfect match with our own mission to empower the world to design – which includes enhancing our capabilities and offering for professional designers.”

OpenAI Now Enables Image Editing in DALL-E

OpenAI announced a new feature with its DALL-E image generation tool that allows users to edit aspects of the pictures that it produces, which until now wasn’t possible.

With the new capability, users can select portions of a generated image and direct the GenAI through prompts to make specific changes.

The DALL-E editor interface now enables users to add, remove, and update parts of an image.

TODAY’S MARKETING MASTER TIP:

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THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY, FOLKS!