#178 - More Not-Acquihires, More OpenAI drama, More LLM Scaling Talk

#178 - More Not-Acquihires, More OpenAI drama, More LLM Scaling Talk

Author: Skynet Today August 16, 2024 Duration: 2:05:37
Our 178th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! NOTE: this is a re-upload with fixed audio, my bad on the last one! - Andrey With hosts Andrey Kurenkov (https://twitter.com/andrey_kurenkov) and Jeremie Harris (https://twitter.com/jeremiecharris) If you would like to get a sneak peek and help test Andrey's generative AI application, go to Astrocade.com to join the waitlist and the discord. Read out our text newsletter and comment on the podcast at https://lastweekin.ai/ If you would like to become a sponsor for the newsletter, podcast, or both, please fill out this form. Email us your questions and feedback at contact@lastweekinai.com and/or hello@gladstone.ai In this episode: - Notable personnel movements and product updates, such as Character.ai leaders joining Google and new AI features in Reddit and Audible. - OpenAI's dramatic changes with co-founder exits, extended leaves, and new lawsuits from Elon Musk. - Rapid advancements in humanoid robotics exemplified by new models from companies like Figure in partnership with OpenAI, achieving amateur-level human performance in tasks like table tennis. - Research advancements such as Google's compute-efficient inference models and self-compressing neural networks, showcasing significant reductions in compute requirements while maintaining performance. Timestamps + Links: (00:00:00) Intro / Banter (00:03:14) Response to listener comments / corrections Applications & Business (00:06:56) Google’s hiring of Character.AI’s founders is the latest sign that part of the AI startup world is starting to implode (00:15:12) Investors in Adept AI will be paid back after Amazon hires startup’s top talent (00:22:36) AI chip start-up Groq’s value rises to $2.8bn as it takes on Nvidia (00:29:22) OpenAI co-founder Schulman leaves for Anthropic, Brockman takes extended leave (00:36:18) Elon Musk files new lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman (00:41:40) Figure’s new humanoid robot leverages OpenAI for natural speech conversations (00:47:01) ASML, Tokyo Electron dodge new US chip export rules, for now (00:53:10) OpenAI reportedly leads $60M round for webcam startup Opal Tools & Apps (00:55:40) OpenAI cuts GPT-4o prices, launches Structured Outputs amidst price war with Google (01:02:08) Apple Intelligence could get a $20 Plus version (01:04:05) Audible is testing an AI-powered search feature  (01:05:53) Reddit to test AI-powered search result pages Research & Advancements (01:06:35) Scaling LLM Test-Time Compute Optimally can be More Effective than Scaling Model Parameters (01:16:27) Achieving Human Level Competitive Robot Table Tennis (01:20:19) Self-Compressing Neural Networks (01:28:30) Let Me Speak Freely? A Study on the Impact of Format Restrictions on Performance of Large Language Models (01:32:43) Berkeley Humanoid: A Research Platform for Learning-based Control Policy & Safety (01:33:35) METR announces results of study on comparative capabilities of humans and agents (01:39:35) ‘The Godmother of AI’ says California’s well-intended AI bill will harm the U.S. ecosystem (01:49:13) Google Monopolized Search Through Illegal Deals, Judge Rules (01:54:56) Amazon faces UK merger probe over $4B Anthropic AI investment (01:55:44) GPT-4o System Card (02:03:09) Outro See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Keeping up with artificial intelligence can feel like drinking from a firehose. Every week brings a new breakthrough, a surprising application, or an urgent ethical debate. Last Week in AI, from the team at Skynet Today, is here to turn that torrent into a clear, digestible stream. Instead of getting lost in the noise, you'll get a thoughtful rundown of the developments that actually have impact, explained without unnecessary jargon. Each episode feels like a conversation with well-informed friends who have done the homework for you, sifting through research papers, product launches, and industry announcements to highlight what's substantive. You'll hear nuanced discussions that go beyond the headlines, considering the real-world implications of new models, policy shifts, and corporate moves in the tech landscape. This podcast doesn't just tell you what happened; it provides context on why it matters for developers, businesses, and society at large. It’s an efficient way to stay informed and critically engaged with a field that is reshaping our world at a breathtaking pace. Tune in for a consistently insightful analysis that makes the complex world of AI feel accessible and relevant, week after week.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Last Week in AI
Podcast Episodes
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#229 - Gemini 3 Flash, ChatGPT Apps, Nemotron 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Our 229th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! Recorded on 12/19/2025 Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and Jeremie Harris Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at contact@lastweekinai.co…
#228 - GPT 5.2, Scaling Agents, Weird Generalization [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Our 228th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! Recorded on 12/12/2025 Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and Jeremie Harris Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at contact@lastweekinai.co…
#227 - Jeremie is back! DeepSeek 3.2, TPUs, Nested Learning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:34:40
Our 227th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! Recorded on 12/05/2025 Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and Jeremie Harris Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at contact@lastweekinai.co…
#226 - Gemini 3, Claude Opus 4.5, Nano Banana Pro, LeJEPA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:11
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#225 - GPT 5.1, Kimi K2 Thinking, Remote Labor Index [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:18:14
Our 225th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! Recorded on 11/16/2025 Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and co-hosted by Michelle Lee Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at contact@last…
#224 - OpenAI is for-profit! Cursor 2, Minimax M2, Udio copyright [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:31:43
Our 224th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! Recorded on 10/31/2025 Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and co-hosted by Gavin Purcell (check out AI For Humans and AndThen!) Feel free to email us you…
#223 - Haiku 4.5, OpenAI DevDay, Claude Skills, Scaling RL, SB 243 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:45
We discuss a range of news from updates on AI models and tools by Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, to new business partnerships involving OpenAI and Broadcom, along with regulatory actions from California and market mov…
#222 - Sora 2, Sonnet 4.5, Vibes, Thinking Machines [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:37:16
Our 222st episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! Recorded on 10/03/2025 Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and co-hosted by Jon Krohn Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at contact@lastwee…