Connect with us

Published

on

At the Meta Connect developer conference, Mark Zuckerberg, head of the Facebook group Meta, shows the prototype of computer glasses that can display digital objects in transparent lenses.

Andrej Sokolow | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has surpassed Jeff Bezos as the world’s second richest person.

Zuckerberg’s net worth reached $206.2 billion on Thursday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, topping the $205.1 billion net worth of the former Amazon CEO and president. The Facebook co-founder now trails Tesla chief Elon Musk by roughly $50 billion, the index showed.

With his 13% stake in Meta, Zuckerberg’s net-worth has risen by $78 billion since the beginning of the year, which is more than any member of the of the 500 richest people that the Bloomberg Index tracks. Meta shares closed at a record high on Thursday at $582.77, representing a roughly 68% jump from early January when its shares were trading at $346.29.

Zuckerberg’s rise to the second spot on the index on Thursday underscores how his personal wealth has grown alongside investor enthusiasm over the social media giant’s rising profits this year.

Wall Street has continuously cheered Meta throughout 2024 as the company has consistently reported quarterly earnings that have surpassed analyst estimates. In July, Meta said that its second-quarter sales grew 22% to $39.07 billion, marking the fourth straight quarter of revenue growth topping 20%.

Meta has pointed to its hefty artificial intelligence investments as helping improve the performance of its online advertising platform as a reason for its sales growth. The company’s online advertising system suffered a major setback in 2021 when Apple introduced an iOS privacy update that weakened its ability to track users across the web. Meta in February 2022 said that the privacy changes would cost it $10 billion in revenue.

In late 2022, Zuckerberg instituted a major cost-cutting plan that extended into the next year and ultimately resulted in 21,000 Meta workers losing their jobs, or roughly a quarter of the company’s workforce.

Investors reacted favorably to Meta’s cost cutting while the company’s online advertising business began to rebound and was bolstered by the massive digital ad spending campaigns by Chinese-linked retailers Temu and Shien.

While Meta has continued spending billions of dollars on the virtual and augmented reality technologies needed to underpin the futuristic concept of the metaverse, investors have become more tolerant of the investments as long as the company’s core ad business remains healthy.

Last week, Meta debuted its Orion AR glasses, which garnered positive reviews from the few people who have tested the prototype.

Watch: CNBC reviews Meta’s Orion AR glasses prototype

Meta's Orion AR glasses prototype: CNBC reviews

Continue Reading

Technology

Amazon debuts discount store with everything under $20 to take on Temu and Shein

Published

on

By

Amazon debuts discount store with everything under  to take on Temu and Shein

Amazon has rolled out a new storefront featuring apparel, home goods, electronics and other items priced below $20, to fend off growing competition from discount upstarts Temu and Shein.

Called “Amazon Haul,” the storefront is accessible through the company’s mobile app, and promises “crazy low prices” on a plethora of goods. Shoppers can buy $1 eyelash curlers and oven gloves, or a $3 nail dryer. The company is offering free shipping on orders over $25, or a $3.99 shipping fee on orders below that threshold.

An Amazon spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

CNBC previously reported that Amazon planned to launch its own discount webstore with goods shipped directly from China.

Amazon is betting shoppers will wait longer for products in exchange for rock-bottom prices. The company noted that most purchases made in Amazon Haul will be delivered in under two weeks, “although shipping times may vary and are dependent on a customer’s delivery location.”

That’s a shift for Amazon, which has partly cemented its dominance in e-commerce by offering faster delivery speeds than its competitors. The company upended the online shopping world when it first offered free two-day delivery, and it’s been speeding up delivery times since then. Amazon now offers same- or next-day delivery, and in some parts of the U.S. it promises delivery within a few hours of an order being placed.

Continue Reading

Technology

OpenAI to present plans for U.S. AI strategy and an alliance to compete with China

Published

on

By

OpenAI to present plans for U.S. AI strategy and an alliance to compete with China

In this photo illustration, the OpenAI logo is displayed on a mobile phone screen with a photo of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

Didem Mente | Anadolu | Getty Images

OpenAI’s official “blueprint for U.S. AI infrastructure” involves artificial intelligence economic zones, tapping the U.S. Navy’s nuclear power experience and government projects funded by private investors, according to a document viewed by CNBC, which the company plans to present on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

The blueprint also outlines a North American AI alliance to compete with China’s initiatives and a National Transmission Highway Act “as ambitious as the 1956 National Interstate and Defense Highways Act.”

In the document, OpenAI outlines a rosy future for AI, calling it “as foundational a technology as electricity, and promising similarly distributed access and benefits.” The company wrote that investment in U.S. AI will lead to tens of thousands of jobs, GDP growth, a modernized grid that includes nuclear power, a new group of chip manufacturing facilities and billions of dollars in investment from global funds.

Now that Donald Trump is President-elect, OpenAI has made clear its plans to work with the new administration on AI policy, and the company’s Wednesday presentation outlines its plans.

Trump plans to repeal President Biden’s executive order on AI, according to his campaign platform, stating that it “hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology” and that “in its place, Republicans support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.”

OpenAI’s presentation outlines AI economic zones co-created by state and federal governments “to give states incentives to speed up permitting and approvals for AI infrastructure.” The company envisions building new solar arrays and wind farms and getting unused nuclear reactors cleared for use.

“States that provide subsidies or other support for companies launching infrastructure projects could require that a share of the new compute be made available to their public universities to create AI research labs and developer hubs aligned with their key commercial sectors,” OpenAI wrote.

OpenAI also wrote that it foresees a “National Transmission Highway Act” that could expand power, fiber connectivity and natural gas pipeline construction. The company wrote it needs “new authority and funding to unblock the planning, permitting, and payment for transmission,” and that existing procedures aren’t keeping pace with AI-driven demand.

The blueprints say, “The government can encourage private investors to fund high-cost energy infrastructure projects by committing to purchase energy and other means that lessen credit risk.”

A North American AI Alliance and investment in more U.S. data centers

OpenAI also foresees a North American AI alliance of Western countries that could eventually expand to a global network, such as a “Gulf Cooperation Council with the UAE and others in that region.”

The company also outlined its vision for nuclear power, writing that although China “has built as much nuclear power capacity in 10 years as the US built in 40,” the U.S. Navy operates about 100 small modular reactors (SMRs) to power naval submarines, and leveraging the Navy’s expertise could lead to building more civilian SMRs.

OpenAI’s infrastructure blueprint aligns with what Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s head of global policy, told CNBC in a recent interview. He sees the Midwest and Southwest as potential core areas for AI investment.

“Parts of the country that have been ‘left behind,’ as we enter the digital age, where so much of the economics and particularly economic benefits flow to the two coasts… Areas like the midwest and the southwest are going to be the types of places where you have the land and ability to do wind farms and to do solar facilities, and potentially to do some part of the energy transition — potentially do nuclear facilities,” Lehane said.

The infrastructure, Lehane explained, is contingent on the U.S. maintaining a lead over China in AI.

“[In] Kansas and Iowa, which sits on top of an enormous amount of agricultural data, think about standing up a data center,” Lehane said. “One gigawatt, which is a lot, taking, you know, 200-250 megawatts, a quarter of that, and doing something with their public university systems to create an agricultural-based LLM or inference model that would really serve their community but also make them a center of agricultural AI.”

Lehane cited an estimate that the US will need 50 gigawatts of energy by 2030 to support the AI ​​industry’s needs and to compete against China, especially when the country approved 20 nuclear reactors over the past two years and 11 more for next year.

“We don’t have a choice,” Lehane said. “We do have to compete with that.”

WATCH: OpenAI launches ChatGPT search

OpenAI launches ChatGPT search

Continue Reading

Technology

Denmark launches landmark framework for using AI under EU rules — with Microsoft backing

Published

on

By

Denmark launches landmark framework for using AI under EU rules — with Microsoft backing

Jaque Silv | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Denmark on Wednesday laid out a framework that can help EU member states use generative artificial intelligence in compliance with the European Union’s strict new AI Act — and Microsoft‘s already on board.

A government-backed alliance of major Danish corporates, led by IT consultancy Netcompany, launched the “Responsible Use of AI Assistants in the Public and Private Sector” white paper, a blueprint that sets out “best-practice examples” for how firms should use and support employees in deploying AI systems in a regulated environment.

The guide also aims to encourage delivery of “secure and reliable services” by businesses to consumers. Denmark’s Agency for Digital Government, the country’s central business registry CVR and pensions authority ATP are among the founding partners adopting the framework.

This includes guidelines governing how the public and private sector collaborate, deploying AI in society, complying with both the AI Act and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), mitigating risks and reducing bias, scaling AI implementation, storing data securely, and training up staff.

Netcompany CEO André Rogaczewski said the provisions laid out in the white paper were primarily aimed at companies in heavily regulated industries, such as in financial services. He told CNBC he’s aiming to address one core question: “How can we scale the responsible usage of AI?”

What is the EU AI Act?

The EU AI Act is a landmark law that aims to govern the way companies develop, use and apply AI. It came into force in August, after previously receiving final approval from EU member states, lawmakers, and the European Commission — the executive body of the EU — in May.

The law applies a risk-based approach to governing AI, meaning various applications of the technology are treated differently depending on the risk level they pose. It’s been touted as the world’s first major AI law that will give firms clarity under a harmonized, EU-wide regulatory framework.

Though the rules are technically in effect, implementation them is a lengthy process. Most of the provisions of the Act — including rules for general-purpose AI systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT — won’t materialize until at least 2026, at the end of a two-year transition period.

“It is absolutely vital for the competitiveness of our businesses and future progress of Europe that both the private and public sector will succeed in developing and using AI in the years to come,” Caroline Stage Olsen, Denmark’s minister of digital affairs, told CNBC, calling the white paper a “helpful step” toward that goal.

Netcompany’s Rogaczewski told CNBC that pitched the idea for a white paper to some of Denmark’s biggest banks and insurance firms some months ago. He found that, though each organization was “experimenting” with AI, institutions lacked a “common standard” to get the most out of the tech.

Rogaczewski hopes the Danish white paper will also offer a blue print for other countries and businesses seeking to simplify compliance with the EU AI Act.

Microsoft’s decision to sign up to the guidelines is of particular note. “Getting Microsoft involved was important since generative AI solutions often involve algorithms and global tech,” said Rogaczewski, adding the tech giant’s involvement underlines how responsible digitization is possibility across borders.

The U.S. tech giant is a major backer of ChatGPT developer OpenA, which secured a $157 billion valuation this year. Microsoft also licenses OpenAI’s technology out to enterprise firms via its Azure cloud computing platform.

Continue Reading

Trending