On the Cover of Science

  • Evo is a genomic foundation model that enables prediction and generation tasks from the molecular to genome scale. Using an architecture based on advances in deep signal processing, Evo is trained on 7 billion parameters with a context length of 131 kilobases at single-nucleotide resolution. Evo captures two fundamental aspects of biology—the multimodality of the central dogma and the multiscale nature of evolution.
  • Source.

The Concrete Impact of AI

  • In the US there are 5,000 data centers today, with 450 being added every year to 2030.
  • Data centers need a lot of concrete, more so due to AI’s need for bigger servers.
  • This concrete causes a lot of emissions, throwing a spanner in big tech emission targets, and leading to high demand for so-called green concrete.

You don’t Own Anything

  • The transformation of technology to the -as-a-service model has led to many positives, yet it has led to a situation where users don’t own anything.
  • This creates vulnerabilities – “years ago websites were made of files; now they are made of dependencies.”
  • If the current trend of technology is sweeping us in a direction of “everything is amazing, but nothing is ours”, Technology that’s Actually Yours could be the next great counter-trend.

State of Venture

  • A discussion on how venture capital just isn’t what it used to be.
  • Large rounds for companies lead to perverse incentives – the speakers estimate just 5% of the 1,400 pre-LLM unicorns would raise an up-round today.
  • These round sizes continue today (though in part explained by the increased capital intensity of AI based startups).
  • Large funds could also lead to a reshaping of portfolio return curves, with consequences that are yet to be seen.
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