From Creative Accounting to AI Metrics: The Latest in Tech and AI News

OWITH.ai - Only What's Important to Hear around AI and Tech

Good morning from OWITH.ai: the podcast that gives you only what's important to hear in AI and tech world.Transitioning from the historical practice of creative accounting to the modern era, where ARR is being applied in the AI industry, leading to questionable accounting practices. The pressure to show rapid growth has sparked these practices, emphasizing the need for evolving metrics in accurately reflecting how AI companies operate. Venture deals and private equity acquisitions in the tech industry are also making waves, alongside people movements within venture capital firms.Moving on to Amazon's recent unveiling of new devices at a press event in New York City, including Echo speakers, Kindle e-readers, and Face-recognizing Ring cameras. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek transitions to an executive chairman role in January, as OpenAI introduces its Sora 2 video generation AI model and app for iOS. The FTC sues Zillow and Redfin while Meta eyes AI chip startup Rivos, and Cerebras raises $1.1 billion ahead of its IPO. Other news includes Afghanistan's internet outage and suspected Chinese hackers breaching foreign minister email servers.Shifting gears to McKinsey's leadership development methods known for producing Fortune 500 CEOs, with rigorous training and a culture of constructive dissent. The U.S. government shutdown due to Congress failing to agree on a spending bill has resulted in federal employee furloughs. Updates on the withdrawal of a BLS nominee, Argentina's plans to scrap soybean export taxes, and the Warren Buffett indicator signaling stock prices exceeding the economy. Brief mentions of AI industry developments and market index updates are also covered.Exploring OpenAI's benchmark GDPVal evaluating leading AI models on real-world tasks curated by experts from various fields. Models like Claude Opus 4.1 excel in government, retail, and wholesale tasks but struggle in manufacturing and film editing. The importance of benchmarks like GDPVal in bridging AI research to real-world applications is emphasized, with developments like Fortune AIQ 50 ranking and OpenAI's new feature for instant purchases discussed. Controversy surrounding Rich Sutton's comments on LLMS and world models in achieving AGI is also debated, highlighting differing perspectives on scaling up LLMS for AGI achievement.

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