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Regulators force Silicon Valley Bank Canada into liquidation, paving way for auction (BETAKIT)
The order was approved on Wednesday after The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (OSFI) took over permanent control of SVB Canada.
OSFI said the restructuring is meant to be done "in a way that best serves the interests of its creditors and will allow operations of the Silicon Valley Bank to continue in Canada."
OpenAI plans to up the ante in tech’s A.I. Race (THE NEW YORK TIMES)
On Tuesday, OpenAI started selling access to GPT-4 so that businesses and other software developers could build their own applications on top of it.
GPT-4’s new capabilities may not be obvious to the average person first using the technology, but they are likely to quickly come into focus as laypeople and experts continue to use the service.
As regulators take over SVB Canada, companies still have questions about impact (BETAKIT)
Beyond companies with SVB Canada lines of credit, SVB's collapse is set to impact startups that have their US banking with SVB, or ostensibly Canadian companies that are legally domiciled in the US for tax purposes and use SVB.
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China self-driving startup WeRide files for $500 million US IPO, sources say (BNN BLOOMBERG)
Founded in 2017, WeRide develops autonomous driving technology and is testing the technology in over 25 cities around the world, its website shows. WeRide produces vehicles including robotaxis, mini buses, vans and street sweepers in addition to its autonomous driving software and hardware solutions.
The Guangzhou-based startup is working with advisers on a potential listing that could take place as early as in the first half of this year.
CVCA CEO: Tech still needs influx of capital given possible investor pullback, even as liquidity concerns calm (BETAKIT)
CVCA CEO Kim Furlong and a host of other industry leaders have called on the feds to quell a possible “full-blown” liquidity crisis in the country’s tech sector following SVB's collapse. While Furlong admits regulators have assuaged SVB liquidity concerns for now, she argues the need remains for the government to hasten its spending.
Google-backed Anthropic launches Claude, an AI chatbot that’s easier to talk to (THE VERGE)
While the tool does much of what OpenAI’s ChatGPT can, Anthropic says its early clients report the tool’s “less likely to produce harmful outputs” and is “easier to converse with.”
The goal of Anthropic is to develop an AI assistant that’s “helpful, honest, and harmless.” It also has no ability to access the internet, as Anthropic says it’s designed to be “self-contained.”
Venture funding surged in Québec and Alberta tech sectors over 2022, bucking national trend (BETAKIT)
According to new data from briefed.in, Alberta tech companies raised a collective $675 million in 2022, an 89 percent increase from 2021 and a 121 percent increase from 2020. In Québec, venture funding totalled $2.3 billion in 2022, a 21 percent increase from 2021 and a 76 percent increase from 2020.
Adept raises $350 million to build AI that learns how to use software for you (FORBES)
Adept intensely studied how humans use computers—from browsing the internet to navigating a complex enterprise software tool—to build an AI model that can turn a text command into sets of actions.
“A synthesizer lets a musician play sounds of every instrument without having to learn how to play every instrument. We want to build the same thing for computing,” Luan told Forbes.
Cohere among first investments from Salesforce’s new $250 million AI fund (BETAKIT)
Saleforce's fund is initially investing in four startups, with Cohere being the only Canadian. The other investments include United States technology companies Anthropic, Hearth.AI, and You.com.
Cohere has raised $170 million to date, comprising a $125 million USD Series B round last year and $40 million USD in Series A financing in 2021.
Microsoft just laid off one of its responsible AI teams (PLATFORMER)
Microsoft laid off its entire ethics and society team within the artificial intelligence organization as part of recent layoffs that affected 10,000 employees across the company, Platformer has learned.
The move leaves Microsoft without a dedicated team to ensure its AI principles are closely tied to product design at a time when the company is leading the charge to make AI tools available to the mainstream, current and former employees said.
‘Very difficult decision’: Kitchener robotics firm Avidbots confirms layoffs (THE RECORD)
Robotics firm Avidbots has confirmed it is laying off about 50 employees, or 14 per cent of its global workforce. Founded in 2014 by Sheikh and co-founder Pablo Molina, both University of Waterloo graduates, Avidbots specializes in autonomous commercial cleaning robots called Neo.
How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant lost the A.I. race (THE NEW YORK TIMES)
A few months ago, ChatGPT couldn’t write a proper haiku; now it can do so with gusto. On Tuesday, OpenAI unveiled its next-generation A.I. engine, GPT-4, which powers ChatGPT.
The excitement around chatbots illustrates how Siri, Alexa and other voice assistants — which once elicited similar enthusiasm — have squandered their lead in the A.I. race.
BDC appoints Sévrine Labelle as head of $100 million Thrive Lab for women entrepreneurs (BETAKIT)
Labelle is focused on meeting with ecosystem players to understand where BDC's Lab might be able to fill gaps for women-led companies. She noted that the Lab will likely work with partner organizations—from support groups and accelerators to venture funds—on education and co-investment opportunities.
TuSimple co-founder resigns, accused of poaching staff for new venture (TECHCRUNCH)
Sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch a “whistleblower” informed upper management about TuSimple co-founder Xiaodi Hou’s solicitations of employees over the past few months to join a company he was starting. Hou had allegedly been pressuring certain employees to stop working so hard, either because they would soon join his new venture or because he wanted to see the autonomous trucking company fail without him, the sources say.