Hub AI in practice

Nvidia and xAI are joining forces with BlackRock, Microsoft, and Abu Dhabi to create a massive AI infrastructure fund. The initiative aims to raise up to $100 billion through investments and debt financing to build new data centers and energy projects. Under the arrangement, Elon Musk's xAI and Nvidia will become equal partners alongside Microsoft and the Abu Dhabi-backed MGX Fund. The move follows January's announcement of "Stargate," a similar initiative from SoftBank and OpenAI. That project started at $100 billion with plans to expand to $500 billion by 2029. Meanwhile, the EU has announced its own plans to invest 200 billion euros in AI infrastructure.

William Fedus, who served as Vice President of Post-Training at OpenAI, has announced his departure from the company to pursue AI applications in scientific research. In an internal memo to colleagues, Fedus explained his plans to focus specifically on developing AI systems for physics applications. Post-training involves optimizing pre-trained AI models through additional training methods. Recent advances in this field include using reinforcement learning to enhance models' capabilities in mathematics and coding.

Fedus joins a growing list of senior executives who have left OpenAI in 2024, including the company's Head of Technology Mira Murati and Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, who departed to launch their own ventures. However, Fedus emphasizes that his departure remains amicable - OpenAI plans to invest in his new startup, viewing advances in scientific AI as an important pathway toward achieving artificial superintelligence (ASI).