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1. Big Tech now sees the way to differentiate artificial-intelligence offerings by creating the perception that the user has a personal relationship with it. Or, more weirdly put, a friendship—one that shares a similar tone and worldview. The race to develop AI is framed as one to develop superintelligence. But in the near term, its best consumer application might be curing loneliness. That feeling of disconnect has been declared an epidemic—with research suggesting loneliness can be as dangerous as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. A Harvard University study last year found AI companions are better at alleviating loneliness than watching YouTube and are “on par only with interacting with another person.” It used to be that if you wanted a friend, you got a dog. Now, you can pick a billionaire’s pet product. Those looking to chat with someone—or something—help fuel AI daily active user numbers. In turn, that metric helps attract more investors and money to improve the AI. (Source: wsj.com)
2. Meta is looking to raise $29 billion to fund its all-in push into artificial intelligence, turning to private capital firms to finance its build out of data centres in the US. Talks between the Instagram-owner and private credit investors have advanced, with several large players including Apollo Global Management, KKR, Brookfield, Carlyle and Pimco involved in the discussions, according to people familiar with the matter. Meta is hoping to raise $3 billion of equity from them and then a further $26 billion of debt. But it is debating how to structure the massive debt raising, as it considers options for what will be one of the largest private fundraisings of its kind. The company could also look to raise more capital, one person added. In partnering with big money managers, Meta and its biggest rivals are splitting the risks and costs of massive investments as they compete to secure computing capacity to power their AI models. (Source: ft.com, italics mine)
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