OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration.
Image: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Wake up to the shifts shaping the future.
From boardroom shakeups and billion-dollar bets to the latest tech breakthroughs rewriting the rules, The Company Brief is your front-row seat to the stories moving markets and mindsets.
We cut through the noise so you can stay ahead of the curve, one bold business move at a time.
Asia markets mixed, sentiment tepid as Fed looms
The dollar hit a five-week low while Asian stocks made a lacklustre start to the trading session on Thursday, after weaker-than-expected economic data cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its meeting next week. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.8%, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was trading down 0.1%, weighed down by declines in Korea and New Zealand. S&P 500 e-mini futures were little changed, as momentum from U.S. markets overnight petered out in Asia. Stocks on Wall Street advanced on Wednesday, led by small-cap companies, as the Russell 2000 index jumped 1.9% and the benchmark S&P 500 rose for a second day. The gains came after U.S. private payrolls data posted their biggest drop in more than two-and-a-half years.
Wikipedia seeks more AI licensing deals similar to Google's tie-up
Wikipedia is working with Big Tech on deals similar to its arrangement with Google, the online encyclopedia's co-founder, Jimmy Wales, said on Wednesday, in a bid to help the firm monetise AI companies' heavy reliance on its content. Wales said that tech companies' usage of freely available Wikipedia knowledge to train their large language models results in cost surges that Wikipedia's nonprofit operator must bear. "The AI bots that are crawling Wikipedia are going across the entirety of the site ... So we have to have more servers, we have to have more RAM and memory for caching that, and that costs us a disproportionate amount," Wales said. While the content of Wikipedia remains free for individuals under its license, the high-volume, automated access by for-profit entities is a different matter, Wales said. He noted that a deal has already been signed with Alphabet's Google and that discussions with other firms are ongoing.
OpenAI agrees to acquire AI startup Neptune
OpenAI has agreed to acquire Neptune, a startup that provides tools that help companies track their AI model training, the ChatGPT maker said on Wednesday. While OpenAI did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, The Information reported that OpenAI is paying less than $400 million in stock, citing people with knowledge of the deal. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for confirmation on the deal value. The Sam Altman-led firm is already a Neptune customer, using Neptune's tracker to monitor and debug training of its GPT large language models. Some of Neptune's other clients include Samsung, Roche and HP. Initially an internal tool at Deepsense, Neptune was spun off as an independent startup in 2018. The company has secured more than $18 million in funding, according to its website.
Allan Gray takes a large stake in Pick'n Pay
With the Ackerman family selling down Pick'n Pay shares, an investment firm is buying in. Just after Pick'n Pay said the family’s holding fell from 25.4% to 16.8%, the company told shareholders that Allan Gray had increased its stake to 10.43%. The Ackerman’s sale down has reduced its ownership of the company to 16.8% as it continues to refund itself after ploughing R1.1 billion into the ailing company to right it. The family borrowed the cash and is now settling that debt by selling shares. That funding was prompted by the fact that Pick'n Pay was under strain because of weak operations and a number of poorly performing stores. As a result, it underwent a major reset, including new leadership, and the separate JSE listing of discount brand Boxer.