Hard Numbers: Sutskever’s easy billion, OpenAI gets expensive, Getting AI out of the immigration system, Voice actors strike a deal

​Ilya Sutskever, co-Founder and Chief Scientist of OpenAI speaks during a talk at Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel June 5, 2023.
Ilya Sutskever, co-Founder and Chief Scientist of OpenAI speaks during a talk at Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel June 5, 2023.
REUTERS/Amir Cohen

1 billion: OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever has raised $1 billion for his new AI startup Safe Superintelligence, which has promised to deliver a highly advanced AI model without the distraction of short- or medium-term product launches. The company only has 10 employees so far, but it has already raised that sum from eager investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital.

2,000: OpenAI is reportedly considering a $2,000 per month subscription for its forthcoming large language models, Strawberry and Orion. Its current top model, GPT-4, is free for limited usage and $20 per month for increased usage and extra features. It’s still unclear what the new models will cost when they’re released later this fall — or, if they’re costly, whether consumers will be willing to spend that much.

141: A group of 141 organizations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security urging it to stop using AI tools in the immigration system and to comply with federal rules around protecting civil rights and avoiding algorithmic errors. The groups requested transparency around how the department uses AI to make immigration and asylum decisions, as well as biometric surveillance of migrants at the border.

80: Voice actors reached an agreement with the producers of 80 video games last week, after striking for two months. SAG-AFTRA, the actor’s union, won new protections against “exploitative uses” of AI. That said, it’s still striking against most of the larger video game studios, including Electronic Arts, as well as Walt Disney and Warner Bros.’s game studios.

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