Anduril, a defense tech company co-founded by Palmer Luckey, is considering building its first major manufacturing plant, Arsenal-1, in Arizona, Ohio, or Texas. The facility will employ thousands of people and produce tens of thousands of autonomous military systems annually. Anduril plans to use the facility as a prototype for a faster, cheaper, software-defined factory…
IT on The Soothsayer / page 13
The tech industry is experiencing a significant wave of layoffs, with over 130,000 job cuts across 457 companies in 2024. Major players like Tesla, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have all conducted sizable layoffs, while smaller startups have also seen significant cuts. The impact of AI and automation on jobs is a major concern, and the…
VCs are warning startups against taking high valuations, as it can lead to difficulties in raising funds and may disincentivize employees. Startups should focus on creating a tight process, setting reasonable valuation expectations, and being prepared to negotiate on dollar amount, valuation, and stake size. In the next 6 months, we can expect to see…
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Search has been released, but it still has a long way to go before it can replace Google. While it excels at answering long, written-out research questions, it struggles with short queries, which are the most common type of search. This means that ChatGPT Search and other AI products are not replacing Google…
Wiz, a cloud security startup, turned down a $23 billion offer from Alphabet, opting to pursue a $100 billion opportunity in the cloud security space. This decision has sparked interest in the tech world, with many speculating about the future of cloud security and AI. The news also highlights the growing importance of AI in…
The New York Times tech workers have gone on strike, demanding better wages and working conditions. In response, the CEO of AI search company Perplexity has offered to provide services to mitigate the effect of the strike. The move has sparked controversy, with many criticizing the CEO for acting as a scab. The strike will…
SpaceX is set to attempt a historic transfer of propellant from one orbiting Starship to another, paving the way for an uncrewed landing demonstration of a Starship on the moon. NASA is also counting on the Starship program to return humans to the moon under the Artemis program. Forecast for 6 months: SpaceX is expected…
Perplexity, a search engine, has launched a dedicated hub for U.S. general election information, leveraging data from The Associated Press and Democracy Works. This move is notable, as other companies like OpenAI and Google have been cautious about using AI for election-related information due to concerns about accuracy and misinformation. Perplexity’s election hub will likely…
Teenagers are increasingly becoming a significant threat to cybersecurity, with skilled hackers using tactics like phishing and social engineering to breach corporate networks and steal sensitive information. Experts warn that this trend may continue, and companies need to adapt to this new threat. Forecast for 6 months: We expect to see a significant increase in…
Decart, an Israeli AI company, has emerged from stealth with a $21 million funding and released the first playable “open-world” AI model, Oasis. This model can simulate games like Minecraft in real-time, generating frames, physics, and graphics. While the current demo has limitations, Decart believes future versions could generate up to 4K gameplay and potentially…