Maybe this is the silver lining we keep hearing about.
The phrase "every cloud has a silver lining" seems to have originated from John Milton's 1634 poem “Comus,” which includes the line, “Was I deceived? or did a sable cloud/Turn forth her silver lining on the night?”
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Of course, back then, a cloud was the big puffy thing up in the sky, not today's global network of remote servers that operates as a single system.
The idea is that every rotten situation has a more hopeful aspect, even though you might be too busy cursing your brains out to see it immediately.
Software giant Microsoft (MSFT) is reportedly contending with a rather sizable and different cloud in the form of a federal investigation.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department are set to open antitrust investigations into Microsoft, the artificial intelligence group OpenAI, and AI chip kingpin Nvidia (NVDA) , examining the powerful companies’ influence on the artificial intelligence industry, CNBC reported.
Microsoft partners with OpenAI, the artificial intelligence start-up behind chatbot ChatGPT, a generative AI program that quickly became the fastest app to reach one million users when it launched in 2022.
The FTC will take the lead on looking into Microsoft and OpenAI, while the DOJ will focus on Nvidia. The investigations will focus on the companies’ conduct rather than mergers and acquisitions, CNBC said, citing an unnamed source.
A spokesperson for Nvidia, which recently surpassed Apple (AAPL) to become the second most valuable company in the world behind Microsoft, declined to comment.
Employees warn of 'serious risks' with AI
Microsoft and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Big tech companies have been racing to get their piece of the AI pie, which some analysts say will create a $1 trillion+ market within a decade.
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But the big bucks are also generating some big concerns.
In January, the FTC announced that it had issued orders to Microsoft, OpenAI, and three other companies- Amazon (AMZN) , Alphabet (GOOG) , and Anthropic PBC- demanding information about recent investments and partnerships involving generative AI companies and major cloud service providers.
The agency said the probe could help the FTC deepen its understanding of the investments and partnerships formed between generative AI developers and cloud service providers.
“As companies race to develop and monetize AI, we must guard against tactics that foreclose this opportunity,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a statement. “Our study will shed light on whether investments and partnerships pursued by dominant companies risk distorting innovation and undermining fair competition.”
On Tuesday, a group of current and former OpenAI employees published an open letter describing concerns about the artificial intelligence industry’s rapid advancement despite a lack of oversight and an absence of whistleblower protections for those who wish to speak up.
The letter described "serious risks" involved with AI, ranging "from the further entrenchment of existing inequalities, to manipulation and misinformation, to the loss of control of autonomous AI systems potentially resulting in human extinction."
"AI companies possess substantial non-public information about the capabilities and limitations of their systems, the adequacy of their protective measures, and the risk levels of different kinds of harm," the employers said.
"However, they currently have only weak obligations to share some of this information with governments, and none with civil society. We do not think they can all be relied upon to share it voluntarily," the letter said.
In an interview last month with Bloomberg Television, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he didn't "like anthropomorphizing AI."
Microsoft CEO sees AI as 'a tool'
“It has got intelligence, if you want to give it that moniker, but it's not the same intelligence that I have,” he continued. “I sort of believe it's a tool.”
OpenAI, by the way, has raised the ire of Scarlett Johansson for creating a voice assistant that sounds like the actor’s performance in the 2013 film “Her,” which is about a man who falls in love with an AI system.
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"One of the fundamental things that brought OpenAI and Microsoft together way back even in 2019 was that focus on how do we make sure that we can make progress—and at that time it is not even clear as to whether things will even work the way they work," Nadella told Bloomberg.
"But even there, that company was very grounded on their mission around, 'Hey we want to bring the benefits of this to the broader set of audience and do it safely,' " he said.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is reportedly laying off 1,000 to 1,500 workers across its Azure cloud and mixed reality departments.
"Our clear focus as a company is to define the AI wave and empower all our customers to succeed in the adoption of this transformative technology," wrote Jason Zander, executive vice president of Strategic Missions and Technologies in an email to employees quoted by Business Insider.
"Along the way, we make decisions that align with our long-term vision and strategy while ensuring the sustainability and growth of Microsoft," the email read.
So you might think that the people at Microsoft would probably appreciate some semblance of a silver lining right about now. (See, we didn't forget)
Wall Street analysts appear unfazed by the controversy.
Oppenheimer boosted its Microsoft price target to $500 from $450 this week, keeping an outperform rating on its shares.
Oppenheimer said the OpenAI partnership is positive and sustainable, giving OpenAI access to the best AI infrastructure, critical data, and funding, and Microsoft exclusivity to the best AI model.
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