Musk’s xAI Raises $6 Billion, Magic Leap And Google Are Besties Again, Meet The Netflix Of AI

Canva made an original short rap musical (think Hamilton) to promote its enterprise business. Even though Musk’s Xai’s fundraise is the most newsworthy, this week I’m leading with something insanely great. In a throwback to the salaryman era of post-world war 2 corporate America, Canva created a live rap musical for its Canva Create Conference that recalls Hamilton. “Thank you for opening up my eyes/The future is bright with Canva Enterprise!” This is also a once in a lifetime opportunity to pimp my friends Steve Young and Sport Murphy’s book, Everything’s Coming Up Profits, which chronicles the best original live corporate Broadway-style shows from the 1950s – 1980s.

Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has raised $6 B Series B. The pre-money valuation of $18 B. Musk has been critical of his former company OpenAI and its partnership with Microsoft. He has also expressed concerns about bias in Google’s AI products. xAI, founded a year ago, has released a chatbot called Grok to premium X (formerly Twitter) user. The company aims to develop “truthful” AI systems, but by design Grok is better at cracking wise. Funding comes from Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding.

Autodesk acquires AI-powered VFX startup Wonder Dynamics. The 3D software giant has acquired Wonder Dynamics, a startup specializing in AI-powered tools for visual effects and character creation. Wonder Dynamics’ flagship product, Wonder Studio, simplifies the complex process of integrating CG characters into live-action footage. No financial details about the private transaction are available. Prior to the acquisition, Wonder Dynamics raised $2.5 million seed round followed by an additional $10 million. This funding fueled the development of Wonder Studio into a fully cloud-hosted platform accessible through a web browser. The co-founders of Wonder Dynamics, Nikola Todorovic and “Ready Player One” star Tye Sheridan, emphasize their commitment to ensure that AI technology complements, rather than replaces, human artistry. Wonder Dynamics’ investors include Horizons Ventures, Founder’s Fund MAC Capital, Epic Games and Samsung.

Apple to incorporate OpenAI chatbot in iOS 18 update. Apple’s revamp of Siri using AI is expected to be the main attraction at its World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June. Despite this partnership, Apple is still reportedly in talks with Google to potentially include Google’s Gemini, perhaps as an alternative AI option in the future. I’m not sure what this means, exactly, as both OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini can already be accessed by app or by browser. These developments suggest that Apple may be prioritizing cloud-based AI capabilities for iOS 18. While Apple is believed to be working on its own AI model called Ajax for simpler tasks like text analysis and smart replies, OpenAI’s technology is expected to handle more complex functions such as image generation and analysis of longer text bodies. This strategy aligns with Apple’s previous approach with Google Maps, which was offered as a default option before Apple launched its own Maps service. This allows Apple to provide users with advanced AI capabilities while continuing to develop its own in-house AI solutions.

Google and Augmented Reality startup Magic Leap are besties again. Once upon a time, the two were besties, with an acquisition by Google expected by many observers. The search giant’s 2014 investment of $500 M was written off long ago. The new cast of characters seeks to combine Magic Leap’s expertise in optics and device manufacturing with Google software. While details are scarce, the partnership is another signal Google is yet to cede the field to Meta and Apple. Magic Leap, now majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, like The HoloLens, has struggled with slow enterprise adoption. Google has a long history of experimenting with XR technology, like Daydream VR, Poly 3D, and Google Glass, before abruptly abandoning them. Despite setbacks, Google continues to explore AR. They recently previewed glasses displaying real-time translations. Last year Google also made an equally vague partnership announcement with Samsung and Qualcomm for AR glasses. While Magic Leap founder, entrepreneur and podcast co-host Rony Abovitz posted this hopeful reminiscence of Google’s generous ways with his company, one must temper optimism with the knowledge that Google never met an XR project it wouldn’t kill.

The Atlantic and Vox Media the latest to partner with OpenAI. They join the burgeoning ranks of media companies that would rather take the money than fight. The deals give OpenAI access to publishers’ vast archives and current content. In turn, publications will be compensated and access OpenAI’s technology to develop new products and features. The Atlantic will experiment with AI-driven products through its Atlantic Labs initiative, while Vox Media will use the technology to enhance internal data platforms, advertising capabilities, and content discovery features on its websites. These partnerships reflect a growing trend of major news organizations choosing to collaborate with OpenAI rather than pursue expensive litigation over alleged copyright violations. Organizations like The New York Times have opted for litigation. But OpenAI is clearly going to train a model on only licensed content and then sunset the infringing edition, leaving the Times, Sony and others holdouts to make their own AI from whichever scraps are left after the law gives them a verdict, which will take five or more years.

Meet Showrunner, The ‘Netflix Of AI’ That Turns Viewers Into TV Show Creators. The Simulation (formerly Fable Studio), the company behind last year’s outrageous South Park AI episode generator, is launching its own creation platform today, allowing users to make their own TV shows with AI. They are announcing 10 TV shows made with Showrunner’s text-to-episode system, each in different styles, from anime to Pixar-style, to the cutout style of South Park. “It’s the Netflix of AI.” Founder and CEO Edward Saatchi told me. “Watch an episode, or make an episode.”

Ernest Cline’s Readyverse Trailer Drops Unveiled at Consensus Conference. The author of the novel Ready Player One has been working with co-founders Shara Senderoff and Aaron McDonald, and producer Dan Farah, to create a world very much like the one described in the novel and the Steven Speilberg film of the same name. The trailer showcases some extraordinary features: an AI Curator to craft and curate your experience; Surreal Estate, unique user-owned AI generated personal environments and Generative AI tools to create 3D objects, environments and music.

Leia Pix Is Now Immersity AI. In that time, the Gen-AI 3D platform has amassed 3 million users who have been transforming 2D images into immersive 3D experiences. With the name change comes an upgraded 2D-to-3D video converter that can help anyone create XR content in minutes, whether the video is captured from a smartphone or professional camera.

AniML, a French startup, has launched a new iPhone app called Doly. The 3D model creation tool is particularly useful for e-commerce businesses and social media marketing. Doly utilizes a technique called Gaussian splatting to estimate a 3D point cloud from 2D images captured by the user as they move their phone around the product. Users can choose a template from a library to create a 3D scene for their object. Once satisfied, they can purchase and download the video. AniML, has raised $2M in seed funding.

This column, once called “This Week in XR,” is also a podcast hosted by author Charlie Fink, Ted Schilowitz, former studio executive and co-founder of Red Camera, and Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap. This week our guest is Amy Peck, CEO of EndeavorXR. We can be found on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.