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Top stories today:1) Twitter buys 10K GPUs for AI program2) OpenAI introduces tiny bug bounty program3) Office space availability at record-high4) March CPI expected to fall to 5.2%

0. Data and calendar

1. Twitter buys 10K GPUs and is working on generative AI models

• $100M+ potential cost: 10K GPUs, likely from NVIDIA, whose flagship A100 GPU costs $10K each. (Their most expensive chip cost $200K.)

• In March, Twitter hired 2 senior engineers from Deepmind: Igor Babuschkin and Manuel Kroiss, who are likely leaders in this project. - Business Insider

• What could Twitter be building? In order of excitement:

  • ChatGPT competitor.

  • Generative AI for its ads, similar to what Meta is doing.

  • Improving Twitter's current features, such as search.

Elon says most advertisers are back, company is break-even

• "Roughly break even", with most advertisers having returned. Previously, Elon suggested that Twitter's revenues were running at an annualized $3B, from $5B in 2021.

• "We could be cash-flow positive this quarter if things go well." Of note, cash-flow positive does not necessarily means profitable, especially because Twitter is said to have issued stock and compensation awards to its employees in March.

• 1,500 employees, from "just under 8,000 staff members" before Elon took over, in October - Reuters, Twitter space

Elon now says legacy blue checkmarks will be gone on 4/20

• We don't buy that he will really remove blue checks of large accounts, like @realDonaldTrump or @TheRock. We suspect that there will be special treatment for accounts over, say, 1M or 10M followers.

• Will this actually make a difference in revenue? Media estimates point to Twitter Blue having around 300K subscribers, bringing in $25M annually, less than 1% of its total annual revenue. Twitter needs to at least 10x that for it to start to make a difference. One idea is to introduce VIP plans at $1K-$10K/year that gives accounts extra reach (e.g. 1st spot in comments).

Meanwhile, Twitter has been blocking anti-India tweets worldwide

This is more evidence for:

• Elon's claims of wanting Twitter to be a "free speech" zone being exaggerated.

• India becoming a Russia-style dictatorship, where democracy is in name only.

Twitter competitor Substack Notes goes live for all users

• Its main problem right now is that you need to subscribe to someone's newsletter to follow their notes. Given the average Twitter user follow hundreds of accounts, and no one wants to subscribe to hundreds of email newsletters, Substack must allow users to follow only notes. - Substack

2. OpenAI introduces bug bounty program, but with a very low max reward of $20K

• If AI has the potential to kill us all, is $20K a good max bounty? Google, for example, just recently awarded $605K for a five-bug chain in Android. - Bloomberg, OpenAI

  • If GPT gets to AGI/superintelligence in the next few years, and there's a bug that might cause it not to be aligned, the bounty should be at least in the 6-digit range, to be competitive with other bounties.

3. U.S. office space availability at record-high, with no signs of reversing Covid trend

Commercial real estate is simply riskier than residential

• People need a place to live. With remote work, they don't necessarily need a place to work.

• But residential real estate could also suffer, because, with remote work, there is less demand for living closer to business centers.

Unlike what many in the media say, commercial real estate debt is held by many players

Some smaller banks, like First Citizens, have high exposure to commercial real-estate

4. Today at 8:30 AM ET: March CPI expected to fall to 5.2%, but rise to 5.6% on the core metric

• CPI: exp. 0.2% / 5.2%, from 0.4% / 6.0%

• Core CPI: exp. 0.4% / 5.6%, from 0.5% / 5.5%

5. Other headlines

Tech

• AlphaSense, Bloomberg competitor, raises $100M at $1.8B valuation.

• Google TV now has 800+ free live TV channels in the U.S.

• YC gets some pushback from Brex, others for ending late-stage funds.

• Reddit already seeing the effects of ChatGPT-generated spam.

• QuaDream, spyware from Israeli startup, gets a report from Microsoft.

• Whatsapp introduces business payments through chat... in Brazil.

• NFL Sunday Ticket on Youtube starts at $249 for the 2023 season.

• Sony considering cloud gaming amid rumors of Playstation Q Lite handheld.

Business

• Blackstone raises $30B in new real estate fund, while BREIT still delays withdrawals.

• U.S. VC firms touring Middle East for money.

• Elizabeth Holmes denied request to stay out of prison, 11-year sentence starts April 27.

• EY halts plan for breaking up into consulting and audit businesses.

• NYPD to use more robotic dogs from Boston Dynamics.

• Citadel's Ken Griffin gives $0.3B to Harvard, who already had $53B endowment.

Crypto

• Ethereum Shanghai upgrade: a guide.

• Sei, trading-focused L1, raises $30M at $800M valuation.

• Xclaim raises $7M A round: $200M in volume since inception.

• SBF seeks $10M in legal reimbursement from FTX; judge could decide today.

• a16z releases 2023 State of Crypto Report.

• Justin Sun denies arrest rumors.

• G7 to discuss CBDC, crypto regulation in May meeting.

• SEC has job openings for crypto enforcement division in NY.

• Maple to launch U.S. Treasuries pool, allowing non-U.S. investors.

U.S. politics

• Manhattan DA sues Rep. Jim Jordan for interference in Trump case.

• Trump says nothing, not even a criminal conviction, would stop his run.

• Trump asks for 4-week delay in rape trial.

• Ex-FOX producer says secret tapes reveal Giuliani, Powell, Tucker knew of lies.

• Judge says FOX cannot argue newsworthiness in Dominion defamation trial.

• Abortion: 53% think medication should be legal, 22% illegal.

• Sen. Tim Scott could launch exploratory committee today in Iowa.

World

• Russia's lower court approves tougher draft rules, including electronic summonses.

• NATO has 97 troops in Ukraine: leaked docs.

• U.S. officials speak to Ukrainians after leaked docs incident.

6. Interesting tweets, memes, and images

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