Good Morning! Elon Musk’s case with OpenAI takes a step forward federal court over its nonprofit-to-profit transition, arguing it violates the company's original mission of developing AI for social benefit. Meta's making a bold $10B move to build its own global subsea cable network, marking its first solo venture into underwater infrastructure. Intel's leaked B570 GPU specs suggest it's ready to challenge the mid-range graphics card market with a compelling new offering launching December 3rd.

— Forrest Knight & Meghanadh Vasireddy

Musk vs OpenAI: The Battle Over AI's Future Heats Up

Context: OpenAI started as a nonprofit with Musk and Altman at the helm in 2015. Well, the plot has thickened. Musk's latest legal filing aims to halt OpenAI's transformation into a for-profit entity, claiming it violates the organization's original mission of developing AI for social benefit.

Musk has filed for an injunction in Oakland's federal court to:

• Block OpenAI's corporate restructuring

• Prevent "anti-competitive" investor agreements that allegedly restrict funding to competitors

• Pause what he calls OpenAI's "accelerating dominance" in the AI space

Tech Details: The controversy centers around OpenAI's 2019 decision to accept billions in Microsoft backing, which Musk argues fundamentally altered the company's trajectory. His legal team claims OpenAI can't "lumber about the marketplace as a Frankenstein" while choosing corporate structures that benefit Microsoft and Altman's interests.

Impact: This battle isn't just about corporate structure – it's about the future of AI development and competition. With Musk's xAI (valued at $50B) in the ring, the stakes are high for emerging AI companies. OpenAI dismisses these claims as "baseless," but with the California attorney general's office already in early talks about the corporate structure change, this could reshape how AI companies operate and compete in the future.

The case is being heard as Musk v. Altman, 4:24-cv-04722, in the Northern District of California.

Meta's Going Solo: Building a $10B Global Subsea Cable

Context: Meta currently owns stakes in 16 subsea cables but has always shared ownership with telecom carriers. That's about to change in a big way.

The company is planning a massive 40,000km subsea fiber-optic cable that will be solely owned and operated by Meta - a first for the company. The cable will form a "W" shape, connecting the US East Coast to India via South Africa, then linking to Australia before reaching the US West Coast.

Technical Bits: The project faces immediate logistical challenges due to limited availability of specialized cable-laying ships, which are currently booked years in advance. Meta's likely solution? A phased deployment starting with a $2B initial investment.

Why It Matters: Meta's properties drive a whopping 22% of global mobile internet traffic and 10% of fixed traffic. This dedicated infrastructure would give them unprecedented control over their data routing while strategically avoiding geopolitical hotspots like the Red Sea and South China Sea.

The timing of this investment aligns with Meta's growing AI ambitions. Industry experts speculate that the cable's termination in India could support future AI training operations, taking advantage of the country's lower compute costs and Nvidia's recent partnership with Reliance for AI infrastructure.

Read More Here

Intel's Upcoming B570 GPU Leak Reveals Mid-Range Specs and Design

Just days before Intel's official December 3rd Battlemage GPU launch, detailed specifications of the Arc B570 have leaked through a French computer wholesaler listing. This comes as Intel prepares to expand its discrete GPU lineup, positioning the B570 as a mid-range offering alongside its more powerful sibling, the B580.

The leaked ASRock Challenger variant of the B570 packs some interesting hardware:

• 18 Xe2 cores (144 CUs)

• 10GB GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus (380 GB/s bandwidth)

• 2.6 GHz core clock

• Single 8-pin power connector

• PCIe 4.0 x8 interface

• Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 2.1

What's New: The B570's specs suggest Intel is targeting the mid-range GPU market. The single 8-pin connector paired with PCIe power delivery hints at a sub-225W TDP, making it an interesting option for builders working with moderate power supplies. While it features slightly lower specs than the upcoming B580 (which has 20 Xe2 cores and 12GB VRAM), the dual-fan design and modern display outputs position it as a potential competitor to cards like the RTX 4060 Ti and RX 7600. Pricing remains unannounced, but with Intel's aggressive pricing strategy for Battlemage, this could shake up the mid-range GPU market.

Read More Here

🔥 More Notes

• When to expect 2nm chips in your iPhone

• Waze incident reports are now appearing in Google Maps

• Bluesky promises more verification and an ‘aggressive’ approach to impersonation

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