By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
When a company previously not known for being candid with regulators, the public and media about its safety practices suddenly proclaims that “Safety Is Our North Star,” a competent reporter’s response is to heighten my vigilance and keep asking questions. In short: don’t trust, but verify.

A recent article in Forbes cites a December 1st internal email sent by Cruise’s new president and CTO Mo Elshenawy. It demonstrates a newfound mastery of lip service. Cruise now says, “Our priority from day one will be to launch with communities, not at them,” by relaunching “ridehail in one city.”

Ostensibly, it’s refreshing to see this180-degree shift from the company’s previous “it’s-all-about-scaling” strategy.

Equally encouraging is a statement by Farly Ury, a GM spokesperson, quoted by Forbes: “GM remains committed to supporting the independent safety reviews and Cruise as they refocus on trust, accountability and transparency.”

But here’s the rub.

Read More »Three ‘Transparency’ Questions for GM/Cruise

Our series on sustainable semiconductor manufacturing underscores the urgent need to act — sooner rather than later on climate change.

Apply lessons from the aviation industry and get the government involved in the development and use of autonomous vehicles. Safety is paramount. It is that simple.

By Peter Clarke

The exceptional nature of Nvidia Corp.’s latest quarterly financial results – and the way they have defied the tyranny of large numbers – demonstrates what many have believed for some time; that a fundamental change in technology is sweeping across society.

That change is towards the use of generative-AI, the use of AI-enabled software agents and natural language interfacing.

Read More »How Will Nvidia Change — and Change the Chip Industry?

By David Benjamin

“I remember telling myself: This isn’t going to last. I thought there was too much money floating around. These people may be earnest researchers, but whether they know it or not, they are still in a race to put out products, generate revenue and be first.”

— David Brooks, New York Times

Coincident with the turmoil that ended with Sam Altman’s reinstatement at the top of OpenAI and the drastic restructuring of the artificial intelligence laboratory’s board of directors, I happened to watch Frank Capra’s classic film, Meet John Doe.

Although released in 1941, the movie reflected the trauma of the Great Depression.

Read More »AI’s ‘Functional’ Imperative

What’s at stake?
Can one plus one – a startup partnering with another startup – take the world’s AI market by storm? That’s the “public image” two semiconductor startups seek to generate in Japan. At stake is a lot of Japanese government money.

Rapidus, a new Japanese startup foundry with big ambitions to design and manufacture “the world’s most advanced logic semiconductors,” Thursday announced an agreement with Tenstorrent Inc., a Canadian AI startup based in Toronto.

Read More »Tenstorrent-Rapidus Handshake, and What It Means