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Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom. Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble?

Inside the 81-year-old billionaire’s risky, debt-fueled scramble to transform his data empire into an A.I. juggernaut. The president announced “the largest A.I. infrastructure project by far in history” and told the world that his friend Larry Ellison was just the man to get it done. “He’s sort of C.E.O. of everything,” Trump said. Ellison began by thanking Trump. “We certainly couldn’t do this without you,” he said. “It would simply be impossible.” He then proceeded to sketch out the ambitious plan. Ellison’s database software and cloud computing company, Oracle, and its partners — most prominently OpenAI — were going to invest as much as $500 billion over the next four years into a group of sprawling data centers, 500,000 square feet each, that would produce 10 gigawatts of computing power, using enough energy to power as many as 10 million homes. It was called Project Stargate, after the 1994 sci-fi movie. The effort began in late 2022 when the launch of ChatGPT stunned the world and set in motion a race to master and control the most transformative new technology since the birth of the internet. Analysts began bidding up how much generative A.I. would add to the global economy: $7 trillion over 10 years, $200 trillion by 2030and so on. Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom. Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble? – The New York Times

TikTok Goes American by Matty Merritt

TikTok is an American company now. Ownership of TikTok’s US operations has officially changed hands, but your experience on the app likely won’t change much…immediately. A group of American investors closed a $14 billion deal Thursday night to acquire the US version of the short-form video app and avoid a shutdown mandated by the 2024 divest-or-ban law due to national security concerns. Under the deal, TikTok’s original parent, ByteDance, will retain 19.9% of the company while Larry Ellison’s Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based investment company MGX will split 45% of the company as managing investors. Most of the remaining shares of the new US TikTok entity will be owned by existing ByteDance investors. The three managing investors will own US user data and be tasked with moderating US content. ByteDance will still own its wildly valuable algorithm, but, according to a White House official, it will lease a copy to the owners of the US entity. For starters, you won’t need to download a new app.   A group of US investors bought TikTok

Introducing the World’s First Lensless LED Headlight: A New Era in Automotive Lighting

At ORACLE Lighting, we’re proud to unveil our most groundbreaking innovation yet: the world’s first lensless LED headlight—a revolutionary product that’s about to disrupt everything you thought you knew about headlight design.  Our new lensless LED headlight eliminates the lens entirely, removing the most failure-prone element of the system. This cutting-edge design is made possible by modular Bi-LED emitter pods with innovative features such as IP68 ingress protection and active thermal management. Each LED component—from the DRL to the high and low beams—is fully serviceable and replaceable, giving users and installers a dramatically improved ownership experience.  [News] Introducing the World’s First Lensless LED Headlight: A New Era in Automotive Lighting – LEDinside

TikTok’s Algorithm to Be Licensed to US Joint Venture Led by Oracle and Silver Lake

Tech giant Oracle will spearhead U.S. oversight of the algorithm and security underlying TikTok’s popular video platform under the terms of a deal laid out this week by President Donald Trump’s administration. All the final details still need to be nailed down among several joint venture partners that will include Oracle, investment firm Silver Lake Partners and possibly two billionaires — media mogul Rupert Murdoch and personal computer pioneer Michael Dell. . Although he no longer runs Oracle as its CEO, company co-founder Larry Ellison remains a top executive while also overseeing an estimated personal fortune of $390 billion. Ellison, 81, now could be in line to become a behind-the-scenes power player in the media, having already helped finance Skydance’s recently completed $8 billion merger with Paramount, a deal engineered by his son, David. The U.S. administration would not have a stake in the joint venture nor be part of its board, according to a senior White House official.  Oracle will manage TikTok algorithm for US users under Trump deal | AP News

High-Tech Partnership Invests $500 Billion in AI

President Donald Trump on Tuesday talked up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by Sam Altman of OpenAI, Larry Ellison of Oracle, and Masayoshi Son of SoftBank. The new entity, Stargate, will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum. “This will be the most important project of this era,” said Altman, CEO of OpenAI. The White House has put an emphasis on making it easier to build out new electricity generation in anticipation of AI’s expansion, knowing that the United States is in a competitive race against China to develop a technology increasingly being adopted by businesses. High-Tech Partnership Invests $500 Billion in AI – electrifiED

Interesting: The Three Pillars of Independence of an Organization

The 3 Pillars of Independence most commonly refers to a framework from the UK voluntary sector (specifically promoted by organizations like Bond and the Directory of Social Change). It is a toolkit for assessing and maintaining the independence of charities, NGOs, or civil society organizations.

The Three Pillars are:

  1. Independent of Party Politics – The organization (or regulator) must remain free from bias or influence by any political party or the government of the day. Decisions should be impartial, not favoring one political side.
  2. Independent of Populism – It should not be swayed by popular public opinion, media-driven campaigns, or transient public pressure, especially on controversial or unpopular causes.
  3. Independent of the Press – Freedom from media influence or pressure, ensuring decisions are based on evidence and law rather than headlines or public narratives.

This toolkit was created to monitor potential political encroachment on charitable regulation and to ensure charities can operate without undue external interference.

 

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