Silicon Valley Pricing Academics Out of AI Research
Huuuge salaries, access to costly computing power draining academia of AI talent
As companies like Meta, Google and Microsoft funnel billions of dollars into AI, a massive resources gap is building with even the country’s richest universities. Meta aims to procure 350,000 of the specialized computer chips — called GPUs — that are essential to run the gargantuan calculations needed for AI models. In contrast, Stanford’s Natural Language Processing Group has 68 GPUs for all of its work.
“The public sector is now significantly lagging in resources and talent compared to that of industry,” said Fei-Fei Li, a former Google employee and the co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI. “This will have profound consequences because industry is focused on developing technology that is profit-driven, whereas public-sector AI goals are focused on creating public goods.”
As Silicon Valley races to build chatbots and image generators, it is drawing would-be computer science professors with high salaries and the chance to work on interesting AI problems. Nearly 70 percent of people with PhDs in AI end up in private industry compared with 21 percent of graduates two decades ago, according to a 2023 report from MIT. https://ide.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/0303PolicyForum_Ai_FF-2.pdf
Oregon Inlet was created during a powerful hurricane that struck the Outer Banks of North Carolina in September 1846. The hurricane's strong winds and storm surge cut a new inlet between Bodie Island and the southern Pea Island, separating them. It connects the Pamlico Sound to the ocean, separating the northern Outer Banks from the southern islands like Hatteras.
Today Oregon Inlet is a major access point to the Atlantic Ocean along the Outer Banks, serving as a departure point for fishing boats and providing a route for commercial vessels.The inlet is approximately 2.5 miles wide and has migrated over 2 miles southward since its formation in 1846 due to shifting sands, moving around 66 feet per year on average. This constant movement of the inlet channel has caused significant shoaling and made maintaining a navigable channel challenging over the decades.
Oregon Inlet is considered one of the most dangerous inlets along the East Coast due to its dynamic nature and rapidly shifting sandbars. Strong winds from the east or northeast can cause the sandbars to quickly change position, creating hazardous conditions for vessels trying to navigate the inlet.
Over the years, the unpredictable conditions at Oregon Inlet have led to the grounding of many ships and loss of lives.
R.I.P. Charlie Griffin of the Reels of Fortune who appeared on Nat Geo’s Wicked Tuna Outer Banks for the first 5 seasons, the latest victim of the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) comprehensive six-week audit of Boeing, conducted after a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft passenger door plug detached during flight, uncovered multiple instances of non-compliance with manufacturing quality control requirements, including deficiencies in Boeing's manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control processes.
Boeing has been granted a 90-day period to outline a comprehensive action plan addressing the audit's findings and the recommendations from an expert review panel report that scrutinized Boeing's safety culture.
This latest incident and the FAA's audit findings have intensified the scrutiny on Boeing's practices. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation into the door panel detachment, while the Justice Department has initiated a criminal probe into Boeing's activities.
The long Airbus short Boeing trade has been money.
This Week in History
Andrew Johnson was drunk when he made his inaugural address as Vice President of the United States on March 4, 1865. Multiple sources suggest Johnson had been drunk for at least a week prior, he drank heavily the night before the inauguration, and he consumed three glasses of whisky the morning of the ceremony. Witnesses variously described Johnson's speech as incoherent, inane, self-aggrandizing, repetitive, hostile, sloppy, and overly long.
The Times of London described Johnson as behaving like an "illiterate, vulgar, and drunken rowdy," boasting of himself in "the language of a clown”.
Johnson’s Speech: Italics have been added for the hiccups:
Fel' cizzens, this 's mos (hic) 'spicious mom't v' my zistence 'ni may (hic) say v' my l (hic) ife; ni' mere t' swear (hic) leshens t' ol Dabe 'nt' sport consushun, n' tseet consushun (hic) sported 'tall azurs. D'u (hic) know y am' [with emphasis] my name's And' Johnson' v Tensee n' im a pul a (hic) pul-le-an 'n ol Dabe's a pal-le-an n' im a plean (hic) an th' constushue d'rives 'ts (hic) cons't from pleeans. The consushun 's (hic) a stri (hic) ing sturment 'n I f'l'ere b'fore the Sen't that 'fi know (hic) my-sel I'm a man n'a (hic) broth'n Amekin cizzen, and [with distinctness] I'm a proud listration' v th' fac that a (hic) pleean'n a man from the (hic) ranks can be elv (hic) ated t' th' secon, t' th' secon [with marked emphasis] gif'in the place o' the Amekin people. Fel' cizzens, I'm a pleian 'n (hic) 'n two minitsnaf'n that point, f'r'i'm a pleean (hic) an 'twon time was a tailrs boy n'i teller wir rail (hic) pleeans 'n, Old Dabe 'n the (hic) n' spreme Court d'rive [with statesmanlike dignity] d'rive'r cons't' d'rive power from th' (hic) Amekin pleeans. But twom (hic) inits'naf on that point. Tensee's allers been loy'l'ni (hic) glore'n dressing my fel' twom inits'naf on that (hic) point.
Gross Negligence
Bloomberg recently asked financial pros to share what they learned from their biggest mistakes. One of the responses came from Bill Gross, the billionaire investor who co-founded Pacific Investment Management Co., where he ran the world’s largest bond fund. Here’s what Bill said about his biggest mistake.
· “I learned an expensive lesson about the dangers of leverage early on,” he says. “I bought U.S. Treasury bonds with a 10-to-1 leverage just months before my career at Pimco began. I had $10,000 equity savings from playing blackjack (where I learned that any bet should be limited to 3% of your liquid net worth). I disregarded that by buying $100,000 of 30-year Treasuries, which within weeks declined and wiped out half of my savings.”
· “I would make many mistakes during the next 40 years, but none as big, percentage-wise, as this one lesson. Gambling belongs at the casino. Investing requires prudent use of capital and avoidance of excessive leverage."
Behavioral Economics Principle of the Day
Prospect Theory: The theory that individuals' choices are influenced by the potential gains or losses relative to a reference point, rather than the final outcomes. It can lead to irrational behavior by valuing potential losses more heavily than equivalent gains, leading to risk-averse or risk-seeking behavior depending on the framing of the decision.
