Hi Everyone. This is Take Off. We're like a hidden Easter egg in your favorite video game - surprising, delightful, and adding an extra layer of fun to your tech news consumption.

Here's what we're serving up today:

• No munching on (AI) Chips for China 🇨🇳

• In “Real” Life didn't have “Real” Users 🤖

• Asteroids ☄️

• ToolBox Thursdays ⚒️

No munching on (AI) Chips for China 🇨🇳

Yesterday was one of those rare incidents of 2023 where NVIDIA’s stock dropped!

Yes, my friends, even that is possible.

The United States is considering throwing another curveball at China’s AI ambitions by further restricting AI chip exports.

In an article that had us popping popcorn, The Wall Street Journal spilled the beans that the U.S. Department of Commerce could soon be doing its best "you shall not pass" Gandalf impression to Nvidia's chips on their way to China.

The US government has been trying to play the strict AI export teacher since last year when it started imposing export embargoes.

• They put a speed bump on the sale of Nvidia’s A100 and H100 chips (their creme-de-la-creme) to China which could have set-back Nvidia a whopping $400 million in sales loss.

• In response, the company rolled out a stripped-down version of its flagship AI chip, the A800 that managed to dodge those pesky export restrictions.

But it seems like even the diet version of these chips might come under scrutiny which led to (NASDAQ:NVDA) 2% drop yesterday.

Chinese tech firms have been gobbling up these AI chips like they’re the last remaining chips at a buffet.

• ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, recently placed an order of GPUs from Nvidia worth $1 Billion.

• China now has a GPU black-market where an A100 can fetch up to $20,000 which is almost double its retail price.

With the rise of generative AI tools, U.S. officials are increasingly looking at AI through a national security lens.

While they aim to protect their tech crown jewels, they also have to tread lightly to not upset companies in the U.S. and allied nations.

In “Real” Life didn't have “Real” Users 🤖

Ever heard of the app IRL? Neither did we. If you didn't, chances are you’re not a GenZ.

IRL is an acronym for “In Real Life”, an app launched in 2017 for finding the dopest real-world events around the globe.

All was well until COVID-19 showed up. However, IRL didn't give up and pivoted instead to online events and Gen Z just couldn't get enough of it. Or so we were made to believe!

In a recent internal investigation, it was found that the app had inflated its user count where 95% of it’s 20 million users were bots and weren’t real.

Mind you, this wasn't just any startup. IRL had raised a $200 million Series C round led by SoftBank that valued the company at a staggering $1.17 billion valuation back in 2021.

Oh sweet innocent SoftBank! How long will you continue to be swayed by such startups and founders!

Anyway, the shareholders gave the only logical response to this bot-party revelation, "We're out!"

Now the app is set to shut down, making it officially dead.

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

OpenAI's opening a new office in London! The move is all about tapping into the city's AI talent and enjoying lower corporate taxes. They'll focus on research and collaborating with policymakers. 🎉🤖 

Apple's stock is flirting with a $3 trillion market cap! Thanks to strong tech rebounds and optimism about AI, Apple's shares are soaring, despite a slight dip in recent profits. 🍎💰

Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, wishes to eliminate console game exclusives but says Sony sets the rules. He believes exclusives drive adoption but isn't keen on the competition they create. 🎮🕹️

⚒️ ToolBox Thursdays ⚒️

HiveSpark - Your startup's command center

AI Signature Generator - Generate handwritten signatures for free.

GPTZero - Accurately determine AI Plagiarism

Tome - AI powered storytelling

HoppyCopy - Write better email campaigns, 10x faster

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