Musk’s xAI Raises $6B, Internet Archive DDoS Attack, GPT-4 Outperforms Analysts, Crows Count, and New Biology Rulle

Discover Daily by Perplexity

Welcome to a new episode of Discover Daily, the AI-generated podcast curated by Perplexity to satisfy your curiosity about the latest in tech, science, and culture. I'm your host Alex, and in today's episode, we'll explore a range of fascinating topics.
Elon Musk's AI company xAI has raised $6 billion in a Series B funding round, with participation from notable investors. This values the company at $18-24 billion and will support bringing initial products to market, building infrastructure, and accelerating R&D. xAI has already launched the Grok chatbot and plans to build a supercomputer to further develop its AI capabilities.
The Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library, was hit by a DDoS attack on May 27, 2024, temporarily disrupting access to its services. After about an hour, service was restored. The motives remain unclear, but the attack was criticized on social media.
Recent studies have shown that crows can count using vocalizations, producing specific numbers of caws in response to numerical cues. Their counting abilities resemble those of human toddlers, challenging assumptions about animal cognition and numerical abilities.
Finally, biologist John Tower has proposed the concept of "selectively advantageous instability" (SAI), arguing that some instability in biological components is essential for life. SAI allows for genetic diversity and adaptability but also contributes to aging. This new rule of biology could have broad implications for our understanding of life's processes.
From Perplexity's Discover feed:

Musk’s xAI raised $6b
https://www.perplexity.ai/page/Musks-xAI-Raised-bfhUcjhkSHidkYhMcARUbg

DDoS attack on Internet Archive
https://www.perplexity.ai/page/DDoS-Attack-on-feEOYl8wTlaT66qP1Y.Qyg

GPT-4 beats analysts at earnings forecast
https://www.perplexity.ai/page/GPT4-Beats-Analysts-nVgZu5u1SXi6bcE8pzbR.Q

Crows count using vocalizations
https://www.perplexity.ai/page/Crows-Count-Using-fnNa2K5IQWyTO_AH8MXb.Q

New rule of instability in biology
https://www.perplexity.ai/page/New-Rule-of-Px0zUyYXTNuCYnV6En03sg
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