Patsnap built its own LLM, but will profits come?

In The Prompt’s debut issue, we look at IP-focused Patsnap’s genAI bet and assess a new Singapore-US program to jointly develop AI talent. [Read from your browser]( The Prompt 🤖 Welcome to The Prompt! Delivered every fortnight, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in AI. Get all our content, including The Prompt, by [registering for a Tech in Asia account](. IN FOCUS In today's newsletter, we look at: - [Patsnap invested ‘7 digits’ to develop an LLM. Will it pay off?]( - [Hurdles beyond the hype of GPT-4o’s impact on businesses]( - How a new AI-focused collaboration between the US and Singapore risks being a talent bridge to nowhere --------------------------------------------------------------- Hello {NAME} Could AI have rights at some point in the future? This question was raised during a panel discussion I attended at last week’s [SuperAI conference]( in Singapore. My first reaction was incredulity: Is this more exaggeration from the cheerleaders of what is an already overhyped sector? On further reflection, though, that possibility might not seem so far-fetched. After all, companies have rights and obligations even though they’re not people. Also, societal attitudes change. The modern animal rights movement only got off the ground after the [publication of Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals in 1975](. Unlike animals, of course, AI isn’t sentient - not yet, anyway. Could it ever be? The fact that we’re even having these discussions speaks to the profound ways that AI will affect us going forward. It will have a significant impact not just in tech and business, but also across society, from defense and the law to labor and education. That’s why here at Tech in Asia, we believe it’s important to deepen our coverage and understanding of AI and everything related to it. Much of the attention - and capital - in this space is focused on generative AI and its foundation layer: the large language models (LLM) that enable applications such as ChatGPT to respond to questions and Midjourney to generate fantastical images. This week, our Big Story story looks at Patsnap, which runs a global patent database. The Singapore-based unicorn has spent millions of dollars building a proprietary LLM on which its AI assistant Hiro is based. Patsnap’s LLM incorporates datasets from both its own data and Meta’s open-source LLaMA. Why did Patsnap decide to do this? After all, existing LLMs developed by the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic are considered best in class. Patsnap co-founder Guan Dian admits that it's “very hard to measure” the return on investment for this initiative. However, she maintains that the company has “good reasons” to develop its own LLM. Do read the piece and figure out for yourselves whether this decision makes sense. Meanwhile, this week’s Hot Take looks at the recently announced US-Singapore AI Talent Bridge. The move seems to reflect the prevailing view in both countries that governments should help their workforce adapt in a world being transformed by AI. Continuity is on everyone’s minds, especially given how there could be a change of administration in the US later this year. -- Simon  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIG STORY [Patsnap invested ‘7 digits’ to develop an LLM. Will it pay off?]( The patent database firm is not charging customers who use Hiro, a proprietary AI assistant powered by an industry-specific large language model.  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE HOT TAKE US-Singapore AI Talent Bridge must carry weight of politics to avoid collapse Here’s what happened: - On June 5, Singapore and the US announced a new initiative to develop AI talent. - Called the AI Talent Bridge, the program will [deepen collaboration]( between the countries on critical emerging tech such as artificial intelligence. - It will focus on supporting the youth, women, and future tech leaders. - Both countries also intend to strengthen digital infrastructure and services as well as AI innovation and governance. Here’s our take: The last time the words Singapore, US, and bridge were seen together was when the cargo ship Dali tragically [hit a bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse]( earlier this year. The AI Talent Bridge is an entirely different structure. Announced last week at a roundtable led by Gina Raimondo, the US Secretary of Commerce, and Josephine Teo, Singapore’s minister for communications and information, this initiative comes amid sizable investments into Singapore’s digital economy over the past few years by US firms like [Amazon Web Services]( and [Google](. The pipeline of such deals into Singapore in the coming years would “easily exceed” S$50 billion (US$37 billion), according to Teo. For the US, this indicates a move towards drawing closer to a key partner in Asia. Along with some Southeast Asian markets, Singapore has inadvertently benefited from escalating tensions between the US and China. For instance, many US tech companies are investing in the region as part of a [”China plus one”]( or [“Asia ex-China”]( strategy. Notably, the term [“deepen”]( was used seven times in the joint statement released by the government departments. With a show of support from the US in the bag, the ideal scenario for Singapore would be if it could forge a similar partnership with China as well to bolster the relationship between the two. Such ties could even attract more inbound investment from Chinese tech titans such as Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance. However, the US and China are engaged in a [heated rivalry]( over AI. How long can a small, 6 million-strong country continue to juggle the two competing superpowers? What if the US balks at stronger ties between China and Singapore? What if China perceives Singapore as being too close to Uncle Sam and places its bets elsewhere? As much as Singapore wants to highlight its [non-aligned stance]( the realities of geopolitical tensions might force it to make a choice at some point. Singapore’s leaders will also be - perhaps nervously - watching out for the outcome of November’s US presidential elections. If former President Donald Trump returns to power, Raimondo will very likely be replaced, and the impact that her exit will have on the sustainability of these initiatives is unclear. Hopefully, the AI Talent Bridge can withstand these forces and not end up being just a bridge to nowhere.  --------------------------------------------------------------- DEEP READS Check out these interesting reads about AI: 1️⃣ [AI is a false god]( Some think AI will eventually be omniscient, but even if this is so, there’s more to humanity than what we know. This article explores why it might be unwise to outsource various social and political functions to AI. 2️⃣ [Is AI being built for the manager class alone?]( Managers are only a small percentage of the workforce, but the people making AI-powered software seem to be prioritizing the needs of the managerial class. This might be a problem if workers are robbed of the opportunity to be creative and to express themselves. 3️⃣ [Joe Tsai on why Alibaba is all-in on AI]( The Alibaba co-founder explains why the race to train LLMs is like parents educating their children. He also explores why the Chinese tech giant is uniquely placed, as it is one of the few companies with a cloud computing business and proprietary in-house AI capabilities.  --------------------------------------------------------------- FYI 1️⃣ [Hurdles beyond the hype of GPT-4o’s impact on businesses]( OpenAI’s GPT-4o has the potential to be a game changer for many industries, but it also comes with some concerns – technical and otherwise.  --------------------------------------------------------------- EVENTS HAPPENING You can also check out a curated list of trending tech events [over here]( and Tech in Asia’s signature events [here](. 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Join us at #TIAConferenceJKT to connect with 4000+ region's brightest minds, 150+ hottest startups, and hear straight from 80+ experts. Early-bird tickets are now available! [Snatch the 75% discount while it lasts!]( --------------------------------------------------------------- That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter [here](. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or ideas, feel free to get in touch with Terence, our editor-in-chief, at terence@techinasia.com. See you soon! P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Too many emails? Switch to a different frequency or get new content through our [preference center](. 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