🤖 The EU vs. AI

PLUS: Synthesis is scaling Elon Musk’s Ad Astra school.. April 16, 2021 [The Hustle] [The Hustle]( Because nothing matters anymore: The price of Dogecoin (the cryptocurrency that started out as a joke) has tripled in the past week and has a market cap of $20B+. the big idea [eyeball]( The European Union is considering an AI ban Salesforce’s Vala Afshar [said]( it best: “In the last 20 years, software ate the world. In the next 20 years, AI will eat software.” Artificial Intelligence (AI) may well chomp away, but not without first being put on a diet. The EU is considering a partial AI ban that will be formally announced April 21, according to a draft proposal picked up by [Politico](. The proposed ban is the first of its kind Europe’s legislative body will likely focus on “high risk” AI systems and could fine companies up to €20m or 4% of revenue if they don’t comply. “High risk” [refers]( to things like mass surveillance and social credit scores that can impact safety and privacy. AI for things like manufacturing and energy would likely be good to go. The regulations include: - A surveillance ban on AI systems that track people indiscriminately - A ban on social credit scores that track individual behaviors, impact hiring and judiciary decisions, and rate trustworthiness - Bias prevention measures like human oversight in testing datasets - AI notifications that would be sent to people when interacting with AI systems The catch: Experts say the rules are vague and leave room for loopholes. The rules also come as AI investment in the US is hotter than ever: - The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence recently called for $32B in annual nonmilitary federal [spending]( on AI research - Already in 2021, 442 US VC deals with AI startups were [worth]( a combined $11.65B US companies could likely be subject to the EU’s new rules. Though the draft could change come April 21, we have a feeling few companies will be big fans. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=The+European+Union+is+considering+an+AI+ban%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F04162021-EU-AI-ban%3Futm_campaign%3DEU%2BAI%2Bban%26utm_content%3D04162021-EU-AI-ban%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Snippets - Striking while hot: Amid global chip shortages, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TMSC) plans to spend [$30B]( on new plants this year to meet demand. - Get off my lawn: Cable companies have jumped into the cellular business and snatched [5m+]( customers from phone companies. How? Lower prices and simple plans. - AppLovin -- the mobile tech company -- was almost acquired for $1.4B in 2016. While the deal fell apart, no one is crying for the startup. It went public Thursday and closed at a value of [$23B]( (however, it did fall 19% on its debut). - Cruise control: Walmart will join in on a $2B+ investment round in Cruise. GM owns a majority of the self-driving startup and this funding round brings its valuation to a wild [$30B]( (GM itself is worth $84B). - Google expands Earth: The company [compiled]( 24m satellite images from 1984 to 2020 into a single 4.4 terapixel-sized 3D time-lapse [feature]( for Google Earth. That’s equivalent to 530k videos in 4K resolution. - Amazon rolls out a $250m fund to [invest]( in startups and SMBs in India. - So high: The Dow set a new all-time high, breaking above 34k for the first time. Why? [Data]( on consumer spending and employment is looking up!  Crypto Funding Ethereum’s co-founder snags $65m to help modernize financial infrastructure Blockchain studio ConsenSys [closed]( a $65m round of funding this week. While the funding is sizable, the investors are the real prize. Leading the round are banking heavyweights UBS and JPMorgan Chase. The latter previously sold its enterprise blockchain tech Quorum to ConsenSys in a deal last [August]( -- now, they own a lil’ bit of ConsenSys. AKA the full-circle back scratch is complete. Not to be outshined by its banking big bros... … Mastercard is getting in on the action, too MC ponied up cash in the funding round and inked a partnership deal with ConsenSys to develop enterprise blockchain applications. The funding and partnership announcement comes on the heels of a general legitimization of blockchain technology among investment circles -- *cough* [Coinbase IPO]( *cough*. The wrinkle is ConsenSys dabbles in Ethereum AKA ETH, the No. 2 cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin. Founded by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, ConsenSys’ work has centered around 2 Ethereum-based blockchain technologies: NFTs and DeFi, or decentralized finance. Notably, ConsenSys is the team behind [MetaMask](, a popular browser extension for interacting with NFTs and Ethereum wallets. If you were dropping dimes on CryptoPunks last month, you probably used it. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Ethereum%E2%80%99s+co-founder+snags+%2465m+to+help+modernize+financial+infrastructure%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F04162021-Ethereum-financial-structure%3Futm_campaign%3DEU%2BAI%2Bban%26utm_content%3D04162021-Ethereum-financial-structure%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Q&A Source: [Synthesis School]( Meet Synthesis, the edtech startup scaling Elon Musk’s Ad Astra school Elon Musk is well known for many things. PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX… and even a monkey using brain implants to play pingpong. Less publicized: [Ad Astra]( (Latin for “to the stars”), a private school started by Musk and educator Josh Dahn. Musk laid out his goals for a new school program… … in a 2015 [interview](: - An alternative to the age segregation model: Musk says that separating kids by age doesn’t make sense for education, because students have different interests and abilities that are independent of how old they are. - Problem-solving focus: Instead of giving children “tools” in a vacuum, they should be taught how to problem-solve. - Gamification: Musk notes that he doesn’t have to encourage his kids to play games. Gamifying education is a natural match for kids. But only a few SpaceX families had access to the program Over the past few years, Dahn has been working with Chrisman Frank -- a veteran engineer from edtech startup ClassDojo -- to bring Ad Astra to the masses. Frank is CEO of [Synthesi School](, an online games-based academy launched last November (Musk is not involved with the startup). It offers a weekly virtual enrichment program that teaches Ad Astra-inspired problem-solving. In a few short months, Synthesis has reached a 7-figure run rate (~1k subscribers paying $180 per month)... but the school has much larger plans. The Hustle recently spoke with Frank to find out more ([full Q&A here](). [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Meet+Synthesis%2C+the+edtech+startup+scaling+Elon+Musk%E2%80%99s+Ad+Astra+school%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2Fmeet-synthesis-the-edtech-startup-scaling-elon-musks-ad-astra-school%2F%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Podcast How to make millions hosting events Everyone knows The Hustle started as an events business. What they don’t know is that back then there was no email list, we had no money, and we had no experience. But our first event made 100s of thousands in sales and had an 80% margin. How did we pull it off? We break it down on the pod. 👇 🎧 Listen below: Bezos-isms [Jeff Bezos]( “You, yeah you… read my annual letter” (Source: Alex Wong / Getty Images) Jeff Bezos drops knowledge on us Since Amazon went public in 1997, Jeff Bezos has penned a much read annual letter to the company’s shareholders. With plans to hand over reins of the company to AWS head Andy Jassy later this year, Bezos dropped his [final]( annual letter. After processing the emotions of never reading a Bezos annual letter again, our [Jacob Cohen]( highlighted some key takeaways: - On success: “If you want to be successful in business (in life, actually), you have to create more than you consume. Your goal should be to create value for everyone you interact with.” - On safety: “Roughly 40% of work-related injuries at Amazon are related to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)... We’re developing new automated staffing schedules that use sophisticated algorithms to rotate employees among jobs that use different muscle-tendon groups...” - On life: “To all of you: be kind, be original, create more than you consume, and never, never, never let the universe smooth you into your surroundings. It remains Day 1.” [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Jeff+Bezos+drops+knowledge+on+us%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F04162021-Bezos-annual-letter%3Futm_campaign%3DEU%2BAI%2Bban%26utm_content%3D04162021-Bezos-annual-letter%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( AI-related tweet of the day [Reddit Tweet] Source: [Reddit]( Shower Thoughts - “[Not a single one of your ancestors over the last 3 billion years died before creating offspring.](” - “[We are monsters to sea creatures. We come in on big machines, take them and eat them, and most of them will never see one of us unless it’s too late.](” - “[Since bitcoin consumes a lot of electricity, if you pay your electric bill with it, you are paying for electricity with electricity, using electricity (internet) to do it.](” - “[A principal is as scary to the kids as they are to the teachers.](” - “[For every video clip of a near miss there are several clips too explicit for TV.](” [via Reddit]( SHARE THE HUSTLE [Hustle Cons Greatest Hits ebook]( Over the years, we’ve learned… secrets. The business secrets, tips, and tricks that have helped founders go from zero to millions -- and even billions -- of dollars. Want to see ‘em? Just refer 3 more friends to The Hustle and we’ll send you our curated set of interviews with founders from brands like Zola, AWAY, Vungle, Bonobos, and more. Here’s a message you can use to share with your friends: Hey! Do you read The Hustle? 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