Latest news with #SeanParker
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stability AI releases an audio-generating model that can run on smartphones
AI startup Stability AI has released Stable Audio Open Small, a "stereo" audio-generating AI model that the company claims is the fastest on the market — and efficient enough to run on smartphones. Stable Audio Open Small is the fruit of a collaboration between Stability AI and Arm, the chipmaker that produces many of the processors inside tablets, phones, and other mobile devices. While a number of AI-powered apps can generate audio, like Suno and Udio, most rely on cloud processing, meaning that they can't be used offline. Stability also claims that Stable Audio Open Small's training set is made up entirely of songs from the royalty-free audio libraries Free Music Archive and Freesound. That's as opposed to the training sets of the aforementioned Suno and Udio, which reportedly contain copyrighted content, posing an IP risk. Stable Audio Open Small is 341 million parameters in size and optimized to run on Arm CPUs. (Parameters, sometimes referred to as weights, are the internal components of a model that guide its behavior.) Designed for quickly generating short audio samples and sound effects (e.g., drum and instrument riffs), Stable Audio Open Small can produce up to 11 seconds of audio on a smartphone in less than 8 seconds, claims Stability AI. Here's a sample generated by Stable Audio Open Small: And here's another one: The model isn't without its limitations. Stable Audio Open Small only supports prompts written in English, and Stability notes in its documentation that the model can't generate realistic vocals or high-quality songs. The model also doesn't perform equally well across musical styles, Stability warns — a consequence of its Western-biased training data. In another potential wrinkle for devs, Stable Audio Open Small has somewhat restrictive usage terms. It's free to use for researchers, hobbyists, and businesses with less than $1 million in annual revenue, but developers and organizations making over $1 million in revenue have to pay for Stability's enterprise license. Stability, the beleaguered firm behind the popular image generation model Stable Diffusion, raised new cash last year as investors, including Eric Schmidt and Napster founder Sean Parker, sought to turn the business around. Emad Mostaque, Stability's co-founder and ex-CEO, reportedly mismanaged Stability into financial ruin, leading staff to resign, a partnership with Canva to fall through, and investors to grow concerned about the company's prospects. In the last few months, Stability has hired a new CEO, appointed Titanic director James Cameron to its board of directors, and released several new image generation models. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
14-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Stability AI releases an audio-generating model that can run on smartphones
AI startup Stability AI has released Stable Audio Open Small, a 'stereo' audio-generating AI model that the company claims is the fastest on the market — and efficient enough to run on smartphones. Stable Audio Open Small is the fruit of a collaboration between Stability AI and Arm, the chipmaker that produces many of the processors inside tablets, phones, and other mobile devices. While a number of AI-powered apps can generate audio, like Suno and Udio, most rely on cloud processing, meaning that they can't be used offline. Stability also claims that Stable Audio Open Small's training set is made up entirely of songs from the royalty-free audio libraries Free Music Archive and Freesound. That's as opposed to the training sets of the aforementioned Suno and Udio, which reportedly contain copyrighted content, posing an IP risk. Stable Audio Open Small is 341 million parameters in size and optimized to run on Arm CPUs. (Parameters, sometimes referred to as weights, are the internal components of a model that guide its behavior.) Designed for quickly generating short audio samples and sound effects (e.g., drum and instrument riffs), Stable Audio Open Small can produce up to 11 seconds of audio on a smartphone in less than 8 seconds, claims Stability AI. Here's a sample generated by Stable Audio Open Small: And here's another one: The model isn't without its limitations. Stable Audio Open Small only supports prompts written in English, and Stability notes in its documentation that the model can't generate realistic vocals or high-quality songs. The model also doesn't perform equally well across musical styles, Stability warns — a consequence of its Western-biased training data. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW In another potential wrinkle for devs, Stable Audio Open Small has somewhat restrictive usage terms. It's free to use for researchers, hobbyists, and businesses with less than $1 million in annual revenue, but developers and organizations making over $1 million in revenue have to pay for Stability's enterprise license. Stability, the beleaguered firm behind the popular image generation model Stable Diffusion, raised new cash last year as investors, including Eric Schmidt and Napster founder Sean Parker, sought to turn the business around. Emad Mostaque, Stability's co-founder and ex-CEO, reportedly mismanaged Stability into financial ruin, leading staff to resign, a partnership with Canva to fall through, and investors to grow concerned about the company's prospects. In the last few months, Stability has hired a new CEO, appointed Titanic director James Cameron to its board of directors, and released several new image generation models.
Newsweek
24-04-2025
- Climate
- Newsweek
Man Tries To Outsmart Neighbors With 'Extreme Precautions', Doesn't Pay Off
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A man in Portland thought he was the smartest guy in the neighborhood, after covering his car in cardboard to protect it from the heavy storm being forecast. But TV and video game creator, Sean Parker, couldn't help but notice that while he was preparing for the worst, all of his neighbors had left their vehicles exposed to the elements. "I was the only one on my block," Parker told Newsweek. "A bunch of other people across Portland did similar things though." Parker recalls getting a few unusual looks from his neighbors. "Although some were amused when they saw me putting it up. I think I concerned a few into thinking that they ought to do the same," he said. Sean Parker covered his car with cardboard ahead of what was expected to be a huge storm. Sean Parker covered his car with cardboard ahead of what was expected to be a huge storm. Reddit/Sir_Hapstance Parker was right to exercise caution. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information's 2024 Billion-dollar disaster analysis, there were 27 individual weather and climate disasters in the US in 2024. Those disasters resulted in at least $1 billion in damages Parker's biggest concern was the idea of Portland being hit by a hail storm. Within the past month there have been several instances of US states coming under fire from dangerous hail storms, while in previous years there have been reports of hail the size of apples. Read more Americans share the wildest notes they've received from neighbors Americans share the wildest notes they've received from neighbors In June last year, dramatic footage surfaced of America's second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell, being pummeled by hail stones. Earlier this month, communities across Texas and the Ohio Valley were warned about a spring storm bringing with it the threat of golf ball-sized hail. With forecasts suggesting a storm was approaching Portland, Parker felt covering his windscreen and windows with cardboard was a sensible move. "Extreme weather was forecasted, and some of us Portlanders took extreme precautions," he said. However, when no major storm front appeared, Parker admits he was left feeling a little "silly." Portland ended up being the eye of the storm. So while there was significant storm damage outside of Portland, the city itself escaped with fairly ordinary weather conditions. "The weather was extremely mild, just the lightest drizzle," Parker said. "Comically mild." Parker was still able to see the funny side though, posting a picture of his boarded up car to Reddit under the handle u/Sir_Hapstance, where it amassed more than 3,000 upvotes since being shared last month. "Thank goodness I did this! I look so smart, especially since none of my neighbors did this," he wrote sarcastically alongside the photo. Though his actions may have ended up being a source of much amusement to many online, Parker has "no regrets" about taking the precautions he did. "If another forecast of golf ball-sized hail comes around, I'd do it all again," he said. "It's too expensive to risk replacing windshields and other damage."
Forbes
31-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
As Trump Cuts Cancer Research Funding, Billionaire Sean Parker Wants To Scale It Up
Entrepreneur Sean Parker AFP via Getty Images Of all the cuts the Trump Administration has made, its attacks on medical research are some of the most baffling, threatening the ability for American scientists to keep developing new medicines to treat everything from cancer to Parkinson's. For billionaire Sean Parker, who told Forbes he's been heavily involved in lobbying to boost federal spending on medical research, that means philanthropies and the private sector will have to step in to fill some of the gap. 'We've seen this incredible, historic, unprecedented retreat from public funding,' Parker, 45, told Forbes. 'Which is really the engine that fuels the single most productive biotech innovation economy in the world.' In this environment, he also sees a bigger role for the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), a philanthropic organization he founded nearly a decade ago with a $250 million grant that funds cancer research. It also invests in biotech companies turning that research into drugs. Parker poured in another $125 million in 2024, and said he's committed more funds towards the next round of grant funding, though he didn't disclose the amount. To date, PICI has spent over $300 million on nearly 500 academic projects that have resulted in the publication of over 4,000 papers and over 300 patents, largely focused on cancer immunotherapies — drugs that assist the body's own immune system to fight cancers. Seventeen biotech companies have spun up based on this research, collectively raising over $4 billion in venture capital (which includes funds that PICI has invested). PICI has conducted six clinical trials to test cancer treatments, including one that improved survival in pancreatic cancer patients, and its portfolio companies have 50 in various stages. 'In a world where [public] funding is being reduced, we are likely to see the more ambitious, interesting projects going unfunded because a simple, easy to understand project tends to be less risky,' he said. That's where PICI can step in. PICI's new CEO Karen Knudsen PICI As part of its effort, PICI announced that it's appointing former American Cancer Society CEO Karen Knudsen as its new chief executive in order to 'take the organization to the next level' and scale up its operations, Parker said. Knudsen, a cancer researcher who has a PhD in molecular biology, previously founded the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center's prostate cancer program and led its cancer care programs as enterprise director. During her three-year tenure leading the American Cancer Society, the organization more than doubled the research grants it awarded. As CEO of PICI, she will oversee the institute's partnerships with multiple universities and cancer centers, including Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA and others, as well as PICI's investments in biotech companies. As federal research funding is cut back, 'the level of risk tolerance shrinks,' Knudsen told Forbes. That leaves more ambitious projects in the lurch. But PICI has a flexible model, which was part of the appeal for Knudsen. The organization is able to quickly react to changes impacting the research landscape. For example, if the organization determined that a technology is 'absolutely critical and going to be the most game changing for cancer patients and it's not moving forward in another way,' PICI will shift more resources towards it, she said. InnovationRx is your weekly digest of healthcare news. To get it in your inbox every Wednesday, subscribe here. Among the startups PICI has backed so far are Arsenal Bio, which most recently raised a $325 million series C round that valued the company at $1.85 billion, according to Pitchbook. It is currently testing its cell therapies against kidney cancer and ovarian cancer on humans, and plans to begin trials for prostate cancer later this year. Another is Georgiamune, which has already begun clinical trials for a treatment targeting advanced metastatic cancers after it launched with a $75 million series A in August 2023. The work with startups is particularly important right now, Parker said, because biotech investments are declining as venture investors deal 'with a public equities market where there's very little interest in biotech.' The investments that do happen are largely for companies that are already in later stages with products well along the development path. While both Parker and Knudsen are adamant that their organization can't replace public funding, they think they can move science forward by backing bolder projects as governments and markets become more risk-averse. 'These are precisely the intensive market conditions which we're designed to weather or help others weather,' Parker said. 'It gives me a lot of motivation to continue doing what we're doing and double down on it.'
