OpenAI’s potential $51M investment in Rain AI raises ethical and security concerns

Following the recent turmoil at OpenAI, new reporting has delivered to mild a 2019 settlement between OpenAI and Rain AI, an AI-chip manufacturing startup. In line with WIRED, which first reported this information, the letter of intent reviewed contains OpenAI’s non-binding dedication to buy $51 million value of AI chips from Rain AI as soon as developed. Sam Altman, who had personally invested over $1 million in Rain AI, was overseeing OpenAI on the time.

Unnamed sources allegedly instructed WIRED that Altman’s private pursuits with numerous tasks all through Silicon Valley and the distractions they could trigger performed a task in his dramatic ouster late final month.

Rain AI, situated close to OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco, is growing what it calls neuromorphic processing items (NPUs) designed to imitate the human mind. The deal, signed in 2019, was a part of OpenAI’s efforts to safe superior expertise for its AI tasks, regardless of Altman’s private funding in Rain AI elevating issues about his entangled pursuits.

Based in 2017, Rain AI goals to revolutionize AI improvement with its NPUs, claiming to supply considerably extra computing energy and power effectivity than conventional GPUs. The startup, which Altman supported in its early levels, now includes a staff of specialists in each AI algorithm improvement and conventional chip design.

Rain AI’s preliminary chips, primarily based on the RISC-V open-source structure, goal edge units like telephones, drones, vehicles, and robots. The corporate’s purpose is to supply chips able to each coaching machine algorithms and operating them post-deployment, a big development in AI chip expertise.

Safety issues and CFIUS scrutiny of Rain AI

Rain AI’s improvement of NPUs, promising important enhancements in computing energy and power effectivity, has been a topic of curiosity for OpenAI. Nevertheless, Rain AI’s funding and funding background have raised safety issues. The U.S. Committee on Overseas Funding (CFIUS) intervened when Prosperity7 Ventures, a Saudi Arabia-affiliated fund, invested in Rain AI. CFIUS’s involvement led to the fund being mandated to divest its stake in Rain AI, reflecting the nationwide safety dangers related to international investments in essential expertise sectors.

This divestment, together with a reshuffling of Rain AI’s management, may probably delay the startup’s progress in bringing its novel chip expertise to market. Such a delay may influence OpenAI’s capacity to make the most of Rain AI’s expertise for its AI tasks.

Rain AI’s funding, totaling $33 million as of April 2022, has been adequate for its operations by early 2025. Nevertheless, the compelled divestment from Prosperity7 Ventures and the next acquisition of shares by Silicon Valley-based Grep VC have added complexity to Rain AI’s journey.