OpenAI Partners with Stack Overflow to Improve AI Coding Models

OpenAI and Stack Overflow have announced a partnership where OpenAI will gain access to Stack Overflow's API and feedback from developers. In turn, ChatGPT will provide more direct attribution to relevant Stack Overflow content when answering technical questions. The first integrations between the companies will roll out in the first half of 2024.

Stack Overflow will utilize OpenAI's large language models to expand its Overflow AI product, which aims to add natural language search capabilities to Stack Overflow. Going forward, Stack Overflow notes it will develop more AI products for users by combining feedback from the developer community and internal testing of OpenAI's models.

For years, Stack Overflow has been a key resource for developers to get coding help. However, the rise of AI-assisted coding led Stack Overflow to lay off 28% of its staff in 2022, despite previous hiring growth, though no reason was given. In 2022, Stack Overflow also briefly banned the sharing of ChatGPT responses on its site. This partnership could help Stack Overflow adapt its business in the face of capabilities like ChatGPT addressing developers' technical questions.

Sam Altman Shoots Down Rumors of OpenAI Search Engine

Contrary to rumors, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed via Twitter that the company will not announce an AI search engine at an upcoming event on Monday. OpenAI president Greg Brockman echoed this news on Twitter as well.

However, OpenAI did announce via its official Twitter account that it will be livestreaming from its website on Monday, May 13th starting at 10 am PT/1 pm ET. The stream will showcase "some ChatGPT and GPT-4 updates."

On its website, OpenAI added a banner for "Spring Updates" with a button allowing users to add the event to their digital calendars through downloadable calendar invitations. This indicates OpenAI will use the event to provide demonstrations and updates around its conversational AI models ChatGPT and upcoming GPT-4, rather than debuting a new search engine product as had been speculated.

DocuSign Acquires AI-Powered Contract Management Startup Lexion for $165M

DocuSign has acquired AI-powered contract management startup Lexion for $165 million. Lexion was founded by entrepreneurs from AI2 and Microsoft and had raised $35.2 million from investors including Khosla Ventures and Madrona. Originally focusing on natural language search of contracts, Lexion expanded its tools to support various teams across legal, sales, IT, HR, and finance in contract workflows. DocuSign aims to use Lexion's AI models to enhance contract creation and negotiations while building integrations between their platforms.

The acquisition comes as DocuSign invests further in the contract management space through products like its new DocuSign IAM service. It also occurs as DocuSign explores a potential sale to private equity amid plans to lay off 6% of its workforce earlier this year. Reuters reported private equity firms Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman as final bidders in an auction that could be one of 2024's largest leveraged buyouts.

DocuSign aims to gain a "more granular" understanding of contract structures and data through Lexion's technology to surface insights and risks for customers.

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‘Hades II’ Early Access Now Live

Supergiant Games' Hades II launched in Early Access on May 5th and quickly saw over 100,000 players on Steam, doubling the peak player count of the original Hades game during its Early Access period in 2019. Both Hades titles have been the only games from Supergiant to enter Early Access development.

For Hades II, Supergiant plans to have more content than the first game throughout its time in Early Access throughout 2024. While sales figures for Hades II are unknown at this time, the original Hades sold over 700,000 copies during its two years in Early Access before full release.

Before the full Early Access launch, Supergiant held a small technical test for Hades II in late April which helped generate buzz. The release of a new Hades entry will likely continue to draw in new players to the franchise over time in Early Access.

EA Considers In-game Ads as a ‘Growth-driver’

During an earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson commented that dynamic ad insertion in triple-A games could serve as a "meaningful driver of growth" for the publisher. While still early, Wilson stated internal teams are exploring "thoughtful" ways to implement ads.

For EA, the priority is building game communities before considering how ads could boost growth. Wilson emphasized ads must be implemented thoughtfully within play experiences to support communities forming beyond games.

EA is not alone in considering in-game ads, as Netflix also eyed placing ads in its games for customers on ad-supported subscription tiers. Ads were one option among many Netflix evaluated to monetize its games service, including in-app purchases or paid titles. However, EA has consistently monetized live-service titles like FIFA, Madden, and Apex Legends without ads. EA's annual revenue grew to $7.56 billion, with single-player games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor contributing $2.02 billion. This raises questions if ads are truly necessary given games' existing monetization success sans advertisements.

Sony Backtracks Helldivers II’s PSN Account Requirement After Community Review-bombing

Sony recently announced plans to require PC players of Helldivers 2 to link their game account to a PlayStation Network account. This measure aimed to reduce griefing by banning problematic players. However, it created issues as Helldivers 2 was sold in many regions lacking PSN support.

Steam reviews heavily bombed the game, acknowledging criticism by the game's director. Reviews overwhelmingly criticized the policy change, reflecting "Mixed" and "Mostly Negative" ratings. While banning grievers benefits the community, disconnecting legitimate players lacks nuance.

As of late Sunday, Sony backtracked on the forced account linking that would have blocked new and current players starting May 30th. By listening to feedback highlighting regional impediments, Sony revised their approach. Their reversal aims to regain trust through continued engagement on suiting PC players long-term.

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Mastercard and Other Major US Banks to Test Ledger for Tokenized Banking Settlements

Mastercard has partnered with major U.S. banking institutions such as Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Visa to test distributed ledger technology for banking settlements using tokenized assets. Specifically, the partnership aims to test a shared-ledger platform called the Regulated Settlement Network (RSN) that enables tokenized assets like treasury bonds, investment-grade debt, and bank money to be settled collectively.

The current trials expand upon an initial 12-week pilot phase from late 2022 focused on simulating cross-border and domestic dollar payments between banks. The ongoing proof-of-concept aims to simulate settlements in US dollars. Mastercard notes the project's goal is to increase cross-border settlement efficiency and reduce errors and fraud. The application of shared ledger technology to dollar settlements could unlock 24/7 programmable and frictionless settlements, according to Mastercard.

10 major banking institutions are participating directly: Citigroup, JPMorgan, Mastercard, Swift, TD Bank, U.S. Bank, USDF Consortium, Wells Fargo, Visa, and Zions Bancorp. Six additional participants - including MITRE Corporation, BNY Mellon, Broadridge, DTCC, ISDA, and Tassat Group - will provide subject-matter expertise.

‘Fantasy Top‘ Taking Over Crypto Twitter

Fantasy Top, a new fantasy football-style game launched on the Ethereum layer-2 network Blast, has seen tremendous success in its first week. The game features notable crypto Twitter personalities as tradable NFT cards that can be collected and used to build squads for competitions. Within a week of launching, Fantasy Top generated over $9.31 million in revenue, becoming the fifth most profitable crypto protocol through pack sales and secondary marketplace trading fees.

Many of the crypto influencers featured as in-game heroes have been actively promoting and playing Fantasy Top as well. On its first day of the "Main Competition", Fantasy Top announced a prize pool worth over $150,000 in ETH and potentially over $2 million in Blast Gold rewards. However, the initial competition period had to be ended early due to detected botting and artificial inflation of heroes' social media engagement metrics.

Despite this challenge, the hype around Fantasy Top continues to grow as crypto community members are attracted to the novel concept. Analytics show over 7,000 ETH and 31,000 users active on the platform within the first week. While initial novelty and incentives may fade, Fantasy Top has revived positivity on Crypto Twitter during a broader market downturn. The game could maintain interest long-term if depth and intrigue in the gameplay evolve.

Web3 Omnichain Questing Platform ‘Layer3’ Unveils $L3 Token

Layer3 is introducing the L3 protocol governance and utility token. Holders of L3 will be able to participate in the governance of certain aspects of the protocol and stake tokens to access enhanced utility across Layer3 products, such as incentives in eligible situations.

The initial token supply will be 300 million L3 tokens. An airdrop of 5% of the total supply will be distributed to early users and Season 1 participants as of May 10, 2024. In total, 51% of the supply will be allocated to the community through multiple airdrops to foster long-term alignment between users and ecosystems. Some proposed utilities of L3 tokens include staking to access incentives, tiered experiences, and launchpad projects where eligible. Tokens can also be burned to create advanced on-chain experiences for the community using Layer3.

Factors influencing the initial airdrop allocations include user level and status, number of quests completed, ecosystems participated in, bridge and swap volume, user referrals, and more. You can view your cumulative activity on the website. Summer 2024 is slated for the token generation event. Users can still participate in campaigns to earn rewards from large protocols.

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