The OpenAI Startup Fund has $100 Million to invest in early-stage AI companies that have the potential to make a profound positive impact by tackling major problems. Preference will be given to founders from underrepresented groups. 

News of the new fund, which will be managed by OpenAI, with investment from Microsoft and other OpenAI partners, came during Microsoft Build in a short pre-recorded video by Sam Altman:

In his opening remarks Altman reminds us that OpenAI is a research and deployment company dedicated to making sure that powerful general-purpose AI is safe and benefits all of humanity. He then refers to GPT-3, OpenAI's breakthrough neural network and the open source API based on it - which is what AI startups supported by the fund will be expected to use.

Giving some details of the fund, which is looking to support:

"really ambitious projects aimed at solving complex projects of the highest order"

he notes: 

"We plan to make big early bets on a relatively small number of companies, probably not more than 10."

and that the start-up fund it is

targetted at fields where artificial intelligence can have a transformative effect—like health care, climate change, and education

and is also looking for markets where:

AI can drive big leaps in productitvity, like personal assistants and semantic search.

Another point included is:

We're especially excited to hear from startups led by founders from underrespresented groups.

In addition to capital, companies in the OpenAI Startup Fund will get early access to future OpenAI systems, support from our team, and credits on Azure. 

The OpenAI blog post concludes:

If your startup plans to push the boundaries of today’s artificial intelligence by building with our API, we want to hear from you. Founders from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.

The application form not only asks for information about what you intend to do and how it fits in with Open AI's mission, it requires a link to a one-minute video on Vimeo or YouTube introducing yourself and outlining your ideas. 

The GPT-3 API is already being used in some amazing ways and this fund should enable its potential to be better exploited in partnership with OpenAI.

More Information

OpenAI Startup Fund

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