Nvidia has agreed to acquire Hugging Face, which makes online developer tools and maintains a massive library of open-source data sets, for nearly $13 billion. While the deal had been rumored for weeks, the companies made it official Thursday morning.
\n\nThe deal signals Nvidia’s seriousness about being steeped in the software side of generative AI development as well as in infrastructure. Nvidia already offers customers a suite of free, customizable open-weights AI models, known as Nemotron. As part of its announcement, Nvidia committed to maintaining Hugging Face’s current open standards, suggesting that the chipmaker is positioning itself as an even greater resource for developers looking to access cutting-edge, nonproprietary tools.
\n\nThe move also underscores Nvidia’s position that open-weights models are better for the tech industry than closed, proprietary AI models like those developed by OpenAI and Anthropic. Earlier this month, Nvidia rallied more than 80 companies to sign an open letter asking the US government to defend open-weight AI models. Nvidia also launched an initiative called SAFE, or Shared AI Findings Exchange, that encouraged tech companies to “confidentially collect and analyze AI incidents and near misses, identify recurring control failures and publish evidence-based operating recommendations that reduce systemic risk.”
\n\n“Open…
Original source: https://www.wired.com/