Nvidia discussed buying AI startup Hugging Face: report

[SAN FRANCISCO] Nvidia held talks about acquiring Hugging Face in a deal that would potentially value the artificial intelligence startup at more than US$13 billion, according to Business Insider.

The two sides have held serious conversations about a transaction in recent weeks, the news outlet said, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter.

Nvidia has made a flurry of deals in the past year, including a recent US$6 billion licensing agreement with startup Poolside that included extending offers to many of that company’s employees.

It also reportedly paid about US$20 billion for most of the chip startup Groq.

Nvidia and Hugging Face did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Bloomberg News.

Hugging Face, which makes AI software and hosts it for other companies, was at the centre of a cybersecurity incident in which a model being tested by ChatGPT maker OpenAI inadvertently hacked the platform.

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The breach raised alarms about the safety of cutting-edge AI technology.

OpenAI said on Wednesday it could have reacted sooner to prevent the attack on Hugging Face’s systems. BLOOMBERG