San Francisco-based AI startup Writer is making waves in the artificial intelligence landscape with the launch of a new large language model designed to compete directly with offerings from heavyweights like OpenAI and Anthropic. Remarkably, Writer achieved this breakthrough with a training cost of just $700,000—far less than the estimated $4.6 million for a comparable model from its competitors.
As Writer embarks on a fundraising journey seeking up to $200 million at a staggering $1.9 billion valuation, nearly quadruple its worth from September 2023, the startup is capturing the attention of investors eager to back its innovative approach. The company previously raised $100 million at a valuation of over $500 million just last fall.
What sets Writer apart is its strategic use of synthetic data—artificially generated data designed to replicate real-world information—allowing the company to maintain privacy while reducing training costs. This method is gaining traction across the industry; Amazon has employed synthetic data for training Alexa, while Meta and Microsoft-backed OpenAI are incorporating it into their models.
However, experts advise caution when using synthetic data, as it can potentially degrade model performance and amplify existing biases. Writer’s co-founder and CTO, Waseem Alshikh, clarifies that the company focuses on converting real, factual data into synthetic formats specifically tailored for effective model training. “We don’t train our models on fake or hallucinated data,” he stated, emphasizing the importance of quality in their data pipeline, which has been in development for years.
Writer’s generative AI technology empowers corporate clients to produce human-like text for a variety of applications, including LinkedIn posts, job descriptions, and mission statements. With over 250 enterprise customers—including industry leaders like Accenture, Uber, Salesforce, L’Oréal, and Vanguard—Writer’s models are utilized across diverse sectors such as support, IT, operations, sales, and marketing.
The generative AI market is projected to exceed $1 trillion in revenue within the next decade. So far in 2024, investors have poured $26.8 billion into 498 generative AI deals, with companies in the sector raising $25.9 billion in 2023 alone—more than double the amount from the previous year.
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