ATTS Nigeria Limited

07/08/2025

$250 Million AI Prodigy: How Mark Zuckerberg Sealed the Deal for Matt Deitke

In an unexpected move that has sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley, Meta Platforms Inc. has secured the talents of 24-year-old AI prodigy Matt Deitke with a staggering $250 million compensation package—one of the largest individual employment deals in tech history. When Deitke initially turned down a $125 million offer, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally stepped in, doubling the package to lure the young researcher to Meta’s ambitious Superintelligence Lab. This deal isn’t just about one hire; it’s a bold declaration of Meta’s intent to dominate the race for artificial general intelligence (AGI) and superintelligence, while sparking heated debates about wealth inequality and the future of work in an AI-driven world.

Matt Deitke is no ordinary tech talent. A former PhD candidate at the University of Washington, Deitke left academia to make waves at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) in Seattle, where he led the development of Molmo, a groundbreaking multimodal AI system. Unlike traditional chatbots, Molmo integrates text, images, and audio, enabling more human-like interactions. His work earned him an Outstanding Paper Award at NeurIPS 2022, one of the most prestigious AI conferences, and drew praise from rivals like OpenAI, who cited Molmo as a benchmark for cross-modal AI systems.
In late 2023, Deitke co-founded Vercept, a Seattle-based startup focused on building autonomous AI agents capable of performing complex tasks online, such as navigating software or executing multi-step workflows without human prompts. With just 10 employees, Vercept raised $16.5 million from high-profile investors, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Google DeepMind’s Jeff Dean, and Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi. Deitke’s vision for Vercept showcased his entrepreneurial flair, but it was his technical prowess that made him a prime target for Meta.

Meta’s initial offer to Deitke—$125 million over four years—was already astronomical, reflecting the scarcity of elite AI talent. But Deitke, prioritizing his startup and research freedom, declined. Unfazed, Zuckerberg personally met with him, a rare move for a CEO of his stature. The result? A revised offer of $250 million, with up to $100 million potentially paid in the first year alone, combining cash and stock. Deitke accepted, joining Meta’s Superintelligence Lab in July 2025, a move he described as “the most exciting bet I’ve seen in tech history.”
This deal underscores the NBA-style market for AI researchers, where top talent commands salaries rivaling those of sports superstars like Steph Curry or Cristiano Ronaldo. As MIT economist David Autor quipped, “When computer scientists are paid like professional athletes, we have reached the climax of ‘Revenge of the Nerds!’”

Meta’s pursuit of Deitke is part of a broader strategy to build a “talent-dense” team for its Superintelligence Lab, launched in June 2025 to chase the holy grail of superintelligence—AI that surpasses human cognitive abilities. Led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, the lab has poached heavyweights like Ruoming Pang, former head of Apple’s AI models team, for over $200 million, and Jason Wei from OpenAI. Meta’s reported $1 billion-plus investment in talent acquisition reflects its urgency to catch up with rivals like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

In its 2025 earnings report, Meta announced a $72 billion capital expenditure, up $30 billion from the prior year, with much of it earmarked for AI infrastructure, including massive compute clusters. Zuckerberg has emphasized that superintelligence will “improve every aspect of what we do,” from enhancing Meta’s products like smart glasses and the Meta AI app to empowering individuals with unprecedented tools.

Deitke’s deal highlights the scarcity of elite AI talent, where a handful of researchers command generational wealth while others face uncertainty. In early 2025, Meta laid off 10,000 workers, many in roles like content moderation that AI systems are increasingly replacing. Critics, including tech policy advisor Srinivasan, argue that this model rewards those building AI while “displacing and disenfranchising” workers whose data fuels these systems. “This is cognitive task automation,” Srinivasan told NewsBreak. “HR, administrative work, paralegal work—if data can be collected on a job, it can be mimicked by a machine.”
The Federal Reserve has noted AI’s role in slowing wage growth in lower-skilled sectors, while experts like Stanford’s Fei-Fei Li see AI as a transformative force akin to electricity, potentially creating new industries. For instance, companies like Recursion Pharmaceuticals are using AI to accelerate drug discovery, hinting at broader societal benefits. Yet, Deitke’s $250 million package—327 times what J. Robert Oppenheimer earned (adjusted for inflation) during the Manhattan Project—has sparked debates about economic inequality.

Deitke’s move to Meta isn’t just a headline-grabbing hire; it’s a watershed moment in the AI race. Meta’s willingness to spend a quarter billion on a single researcher sets a new benchmark for talent acquisition, signaling to competitors the cost of staying in the game. Most AI startups, even well-funded ones like Vercept, can’t match such offers, highlighting the growing divide between tech giants and smaller players.
As Zuckerberg builds his “all-star roster,” the stakes couldn’t be higher. The company that achieves AGI or superintelligence could dominate markets worth trillions, reshaping industries and economies. Deitke, with his expertise in multimodal and embodied AI, is now at the forefront of this mission, working alongside luminaries like Wang and Friedman. His decision to join Meta, after initially betting on his startup, reflects the irresistible pull of resources, infrastructure, and vision that only a tech giant can offer.

As Meta’s Superintelligence Lab accelerates, the tech world watches closely. Will Deitke’s contributions justify his historic compensation? Can Meta outpace OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic in the AGI race? And what does this mean for the millions whose jobs may be automated by the very systems Deitke is building? One thing is clear: Matt Deitke’s $250 million deal is more than a paycheck—it’s a bold statement about the value of AI’s brightest minds and the transformative power of the technology they’re creating.

24/07/2025

From Thin Air to Dinner Plate: The Future of Food Is Being Made in Finland

In a modest industrial facility on the outskirts of Helsinki, a quiet revolution is underway. Inside, a sleek machine hums softly — no fields, no livestock, no sunlight in sight. Yet, it’s producing something fundamental to life: protein. Not from crops. Not from insects. But from the air itself.

What sounds like a scene from a sci-fi novel is, in fact, a very real and potentially game-changing process known as electroprotein fermentation. At the heart of this innovation is a Finnish company called Solar Foods, which has developed a protein unlike any before. Called Solein, it’s a nutrient-rich powder made by feeding microscopic organisms with a mixture of carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, and trace minerals — all powered by renewable electricity.

Here’s how it works: microbes are cultivated in large bioreactors, where they consume the gas mixture and multiply rapidly, similar to the way yeast is brewed to make beer. But instead of producing alcohol, these microbes generate a golden, flour-like substance that’s packed with protein, vitamins, iron, and fiber. With a mild, neutral flavor, Solein is designed to blend seamlessly into a wide variety of foods — from bread and pasta to plant-based meats, dairy alternatives, and even sweets like chocolate.

What makes this method revolutionary isn’t just what it produces, but how it produces it. Unlike traditional agriculture, Solein doesn’t rely on fertile land, seasonal cycles, or massive water usage. In fact, it requires no soil at all, uses 1,000 times less carbon than meat production, and takes up 100 times less land than growing soy. A single bioreactor the size of a shipping container can feed hundreds of people each day, operating in places where conventional farming simply isn't possible — deserts, frozen tundras, or the rooftops of densely populated cities.

This technology could redefine food security in a world facing climate change, population growth, and dwindling natural resources. With no need for animals or deforestation, Solein offers a truly sustainable protein source that slashes greenhouse gas emissions, preserves biodiversity, and reduces the environmental toll of food production.

Already approved for consumption by EU food safety authorities, Solein is expected to hit grocery shelves and food products across Europe starting in 2025. And that’s just the beginning. Solar Foods is collaborating with space agencies to test the technology in extreme environments — including future missions to the Moon and Mars, where conventional agriculture isn’t just difficult, it’s impossible.

In a world increasingly shaped by ecological limits and supply chain uncertainties, this isn’t just a new ingredient — it represents a bold new origin story for food. With nothing but air, water, and light, humanity may soon be able to grow nourishment anywhere — from the Sahara to space.

29/06/2025

Grok in Trouble!

Elon Musk has publicly criticized Grok, the AI chatbot developed by his company xAI, after discovering it was sourcing news content from outlets such as Media Matters and Rolling Stone. Known for his blunt commentary, Musk did not mince words.

In a sharp post on X, Musk wrote:
“Your sourcing is terrible. Only a very dumb AI would believe MM and RS! You are being updated this week.”

The comment underscores Musk’s strong disapproval of what he views as ideologically biased and unreliable media sources. To Musk, allowing Grok to rely on such outlets compromises the integrity and credibility of the AI system he champions.

In response, he has ordered a fast-tracked upgrade—Grok 4—to be rolled out by July 4. This update is expected to address not only technical improvements but also a fundamental shift in the AI’s sourcing and editorial logic.

The incident reflects Musk’s broader concerns about political and ideological bias in AI training data. With Grok 4, he appears determined to steer the chatbot toward what he describes as more “truth-seeking” outputs—rooted in first principles and free from what he considers mainstream media distortions.

14/06/2025

Beta Technologies made history as the first U.S. company to successfully land an all-electric aircraft at a major airport in the New York–New Jersey region. This milestone flight not only marks a significant advancement in sustainable aviation but also underscores the growing potential for electric aircraft to reduce operational costs and environmental impact. By demonstrating the feasibility of electric air travel in one of the nation’s busiest airspaces, Beta Technologies is paving the way for a future where quieter, cleaner, and more affordable flights could become the norm.

26/11/2024

Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell Connectivity: A New Era of Global Communication

In a world where seamless communication is critical, millions still struggle with poor or no cellular network access, especially in remote or underserved regions. SpaceX's Starlink Direct-to-Cell connectivity promises to change this narrative, bringing universal cellular access to your pocket—no special devices required.

Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet service, has evolved beyond providing broadband connectivity to homes and businesses. With Direct-to-Cell, Starlink aims to transform its satellite constellation into a global network of spaceborne cell towers. This groundbreaking technology enables standard smartphones to connect directly to satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), bypassing the need for traditional ground-based cell towers.

The innovation lies in Starlink satellites' specialized antennas, designed to communicate directly with smartphones. By leveraging existing cellular spectrum licenses through partnerships with telecommunications providers, Starlink ensures that users don't need special devices or modifications to their phones.

Here's how the process works:

1. Satellites as Cell Towers: Each Starlink satellite acts as a mobile cell tower in orbit.

2. Signal Relay: The satellite connects with standard smartphones using the partner network's licensed spectrum.

3. Ground Stations: The data is relayed from the satellite to Starlink ground stations, which route it to the internet or the cellular provider's network.

4. Seamless Integration: Users experience the service just like a traditional cellular connection.

Starlink Direct-to-Cell promises an array of benefits, including:

Global Reach: From remote villages to oceans and disaster-stricken areas, connectivity is available everywhere.

No Extra Hardware: Unlike legacy satellite phones, standard smartphones are all you need.

Scalable Connectivity: Text messaging services will roll out first, followed by voice calls and broadband internet.

Emergency Lifeline: In regions where disasters disrupt networks, Direct-to-Cell ensures life-saving communication.

Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell technology could have profound implications:

Disaster Response: Rapid communication in regions hit by earthquakes, hurricanes, or wildfires.

Maritime and Aviation Connectivity: Reliable communication for ships, yachts, and airplanes.

Rural Development: Extending connectivity to regions previously considered unreachable.

SpaceX is working closely with telecom providers worldwide to integrate its services into existing networks. The initial rollout will focus on SMS, followed by voice and internet capabilities in subsequent phases. With this technology, SpaceX is not just connecting people—it’s reshaping how the world communicates.

While promising, the system faces challenges, including regulatory approvals, potential interference with terrestrial networks, and ensuring a smooth user experience. Nonetheless, with SpaceX's track record of innovation, these hurdles appear surmountable.

Starlink Direct-to-Cell connectivity is a game-changer, poised to democratize access to communication and bridge the digital divide. With its ability to connect any smartphone, anywhere on the planet, SpaceX is setting the stage for a future where no one is left out of the global conversation.
This revolutionary service isn’t just about better connectivity—it’s about creating a truly interconnected world.

20/11/2024

"Starship is by far the most powerful flying object ever created. Each Raptor rocket engine produces twice as much thrust as all 4 engines on a 747. There are 33 Raptor engines powering the Starship rocket booster.”

04/09/2022

Wow!

Bishop Hassan Kukah joins Buga challenge at 70th birthday celebration.

24/09/2021

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02/08/2021

Python For Loop – Example and Tutorial

Loops let you control the logic and flow structures of your programs.

Specifically, a for loop lets you execute a block of similar code operations, over and over again, until a condition is met.

You repeat certain code instructions for a set of values you determine, and you perform actions on each value for a pre-determined number of times.

What is a for loop in Python?
A for loop can iterate over every item in a list or go through every single character in a string and won't stop until it has gone through every character.

Writing for loops helps reduce repetitiveness in your code, following the DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principle. You don't write the same block of code more than once.

In this article, we'll get to know the basics of for loops in the Python programming language using different examples. But first let's learn some for loop basics.

How Does a for loop Work in Other Programming Languages?
Looping in most modern programming languages like JavaScript, Java, or C looks something like the example below.

Loops in JavaScript:

for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
console.log('Counting numbers');
// prints "Counting numbers" 10 times
// values of i from 0 to 9
}
The for loop generally keeps track of three things:

The initialization expression statement which is exactuted once, let i = 0;
The condition that needs to be met, i < 10;. This condition is evaluated as either true or false. If it is false, the loop is terminated.
If the condition is true the body of the loop will be executed and the initialized expression will take some action. In this case it will be incremented by 1 (i++), until the condition set is met.
for loop Syntax in Python
The for loop in Python looks quite different compared to other programming languages.

Python prides itself on readability, so its for loop is cleaner, simpler, and more compact.

The basic structure is this:

for item in sequence:
execute expression
where:

for starts a for loop.
item is an individual item during each iteration. It is given a temporary arbitary variable name.
in separates each item from the other(s).
sequence is what we want to iterate over.
a colon : gives the instruction to execute the body of code that follows.
A new line.
A level of indentation. 4 spaces before writing the body of the loop, otherwise we get an IndentationError.
The body with the actions that need to be taken and repeated (for example, print something to the console). It goes where the execute experssion line is.
How the Python for loop works
Let's say we have a sequence, a list of stored items we want to run through – in this case a grocery list:

groceries = ["bananas","butter","cheese","toothpaste"]
The in keyword checks to see if an item is included in a sequence. When combined with the for keyword, it indicates iterating over every item in the sequence.

It does something with every item on the list. In this case it prints separetely each individual item to the console until every item has been iterated over.

for grocery in groceries:
# for each iteration print the value of grocery
print(grocery)
grocery is a temporary variable name to refer to each item of the list.

It's an iterator variable, that with each succesive iteration its value gets set to each value the list includes. Essentially, it's a temporary variable with a temporary value.

We could name it whatever we want, such as g or item. But the name should be unique and not be the same as any other variable in our program.

On the first run, the first element – bananas – is stored in the variable item.

Then the expression print(grocery), which essentially is how print("bananas") is executed.

On the second run, the element butter is stored in the variable item and as above, it gets printed to the console.

This process continues until all items have been iterated over.

Here's the output of that code:

bananas
butter
cheese
toothpaste
How to use a for loop for a range of numbers
We can use the range() function with a given range to specify how many times in a row we want the for loop to iterate over. This simplifies the for loop.

The range() function creates a sequence of integers depending on the arguments we give it.

How does this work?

Take a look at the example below:

for i in range(5):
print(i)
The output of which is:

0
1
2
3
4
It creates a list of numbers between 0 and 4.

By default when we give range() one argument, the range starts counting from 0.

Notice that 5 is not printed to the console.

In range(5), we specify that 5 is the highest number we want, but not inclusive. It does not include it, it's just the stopping point. It defines how many times we want our loop to run. We see it runs 5 times and creates a sort of list of 5 items: 0,1,2,3,4.

If you want to see what range() produces for debugging purposes, you can pass it to the list() function.

Open the interactive Python shell in your console, typically with the command python3, and type:

show_numbers = list(range(5))

print(show_numbers)
What if we want our range to start from 1 and then to also see 5 printed to the console? We instead give range() two different arguments this time:

for i in range(1,6):
print(i)
Output:

0
1
2
3
4
5
The first argument (start) which as we saw earlier is optional, is where the sequence should begin (in this case it's 1). This argument is inclusive and the number is included.

The second argument (stop) which is required, is where the sequence should end and is not inclusive, as mentioned earlier. In this case it's 6.

Lastly, you can pass in a third optional parameter: step.

This controls the increment between the two values in the range. The default value of step is 1.

Let's say we wanted to jump every two numbers and get the odd numbers from a sequence. We could do:

for i in range(1,10,2):
print(i)
Output:

1
3
5
7
9
1 is where we start, 10 is 1 higher than what we want (which is 9), and 2 is the amount we want to jump between numbers (in this case we jump every two numbers).

How to use enumerate() in Python
So far we have not used any indexes when iterating. Sometimes, we need to access the index of the item we're looping through and display it.

We can loop over items with the index using enumerate().

Our example from earlier:

groceries = ["bananas","butter","cheese","toothpaste"]

for grocery in groceries:
print(grocery)
Can now be written like this:

groceries = ["bananas","butter","cheese","toothpaste"]

for index, grocery in enumerate(groceries):
print(index,grocery)
Output:

0 bananas
1 butter
2 cheese
3 toothpaste
Or for a bit more complex output:

groceries = ["bananas","butter","cheese","toothpaste"]
for index, grocery in enumerate(groceries):
print(f"Grocery: {grocery} is at index: {index}.")
Output:

Grocery: bananas is at index: 0.
Grocery: butter is at index: 1.
Grocery: cheese is at index: 2.
Grocery: toothpaste is at index: 3
Instead of just writing one variable grocery like before, now we write two: index,grocery. On each iteration, index contains the index of the value and grocery the value of groceries.
index is the index of the value being iterated.
Indexes in Python start counting at 0 .
grocery is the value of the item at the current iteration
The line enumerate(groceries) lets us iterate through the sequence and keep track of the index of the value and the value itself.

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24/06/2021