Observed Signal · May 8, 2026 · Interview · Source: Manager Magazin · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
AI Pioneer Jakob Uszkoreit: 'We're Near Take-off'
A manager magazin Tech Update newsletter (08 May 2026) features an interview with AI pioneer Jakob Uszkoreit, now founder of the US-headquartered startup Inceptive, who warns Europe must invest in compute, data centres and top researchers as AI approaches a critical growth phase. The issue also reports on Deutsche Telekom’s small equity stakes in multiple hyped AI startups (ElevenLabs, Perplexity, Black Forest Labs, Lovable, Dash0), a major layoff at translation AI firm DeepL (about 250 employees, roughly one quarter of staff) announced by CEO Jarek Kutylowski, and governance concerns around an expected SpaceX IPO and Elon Musk’s moves to limit future shareholders’ rights. A round-up covers other tech news: EleQtron raised €57 million led by Schwarz Digits; Apple is reportedly exploring Intel and Samsung as alternatives to TSMC; Samsung’s market value exceeded $1 trillion; and coverage from the OMR marketing conference and related industry items are included.
The piece contains an interview with a prominent AI pioneer and reports on corporate AI investments (Deutsche Telekom) and significant layoffs at a major European AI company (DeepL), which together have mid-level strategic implications for European AI investment, talent and the wider AI ecosystem.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Jakob Uszkoreit (43), former Google researcher and co-author of 'Attention Is All You Need', gave an interview asserting AI is 'near take-off' and is now founder of startup Inceptive, which develops 'biological software' and is headquartered in the USA.
- Deutsche Telekom holds small investments in multiple AI startups, including ElevenLabs, Perplexity, Black Forest Labs, Lovable and Dash0.
- DeepL CEO Jarek Kutylowski announced the company will lay off around 250 employees, approximately one quarter of its workforce.
- Quantencomputing startup EleQtron raised €57 million in a financing round led by Schwarz Digits.
- Apple is reportedly considering Intel and Samsung as alternative chip suppliers to TSMC; Samsung’s market capitalization surpassed $1 trillion this week.
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