Industry Trend AI News & Updates

Microsoft Reduces Data Center Footprint Amid Industry Expansion

Microsoft has canceled leases totaling approximately two data centers' worth of capacity with multiple providers. This contraction stands in contrast to significant industry expansion, including the $500 billion Stargate project by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, and raises questions about Microsoft's expectations for future AI demand.

Anthropic Increases Funding Round to $3.5 Billion Despite Financial Losses

Anthropic is finalizing a $3.5 billion fundraising round at a $61.5 billion valuation, up from an initially planned $2 billion. Despite reaching $1.2 billion in annualized revenue, the company continues to operate at a loss and intends to invest the new capital in developing more capable AI technologies.

DeepSeek Announces Open Sourcing of Production-Tested AI Code Repositories

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has announced plans to open source portions of its online services' code as part of an upcoming "open source week" event. The company will release five code repositories that have been thoroughly documented and tested in production, continuing its practice of making AI resources openly available under permissive licenses.

OpenAI Reports Massive User Growth with 400M Weekly Users

OpenAI has announced it now serves 400 million weekly active users, up from 300 million in December 2024, demonstrating rapid growth in consumer adoption. On the enterprise side, the company has reached 2 million paying enterprise users, doubling since September 2024, while developer API traffic has doubled in the past six months.

Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence Startup Nearing $1B Funding at $30B Valuation

Ilya Sutskever's AI startup, Safe Superintelligence, is reportedly close to raising over $1 billion at a $30 billion valuation, with VC firm Greenoaks Capital Partners leading the round with a $500 million investment. The company, co-founded by former OpenAI and Apple AI leaders, has no immediate plans to sell AI products and would reach approximately $2 billion in total funding.

Former OpenAI Leaders Launch Thinking Machines Lab to Build More Customizable AI

Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati has launched Thinking Machines Lab, a startup focused on developing more customizable and capable AI systems that address key gaps in current AI technologies. The company, which includes OpenAI co-founder John Schulman and other high-profile AI researchers, aims to build frontier multimodal systems for applications in science and programming while emphasizing AI safety.

OpenAI Plans Special Voting Rights to Safeguard Board Against Takeover Attempts

OpenAI is considering giving its nonprofit board special voting rights that would allow it to overrule major investors, protecting against hostile takeovers like the recent $97.4 billion offer from Elon Musk and investors. This move comes as OpenAI transitions from a capped-profit structure to a public benefit corporation by late 2026, with plans to separate its nonprofit arm with its own staff and leadership team.

DeepSeek Founder to Meet China's Xi Jinping Amid AI Competition

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng is reportedly set to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other top politicians during an upcoming summit. The meeting comes after DeepSeek's AI models demonstrated strong performance against leading American AI companies, raising concerns among U.S. officials about China's growing competitiveness in the AI race.

xAI Seeks $10 Billion Funding at $75 Billion Valuation

Elon Musk's AI company xAI is reportedly in talks to raise $10 billion at a $75 billion valuation, bringing its total funding to over $22 billion. The company is also considering purchasing more than $5 billion in servers from Dell to support development of its Grok AI models, with Grok 3 expected to release in the coming weeks.

Musk Makes $97.4 Billion Bid for OpenAI, Altman Dismisses Offer

Elon Musk has reportedly made a $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI, which would be one of the largest tech acquisitions in history. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly dismissed the offer, responding with a suggestion he could buy Musk's X platform for a tenth of the price, highlighting growing tensions between the AI industry leaders.