Industry Trend AI News & Updates

OpenAI Announces Plans for First 'Open' Language Model Since GPT-2

OpenAI has announced plans to release its first 'open' language model since GPT-2 in the coming months, with a focus on reasoning capabilities similar to o3-mini. The company is actively seeking feedback from developers, researchers, and the broader community through a form on its website and upcoming developer events in San Francisco, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions.

OpenAI Secures Massive Funding While New Image Generator Creates Stir

OpenAI is reportedly finalizing a massive $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank while simultaneously drawing attention for its new image generator in ChatGPT that can transform images into Studio Ghibli-style art. The tool has garnered positive reactions for its visual quality but also raises significant questions about copyright and intellectual property.

OpenAI Adopts Anthropic's Model Context Protocol for Data Integration

OpenAI has announced it will support Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) across its products, including the ChatGPT desktop app. MCP is an open standard that enables AI models to connect with external data sources and systems, allowing for more relevant and context-aware responses to queries through two-way connections between data sources and AI applications.

Nvidia Faces Growing Challenges Despite Record GTC Attendance and New Product Launches

At GTC 2025, Nvidia unveiled new chips and products to a record 25,000 attendees while addressing growing challenges including U.S. tariffs, emerging competitors like DeepSeek, and AI clients developing in-house alternatives. CEO Jensen Huang emphasized that reasoning models will increase demand for Nvidia chips and announced plans for U.S. manufacturing investments to address potential supply chain issues.

Perplexity AI Eyes Massive $1B Funding at $18B Valuation Amid Search Competition

AI search startup Perplexity is reportedly in early talks to raise up to $1 billion at an $18 billion valuation, doubling its previous valuation from December. The company, which has reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue, faces increasing competition as Anthropic adds web search to Claude and Google tests an AI-powered search engine.

SoftBank Acquires Chip Designer Ampere Computing for $6.5 Billion

SoftBank Group is acquiring Ampere Computing, a semiconductor designer specializing in ARM-based server chips, for $6.5 billion in an all-cash deal. This acquisition follows SoftBank's series of AI-focused investments, including partnerships with OpenAI and investments in AI infrastructure, as part of its strategy to support artificial superintelligence development.

AI Researchers Challenge AGI Timelines, Question LLMs' Path to Human-Level Intelligence

Several prominent AI leaders including Hugging Face's Thomas Wolf, Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis, Meta's Yann LeCun, and former OpenAI researcher Kenneth Stanley are expressing skepticism about near-term AGI predictions. They argue that current large language models (LLMs) face fundamental limitations, particularly in creativity and generating original questions rather than just answers, and suggest new architectural approaches may be needed for true human-level intelligence.

Meta's Llama Models Reach 1 Billion Downloads as Company Pursues AI Leadership

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company's Llama AI model family has reached 1 billion downloads, representing a 53% increase over a three-month period. Despite facing copyright lawsuits and regulatory challenges in Europe, Meta plans to invest up to $80 billion in AI this year and is preparing to launch new reasoning models and agentic features.

Elon Musk's xAI Acquires Hotshot to Accelerate Video Generation Capabilities

Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, has acquired Hotshot, a startup specializing in AI-powered video generation technologies similar to OpenAI's Sora. The acquisition positions xAI to integrate video generation capabilities into its Grok platform, with Musk previously indicating that a "Grok Video" model could be released within months.

Nvidia GTC 2025 Conference Begins with Anticipated Major Hardware Announcements

Nvidia's GTC 2025 conference has commenced with expected announcements about new AI hardware, including Blackwell Ultra processors and partnerships with GM. The event will feature updates on Nvidia's next-generation computing platforms, described as "personal AI supercomputers."