March 10, 2025 News
OpenAI Secures $12 Billion GPU Cloud Deal with CoreWeave
OpenAI has signed a five-year, $11.9 billion agreement with GPU cloud provider CoreWeave, including receiving $350 million worth of equity in the company. The deal reduces OpenAI's dependence on Microsoft's cloud services while securing critical compute resources for AI model development, representing another step in the increasingly competitive relationship between OpenAI and Microsoft.
Skynet Chance (+0.04%): This massive infrastructure investment demonstrates the extraordinary resources being channeled into advanced AI development, creating an environment where increasingly powerful and potentially unaligned systems can be developed without adequate safety constraints due to competitive pressures between major AI companies.
Skynet Date (-4 days): The securing of massive GPU resources directly addresses OpenAI's compute constraints ("out of GPUs") and significantly accelerates their capability to train more powerful models, potentially shortening the timeline to development of increasingly autonomous and potentially unaligned systems.
AGI Progress (+0.1%): This enormous investment in compute infrastructure directly addresses one of the main bottlenecks to training more powerful AI models, providing OpenAI with substantially expanded capacity to develop increasingly sophisticated systems that approach general intelligence capabilities.
AGI Date (-5 days): The $12 billion investment in GPU compute dramatically increases OpenAI's training capabilities and directly addresses Sam Altman's complaint about being "out of GPUs," removing a key constraint and potentially significantly accelerating the timeline for developing more powerful, AGI-like systems.
Poolside CEO Claims AGI Pursuit Only Valid for Serious Developers
Poolside co-founder and CEO Jason Warner argued at the HumanX AI conference that most companies should focus on building AI applications rather than foundation models unless they are pursuing intelligence as the "most important commodity in the world." Warner stated that his own company is "literally" pursuing AGI through software, while suggesting that foundation model developers need to tackle challenging fields like defense.
Skynet Chance (+0.03%): The aggressive framing of intelligence as a commodity to be pursued at all costs, combined with the encouragement to work with defense applications, suggests a competitive environment where safety considerations may be secondary to capability development and commercial applications, potentially increasing misalignment risks.
Skynet Date (-1 days): The explicit focus on AGI development by well-funded companies like Poolside ($620M raised) indicates continued acceleration of efforts to achieve advanced AI capabilities, though the impact is relatively modest since this represents existing trends rather than a major shift.
AGI Progress (+0.01%): While this statement doesn't represent a technical breakthrough, it reflects the increasing normalization and commercialization of AGI pursuit within the industry, potentially catalyzing more resources and talent toward foundation model development among serious contenders.
AGI Date (-1 days): The framing of AGI development as a legitimate business pursuit by well-capitalized companies ($3B valuation) suggests continued acceleration of private sector investment in advanced AI capabilities, potentially moving timelines forward incrementally as more resources flow to this objective.
DeepSeek's Founder Resists VC Funding While Navigating Geopolitical Challenges
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, led by founder Liang Wenfeng, has avoided accepting venture capital despite significant investor interest. Liang owns 84% of the company and has funded operations through profits from his hedge fund High-Flyer, though facing challenges from US chip export restrictions and potential geopolitical complications.
Skynet Chance (+0.03%): DeepSeek's independent funding model increases the chance of AI development outside mainstream Western oversight frameworks, potentially enabling research paths less constrained by external governance or alignment requirements.
Skynet Date (-1 days): The article indicates DeepSeek faces chip access limitations due to export controls, which may slightly delay its AI capabilities advancement while also noting a shift toward monetization that could accelerate resources for development.
AGI Progress (+0.04%): DeepSeek's prioritization of fundamental research over quick monetization demonstrates a focus on capability advancement rather than commercial applications, suggesting deeper technical progress toward AGI rather than just product refinement.
AGI Date (+1 days): While DeepSeek's independent funding provides research freedom, US chip export controls represent a significant bottleneck acknowledged by Liang himself, likely delaying their AGI timeline despite their research-focused approach.