Amazon is in talks to pour billions more into Anthropic, but there's a catch. The tech giant reportedly wants the startup to train its AI on Amazon-developed silicon rather than its preferred Nvidia chips. With Anthropic projected to burn through over $2.7 billion this year, walking away won't be easy.
OpenAI just acquired the ultra-premium domain chat.com from HubSpot founder Dharmesh Shah, with Shah implying the $15M+ deal was paid in startup equity. The web address now redirects straight to ChatGPT. Why it matters: Owning the ultimate generic word for conversational AI hints that OpenAI might eventually drop the "GPT" branding altogether as it shifts toward new model architectures.
OpenAI has officially initiated early talks with regulators in California and Delaware to transition from its non-profit structure to a traditional for-profit business. The trickiest part will be legally valuing its intellectual property, including ChatGPT, under state charity laws. It basically clears the path to raise massive capital without the original profit caps.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai just revealed that more than a quarter of all new code at the company is generated by AI, which engineers then review and accept. The milestone highlights how deeply automated development has become inside the tech giant itself. Why it matters: Big tech isn't just selling AI coding tools to developers—they're letting AI build their own stack.
ElevenLabs just brought aboard the team behind Omnivore, the popular read-it-later app with over 500,000 users. The acquisition aims to boost ElevenReader, the mobile reading app launched in June that supports 32 languages. Meanwhile, Omnivore’s original codebase will stay open source for developers.
OpenAI just closed a massive $6.6B funding round, boosting its post-money valuation to $157B. The company revealed that over 250 million people now use ChatGPT every week, with the fresh cash going toward expanding computing capacity and accelerating frontier AI research.
Apple has pulled out of talks to participate in OpenAI’s upcoming $6.5 billion funding round at the eleventh hour, according to The Wall Street Journal. While Microsoft is set to add another $1 billion and Nvidia remains in talks, Apple decided to pass on writing a rare equity check. The move won't affect their product partnership, with ChatGPT still slated to hit iOS 18 later this year.
OpenAI is reportedly on the verge of closing a massive $6.5 billion funding round as soon as next week, but it comes with a strict clause. According to The Wall Street Journal, investors can claw back their money if OpenAI fails to fully convert to a for-profit company within two years. Why it matters: Even with $4 billion in revenue, mounting losses and fierce rivalry are forcing the AI leader to ditch its nonprofit roots for survival.
OpenAI is just about to restructure into a full-fledged for-profit benefit corporation, stripping its founding nonprofit board of control. CEO Sam Altman, who previously owned zero equity, is set to receive billions in shares, hot on the heels of CTO Mira Murati abruptly walking out. Why it matters: The transition officially buries OpenAI's original safety-first, capped-profit promise in favor of traditional Silicon Valley investor returns.
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati just announced her departure from the company, quickly followed by Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew and VP of Research Barret Zoph on the same day. CEO Sam Altman revealed leadership succession plans with Mark Chen taking over as SVP of research, as reports swirl about the company restructuring into a for-profit entity.
Jony Ive just confirmed he is teaming up with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to build a new AI hardware device. Designed by Ive's firm LoveFrom and staffed by key former iPhone engineers, the venture could raise $1 billion by year's end. Specifics and release timing remain under wraps, but they're aiming to reinvent computing beyond traditional software.
Qualcomm just approached Intel about a potential takeover, according to the Wall Street Journal. Intel has been reeling from costly setbacks and slow AI progress, having recently announced $10 billion in cost cuts and over 15,000 layoffs. The megadeal would upend the chip market, though severe antitrust scrutiny makes completion far from guaranteed.
Intel just announced plans to spin off its AI-focused foundry business into an independent subsidiary with its own board, clearing the way for outside capital. The stock jumped over 6% following the news. Intel hopes this move and its upcoming 18A process will help turn around steep losses and mount a challenge to Nvidia.
OpenAI is reportedly planning to ditch its complex non-profit control structure next year, transitioning into a traditional for-profit business. CEO Sam Altman told employees the company has outgrown its founding setup, as investors push to remove profit caps amid talks for a potential $150 billion valuation. An OpenAI spokesperson maintains the non-profit arm will still exist.
Amazon just hired Covariant’s three co-founders and roughly a quarter of the startup's team, while licensing its robotics foundation models under a non-exclusive deal. Covariant builds foundational AI models designed to power warehouse robotic arms. Much like its Adept deal in June, Amazon is using creative hiring and licensing pacts to swallow frontier AI talent without triggering antitrust regulators.
AI image generator NightCafe is quietly raking in $4 million in annualized revenue with nearly 50% profit margins, all with just nine full-time employees and zero venture capital. Instead of training its own models, the bootstrapped platform acts as a UI layer and community hub for models like Stable Diffusion and Ideogram. Why it matters: In a field dominated by cash-burning giants, leaning into community and UX can still build a sustainable AI business.
Magic just announced LTM-2-mini, an ultra-long context model capable of processing 100M tokens—equivalent to roughly 10 million lines of code or 750 novels. The startup claims its sequence-dimension algorithm is 1,000x cheaper per decoded token than Llama 3.1 405B at that context scale, and revealed $320M in new funding alongside a Google Cloud partnership to build supercomputers.
Apple is reportedly in negotiations to invest in OpenAI as part of a new funding round valuing the startup at over $100 billion. Thrive Capital is set to lead with roughly $1 billion, and Microsoft may chip in more as well. Why it matters: After partnering to bring ChatGPT into iOS 18 later this year, putting real money on the table would seriously lock in Apple’s alliance with the top AI player.
Nvidia just reported a massive 122% jump in Q2 revenue to $30.04 billion, driven by explosive 154% growth in its data center division. However, its gross margin dipped slightly to 75.1% due to Blackwell chip design tweaks, sending shares down over 7% after hours as sky-high investor expectations proved tough to beat.
Perplexity is gearing up to run ads on its search app in the fourth quarter, pitching advertisers on premium CPM rates topping $50. Brands will be able to sponsor related follow-up questions and buy display units next to generated answers, marking the AI startup's biggest push into commercial monetization.
