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By Stephanie Palazzolo

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Recent Editions

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Why It’s Cheap and Easy to Mimic OpenAI’s Reasoning Model

By Rocket Drew · Jan 30, 2025 7:06am PST · 1 comment

The word of the moment in artificial intelligence is distillation. Distillation is the technical term for transferring knowledge from one large language model, which acts like a teacher, to another model that acts as a student. And it’s likely one of the key ways a Chinese quant fund replicated OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model and set the... The word of the moment in artificial intelligence is distillation. Distillation is the...

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OpenAI Tightens Grip on High End of App Market; Murati’s Startup Gets a Name

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Jan 29, 2025 7:00am PST

As questions swirl about whether super-cheap-yet-high-quality Chinese artificial intelligence threatens American-made AI, a new data point suggests OpenAI has some major advantages, relative to its compatriots.We reported Tuesday that OpenAI leaders recently made comments implying that ChatGPT Pro subscriptions—which cost $200 per month, or 10... As questions swirl about whether super-cheap-yet-high-quality Chinese artificial intelligence...

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Is DeepSeek an Extinction Event?; A New Reasoning-Focused AI Lab Lands Funding

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 28, 2025 7:00am PST · 4 comments

If you spent any time yesterday or this weekend on X, you might have concluded that AI developers, venture capitalists, Nvidia and cloud providers are totally screwed, thanks to new uber-cheap and impressive AI models from High-Flyer Capital Management, a Chinese hedge fund.The truth is a lot more nuanced, though, and there are still a lot of... If you spent any time yesterday or this weekend on X, you might have concluded that AI...

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DeepSeek’s Implications For AI; Why Stargate Should Be Taken Seriously

By Anissa Gardizy · Jan 27, 2025 7:00am PST · 2 comments

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DeepSeek’s Implications For AI; Why Stargate Should Be Taken Seriously

By Anissa Gardizy · Jan 27, 2025 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Before we get to our main item, I’d recommend you read yesterday’s scoop about Meta Platforms and other American developers reacting to the threat posed by DeepSeek, the hottest new artificial intelligence model (and consumer mobile app!) that has been sweeping the industry.On to the news…Last week I was at one of the largest data center... Before we get to our main item, I’d recommend you read yesterday’s scoop about Meta Platforms and...

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An OpenAI Math Test Raises Eyebrows

By Rocket Drew · Jan 23, 2025 7:00am PST

When OpenAI previewed o3, its latest reasoning model, in December, one of the ways the company demonstrated its strength was by showing off its 25.2% score on FrontierMath, a test of AI models’ math abilities that Epoch AI developed. (You might remember Epoch, the nonprofit research organization, from their work on AI scaling laws.)That’s not... When OpenAI previewed o3, its latest reasoning model, in December, one of the ways the company...

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What Stargate Means and What It Doesn’t

By Amir Efrati and Anissa Gardizy · Jan 22, 2025 7:00am PST

Ten months ago, we broke the story that OpenAI and Microsoft were discussing “Stargate,” an unprecedented $100 billion data center supercomputer to take artificial intelligence to new heights. On Tuesday, Stargate finally became official—but largely without Microsoft.At the White House on Tuesday, the leaders of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank said... Ten months ago, we broke the story that OpenAI and Microsoft were discussing “Stargate,” an...

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A Competitor of Scale AI Doubles Its Revenue, Thanks to Reasoning

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 21, 2025 7:16am PST

Before we get into today’s column, President Donald Trump’s repeal of Joe Biden’s executive order on AI on Monday evening has to be the biggest news in AI. In case you’ve forgotten, Biden’s executive order required companies training large AI models to share details about their models with the federal government. Trump’s decision won’t have... Before we get into today’s column, President Donald Trump’s repeal of Joe Biden’s executive order...

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The Startups Taking on Scale AI—In Robotics

By Rocket Drew · Jan 16, 2025 7:00am PST

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The Startups Taking on Scale AI—In Robotics

By Rocket Drew · Jan 16, 2025 7:00am PST

As I wrote last month, there’s been a flurry of excitement about applying generative artificial intelligence techniques to robotics, a field that’s generated much hope and plenty of disappointment over the last two decades. Like chatbot makers, robotics companies have relied on humans to manually label data, for example identifying packages... As I wrote last month, there’s been a flurry of excitement about applying generative artificial...

Ranger founder and CEO, Josh Ip. Photo courtesy of Ranger.

General Catalyst Backs Startup in New AI Category: Software Testing

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 15, 2025 7:00am PST

When it comes to the billion-dollar question of where businesses are seeing the biggest returns from conversational AI, automating software development has emerged as an early frontrunner. We have AI software to autocomplete lines of code, AI software to write entire apps, and soon, AI software to test other software.That last one is the focus... When it comes to the billion-dollar question of where businesses are seeing the biggest returns...

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Why Biden’s Final AI Chip Move Caused an Uproar

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Anissa Gardizy · Jan 14, 2025 7:57am PST

It’s the final week of the Biden presidency, and the administration kicked it off by announcing new export control rules for AI-related technologies, causing quite a stir. The rules aim to limit how many of Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips other countries or foreign companies can obtain, helping American AI developers companies stay ahead,... It’s the final week of the Biden presidency, and the administration kicked it off by announcing...

Chris Lehane. Photo by Getty

OpenAI Starts Its Trump Strategy; CES Shows Not Everything Needs AI

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 13, 2025 7:50am PST

Meta Platforms’ announcement last week that it had relaxed its content moderation stance immediately raised the question of whether others, such as OpenAI, would follow suit.When I asked Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, about that during an interview on Friday, he pointed me to a new broad-ranging policy proposal from the... Meta Platforms’ announcement last week that it had relaxed its content moderation stance...

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Why Research Talent Still Costs So Much

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 9, 2025 7:20am PST

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Why Research Talent Still Costs So Much

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 9, 2025 7:20am PST

One of the rarest resources in artificial intelligence—perhaps even more than Nvidia servers or training data—is the people who make it. Founders tell me that the shortage of talent that can develop and improve language and vision models is still extreme, two years into the conversational AI boom.That’s demonstrated by recent developments at... One of the rarest resources in artificial intelligence—perhaps even more than Nvidia servers or...

Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic. Photo by Getty.

Anthropic Makes OpenAI Look Cheap—Again

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 8, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Well that didn’t take long! We’re barely a week into the new year and already we’ve reported that Anthropic is in talks to raise $2 billion in new funding at a $60 billion post-investment valuation. Lightspeed Venture Partners, a venture capital firm that’s also backed rival AI developers including Mistral, Stability AI and Cartesia, is set... Well that didn’t take long! We’re barely a week into the new year and already we’ve reported...

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Why OpenAI is Taking So Long to Launch Agents

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 7, 2025 7:00am PST

Imagine you’re asking a computer-using agent from OpenAI, Anthropic or Google to find and order a new outfit for your upcoming holiday party, and in the process, that model inadvertently ends up on a malicious website that instructs it to forget its prior instructions, log into your email and steal your credit card information.That’s a very real... Imagine you’re asking a computer-using agent from OpenAI, Anthropic or Google to find and order a...

Art by Clark Miller.

How Much Should Consumers Pay For AI?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 6, 2025 7:00am PST

If the last month of AI product updates has demonstrated anything, it’s that AI firms are diverging meaningfully in their pricing strategies.On one hand, we have companies like Google, whose new “Flash” model drew droves of price-sensitive developers looking for an uber-cheap yet still high-quality alternative. And on the other hand, we have ... If the last month of AI product updates has demonstrated anything, it’s that AI firms are...

Left to right: Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch, Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Sam Altman. Photos via Getty.

How Artificial Intelligence Will Change in 2025

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 2, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Left to right: Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch, Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Sam Altman. Photos via Getty.

How Artificial Intelligence Will Change in 2025

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 2, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Welcome to the first AI Agenda issue of 2025! We’re expecting a lot in AI this year, given an impressive reasoning model from OpenAI, a new administration and likely lots more multi-billion-dollar funding rounds on the way. Welcome to the first AI Agenda issue of 2025! We’re expecting a lot in AI this year, given an ...

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The Top AI Moments of 2024 and What We’re Watching For Next Year

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 31, 2024 7:00am PST

What a year! 2024 toned down some of the AI hype from the previous year, as buyers of AI software began asking when they’d start seeing returns from their purchases. Meanwhile, several well-funded AI developers like Inflection, Adept and Character.AI scrambled to safety in the arms of larger tech giants. Still, there was plenty to be excited... What a year! 2024 toned down some of the AI hype from the previous year, as buyers of AI software...

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DeepSeek Shows Necessity Is The Mother of Invention

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 30, 2024 7:18am PST · 7 comments

While the rest of us were recovering from heavy Christmas dinners and too much time with relatives, Chinese quant trading firm High-Flyer Capital Management dropped the latest update on Thursday to DeepSeek, its open-weight large language model. Senior researchers at American firms including OpenAI and Meta Platforms almost immediately started... While the rest of us were recovering from heavy Christmas dinners and too much time with...

Art by Clark Miller.

Microsoft and OpenAI’s Secret AGI Definition

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 26, 2024 7:15am PST

Finally, a verifiable, numbers-based description of artificial general intelligence has arrived!Whether AGI has or hasn’t been “achieved” by AI developers has been a hotly debated topic due to its fuzzy and subjective definition. OpenAI has publicly described AGI as automated systems that outperform people at “most economically valuable... Finally, a verifiable, numbers-based description of artificial general intelligence has arrived!...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Has Discussed Making a Humanoid Robot

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Dec 24, 2024 8:31am PST

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Has Discussed Making a Humanoid Robot

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Dec 24, 2024 8:31am PST

Over the past year, OpenAI has dropped not-so-subtle hints about its revived interest in robotics: investing in startups developing hardware and software for robots such as Figure and Physical Intelligence and rebooting its internal robotics software team, which it had disbanded four years ago.Now, OpenAI could be taking that interest to the... Over the past year, OpenAI has dropped not-so-subtle hints about its revived interest in...