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By Stephanie Palazzolo

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Recent Editions

Geoff Hinton. Photo by Getty.

OpenAI Turns a Profit…in 2029 Maybe; Post-Murati Personnel Moves; Hinton Shades Altman

By Amir Efrati and Rocket Drew · Oct 10, 2024 7:00am PDT

Howdy! Amir and Rocket here. Before we get to today’s column, please read this phenomenal piece from Aaron about Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s market analysis methods. Hint: they involve an absurd number of meetings and calls with people outside his company. It’s a leadership masterclass.Onto today’s issue…When we told you in July that ... Howdy! Amir and Rocket here. Before we get to today’s column, please read this phenomenal...

Speakers at The Information's 2024 WTF conference. Left to right: Liz Reid, VP and Head of Search at Google; Jennifer Tejada, CEO and Chairperson at PagerDuty; and Daniela Amodei, President and co-founder of Anthropic. Photos by Erin Beach for the Information.

Confronting the Challenges of AI

By Kalley Huang · Oct 9, 2024 7:05am PDT

Welcome back! Kalley here, reporting from The Information’s Women in Tech, Media and Finance Summit in Yountville, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday. Artificial intelligence was a major theme this year, unsurprisingly. Our speakers wrestled with some of the biggest questions gripping the industry: how developers will make money after... Welcome back! Kalley here, reporting from The Information’s Women in Tech, Media and Finance...

Photo via Getty.

The Startups Helping Businesses Decode AI Decisions

By Rocket Drew · Oct 8, 2024 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

First off, check out my colleagues’ story this morning about how OpenAI is growing impatient with Microsoft’s ability to provide it with enough servers to run its technology, prompting OpenAI to take greater control of its own data center, chip and power planning.Onto today’s issue…Venture capitalists have recently funded half a dozen or so... First off, check out my colleagues’ story this morning about how OpenAI is growing impatient with...

OpenAI's canvas toolbar. Art by The Information.

OpenAI’s Attempt to Catch Up With Anthropic Could Cannibalize Its Business

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 7, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI's canvas toolbar. Art by The Information.

OpenAI’s Attempt to Catch Up With Anthropic Could Cannibalize Its Business

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 7, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI closed out its big week of fundraising news with a rather understated product announcement: the release of Canvas, a new ChatGPT interface that makes it easier for users to draft documents and code.That might not sound like a big deal. But it has bigger implications for the company’s position in the AI race and its relationship with its... OpenAI closed out its big week of fundraising news with a rather understated product...

Photo via Getty

OpenAI Needs to Raise More Money Again Soon

By Kate Clark and Kalley Huang · Oct 3, 2024 7:00am PDT

OpenAI just raised one of the biggest private pools of capital in Silicon Valley history. Ironically, one of the biggest questions is how soon it will try to raise that kind of money again, thanks to its high cash burn.Its $6.6 billion financing capped a convoluted and sometimes chaotic process that spanned continents. Investors are valuing... OpenAI just raised one of the biggest private pools of capital in Silicon Valley history....

OpenAI Plugs the Holes In its $1 Billion App-Developer Business

OpenAI Plugs the Holes In its $1 Billion App-Developer Business

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 2, 2024 7:00am PDT

Before we get to OpenAI’s new products for customers of its artificial intelligence models, we wanted to flag the plans of Barret Zoph, one of three key technical leaders who unexpectedly resigned last week.Zoph previously led the OpenAI team responsible for preparing AI models for release, known as post-training, and has told people that he... Before we get to OpenAI’s new products for customers of its artificial intelligence models, we...

Sam Altman at Italian Tech Week last Wednesday in Turin, Italy. Photo by Stefano Guidi/Getty.

The OpenAI Researchers Who Matter Now

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 1, 2024 7:00am PDT

Before we get to today’s newsletter, just a reminder that OpenAI will be holding its Dev Day event in San Francisco today. (This is just one of three developer-focused events the ChatGPT maker is hosting over the next two months, compared to the one-and-done approach from last year.)For those hoping for GPT-5, don’t hold your breath. Romain Huet... Before we get to today’s newsletter, just a reminder that OpenAI will be holding its Dev Day...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott. Photo by AFP via Getty.

Why Microsoft Will Likely Keep Its Iron Grip on OpenAI’s Future Profits; Newsom’s Strange AI Veto

By Aaron Holmes, Rocket Drew and Josh Koehn · Sep 30, 2024 7:20am PDT

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott. Photo by AFP via Getty.

Why Microsoft Will Likely Keep Its Iron Grip on OpenAI’s Future Profits; Newsom’s Strange AI Veto

By Aaron Holmes, Rocket Drew and Josh Koehn · Sep 30, 2024 7:20am PDT

As OpenAI nears a much-needed capital raise, some investors in the company have privately voiced hope that its largest shareholder and benefactor, Microsoft, will relinquish its rights to a large share of OpenAI’s future profits—an arrangement that effectively lowers the value of shares held by newer investors.I wouldn’t bet on it.Microsoft has... As OpenAI nears a much-needed capital raise, some investors in the company have privately voiced...

Photo via Getty

A Flurry of Leadership Departures at OpenAI; Meta Flexes Its Advantage

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Kalley Huang · Sep 26, 2024 7:00am PDT

You know what they say: when it rains, it pours. OpenAI employees experienced that firsthand yesterday, when they received abrupt news of three major leadership departures.Chief technology officer Mira Murati, chief research officer Bob McGrew and head of post-training Barret Zoph are all leaving the ChatGPT maker, leaders told staff yesterday.... You know what they say: when it rains, it pours. OpenAI employees experienced that firsthand...

A still from a Sora-generated video. Photo via OpenAI.

OpenAI is Revamping Sora AI Video

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 25, 2024 7:20am PDT

Between OpenAI’s long-awaited Strawberry launch and its monster ongoing fundraising, it might be easy to forget about Sora, a video-generating model it teased in February to global fanfare. A number of investors told me at the time that the impressive Sora demos cast a worrying shadow over the gaggle of competing AI video startups that had... Between OpenAI’s long-awaited Strawberry launch and its monster ongoing fundraising, it might be...

Photo via Getty

Microsoft AI Chief Suleyman Shuffles Unit Leadership, Pointing to Shift in Strategy

By Aaron Holmes · Sep 24, 2024 7:00am PDT

In case you missed it, my colleagues broke news yesterday about Anthropic’s attempt to draft off OpenAI’s pending fundraising, by looking to do its own funding round. Like OpenAI, Anthropic wants to double its valuation. Whether it can do so despite weaker financials remains to be seen! On to today’s issue… It’s been a while since... In case you missed it, my colleagues broke news yesterday about Anthropic’s attempt to draft off...

Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

Altman's Master Stroke?; Why Google Should Start Worrying About ChatGPT

By Amir Efrati · Sep 23, 2024 7:00am PDT

Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

Altman's Master Stroke?; Why Google Should Start Worrying About ChatGPT

By Amir Efrati · Sep 23, 2024 7:00am PDT

A lot happened toward the end of last week. For starters, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman showed once again that he's a master of fundraising. Despite what seemed like a lack of investor enthusiasm just a few weeks ago, Altman appears to have gotten enough demand to raise more than $6 billion for the ChatGPT creator, at a roughly $150 billion... A lot happened toward the end of last week. For starters, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman showed once again...

Image via Grok

OpenAI's Miniature Reasoning Model is Mighty—and Affordable

By Amir Efrati · Sep 19, 2024 7:00am PDT

OpenAI’s week of good news keeps getting better.After releasing an initial version of its o1 reasoning model, o1-preview, last week, new details are emerging about a smaller but faster version, o1-mini. OpenAI’s week of good news keeps getting better.After releasing an initial version of its o1...

Evan Spiegel using Spectacles. Photo by Snap

Snap Shows AI Wearables Are Far Off; Salesforce CEO Says Microsoft Sells ‘Science Projects’

By Erin Woo and Jon Victor · Sep 18, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Before we get to the main part of today’s column, we wanted to share a juicy tidbit about Nvidia’s $165 million offer to buy artificial intelligence software startup OctoAI, which Anissa broke Tuesday.Most OctoAI shareholders aren’t expected to get much of a payout, but merger documents show the startup’s senior management team would do quite... Before we get to the main part of today’s column, we wanted to share a juicy tidbit about Nvidia’...

Art by Mike Sullivan via Midjourney

Why OpenAI is Hiding its Reasoning Model’s ‘Thoughts’

By Amir Efrati and Anissa Gardizy · Sep 17, 2024 7:00am PDT

In the artificial intelligence race, competition is fierce. Every big AI developer is watching rivals like a hawk and trying to reverse-engineer or copy their best work, as we’ve reported.What can a leader like OpenAI do to keep its edge? The company’s newly released reasoning model, o1-preview, aka Strawberry, shows one way: by hiding the ball... In the artificial intelligence race, competition is fierce. Every big AI developer is watching...

image via Grok

Why OpenAI’s Reasoning Model Is Special

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Sep 16, 2024 7:00am PDT

image via Grok

Why OpenAI’s Reasoning Model Is Special

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Sep 16, 2024 7:00am PDT

OpenAI finally released its Strawberry reasoning artificial intelligence last week—or rather, an initial, less-complete version known as o1-preview. We first reported about the breakthrough behind Strawberry 10 months ago when it was still called Q*, and more recently told you what was coming, though we expected a more inspiring name than... OpenAI finally released its Strawberry reasoning artificial intelligence last week—or rather, an...

Screenshot via Legally Blonde/MGM; Art by Clark Miller.

Legal AI Startup EvenUp In Talks to Raise at $1 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 14, 2024 6:00am PDT

Startups that can cut down on costly paperwork for lawyers using generative artificial intelligence continue to draw investor dollars, despite the high costs of developing that software and the difficulties the startups face in acquiring exclusive legal data to train their models.The latest: San Francisco-based EvenUp, which develops AI software... Startups that can cut down on costly paperwork for lawyers using generative artificial...

Klarna CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski. Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty.

Can AI Really Replace Salesforce and Workday?

By Ann Gehan and Amir Efrati · Sep 12, 2024 7:15am PDT · 1 comment

Before you get your hands on OpenAI’s Strawberry reasoning model—which we’re told is due out before the end of this week, including a version that will be in the free tier of ChatGPT—noodle on this:Can artificial intelligence kill the enterprise software app industry that’s led by companies such as Salesforce and Workday?That’s the... Before you get your hands on OpenAI’s Strawberry reasoning model—which we’re told is due out...

Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg at a conference on computer graphics earlier this year. Photo by AP/David Zalubowski.

Meta Will Soon Get a 100,000 GPU Cluster Too; What’s Life At Character Like Now?

By Amir Efrati and Kalley Huang · Sep 11, 2024 8:10am PDT

If an artificial intelligence developer doesn't have a cluster of 100,000 Nvidia H100 server chips for training large language models, do they even exist?All kidding aside, the AI data center race is in full swing as the six or so richest developers and cloud providers seemingly try to one-up each other on a weekly basis in terms of the size of... If an artificial intelligence developer doesn't have a cluster of 100,000 Nvidia H100 server...

Photo generated by OpenAI's DALL-E.

New Details on OpenAI’s Strawberry; Apple’s Siri Makeover; Larry Ellison Doubles Down on Data Centers

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Erin Woo and Amir Efrati · Sep 10, 2024 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Photo generated by OpenAI's DALL-E.

New Details on OpenAI’s Strawberry; Apple’s Siri Makeover; Larry Ellison Doubles Down on Data Centers

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Erin Woo and Amir Efrati · Sep 10, 2024 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Strawberry, OpenAI’s reasoning-focused artificial intelligence, is coming sooner than we thought.OpenAI plans to release Strawberry as part of its ChatGPT service in the next two weeks, earlier than the original fall timeline we had recently reported, said two people who have tested out the model. Release timelines are always subject to change,... Strawberry, OpenAI’s reasoning-focused artificial intelligence, is coming sooner than we thought....