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AI Agenda

By Stephanie Palazzolo

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Recent Editions

ALOHA Robot. Screenshot via YouTube

Why Apple, Meta and Google Are Buying Remote-Controlled Robot Arms

By Rocket Drew · Mar 25, 2025 7:00am PDT

During Nvidia’s conference for developers last week, CEO Jensen Huang showed off software that creates computer simulations of robots. Those simulations aim to teach robots how to perform tasks, from washing dishes to picking up household objects.But some robot makers I spoke to say it’s better to train robots to do such tasks by having a person... During Nvidia’s conference for developers last week, CEO Jensen Huang showed off software that...

Gabriel Stengel, CEO and Co-Founder of Rogo. Screenshot via YouTube

Thrive Capital Leads New Deal in Wall Street AI Startup Rogo

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Anita Ramaswamy · Mar 24, 2025 7:00am PDT

Is Wall Street ready to work with artificial intelligence? Two of OpenAI’s biggest investors think so.Thrive Capital is set to lead at least a $40 million financing into Rogo AI, an artificial intelligence startup selling AI software for investment bankers and Wall Street analysts and investors, at a valuation of up to $350 million, according to... Is Wall Street ready to work with artificial intelligence? Two of OpenAI’s biggest investors...

Photo of Donald Trump by Getty

Why Trump Is Good For Mistral and Cohere

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 20, 2025 7:00am PDT

It’s been about two months since President Donald Trump took office, and there’s still lots of uncertainty around how he’ll regulate the AI industry. That’s particularly when it comes to open source and how much information leading developers must share with the feds.One thing is clear, though: the Trump presidency will be good for AI developers... It’s been about two months since President Donald Trump took office, and there’s still lots of...

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, at the Nvidia GTC. Photo by Getty

Top Developers Want Nvidia Blackwell Chips. Everyone Else, Not So Much

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 19, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, at the Nvidia GTC. Photo by Getty

Top Developers Want Nvidia Blackwell Chips. Everyone Else, Not So Much

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 19, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Jensen Huang turned Nvidia into the third most valuable company in the world by designing chips that were way ahead of their time. But Huang’s remarks on Tuesday suggest he’s pulling far ahead of some customers, and the growing gap between what he’s selling and what they’re buying could spell trouble.In his keynote speech at the GTC developer... Jensen Huang turned Nvidia into the third most valuable company in the world by designing chips...

Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei. Photo by Getty

Anthropic’s Not-So-Secret Weapon That’s Giving Agents a Boost

By · Mar 18, 2025 7:31am PDT

Every few months, a new acronym takes hold among artificial intelligence researchers.The latest one gaining steam is MCP, or model context protocol, an open source software Anthropic released in November. It’s a software standard that, if widely adopted, would help large language models of any kind access external data sources and tools, such as... Every few months, a new acronym takes hold among artificial intelligence researchers.The latest...

Photo via Getty

Salesforce and Manus Show the High Cost of Agents

By Juro Osawa · Mar 17, 2025 7:22am PDT

The unexpected popularity of Manus, a so-called computer-using AI that takes over a person’s web browser to execute tasks like travel booking and stock analysis, has put the Chinese startup behind it in a bind. The firm’s ability to meet demand for the product, also known as an agent, is limited both by its server capacity and, more importantly,... The unexpected popularity of Manus, a so-called computer-using AI that takes over a person’s web...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Are Enterprises Actually Using Reasoning Models?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 13, 2025 8:34am PDT

The excitement around reasoning models like OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1 got me thinking: How much are businesses actually using them? The answer might be: not as much as you’d think.When I ask business executives at startups and large firms about their companies’ usage of reasoning models to power their products, a common refrain I’ve... The excitement around reasoning models like OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1 got me thinking: How...

Courtesy of Dexterity

Robots That Don’t Walk Are Making Strides

By Rocket Drew · Mar 12, 2025 7:00am PDT

Courtesy of Dexterity

Robots That Don’t Walk Are Making Strides

By Rocket Drew · Mar 12, 2025 7:00am PDT

Humanoid robots that walk around on two legs have been attracting attention and money, but they are still a long way off from being mass produced. Traditional robots that don’t have legs, however, are moving ahead in places like agricultural fields, stores and warehouses.One example is Mech, an artificial intelligence-powered robot for logistics... Humanoid robots that walk around on two legs have been attracting attention and money, but they...

Dario Amodei. Photo by Getty.

Anthropic’s Claude Drives Strong Revenue Growth While Powering ‘Manus’ Sensation

By Juro Osawa, Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 11, 2025 8:30am PDT

Anthropic’s year is off to a good start. Its annualized revenue—a measure of the past month's revenue multiplied by 12—has grown from $1 billion at the end of last year to $1.4 billion as of earlier this month, according to a person who has seen the numbers. In other words, Anthropic is generating more than $115 million a month. That’s... Anthropic’s year is off to a good start. Its annualized revenue—a measure of the past...

Larry Page. Photo via Getty

Why is Google’s Owner Developing AI Outside of Google?; DeepSeek Gets Microsoft’s Attention

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 10, 2025 7:00am PDT

ServiceNow is buying AI startup Moveworks for $2.85 billion, the enterprise software firm announced first thing this morning, an effort by ServiceNow to get a jump on agent-powered services. We included Moveworks in our Generative AI Takeover List, which you can see here. And now on to the rest of the column…We’ve written a lot about how... ServiceNow is buying AI startup Moveworks for $2.85 billion, the enterprise software firm...

Cursor CEO Michael Truell. Art by Clark Miller.

The Math Behind a $10 Billion Valuation For Cursor

By · Mar 7, 2025 1:51pm PST · 1 comment

Now that the word is out about the maker of Cursor, an artificial intelligence-powered coding assistant, talking to investors about a new round that would value it at $10 billion, it’s important to explain why a deal may happen at that price.The new valuation—up four times from a deal struck just three months ago—would actually be in line with... Now that the word is out about the maker of Cursor, an artificial intelligence-powered coding...

Photo by Shutterstock

DeepSeek Keeps Rising

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

Photo by Shutterstock

DeepSeek Keeps Rising

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

DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence models continue to reverberate in its home market of China as well as in the West.For starters, most of China’s consumer tech giants, which have been developing their own AI, have swallowed their pride and are integrating DeepSeek in their products. Perhaps more importantly, the companies are featuring those... DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence models continue to reverberate in its home market of China as...

Sam Altman. Photo by Getty.

OpenAI Plots Charging $20,000 a Month For PhD-Level Agents

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Cory Weinberg · Mar 5, 2025 7:09am PST

OpenAI is betting big on ChatGPT, which is generating at least $4 billion in annualized revenue. But that’s not the only application the AI firm is hoping will make big bucks. If you saw our story last month detailing OpenAI’s financial projections, you might have noticed an intriguing reference to revenue expected to come from another type of... OpenAI is betting big on ChatGPT, which is generating at least $4 billion in annualized revenue....

Figure's Helix AI demonstration

Humanoid Robotics Firm ‘Figure’ Attracts $39 Billion Valuation—and Questions

By Rocket Drew · Mar 4, 2025 7:00am PST

Figure AI is the talk of the robotics town these days.The three-year-old startup, which designs humanoid robots for work in factories and homes, is planning to raise $1 billion to $2 billion in equity financing at a $38.5 billion pre-money valuation. That’s a staggering 15 times its valuation from a year ago. However, the venture funds... Figure AI is the talk of the robotics town these days.The three-year-old startup, which designs...

Poolside co-founder Jason Warner. Photo via Getty.

OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 Underwhelms; Is Poolside Worth $5 Billion?

By · Mar 3, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

I enjoyed meeting many of you at AI Agenda Live in San Francisco last week! Thank you for coming. Next up is our April 28 event in New York on how the AI boom is being financed. Right on cue, my colleagues just published articles about the tens of billions of dollars that SoftBank and CoreWeave are hoping to borrow to develop artificial... I enjoyed meeting many of you at AI Agenda Live in San Francisco last week! Thank you for coming....

Art by Mike Sullivan via Midjourney

CFOs Are Crashing the AI Buying Party; Six Takeaways From Nvidia Report

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 27, 2025 7:00am PST

Art by Mike Sullivan via Midjourney

CFOs Are Crashing the AI Buying Party; Six Takeaways From Nvidia Report

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 27, 2025 7:00am PST

Happy AI Agenda Live day! I’m so excited to see many of you at our event later today, where we’ll hear from executives at top AI firms like Anthropic and Google as well as venture capitalists and founders on what research breakthroughs are coming and where to invest.One topic we’ll be sure to broach is the growing pressure chief financial... Happy AI Agenda Live day! I’m so excited to see many of you at our event later today, where we’ll...

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Photo via Getty

Is Perplexity Worth $15 Billion?

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 26, 2025 7:14am PST

Before we get into today’s column, leaders at OpenAI have told some employees that GPT-4.5—the model known internally as Orion—will be released this week, according to a person with knowledge of the conversations.Don’t get too excited though. A person who’s tested the model told us that its performance on certain tasks have been mixed; for... Before we get into today’s column, leaders at OpenAI have told some employees that GPT-4.5—the...

Photo by Shutterstock

Why xAI and Anthropic’s New Products Matter

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 25, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

If you’ve been on X at all in the last few days, you’ve probably come across posts in which people described jailbreaking xAI’s new Grok 3 model. For instance, one person asked the chatbot how to make chemical weapons, while another revealed instructions xAI gave the model to stop it from saying that Elon Musk is the top spreader of... If you’ve been on X at all in the last few days, you’ve probably come across posts in which...

Aidan Gomez. Photo by Getty

Cohere Boosts Revenue Pace to $70 Million on Overseas Growth

By Jon Victor, Natasha Mascarenhas and Sri Muppidi · Feb 24, 2025 7:00am PST

Cohere, one of the earliest venture-backed developers of artificial intelligence models, has faced plenty of headwinds in the last two years. The company has been under threat from better-funded competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic and faces competition from cheap, open-source alternatives like DeepSeek.In spite of all that, the company is... Cohere, one of the earliest venture-backed developers of artificial intelligence models, has...

Clara Shih. Photo by Getty

Meta’s Open-Source AI Prepares to Go to Market

By Kalley Huang · Feb 20, 2025 7:00am PST

Clara Shih. Photo by Getty

Meta’s Open-Source AI Prepares to Go to Market

By Kalley Huang · Feb 20, 2025 7:00am PST

As Meta Platforms tries to make its large language model Llama the industry standard for artificial intelligence, it is not only courting big businesses but also taking steps to work with one of the largest customers in the world: the U.S. government. In November, the company poached Clara Shih from Salesforce, where she was CEO of ... As Meta Platforms tries to make its large language model Llama the industry standard for...