☕️ OpenAI's $40 Billion Fundraiser, DeepSeek-R1 on Microsoft Azure & Intel's Q4 2024 Results

With the industry holding its breath for the release of o3-mini and Gemini 2.0 Pro, OpenAI and DeepSeek remain as the week's headliners, with highlights such as:

• OpenAI ready to rake in another $40 billion in funding at a $340 billion valuation as SoftBank looks to become the startup's biggest investor

• Microsoft opens DeepSeek-R1 to its cloud with open arms despite OpenAI's allegations about IP theft

• Intel recoups some of its previous heavy losses during Q4 2024 earnings yet still remains in the red, cancels its "next big AI chip"

Join us at AI Tangle as we untangle this week's happenings in AI!

OpenAI is said to be holding another fundraiser to raise $40 billion at a $340 billion valuation

OpenAI is in talks to raise up to $40 billion, which would skyrocket the company's valuation from $157 billion to $340 billion, with SoftBank leading the round with anywhere between $15 billion to $25 billion, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. If finalized, this would make SoftBank OpenAI's single largest backer, surpassing even Microsoft, who it recently ended its exclusive cloud provider status with. Some funding may go toward Stargate, the $500 billion AI infrastructure project backed by SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle.

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Microsoft brings DeepSeek-R1 to Azure despite allegations and its own investigation into DeepSeek

​Despite OpenAI's recent allegations regarding IP issues and ToS violations, Microsoft had no qualms about adding DeepSeek's R1 AI model to its Azure AI Foundry service. The move comes as even more of a surprise when considering Microsoft itself is probing into DeepSeek's potential misuse of OpenAI's API, yet the tech giant says DeepSeek-R1 has undergone extensive security reviews, and in the future, "distilled" versions will be available on Copilot+ PCs. Though tests show that R1 struggles with news-related queries and often refuses to answer anything China-related, its cheap pricing and popularity likely made it a must-add.

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Intel makes progress as Q4 2024 earnings beat expectations despite still ending in the red

On Thursday, Intel reported a $126 million Q4 2024 loss on $14.3 billion in revenue, a major improvement from its $16.6 billion loss last quarter, yet key businesses declined. Despite this, Intel plans to make its foundry profitable by 2027 and ramp up EUV chip production, though it has had to cancel its "next big AI chip," Falcon Shores, keeping it as an in-house test bed with no plan to bring it to market. On a positive note, the company revealed that it had already received $2.2 billion in federal grants under the US CHIPS and Science Act, with $1.1 billion disbursed in late 2024 and another $1.1 billion in January 2025.

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OpenAI lets the US National Laboratories in on using its o1 series models for nuclear weapons security research

OpenAI is partnering with the US National Laboratories to use its AI models for scientific research and nuclear weapons security. Up to 15,000 scientists may access OpenAI's reasoning-centric o1 models at the National Laboratories, with one planned for deployment on Los Alamos' Venado supercomputer with the help of Microsoft. The initiative includes cybersecurity, disease research, and nuclear risk reduction, which follows up on OpenAI's recent launch of ChatGPT Gov, a secure AI platform for US agencies.

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The Vatican issues another document to call global AI leaders for "moral and ethical considerations"

​The Vatican has issued another document warning about the risks of AI and calling for ethical oversight to prevent "the shadow of evil" present in the technology. Approved by Pope Francis, the document emphasizes that AI should complement and aid human intelligence rather than replace it, with concerns ranging from AI-driven misinformation to social isolation to job displacement. It also warns of AI's concentration in the hands of a few select powerful companies, with Francis repeatedly urging global leaders to regulate AI responsibly due to its potential to reshape society.

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AI voice synthesis startup ElevenLabs closes a $180 million Series C funding round at a $3.3 billion valuation

​Following rumors first reported by TechCrunch, AI voice startup ElevenLabs recently closed a $180 million Series C funding round, tripling its valuation to $3.3 billion in just a year. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Iconiq Growth, along with extra backing from NEA and Sequoia Capital. Founded in 2022, ElevenLabs offers AI-generated voices in multiple languages for things such as virtual agents and AI-hosted podcasts, to name a few, though deepfake misuse concerns are abundant. The company aims to address this by using the funding to boost safety measures and develop more expressive and controllable voice AI.

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Fox states Super Bowl ad space was bought out for an average of $7 million as AI advertiser presence grows

Fox has sold out its Super Bowl 59 ad slots, with more than 10 spots going for a record $8 million each. Demand for live sports remains strong, with ​last year's Super Bowl pulling in 123.7 million viewers​. Among the usual suspects, such as automaker and food and beverage commercials, AI and pharmaceutical companies have taken a large bite out of this year's Super Bowl ad spots. Fox locked in most of these deals early but saw prices rise as space for advertisers dwindled.

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​Inkeep - Turn your content and blog articles into an AI copilot that handles user queries, ranging from support to sales questions powered by your own knowledge base.

​Cubby - Manage and store all your store files and links with Cubby, the private workspace where you can annotate your content and synthesize it with AI.

DeepSeek's Success Shows David vs Goliath is Possible in The AI Industry (4-min read)

When Meta open-sourced its cutting-edge AI tech in 2023, it sparked industry-wide criticism. Now, 2 years later, DeepSeek's success, partially built on the very same tech released by Meta, has become a source of vindication for Meta's engineers, reigniting the debate on open AI development.