☕️ 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.

​

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.

​

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.

​

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.

​

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.

​

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.

​

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.

​​Bulletpen - Speak naturally, write brilliantly. Bulletpen is an AI-powered app that transforms your spoken thoughts and rambles into polished writing.

​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.

​Sam Altman's memo​ about AI agents "joining the workforce" in 2025 takes their first steps to become a reality with the release of Operator, the company's first major agent product. Other key takeaways of the week include:

• SoftBank, Oracle, and OpenAI announce a $500 billion US AI data center venture named Stargate Project

• Mistral CEO and co-founder Arthur Mensch confirms that the French AI startup is preparing for an IPO

• Another $1 billion from Google - The tech giant's investment in OpenAI rival Anthropic continues to grow

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

OpenAI takes its first major step into AI agent tech with the release of Operator

Not long ​after rumors of OpenAI's elusive AI agent nearing its launch​ began popping up, the AI poster child pulled the trigger and released its first attempt at changing the playing field - Operator. ​As detailed in the company's blog​, Operator is a general-purpose AI agent that can take control of a web browser and independently perform tasks on the web, all powered by OpenAI's Computer-Using Agent (CUA) model.

What more do we know of Operator?

The CUA model, specifically trained to interact with websites, combines the vision capabilities of GPT-4o and advanced reasoning from OpenAI's more advanced models, likely o1. Operator has been promised to automate tasks ranging from online shopping to reserving restaurants, though OpenAI warns that the CUA isn't perfect - it might struggle with more specialized tasks. Tasks like sending emails or banking transactions, however, require user supervision for security reasons.

Operator is currently out as a research preview, and only users in the US with the $200/mo Pro subscription plan will have access to it, though a rollout to Plus, Team, and Enterprise tiers will follow shortly. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed Operator would be available in other countries soon enough, though European users specifically will have to wait a while.

SoftBank, Oracle, and OpenAI shake hands for a joint venture to pour $500 billion into US AI data centers

Earlier this week, ​the Stargate Project​ was unveiled at a press conference by SoftBank, Oracle, and OpenAI representatives at the White House, where President Donald Trump spoke at length about investment plans in US infrastructure. The goal is to pour $500 billion over four years into data centers in the US, starting with Texas, with an initial commitment of $100 billion, of which ​SoftBank and OpenAI have already pledged $19 billion each​. Additionally, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Arm are named as additional technical partners in what is one of the largest ventures in the US' AI sector.

French AI startup Mistral confirmed by company CEO Arthur Mensch to be setting up for an IPO

Following an ​interview with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum​, Arthur Mensch, the co-founder and CEO of French AI startup Mistral, said that the company is preparing for an IPO while expanding into Asia-Pacific with a new office in Singapore. On top of that, Mensch also dismissed any acquisition rumors involving Microsoft, which, so far, has invested €15 million in the startup. Founded in April 2023 by former DeepMind and Meta researchers, Mistral has grown rapidly and raising $1.14 billion at a $6 billion valuation, with its most notable offerings including its ​Mistral Large​ and ​Le Chat​.

Google invests a further $1 billion in Silicon Valley AI unicorn Anthropic

Google is set to invest over $1 billion in AI startup Anthropic, separate from a recent $2 billion funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, valuing the firm at $60 billion, ​according to an article by Financial Times​. This adds to ​Google's previous $2 billion worth of investment in the company​. Anthropic, a key rival of OpenAI, generates $875 million in annualized revenue through direct sales and partnerships like Amazon Web Services, through which it primarily sells access to enterprise clients to its models and technology.

Microsoft gets demoted from its position as OpenAI's exclusive cloud computing provider

On top of the Stargate news, Microsoft no longer finds itself as OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider but retains the "right of first refusal" for additional computing needs, ​as explained in a blog post by the tech giant​. Despite OpenAI's expanded partnerships and a recently made "new, large Azure commitment" for products and model training, Microsoft still holds onto exclusive API rights and IP usage for integration into their products, like Copilot.

ChatGPT goes down worldwide once again as OpenAI begins investigating the "increased errors"

ChatGPT has yet again experienced a significant outage on Thursday this week, with, as of writing, over 10,000 users in the UK alone reporting issues via Downdetector. Users encountered a "bad gateway error," and OpenAI has yet to provide an official explanation for the cause. The outage began at 11:00 GMT that day, disrupting services for many of the ​chatbot's 300 million weekly users​. While some users were understandably frustrated, ​others joked about the downtime on social media​ to highlight just how much they or others depend on it for everyday tasks.

Battery manufacturer SES secures $10 million in contracts to build AI-developed batteries

SES AI, a Li-Metal battery manufacturer, has recently secured contracts worth up to $10 million with two global OEM partners to develop AI-discovered materials for automotive batteries. These contracts build on SES's AI-powered Molecular Universe project, ​which recently delivered the first battery using an AI-discovered electrolyte​. Company CEO and founder Qichao Hu highlighted the contracts as a milestone for AI-driven battery innovation. SES' shares rose in accordance, up to 60% in premarket trading that day following the announcement.

​​Needle​ - Meet Needle, a seamlessly integrating platform that simplifies how teams access and manage knowledge across their favorite tools by leveraging AI to do organization-wide searches and save time.

​Transistor​ - Get the most out of your favorite podcasts with Transistor by automatically converting your audio into engaging, searchable, and accessible text.

​Minusx​ - Minusx seamlessly integrates into your analytics apps like Jupyter, Sheets, Metabase, and more, to automatically operate and handle your data for efficient and quick insights.

AI-Developed Drugs Are Coming Full Circle (​3-min read​)

Aside from coding, one area that AI has been increasingly more prominent is in healthcare, and at the World Economic Forum, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis talked in length about his enthusiasm, expecting AI-designed pharmaceuticals to be in clinical trials as early as the end of 2025.

How Far Away Really is Human-Level Intelligence? (​3-min read​)

Whether AI is overhyped or underhyped by one public figure or another, AI is advancing at rapid speeds. Although he's not calling it AGI, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei believes the technology could overtake human capabilities not long after 2027.