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By Stephanie Palazzolo

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Recent Editions

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How OpenAI’s Sora is Evolving Like TikTok

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 28, 2025 7:10am PDT

When OpenAI released its Sora video app last month, it seemed like an attempt to develop a TikTok-like viral video service with artificial intelligence at its core. And in some ways, usage of Sora has echoes in how TikTok is used.In a recent all-hands, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees that 20% to 30% of Sora users created AI-generated videos... When OpenAI released its Sora video app last month, it seemed like an attempt to develop a TikTok...

Art via Getty Images; Mike Sullivan

Why Anthropic and OpenAI Are Using Cognition’s Coding Test

By Rocket Drew · Oct 27, 2025 7:00am PDT

As artificial intelligence models improve, the companies developing them are seeking more sophisticated ways to measure how good they are at a wide range of tasks. As a result, they are developing internal benchmarks to test models’ capabilities, rather than relying on publicly available tests.Cognition, which has created the Devin coding agent,... As artificial intelligence models improve, the companies developing them are seeking more...

Art by Getty Images; Mike Sullivan

Music App Suno Nearly Quadruples Annual Recurring Revenue to $150 Million

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 23, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

You can count the number of breakout consumer AI applications on the fingers of one hand. There’s OpenAI’s ChatGPT and…that’s about it, at least so far. Suno, which helps people create music using conversational prompts, isn’t yet a breakout—but it could be soon. The company is generating around $150 million in annual recurring revenue from... You can count the number of breakout consumer AI applications on the fingers of one hand. There’s...

Photo by Getty

OpenAI’s New Browser War; Google’s College Developer Play

By Erin Woo and Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 22, 2025 7:00am PDT

Photo by Getty

OpenAI’s New Browser War; Google’s College Developer Play

By Erin Woo and Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 22, 2025 7:00am PDT

Before we get to today’s column, we’d be remiss not to mention OpenAI’s release on Tuesday of its new web browser, news of which we first scooped almost a year ago. The new browser, ChatGPT Atlas, is yet another example of OpenAI expanding its reach into consumers’ online lives, just as other tech incumbents such as Google and Apple... Before we get to today’s column, we’d be remiss not to mention OpenAI’s release on Tuesday of its...

Youtube/Dwarkesh Patel.

Is Andrej Karpathy Right About Overhyped AI?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 21, 2025 7:05am PDT · 2 comments

Andrej Karpathy, one of the founding members of OpenAI, on Friday threw cold water on the idea that artificial general intelligence is around the corner. He also cast doubt on various assumptions about AI made by the industry’s biggest boosters, such as Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.The highly regarded Karpathy called ... Andrej Karpathy, one of the founding members of OpenAI, on Friday threw cold water on the idea...

Peter Hoeschele. Screenshot via YouTube

OpenAI Executive Explains the Insatiable Appetite For AI Chips

By Sri Muppidi · Oct 20, 2025 7:00am PDT

Peter Hoeschele, who runs OpenAI’s Stargate data center team, said at an event last week that the company’s models are essentially in constant training mode. That’s a change from the past, when OpenAI would stop training them when they reached a certain point. “Let’s stop talking about training versus inference,” Hoeschele said after Oracle... Peter Hoeschele, who runs OpenAI’s Stargate data center team, said at an event last week that the...

Sam Altman. Getty Images.

OpenAI’s Growing Ecosystem Play

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 16, 2025 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on a podcast last week that he wanted ChatGPT to become “people’s personal AI subscription.” The company last week made moves toward that goal with “apps in ChatGPT,” which lets people use the chatbot to search for homes on Zillow or make Spotify playlists, for instance.In another example, OpenAI has pitched companies... OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on a podcast last week that he wanted ChatGPT to become “people’s...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Universities Are Part of the Cursor Resistance

By Rocket Drew · Oct 15, 2025 7:00am PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan

Universities Are Part of the Cursor Resistance

By Rocket Drew · Oct 15, 2025 7:00am PDT

I recently reported on the software engineers who have resisted using AI coding tools such as Cursor and Claude Code, even when their managers strongly encourage their use. AI still has technical limitations—and it threatens to make engineering jobs obsolete, they say. But there’s a wrinkle to this story: some engineering students have... I recently reported on the software engineers who have resisted using AI coding tools such...

Reducto cofounders Raunak Chowdhuri and Adit Abraham. Photo courtesy of Reducto.

The Startup Using AI to Translate Documents Into Data

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 14, 2025 7:00am PDT

If you’ve ever uploaded a picture of a receipt to an expense report or read a PDF of a book online, you’ve likely used optical character recognition, a decades-old technique that converts images of typed, handwritten or printed text into text that’s editable on a computer.OCR might not sound like the sexiest market. But it’s interesting enough... If you’ve ever uploaded a picture of a receipt to an expense report or read a PDF of a book...

A rendering of Inversion's Arc spacecraft in orbit. Credit: Inversion

The Robots that Could Beat Optimus to Space

By Rocket Drew · Oct 13, 2025 7:10am PDT

Before we get to our column, we should acknowledge OpenAI’s latest chip deal, this time with Broadcom, announced Monday morning. The Information first reported the two companies were in talks in July of last year but a lot has happened since then. Most obviously, OpenAI has also struck deals for supplies of AI chips with both Nvidia and AMD. We’... Before we get to our column, we should acknowledge OpenAI’s latest chip deal, this time with ...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Is Catching Up To Anthropic in AI Coding

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 9, 2025 7:00am PDT

OpenAI’s effort to catch up to Anthropic in code-generating artificial intelligence seems to be working. New data show OpenAI’s Codex coding assistant has pulled ahead of Anthropic’s Claude Code assistant in certain coding capabilities. Codex usage among developers is also catching up to Claude Code’s.Developers approved 74.3% of code... OpenAI’s effort to catch up to Anthropic in code-generating artificial intelligence seems to be...

Relace cofounders Preston Zhou and Eitan Borgnia. Photo courtesy of Relace.

Andreessen Backs a Startup Developing Tools That Coding Agents Use

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 8, 2025 7:00am PDT

Relace cofounders Preston Zhou and Eitan Borgnia. Photo courtesy of Relace.

Andreessen Backs a Startup Developing Tools That Coding Agents Use

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 8, 2025 7:00am PDT

Countless startups sell tools to software engineers, such as version control systems to track who’s making changes to a codebase, and sandboxes where code can be safely run and tested without affecting the main system.Now, a startup is building such tools for artificial intelligence agents that aim to do the work of human coders. Andreessen... Countless startups sell tools to software engineers, such as version control systems to track who...

Sam Altman. Screenshot via YouTube

OpenAI’s Walled-Garden Moment

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Catherine Perloff · Oct 7, 2025 7:00am PDT

OpenAI on Monday unveiled its biggest-yet effort to bring all of the web’s consumer activities directly into ChatGPT, as it aims to turn the chatbot into a so-called superapp that people can use to control any app in their lives—similar to Facebook’s efforts from 15 years ago. But before we get too excited, we should remember we’ve been... OpenAI on Monday unveiled its biggest-yet effort to bring all of the web’s consumer activities...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Why OpenAI Offered to Pay $500 Million For A Startup With Videogame Data

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 6, 2025 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Before we get to today’s column, in a sign of how insatiable OpenAI’s appetite for computing power is, the ChatGPT-maker and Nvidia rival Advanced Micro Devices announced a partnership Monday morning that would see OpenAI deploy six gigawatts of AMD’s chips over multiple years, starting in the second half of next year. As part of the deal,... Before we get to today’s column, in a sign of how insatiable OpenAI’s appetite for computing...

Elon Musk. Photo via Getty

XAI Broke Its Safety Policy With Coding Model

By Rocket Drew · Oct 2, 2025 7:00am PDT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 53 on Monday, a law that will require the largest AI companies to abide by their own safety and cybersecurity policies. One company that should take heed of the new law is Elon Musk's xAI.The ink had barely dried on xAI’s safety policy, which it published in August, when the company released its model Grok... California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 53 on Monday, a law that will require the largest AI...

Photo by Craig Warga

Will Reinforcement Learning Get Us to AGI? This Anthropic Researcher Thinks So

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 1, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Photo by Craig Warga

Will Reinforcement Learning Get Us to AGI? This Anthropic Researcher Thinks So

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 1, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Thanks to everyone who attended our AI Agenda Live event in New York yesterday! It was incredible to get to meet so many subscribers in person and hear from leaders in AI research, robotics and VC about what they’re seeing in this crazy industry right now. (For a full recap of the event, check out my colleagues’ write-up here.)My last panel with... Thanks to everyone who attended our AI Agenda Live event in New York yesterday! It was incredible...

Art by Clark Miller.

Three New Papers AI Researchers Are Reading; What To Expect at AI Agenda Live

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 30, 2025 7:00am PDT

It wouldn’t be the eve of our AI Agenda Live conference without a midnight scoop! In case you missed it, check out last night’s story from Amir, Cory and me on OpenAI’s financials for the first half of 2025.I might be slightly sleep-deprived, but I’m thrilled to be seeing many of you in just a few hours at our AI Agenda Live: The Next Wave event... It wouldn’t be the eve of our AI Agenda Live conference without a midnight scoop! In case you...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Product-List Startup Gets a ChatGPT Bump; Huang’s $1 Trillion Claim

By Ann Gehan · Sep 29, 2025 7:15am PDT

Before we get to today’s newsletter, Stephanie’s profile of Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab, the mysterious $10 billion startup, is a fascinating look at Murati’s background and explains why she’s got such a following among AI researchers and, as a result, investors. It’s definitely worth a read.On to today’s column…As artificial... Before we get to today’s newsletter, Stephanie’s profile of Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab,...

Art via Mike Sullivan

More AI Startups Join the $100 Million ARR Club. But Will They Stay?

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Sep 25, 2025 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

These days, it seems like each week another artificial intelligence startup announces it’s surpassed $100 million in annualized revenue, a milestone that historically meant a startup had achieved “product-market fit”—in other words, customers really want to pay for its products.In the last five months, our reporting shows that at least six “AI... These days, it seems like each week another artificial intelligence startup announces it’s...

Photo courtesy of Scale

Inside Scale AI’s New Robot Labs

By Rocket Drew · Sep 24, 2025 7:00am PDT

Photo courtesy of Scale

Inside Scale AI’s New Robot Labs

By Rocket Drew · Sep 24, 2025 7:00am PDT

After Meta Platforms bought nearly half of the data labelling startup Scale AI and hired its co-founder Alexandr Wang and other key employees, Scale’s future looked uncertain. Even more so after the nine-year old startup laid off 200 employees and customer OpenAI wound down its work with the company.Now, we’re getting a sense of how Scale’s... After Meta Platforms bought nearly half of the data labelling startup Scale AI and hired its...