AI Agenda by Stephanie Palazzolo — The Information

Four times/week (subscribers only)

AI Agenda

By Stephanie Palazzolo

Stay ahead of the technological breakthroughs, startups and leaders in AI with a 14-day free trial of the AI Agenda. After your trial, unlock 25% off on a subscription to The Information for full access to the newsletter, plus all of our original reporting on AI.

By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Recent Editions

Photo via Getty.

Where OpenAI Sees Paying Customers for o1

By Aaron Holmes · Nov 27, 2024 7:00am PST

OpenAI has a first-mover advantage in a realm known as reasoning, or artificial intelligence capable of solving complex problems with little human oversight, as we reported this week. Now, the startup is moving to cash in on that headstart by selling its reasoning model, known as o1, to corporate customers. I talked with OpenAI chief... OpenAI has a first-mover advantage in a realm known as reasoning, or artificial intelligence...

The Reka AI team. Photo via Reka.

Google, OpenAI Snap Up Startup Founders; AI War Games

By Kalley Huang · Nov 26, 2024 8:00am PST

Earlier this year, a string of founders left their artificial intelligence startups for Google, Amazon and Microsoft after striking licensing deals with the technology giants. Now things are reversing: some founders lately have left their startups for bigger rivals after exploring—but not inking—acquisitions.On Monday, Justin Uberti, cofounder... Earlier this year, a string of founders left their artificial intelligence startups for Google,...

Photo via Getty

Why Everyone Is Underestimating Reasoning Models

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Kalley Huang · Nov 25, 2024 7:00am PST

Some people in the artificial intelligence industry have been skeptical about whether reasoning models such as OpenAI’s o1 represent a paradigm shift. After all, the model hasn’t gotten much usage in ChatGPT. But these skeptics may not fully understand what reasoning models are actually good for.The queries that ChatGPT typically handles won’t... Some people in the artificial intelligence industry have been skeptical about whether reasoning...

Photo via Brave

The Startup Powering Perplexity, Meta's AI Search

By Kalley Huang · Nov 21, 2024 7:00am PST

Photo via Brave

The Startup Powering Perplexity, Meta's AI Search

By Kalley Huang · Nov 21, 2024 7:00am PST

There’s a lot of excitement around artificial intelligence disrupting search. Consumers and businesses increasingly use AI tools in lieu of traditional search engines such as Google. OpenAI has added search features to ChatGPT, Meta Platforms is crawling and indexing the web for its Meta AI chatbot and the AI search startup Perplexity is nearing... There’s a lot of excitement around artificial intelligence disrupting search. Consumers and...

Writer cofounders May Habib and Waseem Alshikh. Courtesy of Writer.

What If LLMs Could Continue Learning?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 20, 2024 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Here’s a question of paramount importance in AI: what if large language models could continue learning new information even after they’re done training? That’s the question that researchers at Writer, a $2 billion-valuation startup developing AI tools for enterprises, found themselves asking six months ago. Those researchers have now... Here’s a question of paramount importance in AI: what if large language models could continue...

Photo via Getty

Is The End of Prompt Engineering Here?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 19, 2024 7:00am PST

Techies know well that coaxing a large language model to give you a good answer can feel a bit like tricking a toddler. Developers have been known to write, “if you don’t give me the correct answer, I will be fired” in their prompts—successfully. That led to “prompt engineering,” a side hustle for techies who wanted to make easy money by... Techies know well that coaxing a large language model to give you a good answer can feel a bit...

Anthropic’s Dario and Daniela Amodei. Photo via Getty.

Anthropic Beat OpenAI in Test of AI That Performs AI Research

By Rocket Drew · Nov 18, 2024 7:00am PST

Since the days of Alan Turing, artificial intelligence developers have been captivated by the prospect of AI powerful enough to improve itself. OpenAI, we recently reported, has already developed an internal AI “research assistant” tool to help its researchers work faster, a possible first step in the development of AI that can conduct AI... Since the days of Alan Turing, artificial intelligence developers have been captivated by the...

Photo via Getty

How AI Researchers Are Rising Above Scaling Limits

By Kalley Huang, Rocket Drew and Jon Victor · Nov 14, 2024 7:00am PST

Photo via Getty

How AI Researchers Are Rising Above Scaling Limits

By Kalley Huang, Rocket Drew and Jon Victor · Nov 14, 2024 7:00am PST

Now that we know OpenAI isn’t the only artificial intelligence developer seeing a slowdown in improvements using traditional “scaling” methods, it’s worth looking at all the ways companies are trying to make up for that.There are tried and true methods to make large language models perform better, such as tweaking the parameters—settings that... Now that we know OpenAI isn’t the only artificial intelligence developer seeing a slowdown in...

Inside xAI's facility. Photo via YouTube/ServeTheHome.

Why Elon Musk’s AI Rivals Will Face Delays with Supercomputers

By Anissa Gardizy · Nov 13, 2024 7:00am PST · 2 comments

OpenAI and other artificial intelligence developers are scrambling to keep up with Elon Musk’s xAI startup in setting up data centers to develop new AI models. Among their tactics: flying a plane over his brand new Memphis AI datacenter so they can scrutinize how it was developed and powered, as I reported this morning. Now I’m hearing... OpenAI and other artificial intelligence developers are scrambling to keep up with Elon Musk’s...

Ex-CTO of OpenAI, Mira Murati. Photo via Getty

Ex-OpenAI CTO Murati’s New Team Takes Shape

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Erin Woo · Nov 12, 2024 7:30am PST

A month ago, we reported that former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati had begun to pitch current OpenAI staffers on joining her new venture. It seems like at least one OpenAI researcher has taken her up on her offer.Mianna Chen, a research program manager at OpenAI responsible for preparing AI models for release, has recently... A month ago, we reported that former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati had begun...

Photo by Getty

Goodbye, GPT. Hello, Reasoning ‘O’

By Amir Efrati · Nov 11, 2024 7:00am PST · 4 comments

On Halloween, a Reddit user asked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman whether “GPT-5” was coming, as well as the full version of the company’s o1 reasoning model—a preview version of which went on sale seven weeks ago. In other words, when would the public see the company’s next flagship large language model? Altman answered, “we are prioritizing... On Halloween, a Reddit user asked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman whether “GPT-5” was coming, as well as...

Photo via Getty

Expect AI Developers to Benefit from Energy Buildouts, Face Chip Uncertainty Under Trump, Experts Say; Are LLMs Reaching a Plateau?

By Kalley Huang · Nov 7, 2024 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Photo via Getty

Expect AI Developers to Benefit from Energy Buildouts, Face Chip Uncertainty Under Trump, Experts Say; Are LLMs Reaching a Plateau?

By Kalley Huang · Nov 7, 2024 7:00am PST · 1 comment

We don’t know how Donald Trump and his administration will handle open-source artificial intelligence, as Stephanie wrote on Wednesday. But AI developers in the U.S. should expect to benefit from easier access to more energy sources and face fresh uncertainty in the AI chip industry, policy experts said on a call with subscribers to The... We don’t know how Donald Trump and his administration will handle open-source artificial...

Photos by Getty

The Battle Over Open-Source AI Will Be Settled in Trump’s Presidency

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 6, 2024 7:15am PST

Donald Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election has a lot of implications for AI. Some are clear: Trump has said he will repeal President Joe Biden’s AI executive order, which requires companies training large AI models to share information about them with the federal government. In another key area, though, Trump’s stance isn’t... Donald Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election has a lot of implications for AI. Some...

Photo via Shutterstock

Coding Assistants Are Great—But Flawed

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 5, 2024 7:00am PST · 3 comments

These days, venture capitalists, major artificial intelligence developers and cloud providers have zeroed in on AI-powered coding assistants as the killer product for large language models. But coding assistants aren’t perfect. It turns out that as they become ubiquitous, coding assistants are creating plenty of problems at companies that... These days, venture capitalists, major artificial intelligence developers and cloud providers...

Art by Midjourney/Mike Sullivan

Five New AI Hacks For Developers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 4, 2024 7:00am PST

Since generative AI exploded onto the scene two years ago with the release of ChatGPT, we’ve seen the rise and fall of various creative hacks developers have used to eke out better performance and lower costs from large language models. And over the past few months, I’ve seen a flurry of new tricks and hacks pop up in conversations with... Since generative AI exploded onto the scene two years ago with the release of ChatGPT, we’ve seen...

Shaun Maguire. Photo via Sequoia Capital.

Why Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire is Betting on a Year-Old AI Video Startup

By Aaron Holmes · Oct 31, 2024 7:00am PDT

Shaun Maguire. Photo via Sequoia Capital.

Why Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire is Betting on a Year-Old AI Video Startup

By Aaron Holmes · Oct 31, 2024 7:00am PDT

Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire has risen to prominence over the past year for his friendship with Elon Musk, which has helped the firm get in on highly-coveted rounds in SpaceX and X. Through X, Sequoia also stands to get a stake in xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence lab. Maguire’s latest bet is on Decart, a startup that one day hopes to... Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire has risen to prominence over the past year for his friendship with...

Photo via Adobe/Shane Burke

Seven Acquisitions That Could Happen in 2025

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 30, 2024 7:40am PDT · 2 comments

As we wrapped up our generative AI takeover list and our fifth annual most promising startups list, I got to thinking: how many of the companies will still be independent a year from now?Already, this year has seen a flurry of acquisitions and quasi-acquisitions as startups look for a safe haven in the arms of larger tech companies. And there... As we wrapped up our generative AI takeover list and our fifth annual most promising startups...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty.

Microsoft Strikes Deals With OpenAI’s Top Rivals For AI Coding Assistant

By Aaron Holmes · Oct 29, 2024 9:10am PDT

Microsoft is turning up the heat on OpenAI. Microsoft’s developer platform GitHub announced on Tuesday that its wildly popular GitHub Copilot tool—which previously relied entirely on OpenAI models—will now also incorporate AI models from Anthropic and Google. GitHub Copilot will be able to toggle between Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet,... Microsoft is turning up the heat on OpenAI. Microsoft’s developer platform GitHub announced on...

Notion CEO Ivan Zhao. Photo via Sequoia Capital.

Notion CEO Sees Flaws in Computer-Using Agents

By Jon Victor · Oct 28, 2024 7:15am PDT

Anthropic, OpenAI and now Google are betting that the future of artificial intelligence involves technology that can take over a person’s computer and automate all manner of work involving applications and internet browsers. (See my colleague Erin’s Saturday scoop on Google’s efforts here.)If these computer-using agents eventually work and the... Anthropic, OpenAI and now Google are betting that the future of artificial intelligence involves...

Photo via Adobe.

Open-Source AI Struggles to Close Gap with Closed Rivals

By Kalley Huang · Oct 24, 2024 8:54am PDT · 1 comment

Photo via Adobe.

Open-Source AI Struggles to Close Gap with Closed Rivals

By Kalley Huang · Oct 24, 2024 8:54am PDT · 1 comment

Over the past week, artificial intelligence developers have posted rave reviews on X and Reddit about the quality of Nemotron, a series of large language models Nvidia built using Meta Platforms’ open-source Llama model.The buzz about Nemotron rekindled questions about whether the race between open- and closed-source models is tightening. The... Over the past week, artificial intelligence developers have posted rave reviews on X and Reddit...