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By Stephanie Palazzolo

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Recent Editions

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Photo by Bridget Bennett/Getty Images

Nvidia CEO Says Groq Didn’t Have a ‘Nook and Cranny to Fit Into’

By Amir Efrati · Jan 7, 2026 8:00am PST

Before we get to today‘s column, you should check out our scoop this morning that the Chinese government has asked local companies to hold off ordering Nvidia’s H200 chips. It‘s the latest move in the geopolitical chess match that governs Nvidia’s China business. Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has finally given investors a partial... Before we get to today‘s column, you should check out our scoop this morning that the Chinese...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang presents at CES. Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Nvidia’s Clever Approach to Its New Self-Driving Car Model

By Rocket Drew · Jan 6, 2026 7:30am PST

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took the stage at CES on Monday to deliver a volley of announcements—Nvidia published 10 press releases during his keynote! Many of those announcements focused on Nvidia’s work on physical AI, such as autonomous robots and cars, so it was fitting that a pair of Huang’s favorite remote controlled Disney droids accompanied... Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took the stage at CES on Monday to deliver a volley of announcements—...

Bay ISMOYO/AFP via Getty Images.

Indonesia’s Sovereign AI Play

By Juro Osawa · Jan 5, 2026 7:00am PST

One of the major trends in the AI industry in the past year was the growth of sovereign AI, the movement by various countries to develop their own domestic AI capabilities to reduce their technological dependence on the U.S. and China. While an increasing number of nations and regions are building their own large language models and AI data... One of the major trends in the AI industry in the past year was the growth of sovereign AI, the...

Getty Images

How Artificial Intelligence Will Change in 2026

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 31, 2025 7:00am PST

Getty Images

How Artificial Intelligence Will Change in 2026

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 31, 2025 7:00am PST

Welcome to the last AI Agenda issue of 2025! Lots went down this year (check out yesterday’s newsletter for a full recap), and we expect things to get even crazier in 2026. Welcome to the last AI Agenda issue of 2025! Lots went down this year (check out yesterday’s ...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Top AI Themes of 2025 and What We’re Watching For Next Year

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 30, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Meta Platform’s announcement on Monday that it has acquired Chinese agent startup Manus represents a big win for Manus’ backers, including Benchmark, ZhenFund and HongShan, who last invested in Manus in an April funding round that valued it at $500 million. Meta is paying more than $2 billion, my colleague Juro Osawa has reported (as have other... Meta Platform’s announcement on Monday that it has acquired Chinese agent startup Manus...

Groq CEO Jonathan Ross. Getty Images.

Why Groq’s IP Matters to Nvidia; AI Experts’ Favorite Books of the Year

By Rocket Drew, Stephanie Palazzolo and Miles Kruppa · Dec 29, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Before we get to today’s column, we need to explain something about last week’s big news: Nvidia’s agreement to pay an astounding $20 billion to license technology from AI chip startup Groq and hire its leaders. The reasons for Nvidia’s interest in Groq are getting a little clearer. Groq’s chips have the potential to help AI developers when... Before we get to today’s column, we need to explain something about last week’s big news: Nvidia’...

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Chen Yongnuo/CNS/VCG via Getty Images.

Two IPO-Bound AI Model Developers Reveal Their Losses

By Juro Osawa · Dec 24, 2025 7:00am PST

Two Chinese AI startups are vying to be the first publicly traded AI model providers in the global stock market, ahead of expected future initial public offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic. The Chinese firms’ IPO filings offer a window into the hardship facing smaller AI firms that don’t have older cash-cow businesses.Shanghai-based MiniMax... Two Chinese AI startups are vying to be the first publicly traded AI model providers in the...

Art by Clark Miller. Screenshots via YouTube.

A $4 Billion Enterprise Software Firm Acquires AI Coding Startup Codegen

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 23, 2025 7:00am PST

Art by Clark Miller. Screenshots via YouTube.

A $4 Billion Enterprise Software Firm Acquires AI Coding Startup Codegen

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 23, 2025 7:00am PST

This year has been a big one for AI coding startup acquisitions. Who can forget the dramatic Google-Windsurf-Cognition saga from this summer? And this month alone, Anthropic acquired developer tool startup Bun and Cursor bought code review startup Graphite.Another coding deal is sneaking in before the end of the year. ClickUp, a $4... This year has been a big one for AI coding startup acquisitions. Who can forget the dramatic ...

Clay CEO Kareem Amin. Photo courtesy of Clay.

Why Some App Developers View ChatGPT as an Opportunity, Not a Threat

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 22, 2025 7:00am PST

When OpenAI in October announced “apps in ChatGPT,” allowing people to use external apps like Zillow or Spotify in ChatGPT—essentially bringing the apps’ core functions into the chatbot—some developers wondered if this would be a blow to consumer apps that would further separate them from their customers. That’s a fear DoorDash, for instance,... When OpenAI in October announced “apps in ChatGPT,” allowing people to use external apps like ...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Problem

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 18, 2025 7:00am PST

OpenAI has a problem and, unfortunately for it, that problem is also how it makes most of its money: ChatGPT.In this story that Sri, Amir and I published this morning, we revealed that over the past year OpenAI staffers had noticed that improvements to the company’s models weren’t necessarily lifting ChatGPT usage. Their quandary is that... OpenAI has a problem and, unfortunately for it, that problem is also how it makes most of its...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why Turing Is Buying Up Failed Startups’ Codebases

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 17, 2025 7:00am PST

Last night The Information broke the news that Amazon was in talks to invest at least $10 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of more than $500 billion. As part of the deal under discussion, OpenAI would agree to use Amazon’s Trainium chips, we reported. It's the latest in a string of deals OpenAI has done to raise the money it needs to pay for its... Last night The Information broke the news that Amazon was in talks to invest at least $10 billion...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why Alien Hunters Want Jensen Huang to Fund Their AI Telescope

By Rocket Drew · Dec 16, 2025 7:00am PST

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why Alien Hunters Want Jensen Huang to Fund Their AI Telescope

By Rocket Drew · Dec 16, 2025 7:00am PST

While alien hunting is often associated with tinfoil hats and flying saucers, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute has established itself as a leading scientific organization since it was founded 41 years ago. As it scans the cosmos for alien life, it has published research in peer-reviewed astronomy journals and collaborated... While alien hunting is often associated with tinfoil hats and flying saucers, the Search for...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

When Will We Reach AGI—And Other Prediction Market Bets

By Rocket Drew · Dec 15, 2025 7:00am PST

On Friday, I wrote about how companies are scrambling to prevent employees from using confidential company information to bet on prediction markets, sites like Polymarket and Kalshi that offer derivatives to wager on events. Opportunities to bet on AI outcomes, say a model release, have exploded in popularity—bets for the latest OpenAI model ... On Friday, I wrote about how companies are scrambling to prevent employees from using...

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Disney-OpenAI; AI Startup Valuations Keep Falling as Revenue Rises

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 11, 2025 8:34am PST

Before we get to today’s column, we have to mention Disney and OpenAI’s big partnership announcement this morning. As part of a new three-year licensing agreement, OpenAI’s video app Sora and ChatGPT will be able to generate image and video content that includes characters such as Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Mickey Mouse and Iron Man from... Before we get to today’s column, we have to mention Disney and OpenAI’s big partnership...

Baseten cofounder and CTO Amir Haghighat and Parsed cofounders Mudith Jayasekara and Charles O'Neill. Photo courtesy of Parsed.

Inference Provider Baseten Acquires Reinforcement Learning Startup Parsed

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 10, 2025 7:00am PST

AI firms are getting more interested in AI that continues to learn even after it’s been trained, otherwise known as continual learning, as we discussed in this recap from last week's NeurIPS conference. As an example, some small companies have used special techniques like finetuning and reinforcement learning to teach cheaper open-source models... AI firms are getting more interested in AI that continues to learn even after it’s been trained,...

Sam Altman, left, and Sundar Pichai. Photos by Getty Images

ChatGPT Nears 900 Million Weekly Active Users But Gemini is Catching Up

By Sri Muppidi · Dec 9, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Sam Altman, left, and Sundar Pichai. Photos by Getty Images

ChatGPT Nears 900 Million Weekly Active Users But Gemini is Catching Up

By Sri Muppidi · Dec 9, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

The competition between AI chatbots has been heating up, with Google’s Gemini nipping at OpenAI’s heels. On Monday, I wrote about how Gemini’s share of weekly mobile app downloads increased in late November following the release of Gemini 3, according to data from research firm Sensor Tower, which says it tracks 5 million consumers... The competition between AI chatbots has been heating up, with Google’s Gemini nipping at OpenAI’s...

Aidan Gomez, CEO of Cohere. Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Cohere CEO Says His Gross Profit Margins Are Great; Takeaways From NeurIPS

By Aaron Holmes and Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 8, 2025 7:00am PST

Before we get to today’s column, check out this story about last week’s Neural Information Processing Systems conference, where a number of researchers cast doubt on some of today’s most popular techniques for improving AI. Some researchers, including at OpenAI, have ideas for new techniques that could produce better results.Other researchers... Before we get to today’s column, check out this story about last week’s Neural Information...

CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Anthropic’s CEO Says He Doesn’t Do ‘Code Reds’

By Rocket Drew · Dec 4, 2025 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Wednesday threw shade at archrival OpenAI, saying at The New York Times Dealbook Summit that “we don’t have to do any code reds.” It was a reference to our report Monday that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman initiated a “code red,” shifting staff to improve ChatGPT and image generation in response to Google’s success with its... Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Wednesday threw shade at archrival OpenAI, saying at The New York...

Art by Mike Sullivan

AI’s ‘Split-Brain’ Problem

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 3, 2025 7:00am PST

Developing new artificial intelligence models can sometimes seem like a game of whack-a-mole: fixing a model’s bad answers to certain questions can cause the model to give bad answers to other questions.One version of this problem, according to researchers at OpenAI and elsewhere, is known as a split-brain problem, in which changes to how a... Developing new artificial intelligence models can sometimes seem like a game of whack-a-mole:...

Photo by Getty Images; Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Developing ‘Garlic’ Model to Counter Google’s Recent Gains

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 2, 2025 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Photo by Getty Images; Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Developing ‘Garlic’ Model to Counter Google’s Recent Gains

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 2, 2025 7:00am PST · 2 comments

OpenAI, which in recent weeks has appeared to fall behind Google in AI development, is fighting back with a new large language model codenamed Garlic.Last week, OpenAI’s chief research officer Mark Chen told some colleagues about the new model, which was performing well on the company’s evaluations, at least when compared to Gemini 3 and ... OpenAI, which in recent weeks has appeared to fall behind Google in AI development, is fighting...