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

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Getty

Llama 4’s Rocky Debut

By Kalley Huang and Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 8, 2025 7:15am PDT · 2 comments

Meta Platforms on Saturday released two versions of Llama 4, the newest generation of its flagship open-source large language model, called Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick. The release came a day after we reported that Meta had hit some snags with the new model, which had delayed its release a bit. At first glance, the new AI seemed to... Meta Platforms on Saturday released two versions of Llama 4, the newest generation of its...

The construction site of the Docklands Data Centre Campus where Microsoft was negotiating to lease space. Photo by Getty.

Tariffs Trouble Oracle

By Anissa Gardizy · Apr 7, 2025 7:15am PDT · 1 comment

Before we get to tariffs, we wanted to make sure you saw Stephanie and Jessica’s scoop on OpenAI discussing acquiring a startup created by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and ex-iPhone designer Jony Ive to develop a personal artificial intelligence device. Although Altman isn’t technically classified as a cofounder of the startup, io Products, the... Before we get to tariffs, we wanted to make sure you saw Stephanie and Jessica’s scoop on OpenAI...

Rodney Brooks. Photo by Getty

Roomba Creator Says Humanoid Robots Are Overhyped

By Rocket Drew · Apr 3, 2025 7:46am PDT · 3 comments

It’s not every day you hear a robotics founder trying to cool the hype surrounding their industry, but Rodney Brooks has seen it all before. Speaking at a conference Tuesday hosted by Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI, Brooks, a founder of multiple robotics companies including the one behind Roomba vacuums, showed attendees a slide... It’s not every day you hear a robotics founder trying to cool the hype surrounding their...

Mercor co-founders Adarsh Hiremath, Brendan Foody, and Surya Midha. Photo courtesy of ULY

The Valuation Puzzle of Post-Training AI Startups

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 2, 2025 7:00am PDT

Mercor co-founders Adarsh Hiremath, Brendan Foody, and Surya Midha. Photo courtesy of ULY

The Valuation Puzzle of Post-Training AI Startups

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Apr 2, 2025 7:00am PDT

We’re starting to see more generative artificial intelligence-related startups announce they’ve crossed $100 million in annualized revenue. According to our Generative AI Database, at least 15 such startups have reached that threshold.The latest is Mercor, which helps OpenAI and other AI developers find contractors to help train new models.... We’re starting to see more generative artificial intelligence-related startups announce they’ve...

Greg Brockman. Photo by Getty

ChatGPT Revenue Surges 30%—in Just Three Months

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Apr 1, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Before today’s main column about the AI attention war between OpenAI and Google, there’s OpenAI news from my colleague Natasha: ChatGPT has hit 20 million paid subscribers, according to a spokesperson. That’s up from 15.5 million at the end of last year, as we previously reported.It turns out a lot of people are willing to pay for a chatbot... Before today’s main column about the AI attention war between OpenAI and Google, there’s OpenAI...

Photo by Getty

XAI Makes Anthropic Look Cheap

By Amir Efrati · Mar 31, 2025 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

The main question after Elon Musk (somewhat predictably) merged xAI with X, which he announced late Friday, is how xAI will build a business the way OpenAI and Anthropic have.Musk says xAI is worth $80 billion. Fine. But Anthropic is privately worth $60 billion and is generating about $120 million a month in revenue. XAI’s revenue is probably a... The main question after Elon Musk (somewhat predictably) merged xAI with X, which he announced...

Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, speaks during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference. Photo by Getty

Why Nvidia and CoreWeave Want to Buy AI Inference Startups

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 27, 2025 7:00am PDT

Yesterday, Kevin and I broke the news that Nvidia was in advanced talks to buy Lepton AI, a startup that rents out servers powered by Nvidia’s chips and helps AI developers train and run open-source models on those servers, otherwise known as an inference provider.A deal would put Nvidia in direct competition with a slew of other inference... Yesterday, Kevin and I broke the news that Nvidia was in advanced talks to buy Lepton AI, a...

Craig Federighi announces ChatGPT integration with Siri at WWDC 2024. Screenshot via YouTube

How Good Is The Apple Deal for OpenAI?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 26, 2025 7:00am PDT

Craig Federighi announces ChatGPT integration with Siri at WWDC 2024. Screenshot via YouTube

How Good Is The Apple Deal for OpenAI?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 26, 2025 7:00am PDT

Last June, OpenAI landed in headlines for its splashy partnership with Apple. The iPhone maker’s Siri assistant would tap OpenAI’s models and ChatGPT to handle some queries and also help customers with writing and generating images.It looked like a huge win for the ChatGPT maker—at first. Nine months later, we’re wondering whether the deal has... Last June, OpenAI landed in headlines for its splashy partnership with Apple. The iPhone maker’s...

ALOHA Robot. Screenshot via YouTube

Why Apple, Meta and Google Are Buying Remote-Controlled Robot Arms

By Rocket Drew · Mar 25, 2025 7:00am PDT

During Nvidia’s conference for developers last week, CEO Jensen Huang showed off software that creates computer simulations of robots. Those simulations aim to teach robots how to perform tasks, from washing dishes to picking up household objects.But some robot makers I spoke to say it’s better to train robots to do such tasks by having a person... During Nvidia’s conference for developers last week, CEO Jensen Huang showed off software that...

Gabriel Stengel, CEO and Co-Founder of Rogo. Screenshot via YouTube

Thrive Capital Leads New Deal in Wall Street AI Startup Rogo

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Anita Ramaswamy · Mar 24, 2025 7:00am PDT

Is Wall Street ready to work with artificial intelligence? Two of OpenAI’s biggest investors think so.Thrive Capital is set to lead at least a $40 million financing into Rogo AI, an artificial intelligence startup selling AI software for investment bankers and Wall Street analysts and investors, at a valuation of up to $350 million, according to... Is Wall Street ready to work with artificial intelligence? Two of OpenAI’s biggest investors...

Photo of Donald Trump by Getty

Why Trump Is Good For Mistral and Cohere

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 20, 2025 7:00am PDT

It’s been about two months since President Donald Trump took office, and there’s still lots of uncertainty around how he’ll regulate the AI industry. That’s particularly when it comes to open source and how much information leading developers must share with the feds.One thing is clear, though: the Trump presidency will be good for AI developers... It’s been about two months since President Donald Trump took office, and there’s still lots of...

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, at the Nvidia GTC. Photo by Getty

Top Developers Want Nvidia Blackwell Chips. Everyone Else, Not So Much

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 19, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, at the Nvidia GTC. Photo by Getty

Top Developers Want Nvidia Blackwell Chips. Everyone Else, Not So Much

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 19, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Jensen Huang turned Nvidia into the third most valuable company in the world by designing chips that were way ahead of their time. But Huang’s remarks on Tuesday suggest he’s pulling far ahead of some customers, and the growing gap between what he’s selling and what they’re buying could spell trouble.In his keynote speech at the GTC developer... Jensen Huang turned Nvidia into the third most valuable company in the world by designing chips...

Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei. Photo by Getty

Anthropic’s Not-So-Secret Weapon That’s Giving Agents a Boost

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 18, 2025 7:31am PDT

Every few months, a new acronym takes hold among artificial intelligence researchers.The latest one gaining steam is MCP, or model context protocol, an open source software Anthropic released in November. It’s a software standard that, if widely adopted, would help large language models of any kind access external data sources and tools, such as... Every few months, a new acronym takes hold among artificial intelligence researchers.The latest...

Photo via Getty

Salesforce and Manus Show the High Cost of Agents

By Juro Osawa · Mar 17, 2025 7:22am PDT

The unexpected popularity of Manus, a so-called computer-using AI that takes over a person’s web browser to execute tasks like travel booking and stock analysis, has put the Chinese startup behind it in a bind. The firm’s ability to meet demand for the product, also known as an agent, is limited both by its server capacity and, more importantly,... The unexpected popularity of Manus, a so-called computer-using AI that takes over a person’s web...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Are Enterprises Actually Using Reasoning Models?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 13, 2025 8:34am PDT

The excitement around reasoning models like OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1 got me thinking: How much are businesses actually using them? The answer might be: not as much as you’d think.When I ask business executives at startups and large firms about their companies’ usage of reasoning models to power their products, a common refrain I’ve... The excitement around reasoning models like OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1 got me thinking: How...

Courtesy of Dexterity

Robots That Don’t Walk Are Making Strides

By Rocket Drew · Mar 12, 2025 7:00am PDT

Courtesy of Dexterity

Robots That Don’t Walk Are Making Strides

By Rocket Drew · Mar 12, 2025 7:00am PDT

Humanoid robots that walk around on two legs have been attracting attention and money, but they are still a long way off from being mass produced. Traditional robots that don’t have legs, however, are moving ahead in places like agricultural fields, stores and warehouses.One example is Mech, an artificial intelligence-powered robot for logistics... Humanoid robots that walk around on two legs have been attracting attention and money, but they...

Dario Amodei. Photo by Getty.

Anthropic’s Claude Drives Strong Revenue Growth While Powering ‘Manus’ Sensation

By Juro Osawa, Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 11, 2025 8:30am PDT

Anthropic’s year is off to a good start. Its annualized revenue—a measure of the past month's revenue multiplied by 12—has grown from $1 billion at the end of last year to $1.4 billion as of earlier this month, according to a person who has seen the numbers. In other words, Anthropic is generating more than $115 million a month. That’s... Anthropic’s year is off to a good start. Its annualized revenue—a measure of the past...

Larry Page. Photo via Getty

Why is Google’s Owner Developing AI Outside of Google?; DeepSeek Gets Microsoft’s Attention

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 10, 2025 7:00am PDT

ServiceNow is buying AI startup Moveworks for $2.85 billion, the enterprise software firm announced first thing this morning, an effort by ServiceNow to get a jump on agent-powered services. We included Moveworks in our Generative AI Takeover List, which you can see here. And now on to the rest of the column…We’ve written a lot about how... ServiceNow is buying AI startup Moveworks for $2.85 billion, the enterprise software firm...

Cursor CEO Michael Truell. Art by Clark Miller.

The Math Behind a $10 Billion Valuation For Cursor

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 7, 2025 1:51pm PST · 1 comment

Now that the word is out about the maker of Cursor, an artificial intelligence-powered coding assistant, talking to investors about a new round that would value it at $10 billion, it’s important to explain why a deal may happen at that price.The new valuation—up four times from a deal struck just three months ago—would actually be in line with... Now that the word is out about the maker of Cursor, an artificial intelligence-powered coding...

Photo by Shutterstock

DeepSeek Keeps Rising

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 6, 2025 7:00am PST

Photo by Shutterstock

DeepSeek Keeps Rising

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 6, 2025 7:00am PST

DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence models continue to reverberate in its home market of China as well as in the West.For starters, most of China’s consumer tech giants, which have been developing their own AI, have swallowed their pride and are integrating DeepSeek in their products. Perhaps more importantly, the companies are featuring those... DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence models continue to reverberate in its home market of China as...