E92: 6/20/25
The "OpenAI Files", Microsoft and OpenAI tension about rival AI-coding tools, "OpenAI for Gov" bags $200M from DoD, the $80M acquisition of a 1-man AI startup, $100M signing bonuses for Meta, and more
PNW AI News:
AI will shrink Amazon's corporate workforce in the coming years, CEO Andy Jassy says in a letter to employees
The WSJ just declared that the massive partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft is at a “boiling point,” with the AI leader considering filing antitrust complaints after disputes over compute access, IP rights, and company restructuring
The latest argument comes over OpenAI’s $3B acquisition of Windsurf, with the company wanting to withhold the IP due to Microsoft’s rival GitHub Copilot
GeekWire polled 200 CEOs on how AI is transforming Seattle-area startups
Key AI Product/Research Updates:
“OpenAI for Government,” offering secured versions of its models like ChatGPT Gov, with strict rules banning surveillance, biometrics, or weaponized useOpenAI signed a $200M US DOD one-year contract to prototype AI systems for military use, including cyber defense, data ops, and healthcare
Kicks off “OpenAI for Government,” offering secured versions of its models like ChatGPT Gov, with strict rules banning surveillance, biometrics, or weaponized use
Google has launched its Gemini 2.5 model family into full production, aiming squarely at enterprise adoption with a practical mix of performance, scale, and cost control
Midjourney just launched the company’s first video generation model, a web-only system enabling users to animate any image into 5-second clips
Just a few days after Disney and Universal sued the company for copyright theft
Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, claims "we are past the event horizon" of AI superintelligence inevitability, with new AI research to back him up
MIT researchers just developed Self-Adapting LLMs, a framework that enables large language models to teach and improve on their own by creating their training data and instructions for self-updates
OpenAI published a new blog detailing the safety measures being taken in preparation for the dangerous thresholds for biological weapon creation that the company expects its next generation of models could reach
A new study from MIT just found that students using ChatGPT for essay writing showed significantly weaker brain activity and memory retention compared to those writing unaided or using traditional search engines for research
Key AI Business/Investment Updates:
Base44, a six-month-old startup AI “vibe coding” platform turns text prompts into full-stack apps startup, has been acquired by Wix for $80 million in cash
Despite being bootstrapped, Base44 hit 250K users and posted $189K in profit last month, even while paying for Claude LLM usage
Zero employees, only 1 founder!!
Softbank's CEO Masayoshi Son pitches $1 trillion US AI hub to TSMC and Trump team, building massive infrastructure in Arizona
Sam Altman also alleged that Meta has offered $100M signing bonuses to try and poach OpenAI talent
Just as a signing bonus!!
Four senior executives at Palantir, Meta, and OpenAI have been formally appointed lieutenant colonels in the US Army following the creation of a special unit for "Executive innovation"
Meta is in negotiations to hire AI investors Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross (also a co-founder of Ilya Sustkever’s SSI) to join Alexandr Wang’s superintelligence division
Two AI watchdogs published "The OpenAI Files" are the most comprehensive collection to date of documented concerns with governance practices, leadership integrity, and organizational culture at OpenAI
AstraZeneca signed a $5.3B AI research deal with China’s CSPC, aiming to use AI to develop new oral medications for chronic diseases
Elon Musk's xAI is reportedly seeking a $4.3B equity raise to continue funding AI development and infra
China’s top video streamer cloned himself with AI, and ended up pulling in $7.5M in one stream on Baidu
OpenAI is reportedly planning to “scale back” its work with data startup Scale AI following its deal with Meta, joining Google, xAI, and Microsoft
Stanford surveyed 1,500 workers to map their AI automation desires, revealing critical mismatches between what employees want and what the tech industry is building, and finding workers prefer partnership over replacement for tasks
PNW AI/ML/CV Fundings:
TerraPower (Bellevue, WA) raised $650.0M in later stage funding from Bill Gates, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, and NVIDIA's NVentures
Developer of nuclear energy technology designed to provide safe, affordable, and abundant carbon-free energy at AI datacenter scale – TFTD $1.66B
CEO: Christopher Levesque