In Brief

After trying to buy Ilya Sutskever’s $32B AI startup, Meta looks to hire its CEO

AI /

Mark Zuckerberg’s AI talent hiring spree continues. In recent months, Meta tried to acquire Safe Superintelligence, the $32 billion AI startup co-founded by OpenAI’s former chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, according to a report from CNBC on Thursday. Sutskever ultimately turned Meta down, according to CNBC, but the company is now in talks to hire Safe […]

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In just 3 months, Ramp’s valuation jumped to $16B, up from $13B

Fintech /

Spend management startup Ramp announced on Tuesday that it raised a $200 million Series E led by its largest investor, Founders Fund, at a post-money valuation of $16 billion. This is a jaw-dropping $3 billion increase over the $13 billion valuation Ramp announced just a few months ago in March, after a $150 million secondary

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The cracks in the OpenAI-Microsoft relationship are reportedly widening

AI /

OpenAI and Microsoft may be reaching an inflection point in their relationship, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The report, citing anonymous sources, says OpenAI executives have considered publicly accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive behavior throughout their partnership. OpenAI executives also mulled whether to seek a federal regulatory review of their contract with

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After a string of successes, early-stage fund Felicis raises fresh $900M

Venture /

Felicis founder Aydin Senkut is celebrating his 20th year as an institutional early-stage investor by announcing the firm’s biggest fund yet: a $900 million Fund X. This follows the $825 million Fund IX raised in 2023 and the $600 million Fund XIII raised in 2021. Felicis, a seed and Series A firm, is known for

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TikTok’s biggest star was detained by ICE, with help from another influencer

Government & Policy /

Khaby Lame, currently the world’s top TikTok creator, was recently detained by U.S. immigration officials in Las Vegas and has since left the country, The New York Times reports. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Lame, an Italian Senegalese influencer known for his silent, deadpan reactions to viral clips, overstayed the terms of

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Wikipedia pauses AI-generated summaries pilot after editors protest

AI /

Wikipedia has reportedly paused an experiment that used AI to summarize articles on its platform after editors pushed back. Wikipedia announced earlier this month it was going to run the experiment for users who have the Wikipedia browser extension installed and chose to opt in, according to 404 Media. AI-generated summaries appeared at the top

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Disney and Universal sue Midjourney, alleging AI-related copyright infringement

AI /

Disney and Universal have sued generative AI platform Midjourney for allegedly training its art-generating and -editing models on their content without permission. Disney and Universal filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming that Midjourney ignored their earlier requests to cease violating their intellectual property rights, according to The Wall Street Journal. The suit, filed in the U.S.

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Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z bio and health strategy, steps down

Biotech & Health /

Vijay Pande, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz who founded the firm’s a16z Bio + Health strategy, announced that he is stepping down from his role. Since its founding in 2014, a16z Bio + Health has raised four funds of nearly $3 billion each, including a $1.5 billion fund that closed in 2022. However, it’s

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Google says its updated Gemini 2.5 Pro AI model is better at coding

Apps /

Google on Thursday announced an update to its Gemini 2.5 Pro preview model that the company claims is better at certain programming tasks. The company’s calling it an “updated preview,” building on the upgrade to Gemini 2.5 Pro that Google announced around a month ago. Google says the model will roll out in general availability

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