In Brief

Ulu Ventures sticks to its diversity strategy, raises $208M

While large corporations like Google and Meta are curbing their DEI programs, Ulu Ventures, which just raised a fourth $208 million fund, doesn’t plan to change its strategy of investing in diverse founders, the firm told The Wall Street Journal. Co-founded by Miriam Riviera, a Latina and former vice president and deputy general counsel at […]

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls Musk’s bid an attempt to ‘slow us down’

In an interview at the AI Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman dismissed Elon Musk’s unsolicited $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI’s nonprofit as “an attempt to slow [OpenAI] down.” “[Musk] obviously is a competitor,” Altman said. “He’s raised a lot of money for [his AI company] xAI, and they’re trying to

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Plaid working with Goldman Sachs on raising $300M to $400M in tender offer

Plaid, a company that connects bank accounts to financial applications, is working with Goldman Sachs on a deal to allow early-stage investors and employees to sell existing shares, which will raise between $300 million and $400 million, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. The tender offer, as such deals are called, will likely value the company lower

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OpenAI spoke to government officials about its DeepSeek probe

OpenAI says it has spoken to government officials about its ongoing investigation into DeepSeek. The ChatGPT-maker previously claimed to have evidence that DeepSeek trained its AI models using improperly obtained data from OpenAI’s API. During a Bloomberg TV interview on Monday, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, said the company has talked with government

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Christie’s announces AI art auction, and not everyone is pleased

Fine art auction house, Christie’s, has sold AI-generated art before. But soon, it plans to hold its first show dedicated solely to works created with AI, an announcement that has been met with mixed reviews. The auction, which Christie’s is calling ‘Augmented Intelligence,’ will feature artwork from artists including Mat Dryhurst, the founder of AI

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Report: Ilya Sutskever’s startup in talks to fundraise at roughly $20B valuation

Safe Superintelligence, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, is in talks to raise funding at a valuation of “at least” $20 billion, according to Reuters. It’s not clear how much Safe Superintelligence — which has yet to generate any revenue — is looking to secure, but it could be substantial.

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Report: OpenAI’s ex-CTO, Mira Murati, has recruited OpenAI co-founder John Schulman

OpenAI co-founder John Schulman, who left AI company Anthropic earlier this week after a mere five months, is reportedly joining former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s secretive new startup, per Fortune. It’s not clear what Schulman’s role there will be. Fortune wasn’t able to learn that information, and Murati has been tight-lipped about the venture since

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