Welcome, humans.
Everyone and their mother has an opinion on the whole OpenAI/ScarJo fiasco. Our opinion? That no one asked for all of these opinions, and people should just stick to making memes, like this:
Here’s what you need to know about AI today:
- It’s the biggest week in AI funding since Microsoft’s OpenAI investment.
- CoreWeave is raising $7.5B in debt to lease out Nvidia’s AI chips.
- Microsoft is teaming up with Khan Academy to offer Khanmigo for free.
- Google might begin incorporating ads into its AI search results.
On yesterday’s podcast: Microsoft’s PC announcements, the future of our devices, and all eyes on Apple WWDC (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube).
The flood of money into AI just doesn’t stop.
It’s raining, it’s pouring. Money into AI is soaring. Investors said big bets ahead. Even big banks aren’t ignoring. 🎶
Investors, institutions, and individuals alike are drooling over what they see as a once-in-a-lifetime AI opportunity. Just this past week was the largest in AI fundraising since Microsoft poured $10B into OpenAI last January.
And it’s not just the ChatGPTs of the world bagging checks; it’s the entire spectrum of AI construction from the ground up.
Starting with infrastructure. Yesterday, CoreWeave raised $7.5B (B = Billion) in debt to rent more AI chips from Nvidia in a deal led by Blackstone.
Then there are enterprise tools, like Scale AI, which helps companies organize and label their data so their AI models excel. They just bagged a cool billion dollars yesterday.
Scale AI
Plus, industry-specific enterprise tools—for literally every industry!
- PolyAI, a builder of AI voice assistants for call centers, secured $50M.
- Grasp AI, an AI assistant for investment bankers and consultants, raised $2M.
- Leya, an AI legal assistant that cites public legal sources accurately, snagged $10.5M.
Leya AI
Then there are consumer AI tools for you and me.
- Suno, an AI music generator “where anyone can make music,” announced $125M in funding.
- Gamma, an AI presentation helper we use to turn docs/outlines into presentation drafts, raised $12M.
And just when you think investors have run out of cash to splash, a French company called “H” with literally 40 words on its website (yes, we counted) raised a $220M seed round (!) to build AGI.
Even Congress wants a slice. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recommended that Congress allocate >$32B to developing safe AI over the next three years.
And this all happened in just the past week!
Why it matters: If this isn’t the peak AI cycle, then we’re not sure what is. Ultimately, whether this bubble bursts depends on whether AI truly affects business productivity in the trillions.
Companies are also splurging on AI (e.g. IT teams at big enterprises are spending 2x more on AI than they did last year), but whether it’s paying off is yet to be seen.
Hello sharks, we’d like to raise $1 quadrillion for our AI media company. Are you in?!
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Around the Horn.
- More updates from Microsoft Build:
- Team Copilot—A Copilot that’s not just a personal assistant but integrates into your Team and can handle tasks like managing meeting agendas, taking notes, and tracking action items.
- A partnership with Khan Academy to make its AI teacher Khanmigo free for all teachers in the US.
- A new Copilot Studio that lets businesses create basic AI agents that can automate tasks, such as monitoring email inboxes.
- GPT-4o is now available on Azure OpenAI.
- Google will experiment with placing ads in its new AI search.
- r/ArtificialIntelligence discussion: What are AI Agents and how will they impact Sales jobs?
- Anthropic announced a new research breakthrough in understanding the black box of how AI models work.
- Perplexity will start visualizing some of its search answers (think graphs and charts).
A Cat's Commentary.
Where do you #Neuron?
Send us a picture of where you read The Neuron here (with some spicy commentary), and you might get featured next week!
Shoutout to this week’s #Neuron Champ: When folks are still reading The Neuron on their vacation, it means we’ve nailed it! :)
Leslie writes (from Paris): Enjoying the Neuron over my morning cappuccino on vacation in Paris. ☕️🇫🇷
Rob writes (also from Paris, France): Even on the road, never miss an issue of Neuron!
Our friend Sid and his dog Max write (from Sag Harbor, NY): Can doggies join?!
From Mandeville (Québec): Canada: In the wild, 1h30 from Montreal, but still well connected.
