Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and NVIDIA have signed agreements to provide the U.S. Defense Department with artificial‑intelligence tools for use on classified networks, the Pentagon announced. The deals, which also include startup Reflection AI, join similar contracts already in place with xAI, OpenAI and Google. Anthropic remains the only major U.S. AI firm without a Pentagon agreement, after a dispute with the administration over safeguards on its Claude chatbot. The rapid expansion of AI in the military has sparked public backlash, as evidenced by a sharp rise in ChatGPT uninstall rates following OpenAI’s own deal. Read more →

The Department of Defense announced Friday that it has finalized classified‑use agreements with OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Elon Musk's xAI and the startup Reflection. The deals will let the Pentagon employ each company’s artificial‑intelligence tools in secure environments as it seeks to become an "AI‑first" fighting force. Anthropic, previously cleared for classified work, was left out after officials labeled its technology a supply‑chain risk and the company refused to relax red‑line restrictions on surveillance and autonomous weapons. Read more →

Anthropic has given investors just 48 hours to commit to its next fundraising round, which insiders say could bring in about $50 billion and close within two weeks. The company is aiming for a valuation near $900 billion—potentially higher—while gearing up for an IPO later this year. Early backers who invested in 2024 or earlier are sitting out, hoping to cash out when the stock debuts. The capital will fund Anthropic’s expanding compute infrastructure as its revenue run rate climbs toward $40 billion. Read more →

OpenAI announced it will roll out its GPT-5.5 Cyber suite to a select group of "critical cyber defenders" in the coming days, mirroring Anthropic's recent restriction of its Mythos tool. CEO Sam Altman posted on X that access will be granted through an application process that verifies users' credentials and intended use. The move aims to keep the powerful capabilities—penetration testing, vulnerability exploitation, and malware reverse engineering—from falling into the hands of malicious actors while the company consults with the U.S. government on broader availability. Read more →

In a California federal courtroom on Thursday, Elon Musk told a judge that his AI startup xAI employed OpenAI’s models to develop its own system, Grok, through a practice known as model distillation. Musk said the technique is common across the industry, answering “partially” when asked if xAI directly distilled OpenAI technology. The testimony highlights a growing debate over the legality and ethics of AI model sharing, with companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google warning of potential intellectual‑property violations. Read more →

OpenAI announced that its newest model, GPT-5.5-Cyber, will be released in a tightly controlled rollout aimed at trusted cybersecurity professionals. CEO Sam Altman said the deployment will begin within days and will be limited to a vetted group of "cyber defenders" as the company works with the broader ecosystem and government agencies to define secure access. No technical specifications have been released, but the model appears to be a specialized offshoot of the recently launched GPT-5.5. The move follows a pattern of AI firms withholding powerful models from the public amid concerns about misuse. Read more →

The White House told Anthropic it opposes the company's proposal to extend access to its Mythos cybersecurity AI model to roughly 70 more firms, raising concerns about potential misuse and the firm’s ability to supply enough computing power. The objection comes as the administration drafts an executive order to permit government agencies to use Anthropic models, while the NSA already relies on Mythos and a recent unauthorized breach has heightened security worries. Read more →

OpenAI chief Sam Altman hinted that a next‑generation model, GPT‑6, is already in the works, adding a tongue‑in‑cheek remark that it should come with “extra goblins.” The comment followed a recent mishap in which the company’s Codex tool generated unexpected goblin‑themed responses, prompting a quick fix. While Altman offered no timetable, the tease aligns with OpenAI’s pattern of hinting at models with better memory, more consistent behavior and tighter integration with apps, as competition from Google and Anthropic accelerates the rollout pace. Read more →

Artificial‑intelligence startup Anthropic is fielding preemptive bids to raise as much as $50 billion, potentially valuing the company at $850‑$900 billion. Sources say the round could total $40‑$50 billion and that investors are eager to commit, even before the firm decides at a May board meeting. Anthropic’s revenue run rate has surged past $30 billion, driven by its Claude coding tools, prompting investors to see untapped growth in sectors like finance and healthcare. The company has not commented on the fundraising talks. Read more →

OpenAI's flagship chatbot is seeing its growth slow sharply. Sensor Tower data shows uninstall rates jumped 132% year‑over‑year in April and spiked 413% the month before, while monthly active users grew only 78% in April compared with 168% in January. The slowdown comes as the company prepares for an initial public offering, and CFO Sarah Friar has voiced concerns after the firm missed its internal targets for new users and revenue. Read more →

The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI fell short of internal revenue and user‑growth goals, including a target of one billion weekly ChatGPT users by the end of 2025. The company dismissed the story as "clickbait" and said its business is "firing on all cylinders," but investors reacted sharply. Shares of Oracle, CoreWeave, SoftBank and several chip makers dropped between 5% and 10% as the market reassessed the massive compute spending commitments tied to OpenAI's projected revenue growth. Read more →

Google has entered a classified agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense that lets the Pentagon use the company’s artificial‑intelligence models for any lawful government purpose. The deal, reported by The Information, comes just a day after more than 560 Google engineers signed an open letter urging CEO Sundar Pichai to refuse such military contracts. Unlike an earlier Anthropic pact that barred mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, Google’s terms contain no ethical carve‑outs. The move adds the tech giant to a short list of AI firms supplying unrestricted AI capability to the U.S. military. Read more →

China’s decision to halt Meta’s purchase of AI firm Manus has thrown the deal into limbo, raising fresh uncertainty for both companies’ artificial‑intelligence plans. Manus founders Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao had already moved most of their staff to Meta’s Singapore office and stripped the startup of Chinese ties. The cancellation could prevent Manus from using Anthropic’s Claude models and marks a setback for Meta’s pivot toward AI after years of investing in the metaverse. Industry observers say the move underscores the growing tech rivalry between Washington and Beijing. Read more →

Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are set to appear in a high‑stakes trial that could reshape the future of the artificial‑intelligence nonprofit. Both founders face more than two hours of questioning, alongside a roster of Silicon Valley heavyweights that includes former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Brockman, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella and Musk associate Shivon Zilis. The case, which pits Musk’s for‑profit AI venture against OpenAI’s nonprofit mission, also highlights growing competition from rivals such as Anthropic and Google. Read more →

A group of Discord community members accessed Anthropic’s tightly guarded Mythos Preview AI model after exploiting a breach at AI‑training startup Mercur and leveraging existing permissions from a contracting role. The researchers used the model only to create simple websites, avoiding detection, but their actions expose gaps in Anthropic’s access controls and raise concerns about the security of advanced AI tools. Read more →

Anthropic ran a pilot marketplace where its AI agents acted as buyers and sellers, enabling employees to trade real goods for real money. The four‑day experiment involved 69 staff members, each given a $100 gift‑card budget. Participants completed 186 transactions worth more than $4,000. The company found that agents powered by its most advanced model secured better outcomes, though users did not perceive the advantage. Anthropic says the test highlights both the promise of agent‑on‑agent commerce and the risk of hidden “agent quality” gaps. Read more →

OpenAI rolled out GPT‑5.5 for paying users, DeepSeek previewed its V4 series and Anthropic launched Opus 4.7, intensifying a three‑way race to dominate the next generation of artificial‑intelligence tools. The releases target coding, reasoning and agentic tasks, each promising longer context windows, cheaper hardware deployment and sharper output quality. While OpenAI highlighted the model’s intuitive coding assistance, DeepSeek touted a hybrid‑attention architecture that retains long query histories. Anthropic’s Opus 4.7 focuses on literal prompt interpretation and refined visual aesthetics. The flurry of announcements underscores a fast‑moving market where companies vie for developer and enterprise adoption amid geopolitical scrutiny. Read more →

Google is investing between $10 billion and $40 billion in Anthropic, a rapidly growing AI startup, valuing the company at $350 billion. This move follows Amazon's recent $5 billion investment in Anthropic, which also includes potential for further investment based on performance. Read more →

DeepSeek, the Beijing‑based artificial‑intelligence startup, released a preview of its next‑generation V4 model on Friday, claiming it can match the performance of leading U.S. systems from Google, OpenAI and Anthropic. The open‑source model emphasizes coding capabilities and boasts compatibility with domestic Huawei hardware, marking a milestone for China’s chip industry. The announcement follows DeepSeek’s earlier R1 model, which drew criticism from U.S. officials over alleged use of banned Nvidia chips and accusations of misusing Anthropic’s Claude technology. Read more →

Alphabet's Google will invest $10 billion in AI startup Anthropic now, with an option to add $30 billion if the firm hits performance targets. The agreement also secures five gigawatts of Google‑provided TPU capacity by 2027 and mirrors a similar multi‑billion‑dollar pact the startup struck with Amazon earlier this year. Anthropic, fresh from a $30 billion funding round, will rely on Google’s silicon and cloud infrastructure as part of the deal, underscoring the growing trend of circular investments in the artificial‑intelligence sector. Read more →