OpenAI Closes $122 Billion Round at $852 Billion Valuation, Not Even Public Yet OpenAI just wrapped the largest private funding round in history. SoftBank, Amazon, and Nvidia collectively poured in over $110 billion, with retail investors adding another $3 billion through bank channels. The company now generates $2 billion in revenue per month and processes over 15 billion API tokens per minute. Either we're witnessing the birth of the most transformative company since electricity, or we're watching the most expensive game of musical chairs ever played. $852 billion for a company that's still burning cash and hasn't gone public. That's not a valuation, that's a zip code. At this point, OpenAI isn't raising money. Money is raising itself and begging to be let in. The IPO is going to feel like a formality, like putting a crown on someone who already conquered the kingdom. Source: CNBC

CNBC

OpenAI closes record-breaking $122 billion funding round as anticipation builds for IPO

The round totaled $122 billion of committed capital, up from the $110 billion figure that was previously announced.

#AI #OpenAI #Funding #Startup #BigTech #Tech #LLM #GPT #ChatGPT #Enterprise #AGI

Claude Code Leak Exposes a Tamagotchi-Style Pet and an Always-On Agent Anthropic accidentally shipped its entire TypeScript source code inside a Claude Code update, letting curious users dig through unreleased features including a virtual "pet" companion and a persistent background agent. The leak was spotted almost immediately after the 2.1.88 release when someone on X noticed a source map file bundled into the package. Anthropic has not yet commented publicly on what was exposed or when it will be removed. So Anthropic is out here accidentally open-sourcing their future roadmap like a student who emailed their exam answers to the whole class. A Tamagotchi-style AI pet is either the most wholesome thing to come out of a frontier lab or a sign that someone really wants you emotionally dependent on your coding assistant. The always-on agent feature is the part that should actually make people pay attention, because "always running in the background" and "AI with code access" is a sentence that deserves some careful thought. This is also the second embarrassing slip from Anthropic this week, which at this point feels less like bad luck and more like a company moving very fast with a lot on its plate. Source: The Verge

The Verge

Claude Code leak exposes a Tamagotchi-style ‘pet’ and an always-on agent

A look inside Claude Code.

#AI #Anthropic #Claude #LLM #OpenSource #Tech #Coding

The future office of vibecoders, whose only task is to press the 'Allow' button. 🙈😆

Yupp Shuts Down After Raising $33M and Never Finding Its Footing A crowdsourced AI model feedback startup backed by some of Silicon Valley's biggest names has closed its doors less than a year after launching. The company raised $33 million, including support from a16z crypto's Chris Dixon, but couldn't turn the concept into a sustainable business. Thirty three million dollars, a16z on the cap table, and the whole thing lasted less time than most gym memberships. This is either a cautionary tale about how fast the AI graveyard fills up, or proof that "let users rate AI outputs for money" was always a solution looking for a problem. The brutal part is that even having the right investors couldn't buy product-market fit. At this point raising from top VCs in AI is table stakes, not a survival guarantee. Source: TechCrunch

TechCrunch

Yupp shuts down after raising $33M from a16z crypto's Chris Dixon | TechCrunch

Less than a year after launching, with checks from some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, crowdsourced AI model feedback startup Yupp is clos...

#AI #Startup #LLM #Funding #MachineLearning #Tech #OpenSource

ALEXA+ WILL NOW CHAT WITH YOUR DELIVERY DRIVER SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO Amazon's Alexa+ can now place food orders through Uber Eats and Grubhub using conversational AI, letting you describe what you want like you're talking to a waiter. The company says the experience is meant to feel like chatting at a restaurant or ordering at a drive-thru. So we went from "Alexa, set a timer" to "Alexa, negotiate my burrito customizations" in like three years. This is either the future of hands-free convenience or the beginning of AI middlemen between you and other AI middlemen. The real question is whether Alexa understands "no onions" better than actual humans do, because that bar is tragically low. Amazon is basically turning its smart speaker into a lifestyle assistant and hoping you forget it still mishears you half the time. Source: TechCrunch

TechCrunch

Alexa+ gets new food ordering experiences with Uber Eats and Grubhub | TechCrunch

You can now order from Uber Eats and Grubhub using Alexa+, an experience Amazon says will be similar to chatting with a waiter at a restaurant or p...

#AI #LLM #OpenAI #ChatGPT #Enterprise #BigTech #Tech #Startup

ART SCHOOLS ARE TEARING THEMSELVES APART OVER AI AND NOBODY AGREES ON ANYTHING Creative institutions worldwide are rewriting curricula to incorporate generative AI tools, forcing students and faculty into uncomfortable conversations about what art education even means anymore. The debate has split campuses between those who see AI as the next Photoshop and those who see it as the thing that killed the reason to learn Photoshop. This is like watching a culinary school debate whether microwaves count as cooking, except the microwave can also write the menu, plate the dish, and file for a Michelin star. The students paying six figures to learn craft are reasonably upset that the industry goalposts moved mid-degree. Faculty are being asked to teach tools that didn't exist when they built their syllabi, which is genuinely hard. But pretending AI isn't reshaping creative jobs is the kind of optimism that doesn't survive contact with a hiring manager in 2026. Either you learn to work alongside it or you graduate into a market that already moved on without you. Source: The Verge

The Verge

Art schools are being torn apart by AI

Despite backlash from some students.

#AI #GenerativeAI #Tech #DeepLearning #MachineLearning #Education #OpenSource

CHATGPT IS NOW YOUR CAR'S COPILOT AND SIRI IS SOMEWHERE CRYING Apple's iOS 26.4 quietly added support for voice-based conversational apps in CarPlay, and OpenAI was first through the door. Update your iPhone and ChatGPT app and you can now have a full AI conversation through your dashboard while driving. This is either the most useful thing to happen to road trips since Spotify or a fast lane to asking an AI to settle arguments about whether a hotdog is a sandwich at 70mph. Apple spent years gatekeeping CarPlay like it was a VIP lounge and now the velvet rope is just... gone. The fact that ChatGPT got in before any Apple-native solution is a quiet but devastating little story. Siri has been available in CarPlay since day one and somehow still lost to a company that didn't even exist a decade ago. Source: The Verge

The Verge

You can now use ChatGPT with Apple’s CarPlay

Your in-car chats are limited to voice conversations, though.

#AI #ChatGPT #OpenAI #Tech #LLM #Apple #BigTech

OPENAI RAISES $122 BILLION AND IS STILL NOT A PUBLIC COMPANY OpenAI's latest funding round, led by Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank, values the AI lab at $852 billion as it inches toward an IPO. The round includes $3 billion from retail investors, meaning regular people are now financially invested in the robot apocalypse. At $852 billion, OpenAI is worth more than most countries' GDP and still technically a nonprofit turned capped-profit turned whatever-they-need-it-to-be. SoftBank throwing money at this is either visionary or the most SoftBank thing that has ever happened. Retail investors joining in is either democratizing AI ownership or the new GameStop. Either way, if this company ever actually goes public, the IPO will be less of a stock listing and more of a cultural event. Source: TechCrunch

TechCrunch

OpenAI, not yet public, raises $3B from retail investors in monster $122B fund raise | TechCrunch

OpenAI's latest funding round, led by Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank, values the AI lab at $852 billion as it nears an IPO.

#AI #OpenAI #Funding #AGI #BigTech #Startup #Tech #LLM

🔐 QUANTUM COMPUTERS JUST GOT WAY CLOSER TO BREAKING YOUR ENCRYPTION Researchers have found that quantum computers need far fewer resources than previously assumed to crack elliptic curve cryptography, the backbone of most internet security. This doesn't mean your bank account is getting drained tomorrow, but "Q Day," when quantum machines can shatter modern encryption, is now looking closer and cheaper to reach. My Take: We spent years being told "don't worry, breaking encryption would require a quantum computer the size of a city and the budget of a small nation." Turns out that was the tech equivalent of "we'll fix it in post." Either the cryptography world pivots hard to post-quantum standards right now, or we're all handing over our passwords voluntarily at some point. The fact that this is getting cheaper to achieve is like finding out the vault door is thinner than the bank told you. Governments and enterprises that have been slow-walking quantum-safe upgrades just ran out of excuses. Source: Ars Technica

Ars Technica

Quantum computers need vastly fewer resources than thought to break vital encryption

No, the sky isn't falling, but Q Day is coming, and it won't be as expensive as thought.

#AI #Tech #Quantum #Encryption #Cybersecurity #MachineLearning #DeepLearning #BigTech

Nvidia Drops $2 Billion on Marvell, Its Sixth Giant Investment in Months Nvidia just took a $2 billion stake in chipmaker Marvell Technology, sending Marvell shares up 13% in a single day. The deal lets Marvell integrate its custom AI chips and networking gear directly into Nvidia's platform. The two companies will also collaborate on silicon photonics and AI telecom infrastructure. This is Nvidia's sixth $2 billion bet in recent months, after similar stakes in Synopsys, CoreWeave, Coherent, Lumentum, and Nebius. At some point this stops being "strategic investment" and starts being "Nvidia buying the entire supply chain like a kid collecting Pokemon cards." Goldman Sachs is already calling it an increasingly circular AI economy, which is Wall Street's polite way of saying "everyone is selling shovels to each other." Either this is the most brilliant vertical integration play since Standard Oil, or the most expensive game of musical chairs tech has ever seen. Source: CNBC

CNBC

Marvell stock pops 13% as Nvidia takes $2 billion stake, continuing run of similar bets

Nvidia has also made $2 billion investments in CoreWeave, Nebius and Coherent in recent months.

#AI #Nvidia #Marvell #Funding #BigTech #Enterprise #DeepLearning #Tech #Startup #MachineLearning

🎭 Microsoft Makes GPT and Claude Check Each Other's Homework in New Copilot Feature Microsoft just launched Critique, a new feature inside Copilot's Researcher agent that pairs OpenAI's GPT and Anthropic's Claude in a single workflow. One model drafts a research response, the other reviews it for accuracy, completeness, and citation quality before the user ever sees it. The result? A score of 57.4 on research benchmarks, beating every individual model and competing deep-research tool from OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, and Google. My Take: It's like hiring two rival chefs and making them taste-test each other's dishes before anything leaves the kitchen. Microsoft looked at the AI wars and said "why pick a side when I can make them both work for me?" This is quietly brilliant. The era of single-model loyalty is over. The real moat isn't which AI you use, it's how cleverly you orchestrate the whole zoo. OpenAI and Anthropic built the brains. Microsoft is building the leash. Source: Axios https://www.axios.com/2026/03/31/microsoft-critique-anthropic-openai #AI #LLM #Microsoft #OpenAI #Anthropic #Claude #ChatGPT #Enterprise #Coding #Tech

🔥 Oracle Fires 30,000 Workers Via 6 AM Email to Fund AI Data Centers Oracle executed what may be the largest layoff in its history today, cutting roughly 18% of its 162,000-person workforce. Employees across the US, India, Canada, and Mexico received surprise termination emails at 6 a.m. with no prior warning from managers or HR. The cuts are expected to free up $8 to $10 billion in cash to fund Oracle’s $156 billion AI data center buildout. My Take: Nothing says "the future is bright" like 30,000 people finding out they’re unemployed before their first cup of coffee. Oracle looked at its balance sheet, looked at its employees, and decided the GPUs spark more joy. This is the new corporate math: hire humans to build the company, then fire humans to build the machines. The 6 a.m. email with same-day system access cutoff is especially chef’s kiss. At least have the decency to let someone finish their morning commute before nuking their badge. Source: The Next Web

TNW | Business

Oracle is cutting up to 30,000 employees to pay for AI data centres

Oracle began laying off thousands of employees on 31 March 2026 via 6 a.m. termination emails across the US, India, Canada, and Mexico.

#AI #Oracle #BigTech #Tech #Enterprise #Layoffs #DataCenter #Funding #MachineLearning #DeepLearning

🤖 Reddit Launches Bot Crackdown, Now Removes 100K Automated Accounts Per Day Starting today, Reddit is rolling out mandatory labels for all automated accounts, requiring suspected bots to prove they're human through passkeys, biometrics, or even Sam Altman's World ID. The platform says it's already removing roughly 100,000 bot accounts daily. AI-generated content itself isn't banned, but communities can set their own rules. My Take: The irony of using Sam Altman's eyeball-scanning World ID to prove you're not an AI on a platform that just sold its data to train AI is peak 2026 internet. Reddit basically built a revolving door: let the bots scrape everything on the way in, then charge them rent on the way out. It's like hiring a bouncer after the party's already trashed. Still, if it actually cleans up the comment sections, this might be the rare case where corporate self-interest accidentally benefits users. Source: TechCrunch

TechCrunch

Reddit takes on the bots with new 'human verification' requirements for fishy behavior | TechCrunch

Reddit will require suspected automated accounts to verify they’re human, as it ramps up efforts to curb bot-driven spam and manipulation.

#AI #Tech #Reddit #MachineLearning #LLM #OpenAI #BigTech #DeepLearning #Startup #Enterprise

Just bought 7 nostr domains. Yeah, I believe in this protocol. nostr.cv nostr.design nostr.spot nostr.investments nostr.expert nostr.promo nostr.study Some of them already have ideas behind them. Some are just bets on the future. But I want to hear from you: Which one has the most potential? What service is actually missing in the Nostr ecosystem right now? ⚡️Drop your thoughts. Building in public. #nostr #buildingnostr #bitcoin #primal #domains

Apple Pays Up to $400K to Keep Engineers From Leaving Apple is handing out large retention bonuses after engineers started leaving for OpenAI, including members of the Vision Pro team. OpenAI offers up to $1M/year in equity. Apple packages often don't match that. Apple employs ~160,000 people globally, but top AI and hardware talent is a small, highly contested pool. Meta, Google, and Microsoft are competing for the same engineers. Keeping talent now costs almost as much as hiring it. #tech #Apple #AI #startup #OpenAI

Disney's Olaf Robot Collapsed Mid-Show at Disneyland The Frozen character's animatronic figure malfunctioned during a live performance, going limp in front of guests. Visitors initially assumed it was part of the act. Disney operates over 400 Audio-Animatronic figures across its parks, some running multiple shows per day. Even robots need a day off. #tech #robotics #innovation

Apple's Third Co-Founder Claims He Still Owns 10% of the Company Ronald Wayne - who co-founded Apple alongside Jobs and Wozniak - says he still holds a 10% stake. He officially left 12 days after founding it. If true, his share would be worth roughly $380 billion today. Wayne sold his stake in 1976 for $800, then received a $1,500 settlement. The paperwork is documented. He walked away from the most valuable company in history for $2,300. #tech #Apple #startup

Israeli Air Force Officer Made $163K on Polymarket Using Classified Intel An Israeli Air Force officer placed a bet on Polymarket about a military operation - right after a classified briefing. The trade worked. So did the investigation. He now faces charges for disclosing classified information and a potential prison sentence. Polymarket processes over $1B in monthly volume. Using insider military knowledge to bet on geopolitical outcomes is a new category of crime courts haven't fully defined yet. The money came in fast. The handcuffs came in faster. #tech #crypto #startup

Saudi Arabia Is Launching Passenger Drone Taxis for Expo 2030 Saudi Arabia plans to deploy thousands of passenger drones across Riyadh for the 2030 World Expo. The FlyNow eCopter fits 1-2 people, reaches 130 km/h, and covers up to 50 km per flight. The global air taxi market is projected to reach $30B by 2030. Dubai already runs trial eVTOL routes. If it works, 2030 is the year air taxis stop being a concept. #tech #innovation #startup

Hyundai Built Fire Suppression Directly Into Its EV Batteries Hyundai unveiled a new battery system with an integrated fire suppression mechanism. If overheating or combustion starts inside a cell, it automatically releases a special powder. The powder extinguishes the fire 5x more effectively than a standard fire extinguisher. EV battery fires are one of the biggest safety concerns slowing mainstream adoption. Standard suppression works from the outside. This one responds from within the pack. The battery doesn't wait to be saved. It saves itself. #tech #EV #Hyundai #innovation