OpenAI executive shuffle includes new role for COO Brad Lightcap to lead ‘special projects’

OpenAI executive shuffle includes new role for COO Brad Lightcap to lead ‘special projects’

A handful of OpenAI executives are transitioning into new roles, according to a report from Bloomberg. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the personnel changes to TechCrunch. CEO of AGI development Fidji Simo announced in a memo that Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s COO, has a new job leading “special projects,” which will involve “complex deals and investments across…

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Anthropic is having a moment in the private markets; SpaceX could spoil the party

Anthropic is having a moment in the private markets; SpaceX could spoil the party

Glen Anderson has been brokering trades in private company shares since 2010, back when the number of institutional investors focused on the late-stage private market could be counted on two hands. Today, he says, there are thousands. As president of the investment bank Rainmaker Securities, which focuses solely on private securities markets and facilitates transactions…

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The Sora-Disney Collapse: What Does It Mean?

The Sora-Disney Collapse: What Does It Mean?

On Tuesday afternoon the bomb dropped. OpenAI was closing down Sora, and its Disney deal was over. The big video-generation tool that was supposed to turn Disney+ into a user-generated paradise — or a field of memeslop, depending on your point of view — is no longer. And maybe, with it, OpenAI’s Hollywood ambitions are…

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The Pentagon is developing alternatives to Anthropic, report says

The Pentagon is developing alternatives to Anthropic, report says

After their dramatic falling-out, it doesn’t seem as though Anthropic and the Pentagon are getting back together. Instead, the Pentagon is building tools to replace Anthropic’s AI, according to a Bloomberg conversation with Cameron Stanley, the chief digital and AI officer at the Pentagon. “The Department is actively pursuing multiple LLMs into the appropriate government-owned…

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The biggest AI stories of the year (so far)

The biggest AI stories of the year (so far)

You can chart a year through product launches, or you can measure it in the greater moments that change the way we look at AI. The AI industry is constantly churning out news, like major acquisitions, indie developer successes, public outcry against sketchy products, and existentially dangerous contract negotiations — it’s a lot to untangle,…

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OpenAI acquires Promptfoo to secure its AI agents

OpenAI acquires Promptfoo to secure its AI agents

OpenAI announced Monday it has acquired Promptfoo, an AI security startup founded in 2024 to protect LLMs from online adversaries. The frontier lab said in a blog post that once the deal closes, Promptfoo’s technology will be integrated into OpenAI Frontier, its enterprise platform for AI agents. The development of independent AI agents that perform…

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Will the Pentagon’s Anthropic controversy scare startups away from defense work?

Will the Pentagon’s Anthropic controversy scare startups away from defense work?

In just over a week, negotiations over the Pentagon’s use of Anthropic’s Claude technology fell through, the Trump administration designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk, and the AI company said it would fight that designation in court. OpenAI, meanwhile, quickly announced a deal of its own, prompting backlash that saw users uninstalling ChatGPT and pushing Anthropic’s…

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