ChatGPT adds 1 million users (in 1 hr)

👋 Good morning/evening (wherever you are). It’s Monday.

OpenAI is on fire.

1. Bloomberg’s early reports last week were correct — OpenAI said on Monday it would raise $40 billion in a new funding round led by SoftBank Group at a $300 billion valuation.

2. Apparently, 1 million more users joined ChatGPT today (within one hour). To be fair, this is likely counting multiple accounts per user…but it’s still impressive.

3. Also, GPT image gen is now available to all free users (as of 5:33pm PT). Have fun (chat.com —> chatgpt.com)

OK let’s keep going ↓

Here’s what you should know:

• Runway Gen-4 (they’re back)

  The team is back and the recent demos look amazing. Image-to-video capabilities look even better.

• Higgsfield AI comes out of nowhere

  Led by Alex Mashrabov (former Director of GenAI at Snap). Their recent update has almost 100 camera/motion controls.

• Apple brings Apple Intelligence to the Vision Pro

  The update also introduces new spatial experiences and the Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone.

• Manus launches paid subscription plans and a mobile app

  Is this worth $39 per month?

• Amazon reveals new site for Nova

  AI agent that can control a web browser…

• Perplexity CEO denies having financial issues, says no IPO before 2028

  Read this full Reddit response.

• Microsoft expands AI features

  Now all Copilot Plus PCs can generate Live Captions.

• China's Zhipu AI launches free AI agent, intensifying domestic tech race

  The product, called AutoGLM Rumination, can perform deep research as well as tasks including web searches, travel planning, and research report writing.

The numbers:

• AMD has completed its $4.9 billion purchase of ZT Systems, a designer of data-center equipment for cloud computing and artificial intelligence

• The European Commission will invest €1.3 billion in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and digital skills through the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) for 2025 to 2027

• Isomorphic Labs, Google DeepMind’s drug discovery spin-off, raises $600M to power next-gen drug design model, led by Thrive Capital, with participation from GV and existing investor Alphabet (Google's parent)

• Scale AI seeking valuation as high as $25 billion in potential tender offer, Business Insider reports

• Retym, a chip startup, raised $75 million Series D, led by Spark Capital, to pursue networking chips for artificial intelligence computing in data centers

• Layer Health, a health technology company using AI for chart review, raised a $21M Series A led by Define Ventures

Thought starters:

• ChatGPT’s new image generator is really good at faking receipts

• The Secrets and Misdirection Behind Sam Altman’s Firing From OpenAI

Meme of the day:

Thanks for reading,

Eddie

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