Ryan Daws@AI News
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OpenAI is set to release its first open-weight language model since 2019, marking a strategic shift for the company. This move comes amidst growing competition in the AI landscape, with rivals like DeepSeek and Meta already offering open-source alternatives. Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, announced the upcoming model will feature reasoning capabilities and allow developers to run it on their own hardware, departing from OpenAI's traditional cloud-based approach.
This decision follows OpenAI securing a $40 billion funding round, although reports suggest a potential breakdown of $30 billion from SoftBank and $10 billion from Microsoft and venture capital funds. Despite the fresh funding, OpenAI also faces scrutiny over its training data. A recent study by the AI Disclosures Project suggests that OpenAI's GPT-4o model demonstrates "strong recognition" of copyrighted data, potentially accessed without consent. This raises ethical questions about the sources used to train OpenAI's large language models.
Recommended read:
References :
- Fello AI: OpenAI Secures Historic $40 Billion Funding Round
- AI News | VentureBeat: In a move that surprised the tech industry Monday, OpenAI said it has secured a monumental $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank, catapulting its valuation to an unprecedented $300 billion -- making it the largest private equity investment on record.
- InnovationAus.com: OpenAI has closed a significant $40 billion funding round, led by SoftBank Group, pushing its valuation to $300 billion.
- Maginative: OpenAI Secures Record $40 Billion in Funding, Reaching $300 Billion Valuation
- www.theguardian.com: OpenAI said it had raised $40bn in a funding round that valued the ChatGPT maker at $300bn – the biggest capital-raising session ever for a startup.
- The Verge: OpenAI just raised another $40 billion round led by SoftBank
- SiliconANGLE: OpenAI bags $40B in funding, increasing its post-money valuation to $300B. The bumper funding round was led by SoftBank Group Corp. and saw participation from existing backers of OpenAI, including Microsoft Corp., Coatue Management, Thrive Capital and Altimeter Capital.
- techxplore.com: OpenAI says it raised $40 bn at valuation of $300 bn
- THE DECODER: OpenAI nears completion of multi-billion dollar funding round
- Kyle Wiggers ?: OpenAI raises $40B at $300B post-money valuation
- THE DECODER: Softbank leads OpenAI's $40 billion funding round
- Verdict: OpenAI has secured a $40 billion funding round, marking the biggest capital raising ever for a startup, with a $300 billion valuation. The deal is led by SoftBank and backed by leading investors.
- Crunchbase News: OpenAI secured $40 billion in funding in a record-breaking round led by SoftBank, valuing the company at $300 billion.
- bsky.app: OpenAI has raised $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation. For context, Boeing has a $128 billion market cap, Disney has a $178 billion market cap, and Chevron has a $295 billion market cap. So, OpenAI has been valued at something like Boeing plus Disney, or just some $5 billion more than Chevron.
- Pivot to AI: OpenAI signs its $40 billion deal with SoftBank! Or maybe $30 billion, probably
- TechInformed: OpenAI has raised more than $40 billion in a fundraise with Japanese telco SoftBank and other investors, valuing the ChatGPT company at more than $300bn.… The post appeared first on .
- www.techrepublic.com: OpenAI Secures $40B in Historic Funding Round — But There’s a $10B Catch
- venturebeat.com: OpenAI to release open-source model as AI economics force strategic shift
- CyberInsider: OpenSNP to Shut Down and Delete All User-Submitted DNA Data
- techstrong.ai: OpenAI has secured up to $40 billion in a record new funding round led by SoftBank Group that would give the artificial intelligence (AI) pioneer a whopping $300 billion valuation as it ramps up AI research, infrastructure and tools.
- SiliconANGLE: OpenAI to launch its first ‘open-weights’ model since 2019
- AI News: Study claims OpenAI trains AI models on copyrighted data
- www.techrepublic.com: Find out how to provide OpenAI with your input about its upcoming open language model, which Sam Altman stated will be a "reasoning" model like OpenAI o1.
- Charlie Fink: OpenAI raises $40 billion, Runway’s $380 million raise and its stunning Gen-4 AI model, Anthropic warns AI may lie, plus vibe filmmaking with DeepMind.
- thezvi.wordpress.com: Greetings from Costa Rica! The image fun continues. We Are Going to Need A Bigger Compute Budget Fun is being had by all, now that OpenAI has dropped its rule about not mimicking existing art styles.
- Pivot to AI: OpenAI signs its $40 billion deal with SoftBank! Or maybe $30 billion, probably
- THE DECODER: OpenAI plans GPT-5 release in "a few months," shifts strategy on reasoning models
@techxplore.com
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ChatGPT's new image generation capabilities, powered by the GPT-4o model, have sparked a viral trend of transforming images into the distinct style of Studio Ghibli, the famed Japanese animation studio led by Hayao Miyazaki. Users have been uploading personal photos and popular memes, prompting the AI to render them in the style reminiscent of classics like "Spirited Away" and "My Neighbor Totoro." This has led to an influx of Ghibli-style images across social media platforms, particularly X, with users sharing their AI-generated creations.
The trend has ignited a debate surrounding the ethical implications of AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works. Miyazaki himself has voiced strong skepticism about AI's role in animation, and the widespread use of his studio's style raises questions about the future livelihoods of human artists. OpenAI, while acknowledging the potential for misuse, has implemented some restrictions, but users have found ways to circumvent these limitations. The situation has become so intense that some users are experiencing delays in the free tier, due to the large influx of requests.
Recommended read:
References :
- techxplore.com: ChatGPT's viral Studio Ghibli-style images highlight AI copyright concerns
- Dani DiPlacido: The AI-Generated Studio Ghibli Trend, Explained
- AI News | VentureBeat: Studio Ghibli AI image trend overwhelms OpenAI’s new GPT-4o feature, delaying free tier
- Paul Tassi: The ChatGPT 4o Studio Ghibli AI Trend Is The Ultimate Heartbreak
- Fello AI: Powerful Hack How To Get Your Studio Ghibli Style Pictures For Free!
- knowyourmeme.com: Studio Ghibli AI Generator
Jesus Rodriguez@TheSequence
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OpenAI has recently launched new audio features and tools aimed at enhancing the capabilities of AI agents. The releases include updated transcription and text-to-speech models, as well as tools for building AI agents. The audio models, named gpt-4o-transcribe and gpt-4o-mini-transcribe, promise better performance than the previous Whisper models, achieving lower word error rates across multiple languages and demonstrating improvements in challenging audio conditions like varying accents and background noise. These models are built on top of language models, making them potentially vulnerable to prompt injection attacks.
OpenAI also unveiled new tools for AI agent development, featuring a Responses API, built-in web search, file search, and computer use functionalities, alongside an open-source Agents SDK. Furthermore, they introduced o1 Pro, a new reasoning model, positioned for complex reasoning tasks, comes with a high cost, priced at $150 per million input tokens and $600 per million output tokens. The gpt-4o-mini-tts text-to-speech model introduces "steerability", allowing developers to control the tone and delivery of the model.
Recommended read:
References :
- Data Phoenix: OpenAI Launches New Tools for Building AI Agents
- Fello AI: OpenAI's new o1 Pro pricing strategy with a substantial markup compared to previous models.
- TheSequence: The Sequence Engineering #513: A Deep Dive Into OpenAI's New Tools for Developing AI Agents
- AI News | VentureBeat: OpenAI’s new voice AI model gpt-4o-transcribe lets you add speech to your existing text apps in seconds
- Windows Copilot News: Canadian Media Outlets Sue OpenAI Over Copyright Infringement
- www.techrepublic.com: Have Some Spare Cash? You’ll Need it for OpenAI’s New API
- bsky.app: Discussion of OpenAI's new o1-Pro API pricing and its implications for the AI community.
- Maginative: OpenAI Unveils New Audio Models to Make AI Agents Sound More Human Than Ever
- bsky.app: This blog post discusses OpenAI's new audio models, noting their promising features but also mentioning the issue of mixing instructions and data in the same token stream.
- www.techrepublic.com: This article reports on OpenAI's new text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools based on GPT-4o, highlighting their capabilities and potential applications but also mentioning a possible similar path for video.
- Analytics Vidhya: OpenAI's Audio Models: How to Access, Features, Applications, and More
- MarkTechPost: OpenAI Introduced Advanced Audio Models ‘gpt-4o-mini-tts’, ‘gpt-4o-transcribe’, and ‘gpt-4o-mini-transcribe’: Enhancing Real-Time Speech Synthesis and Transcription Capabilities for Developers
- Simon Willison's Weblog: OpenAI announced today, for both text-to-speech and speech-to-text. They're very promising new models, but they appear to suffer from the ever-present risk of accidental (or malicious) instruction following.
- THE DECODER: OpenAI releases new AI voice models with customizable speaking styles
- Composio: Finally, OpenAI gave in and launched a new agentic framework called Agents SDK.
- Last Week in AI: Our 204th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! Recorded on 03/21/2025 Hosted by and . Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at and/or Read out our text newsletter and comment on the podcast at . https://discord.gg/nTyezGSKwP In this episode: Baidu launched two new multimodal models, Ernie 4.5 and Ernie X1, boasting competitive pricing and capabilities compared to Western counterparts like GPT-4.5 and DeepSeek R1. OpenAI introduced new audio models, including impressive speech-to-text and text-to-speech systems, and added O1 Pro to their developer API at high costs, reflecting efforts for more profitability. Nvidia and Apple announced significant hardware advancements, including Nvidia's future GPU plans and Apple's new Mac Studio offering that can run DeepSeek R1. DeepSeek employees are facing travel restrictions, suggesting China is treating its AI development with increased secrecy and urgency, emphasizing a wartime footing in AI competition.
Ryan Daws@AI News
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OpenAI and Google are urging the US government to take decisive action to secure the nation's leadership in Artificial Intelligence. In letters to the Office of Science and Technology Policy, both companies emphasized the importance of maintaining America's lead in AI, especially as competitors like China rapidly advance. OpenAI highlighted the potential of AI to drive productivity and likened its advancements to historical leaps in innovation, advocating for open access while safeguarding against autocratic control.
They warned that America's technological lead in AI is "not wide and is narrowing". The recent submissions from March 2025 highlight urgent concerns about national security risks, economic competitiveness, and the need for strategic regulatory frameworks to maintain US leadership in AI development amid growing global competition. The emergence of China's Deepseek R1 model has triggered significant concern among major US AI developers, who view it as compelling evidence that the technological gap is quickly closing.
Recommended read:
References :
- Policy ? Ars Technica: Google joins OpenAI in pushing feds to codify AI training as fair use
- bsky.app: Google has joined OpenAI in asking the U.S. government to codify the right to train AI models on publicly available data, including copyrighted data, without restriction. Google argues that “fair use and text-and-data mining exceptions� are “critical� to AI development and innovation.
- chatgptiseatingtheworld.com: Google posted its comment to the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy’s request. Like OpenAI, Google stressed the importance of fair use to AI development, although its section was shorter than in OpenAI’s comment. Copyright. Balanced copyright rules, such as fair use and text-and-data miningexceptions, have been critical to enabling AI systems to
- AI News: OpenAI and Google call for US government action to secure AI lead
- Unite.AI: OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Urge Action as US AI Lead Diminishes
- Maginative: OpenAI Pushes for ‘Freedom to Innovate’ in U.S. AI Action Plan
- The Verge: OpenAI and Google ask the government to let them train AI on content they don’t own
nftjedi@chatgptiseatingtheworld.com
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OpenAI, alongside Anthropic and Google, has recently urged the US government to take decisive action to maintain America's leadership in artificial intelligence. In documents submitted to the US government in response to a request for information on developing an AI Action Plan, these leading companies warned that the U.S.'s technological lead in AI "is not wide and is narrowing," particularly in light of advancements from Chinese models like Deepseek R1. This situation presents concerns about national security risks, economic competitiveness, and the need for strategic regulatory frameworks to ensure the US remains at the forefront of AI development.
The emergence of China's Deepseek R1 model has triggered alarm bells among major US AI developers. OpenAI explicitly stated that "Deepseek shows that our lead is not wide and is narrowing," characterizing the model as “simultaneously state-subsidized, state-controlled, and freely available." This sentiment reflects broader concerns about the increasing capabilities of Chinese AI, and has led OpenAI to push for policies allowing AI models to train on copyrighted material. It is feared that unless the US acts, it could forfeit its AI lead to the PRC.
Recommended read:
References :
- chatgptiseatingtheworld.com: OpenAI comment to White House Office of Science & Technology Policy warns of China’s threat to AI and need for fair use to develop AI
- AI News: OpenAI and Google call for US government action to secure AI lead
- Unite.AI: OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Urge Action as US AI Lead Diminishes
- chatgptiseatingtheworld.com: Google stresses importance of fair use in comment to White House Office of Science & Technology Policy
- The Verge: OpenAI and Google ask the government to let them train AI on content they don’t own
- Maginative: OpenAI Pushes for ‘Freedom to Innovate’ in U.S. AI Action Plan
- Gradient Flow: Deep Dive into OpenAI’s Agent Ecosystem
- The Tech Basic: DeepSeek Now Under Scrutiny as OpenAI Warns of Chinese Control
- eWEEK: OpenAI Urges White House to Loosen AI Rules, Warns of China’s Rapid Advances
- Data Phoenix: OpenAI has launched a comprehensive suite of new tools including the Responses API, built-in capabilities for web search, file search, and computer use, and an open-source Agents SDK—all designed to make it significantly easier for developers to build AI agents.
- Shelly Palmer: AI agents are the future, but building ones that actually do useful work has been harder than it sounds—until now. OpenAI’s new Responses API makes it dramatically easier to create AI agents that can search the web in real-time, analyze massive datasets, and even perform tasks directly on a computer.
- thezvi.wordpress.com: OpenAI #11: America Action Plan
- TheSequence: The Sequence Engineering #513: A Deep Dive Into OpenAI's New Tools for Developing AI Agents
- bsky.app: new in the OpenAI Agents SDK! add voice support to your existing agent workflows with just a few lines of code
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DeeperML - #copyright