Elon Musk's AI startup xAI has raised $10 billion to expand infrastructure and develop its controversial Grok chatbot, amid fierce competition with OpenAI and Anthropic, and is set to unveil a major model upgrade despite recent backlash over offensive content.
Apple reportedly considering third-party AI technologies to power the new Siri; Clio acquired vLex; Tech companies score two victories in copyright infringement rulings; Synthflow AI's Series A; Abridge's Series E; Harvey's $300M Series E; and more.
Two recent court rulings determined that Anthropic and Meta's use of massive amounts of scraped text to train their AI models is consistent with fair use. The rulings will help shape a legal landscape in which creators and publishers continue to fight against unauthorized use of their content.
Clio, a leading legal technology company, announced a $1 billion acquisition of vLex, a legal intelligence platform with advanced AI capabilities, creating a unified system that bridges legal practice management with comprehensive legal research and marking the largest deal in Clio's history.
Synthflow AI raised $20 million in Series A funding to scale its no-code enterprise voice AI platform. Synthflow claims its platform has processed 45 million calls for more than 1,000 customers, and saved 5 million hours of contact center operations.
Abridge raised $300 million in Series E funding led by Andreessen Horowitz to scale its AI platform that converts medical conversations into compliant documentation in real-time. Abridge currently serves over 150 health systems; studies show it reduces clinician burnout by up to 70%.
Meta's aggressive AI recruiting campaign, featuring multi-million-dollar compensation packages and outreach directly from Mark Zuckerberg, has successfully poached key researchers from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Newly hired talent will be organized as a new "superintelligence" division.
Harvey AI, a legal AI startup, raised $300 million in Series E funding at a $5 billion valuation—a 67% increase from just four months ago. Harvey plans to expand its workforce and diversify beyond legal services into other professional areas, like tax accounting.
Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati has raised $2 billion for her mysterious six-month-old startup, Thinking Machines Lab, at a $10 billion valuation. Notably, the startup has revealed virtually no details about its actual product or plans.
Cluely, the controversial AI startup that helps users "cheat on everything," raised $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz just months after raising a $5.3 million seed round.
The BBC is threatening legal action against Perplexity AI for allegedly reproducing BBC content without permission, marking the first time the British broadcaster has taken such steps against an AI company over copyright infringement.
Microsoft and OpenAI continue to clash over OpenAI's for-profit conversion terms, ownership stakes, and intellectual property rights. OpenAI reportedly does not want to give Microsoft access to Windsurf's intellectual property, and even considered accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive behavior.