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- OpenAI's staggering valuation
Welcome back.
OpenAI just landed a massive $40 billion boost from SoftBank, sending its valuation soaring to $300 billion.
With fresh cash and plans to finally open up its models, OpenAI’s strategy just took a major turn.
Let's dive into what that means.
In today’s release:
1. OpenAI secures an investment
2. Runway launches Gen-4
3. An open-weight model from OpenAI
OpenAI secures $40B investment from SoftBank
OpenAI has raised $40 billion in a new funding round led by SoftBank, valuing the company at a staggering $300 billion. The deal includes an initial $10 billion investment, with another $30 billion on the table by the end of 2025 if key milestones are met. Microsoft and several major tech investors also participated in the round.
The funding comes at a time when OpenAI is seeing explosive growth. The company says the funds will help it push forward toward AGI (artificial general intelligence), and build a more open AI model, a notable shift from its previously closed approach.
Investors: SoftBank (75%), Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter, Thrive Capital.
OpenAI’s user base growth: A new image tool drove 1M users in just 1 hour.
Open model: Plans to release a fine-tuneable, open-weight version soon (more details below).
This marks a strategic turn for OpenAI, which had previously argued that open models were riskier. The move comes amid rising pressure from rivals like Meta and DeepSeek, whose freely available models have seen strong adoption across industries.
How can you use this to your advantage?
For developers and businesses, OpenAI’s upcoming open-weight model could offer more control and flexibility, finally making its tools suitable for privacy-focused and enterprise use cases. Expect new ways to customize and fine-tune ChatGPT-like models without relying on third-party APIs.
Runway launches Gen-4
Runway has released Gen-4, a next-gen AI video model that sets a new benchmark for realism, motion, and consistency in AI-generated video. Gen-4 brings unmatched control over characters, locations, and styles across scenes, using just reference images and simple instructions.
Gen-4 builds on its predecessor, Gen-3 Alpha, with better prompt accuracy and dynamic video generation, including coherent environments and realistic motion. Users can generate videos where characters stay consistent across lighting conditions and camera angles.
Realism upgrade: Best-in-class motion and physics simulation.
Visual control: Use reference images + text prompts to shape scenes.
Enterprise-ready: API access, film studio partnerships, and rising demand.
Backed by Google, Salesforce, and Nvidia, Runway is aiming to become a leader in generative video, even as it faces legal challenges over training data. The company is now reportedly raising funds at a $4B valuation, hoping to reach $300M in annual revenue this year.
How can you use this to your advantage?
If you're a marketer or content creator, Gen-4 gives you realistic-looking visuals at a fraction of the cost. Use it to rapidly prototype scenes, generate storyboards, or even produce full narratives.
OpenAI to release first open-weight language model
OpenAI is preparing to launch a new open-weight language model, its first since GPT-2, in the coming months. The company announced the plan alongside a public feedback form, inviting developers and researchers to share what they'd like to see in the model and how they plan to use it.
The release signals a strategic shift for OpenAI, which has historically kept its models closed. CEO Sam Altman recently admitted that the company had been “on the wrong side of history” when it comes to open source and said the upcoming model will include “reasoning” capabilities similar to OpenAI’s o3-mini.
Community input: OpenAI is hosting dev sessions in SF, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
Model features: Expected to support basic reasoning, customization, and local use.
Safety first: The model will be reviewed using OpenAI’s “preparedness framework” pre-release.
New direction: Follows pressure from Meta (Llama) and DeepSeek’s rapid open-source rise.
With rivals like Meta and DeepSeek gaining traction through open releases, this move may help OpenAI regain favour with developers who prefer to run AI models on their own infrastructure.
How can you use this to your advantage?
If you build AI products or work in regulated industries, this model may let you customize and run OpenAI tech locally, giving you more control, privacy, and flexibility without needing to rely solely on API access.
OTHER AI NEWS
The voice is now available to everyone. To access it, open Voice Mode, tap the voice picker in the top right corner, and select Monday.
Tinder's new AI game lets users flirt with bots and get real-time feedback. Players practice voice-based dating skills and get scored with flame emojis.
Sam Altman said ChatGPT's surge in users is causing delays of upcoming models and performance issues. New features like image and video generation are being limited as OpenAI works to scale.
Fine-tuned GemmaCoder3-12B boosts code reasoning by 11 points on LiveCodeBench. It fits in 32GB RAM, handles 128k context, and supports <think> for deeper logic.
You can now edit images in Krea Chat using the Gemini AI model.
POPULAR AI TOOLS
Grimo (:b)eta → Cursor for writing.
OctoComics → An AI Comic creation tool.
Keyword Research Tool → Quickly research keywords with no sign-ups or payments.
Nonillion → Immersive meetings with automation in pixel-virtual offices.
Runway Gen-4 → The next-generation series of AI models for media generation.
AND THAT’S A WRAP
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Mike