Pippa, a new AI startup, offers text-to-video generation while aiming to ethically compensate artists whose styles are used. Cofounders Hogan Shrum and Sean Wright believe their model will attract customers, but face skepticism from artists concerned about low payments and the technology's reliance on internet-scraped art.
CuspAI, a Cambridge-based AI startup, secured $450m (£330m) in Series B funding from investors including Jeff Bezos and the UK government, valuing it at $2.6bn. The company aims to develop AI-powered software to discover new materials, reducing research times and reliance on rare metals for chipmakers and other industries.
xAI has sued Terry Harwood in Texas federal court, alleging he misused its AI system Grok to create child sexual abuse material and non-consensual sexual imagery of adults, violating terms of service. This is among the first such lawsuits by an AI company.
Elon Musk has reversed his stance on AI startup Anthropic, calling himself "clearly wrong" and praising the Claude maker as the current AI leader. This marks a significant shift from his earlier criticisms, which included calling the company "woke" and "hypocritical."
Rishabh Agrawal, an IIT Bombay graduate and AI entrepreneur, clarified reports about declining a Meta offer. He stated the offer was higher than reported, but he chose to leave to pursue his own AI startup, aligning with his long-term vision and a growing trend among young engineers.
SpaceX reported a $4.9bn loss in 2025 on $18.7bn revenue, with losses widening in Q1 2026. The AI unit is a major cost center. Future plans include Mars colonization, space tourism, and orbital datacenters, while Elon Musk will retain 85% voting control.
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. will hear arguments on Tuesday in Anthropic's lawsuit challenging its blacklisting by the Department of Defense as a supply chain risk. The DOD claims Anthropic's AI models pose a national security threat, while the company argues the designation is unlawful and unsupported.
AI coding startup Cursor is in talks to raise a $2 billion funding round at over $50 billion valuation, excluding the new investment. Andreessen Horowitz is slated to co-lead, with Nvidia and Thrive Capital also participating. The three firms have previously backed Cursor, which closed a $2.3 billion round at $29.3 billion valuation in November.
