OpenAI Claims It Reached $10 Billion In Annual Revenue

OpenAI claimed it reached $10 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR), up from $5.5 billion the previous year, primarily driven by its ChatGPT business products and developer API, with three million paying business customers. The company aims to achieve $125 billion in revenue by 2029. An OpenAI spokesperson provided CNBC with these figures and stated that the company, which launched its flagship product ChatGPT two and a half years ago, is currently serving more than 500 million weekly active users. However, the San Francisco-based research lab refused to disclose its operating expenses or whether it is close to profitability. Last year, it lost about $5 billion. In March, OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round, marking the largest private tech deal on record. According to today’s metrics, OpenAI is valued at approximately $157 billion, which is 30 times its revenue. This number highlights the growth expectations of some of its largest investors. OpenAI is backed by Japan’s SoftBank, Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter, Thrive, and other notable venture capital firms.

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Google Announced an Initiative to Invest in AI Startups

Google announced its AI Futures Fund this month. The fund will invest in startups from seed to late-stage using AI tools developed by DeepMind, the company’s R&D lab. Google's support will also include early access to Google AI models from DeepMind, working with experts from DeepMind and Google Labs, and Cloud credits. Some startups will also have the opportunity to receive direct investment from Google. "When we come across companies that align with the fund’s thesis, we may choose to invest," said a Google representative. AI Futures Fund already has some case studies, such as the meme-making platform Viggle and the webtoon app Toonsutra. Over the past few months, Google has committed to supporting the next generation of AI talent and scientific breakthroughs. • In November 2024, Google.org, the company’s charitable wing, announced a $20 million cash commitment to researchers and scientists working in AI. • In September, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the company was creating a $120 million Global AI Opportunity fund to help bring AI education and training to more places worldwide. • Google.org also launched a $20 million generative AI accelerator program to cut checks to nonprofits developing AI tech. • Google for Startups Founders Fund supports founders from an array of industries and backgrounds building companies, including AI companies.

An Avatar of Legendary Novelist Agatha Christie Teaches a Course at BBC

IBL News | New York With the goal of teaching an online course on BBC, the legendary British novelist Agatha Christie, who died in 1976, has been animated or re-enacted with the help of a team of researchers and an AI-made digital prosthetic fitted over an actor's performance (Vivien Keene). The course on BBC Maestro is an online lecture series similar to MasterClass, priced at $105. Amid a heated debate about the limits and the ethics of AI, the chief executive of BBC Maestro, Michael Levine, told The New York Times, "We are not trying to pretend, in any way, that this is Agatha somehow brought to life; this is just a representation of Agatha to teach her own craft. “We’re not speaking for her,” Agatha Christie's family said. “We are collecting what she said and putting it out in a digestible and shareable format.” Some academics pointed out that even if the author’s family consented, Christie has not and cannot agree to the course. Therefore, it’s a deepfake. The NYT reported that AI technology has been used to talk to the dead, becoming a cottage industry for wealthy nostalgics. • BBC Maestro Courses

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Fierce Competition Among Chatbots for Being Second After Leading ChatGPT

What is the number two chatbot in terms of traffic in the world? There is fierce competition among players. However, they all pale compared to ChatGPT, which surged to 500 million weekly active users in late March. Google's Gemini web traffic increased to 10.9 million average daily visits in March, up 7.4% month-over-month. At the same time, the number of Microsoft OpenAI-powered Copilot users increased to 2.4 million, up 2.1 percent from February. In March, Anthropic's Claude reached an average of 3.3 million daily visits, xAI's Grok averaged 16.5 million, and Chinese DeepSeek received 16.5 million visits that month. In terms of apps, the consultant Sensor Tower highlighted the case of the Claude app, which saw a 21% week-over-week increase in weekly active users during the week of February 24, when Anthropic released its latest model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet. Also, Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash saw its app's weekly active users grow by 42%. Google brought a “canvas” feature to Gemini that lets users preview the output of coding projects.

Syracuse University Introduced Its New AI Platform for Teaching and Learning

Syracuse University, this month, during the forum "AI at Work," presented its AI platform developed in collaboration with ibl.ai, the parent company of this news service. At the center is MentorAI, a platform run entirely inside Syracuse’s cloud tenancies. Andrew Joncas, Leader, Architect, and Technology Evangelist, at Syracuse University, explained, "Creating an AI tutor no longer requires prompt-engineering expertise. Instructors upload a syllabus, slide deck, or even an MP4 lecture; Mentor AI generates an agent that can answer student questions, surface key points, or embed directly in Blackboard." Syracuse University owns data and code and pays by the API call rather than per-seat license; therefore, there’s no premium license, and administrators can mix and match models — from OpenAI GPT-4o to Google Gemini or open-source Llama. This approach also allows the university to adopt newer models as they mature. The same event highlighted the Blackboard AI Design Assistant, where AI suggests quiz items, assignments, and rubrics, as Michael Morrison stressed, the instructor remains in charge.

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The AI-Native University

Blueprint for the Institution of the Future

A practical guide for leaders reimagining higher education with AI at the core — not as an add-on, but as the foundation for how students learn, faculty teach, and institutions govern.

By Mikel Amigot

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