As the AI race intensifies, it seems big tech corporations are begging the government for more involvement.
Just a few weeks ago we discussed Microsoftthe company’s machinations to avoid greater antitrust scrutiny at the same time as it broadcasts more deals in the AI space. That includes its highly unusual relationship with generative AI startup AI Variation which is now referred for preliminary investigation into merger in UK
Well, this week there was more of that – this time from a good friend Google.
Search giant strikes ‘non-exclusive’ licensing deal with AI chatbot startup Character.ai for LLM technology, and also brought the company’s co-founders back to Google — where they worked before founding Character.ai.
What’s weird about this deal is that it’s… reported that Character’s employees were told that investors can be bought out at a valuation of $2.5 billion — a significant increase from the $1 billion the company was valued at after closing a $150 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
What’s strange is not the valuation, but the indisputable fact that this is all structured as something completely different than an acquisition.
Investors are being bought out, a licensing agreement for satrtup’s technology is in place, and co-founders are leaving to join the licensee — but is not that an acquisition?
AI seems to have made enterprise capitalists lose touch with reality when it comes to valuations, and corporations have apparently turn out to be, we could say, very “creative” in the way they structure deals.
This deal could be expected to generate as much interest as the Microsoft/Inflection deal, irrespective of how anyone tries to present it.
Of course, Google has more vital things on its mind now that it has been discovered that acted illegally to maintain a monopoly on web search. Nevertheless, the search giant could soon find itself among a group of recent regulators who will take a closer look at it.
Things that caught our attention and other things:
- We knew it couldn’t be that easy. Earlier this 12 months, Elon Musk he submitted lawsuit against OpenAI and its management team, including co-founder and CEO Sam Altman — for allegedly violating the company’s founding agreement to develop artificial general intelligence for the good of humanity. Just a few months later, Musk unexpectedly withdrew the lawsuit. Now — he’s back. In a renewed criticismcapricious Musk says he was manipulated into believing OpenAI can be a nonprofit and was duped into helping fund the company and attract talent. Like most things with Musk, give it two or three months and it’ll probably go away.
- Investors proceed to flock to OpenAI’s Chinese rivals as the country looks to stay ahead in the generative AI race. Moonshot AI closed on a recent $300 million from corporations like Tencent Holdings at a valuation of $3.3 billion, according to Bloomberg. At the starting of this 12 months it was reported Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI Over $1 billion raised in a funding round led by Alibaba Holding Group and HongShan, formerly Sequoia Capital ChinaJust last month, Tencent and Alibaba helped found a Chinese generative AI startup Baichuan Interview$700 million financing round.
- Based in New York Develop capital raised $5 billion in two recent funds to look at recent opportunities in artificial intelligence, according to WSJ. The funds include a $4 billion growth fund and a $1 billion early-stage fund. The company, co-founded by Josh Kushnerrecently he made a big bet on a film studio A24 and a cybersecurity company Wizard