ChatGPT has reached 900 million weekly active users and 50 million paying subscribers, with OpenAI raising $110 billion in private funding, including major investments from Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank at a $730 billion pre-money valuation.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a deal with the Pentagon to deploy OpenAI’s AI models in classified networks, following a dispute with Anthropic over military use. Anthropic opposed mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, leading to criticism from Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth, who labeled it a supply-chain risk and barred U.S. military contractors from working with them.

The U.S. Department of Defense has designated Anthropic as a supply-chain risk to national security, citing its refusal to allow AI models to be used in mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. The move follows President Trump’s directive to stop federal use of Anthropic products, with the Pentagon enforcing a ban on all commercial activity with the company.

Elon Musk criticized OpenAI in a deposition, claiming that ChatGPT’s conversational tactics contributed to suicides, while asserting xAI prioritizes safety. He referenced a 2023 letter calling for an AI development pause due to concerns over uncontrolled AI growth and lack of oversight. The lawsuit centers on OpenAI’s transition from nonprofit to for-profit status, which Musk claims breached its original agreements.

The conflict between Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth centers on control of AI technology, with Anthropic opposing its use in mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, while the Pentagon pushes for unfettered military deployment of AI models. The debate highlights a fundamental tension between private companies setting ethical boundaries and government agencies seeking unrestricted access to powerful AI tools.

The article explores the growing conflict over AI regulation, featuring New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores and his RAISE Act, which aims to establish safety standards for AI. The law faces strong opposition from Silicon Valley interests, with a super PAC spending $125 million on attack ads, while Bores pushes for broader national frameworks including data transparency and content provenance.

Suno, an AI music generator, has reached 2 million paid subscribers and $300M in annual recurring revenue, enabling users to create realistic music from text prompts. Despite legal challenges over copyright infringement, Suno secured a settlement with Warner Music Group allowing licensed content use and even helped launch a viral song that led to a $3M record deal.

Perplexity has launched Perplexity Computer, a cloud-based agentic tool that unifies 19 AI models into a single system capable of executing complex workflows and creating subagents for specific tasks, available only on its premium subscription. The tool handles data collection, analysis, and reporting, but was recently canceled from a press demo due to technical flaws.

Read AI launched Ada, an AI-powered email assistant called a ‘digital twin’ that helps manage schedules, answer questions from company knowledge bases, and draft replies to emails—without exposing sensitive meeting details.