Foundation Models - News Articles

xAI Cofounder Igor Babuschkin Seeks $1 Billion for New AI Startup River AI at $5 Billion Valuation

May 15, 2026

Let's Data Science

xAI cofounder Igor Babuschkin is seeking up to $1 billion for his new AI startup River AI at a $5 billion valuation, with General Catalyst in talks to lead the round and Babuschkin personally committing $100 million to the venture.

Funding Foundation Models

Microsoft Races to Secure AI Acquisitions and Build Independence from OpenAI

May 15, 2026

TNW | Microsoft

Microsoft is aggressively pursuing AI startup acquisitions, including talks with Stanford-spun Inception, as it races to build frontier AI independence from OpenAI by 2027 — after losing a bid for code-generation startup Cursor to a SpaceX-xAI deal worth $60 billion.

Business Foundation Models Funding Coding & Developer Tools

Datadog Launches Toto 2.0: A Breakthrough Time Series Forecasting Model Family That Scales to 2.5 Billion Parameters

May 15, 2026

Datadog

Datadog launches Toto 2.0, a groundbreaking family of open-weights time series forecasting models scaling up to 2.5 billion parameters, achieving state-of-the-art results across all major benchmarks while being up to 7 times more parameter-efficient than its predecessor.

Data & Analytics Open Source Foundation Models

GPT-4o Fans Take Over Times Square With Birthday Tribute as Users Mourn the Loss of Their Favorite AI's Unique Personality

May 14, 2026

TechRadar

GPT-4o fans take over Times Square with a billboard tribute on the model's second birthday, mourning the loss of an AI personality they say was warmer and more creative than its replacements, highlighting a growing trend of emotionally complex bonds between users and AI.

Consumer Products Mental Health Foundation Models

Adaption Launches AutoScientist AI Tool Claiming to Double Model Win Rates With Automated Fine-Tuning

May 14, 2026

TechCrunch

Adaption launches AutoScientist, a groundbreaking AI tool that simultaneously co-optimizes data and models through automated fine-tuning, claiming to more than double win rates across different models while making frontier-level AI training accessible beyond major labs.

Foundation Models Coding & Developer Tools Research

Mistral AI in Talks With European Banks to Deploy Cybersecurity Model Amid Growing AI Threat Concerns

May 14, 2026

Bloomberg.com

Mistral AI is in talks with European banks to deploy a cybersecurity-focused AI model as an alternative to Anthropic's Mythos, amid growing concerns that AI-powered tools are exposing financial institutions to unprecedented security vulnerabilities.

Security Finance Foundation Models

AI Cyber Capabilities Double Every 4.7 Months as New Models Shatter Benchmarks, Raising Urgent Security Alarms

May 14, 2026

AI Security Institute

AI cyber capabilities are doubling every 4.7 months, with two new models — Claude Mythos Preview and GPT-5.5 — shattering existing benchmarks and triggering urgent security alarms, as experts warn both attackers and defenders face a rapidly shifting threat landscape demanding immediate action.

Security AI Safety Foundation Models

AI Boom Hits Hardware Wall as Apple Opens Ecosystem, DeepSeek Surges to $45B

May 12, 2026

The AI Report

AI's explosive growth faces a critical hardware bottleneck lasting years, even as Apple shatters its AI exclusivity by letting 1.2 billion iPhone users choose rival models like Gemini and Claude, DeepSeek rockets to a $45 billion valuation, and AI pioneer Yann LeCun launches a $1 billion bet against large language …

Hardware Funding Foundation Models Consumer Products

DeepSeek Valuation Surges to $45 Billion as Chinese AI Lab Seeks First-Ever VC Round Led by State Fund

May 12, 2026

Yahoo Finance

DeepSeek's valuation more than doubles to $45 billion as the Chinese AI lab enters talks for its first-ever VC round, led by a Chinese state fund with Tencent and Alibaba also in discussions, signaling China's aggressive push to build homegrown AI rivaling the U.S.

Funding Geopolitics Foundation Models

Elon Musk Merges xAI Into SpaceX, Creating New SpaceXAI Division to Oversee X and Grok

May 12, 2026

Not a Tesla App

Elon Musk merges xAI into SpaceX, dissolving it as an independent company and creating a new internal division called SpaceXAI to oversee X and Grok, deeply integrating AI across SpaceX's operations and connecting it to the company's $119 billion TERAFAB semiconductor fab and upcoming Starship V3.

Business Foundation Models Hardware Space