Rashi Shrivastava

Anthropic Is Giving OpenAI A Run For Its Money Plus: This hot AI video startup has drawn fire from creators over its misleading marketing tactics.

Anthropic has been on a roll lately, from snarky Superbowl ads to a $30 billion mega funding round to product launches that triggered a global software stock selloff.
Read more in the latest editon of The Prompt:
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The Dark Side Of AI Video Startup Higgsfield’s Super-Fast Growth Influencer marketing helped AI video company Higgsfield hit $300 million in annual revenue run rate in just 11 months. But misleading marketing tactics and a shock-based social media strategy has led ...

Influencer marketing has helped AI video company Higgsfield hit $300 million in annual revenue run rate in just eleven months. But misleading marketing tactics, payment problems and a social media strategy based on shock has led to backlash among creators.
www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

The Dark Side Of AI Video Startup Higgsfield’s Super-Fast Growth Influencer marketing helped AI video company Higgsfield hit $300 million in annual revenue run rate in just 11 months. But misleading marketing tactics and a shock-based social media strategy has led ...

Racist videos, misleading marketing tactics and payment problems: the dark side of video AI startup Higgsfield's super fast growth.
www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

Moltbook: Swarm Intelligence Or AI Slop? Plus: Inside Sam Altman’s private collection of human innovations.

Moltbook, the social media platform dedicated to AI agents, exploded in popularity over the weekend. While humans supposedly aren't allowed to participate, they sure had a lot of reactions, from being unimpressed to calling it "swarm intelligence."
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Why Penguin Random House And Macmillan Are Recruiting AI Engineers Publishing giants like Penguin Random House and Macmillan are eager to use AI internally—but not for writing or editing. Their authors still might revolt.

While authors litigate, publishers are leaning in.

Publishers like Penguin Random House, Macmillan, and Wiley are actively, and perhaps quietly, recruiting AI engineers. Despite writer pushback, the industry is looking to leverage AI for back-office efficiency.

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Why Yann LeCun’s Startup Advanced Machine Intelligence Is Targeting Healthcare Alex LeBrun, cofounder of medical scribe startup Nabla who LeCun hired to be the CEO of Advanced Machine Intelligence, thinks the startup’s new AI models could start to roll out in a year, with health...

Talking with Alex LeBrun, cofounder of Nabla and CEO of Yann LaCun’s new AI startup Advanced Machine Intelligence, about why healthcare will be a big focus.

@forbes.com

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AI Founder Daniel Nadler Is Twice As Rich After OpenEvidence Hits $12 Billion Valuation Daniel Nadler, the 42-year-old CEO and cofounder of OpenEvidence, is now worth $7.6 billion as his AI search tool surges in popularity among U.S. doctors.

Daniel Nadler, the 42-year-old CEO and cofounder of OpenEvidence has doubled his net worth to $7.6 billion after his medical AI startup hit a $12 billion valuation. First one of the year from me!

www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

Google AI Coding Tool Antigravity Was Hacked A Day After Launch A security researcher discovered a major flaw in the coding product, the latest example of companies rushing out AI tools vulnerable to hacking.

🚨NEW🚨 Google shipped its AI code editor Antigravity with a bunch of security vulnerabilities.

The most severe, discovered within 24 hours of launch, allows for a persistent backdoor on target systems.

It remains unpatched.

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AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures

"An AI-assembled version of Gargano’s Christmas cake, for instance, would have people cooking a 6-inch cake for 3 to 4 hours at 320°F (160°C).

'You’d end up with charcoal!' she said. Meanwhile, traffic to her turkey recipe is already down 40% year over year."

Vibe Coding Startup Lovable In Talks To Raise At $6 Billion Valuation The Stockholm-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to code apps and websites for its users is in talks to raise a new round at triple its last valuation from just four months ago.

Scoop from @iainmartin.bsky.social, @rashis.bsky.social and me: Swedish vibe-coding startup Lovable is in talks to raise at a $6 billion valuation. www.forbes.com/sites/iainma...

The Pentagon Is Spending Millions On AI Hacking From Startup Twenty The U.S. government has been contracting stealth startup Twenty, which is working on AI agents and automated hacking of foreign targets at massive scale.

🚨SCOOP 🚨The Pentagon is spending millions on a secretive startup that’s making hacking AI to help carry out operations on hundreds of targets at once.

In-q-tel, the VC org founded by the CIA, is a backer of the startup, called Twenty.

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Four Cofounders Of Popular AI Coding Tool Cursor Are Now Billionaires The startup nabbed a $29.3 billion valuation in a $2.3 billion funding round Thursday, minting its four 20-something founders as billionaires.

NEW: The four cofounders of popular AI coding software Cursor are newly minted billionaires. Michael Truell, Aman Sanger, Sualeh Asif and Arvid Lunnemark are each worth at least $1.31 billion, according to Forbes' estimates.
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How AI Language Learning App Speak Is Taking On Duolingo Founded by former Thiel fellows, AI language tutoring app Speak started its journey in Seoul, South Korea. But as it enters the U.S. market, it’ll have to compete with popular apps like Duolingo.

AI language learning app Speak has crossed $100 million in annualized revenue. Founded by former Thiel fellows Connor Zwick and Andrew Hsu in 2016, the company is up against better-known rival Duolingo as it enters the U.S. market.
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Here’s What Happens If OpenAI Can’t Pay For Its $1.4 Trillion AI Deals OpenAI has gone wild with compute deals this year, committing to spend far more than its balance sheet can currently sustain. So who takes the fall if it can’t pay? It won’t be Altman.

We spoke to experts who pointed out that chief dealmaker Altman, who has claimed he has no stake in the company, doesn’t have much to lose. “He can commit to as much as he wants... Either he uses it, he renegotiates it, or he walks away.”
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Here’s What Happens If OpenAI Can’t Pay For Its $1.4 Trillion AI Deals OpenAI has gone wild with compute deals this year, committing to spend far more than its balance sheet can currently sustain. So who takes the fall if it can’t pay? It won’t be Altman.

One likely scenario is that the AI company pays for and utilizes only a portion of the compute it has booked said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria. “They don't want OpenAI to go bankrupt, so their incentive is to renegotiate,” he told Forbes.
www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

Here’s What Happens If OpenAI Can’t Pay For Its $1.4 Trillion AI Deals OpenAI has gone wild with compute deals this year, committing to spend far more than its balance sheet can currently sustain. So who takes the fall if it can’t pay? It won’t be Altman.

OpenAI has gone wild with compute deals this year, committing to spend far more than its balance sheet can currently sustain. So who takes the fall if it can’t pay?

Latest for @forbes.com with @pheebini.bsky.social and @richardnieva.bsky.social.

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Trump Wines Sold At Coast Guard Stores On Federal Property Exchanges in Washington, D.C., and Virginia have stocked Trump-branded wine and cider, allowing his family’s business to earn revenue from sales on federal property.

Scoop: “Trump Wine Hits Government Shelves”

me, for @forbes.com

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Inside OpenAI Chairman’s $10 Billion AI Customer Service Startup Sierra Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor had leadership roles at the world's biggest tech companies. Now they’re in the startup trenches, using AI agents to help companies interact with their customers.

New: I profiled Sierra, the $10B AI customer service startup from Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor, which wants to make AI agents the primary way businesses interact with customers. For the piece, I talked to their old bosses, Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai www.forbes.com/sites/richar...

xAI Researcher In Talks To Raise $1 Billion For New Frontier Lab Humans& Founded by former xAI staffer Eric Zelikman and early Googler Georges Harik, the new lab is building models that are better at interacting with humans.

NEW: Former xAI researcher Eric Zelikman is in talks to raise $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation to build AI models that are better at collaborating with humans. The startup is called Humans&. With Anna Tong and @iainmartin.bsky.social.

www.forbes.com/sites/annato...

AI Startup Harvey Raises $150 Million At $8 Billion Valuation The San Francisco-based startup that provides AI tools for lawyers has raised a new round of funding, its third in 2025 alone, led by Andreessen Horowitz.

A scoopy day at @forbes.com. Another one from @iainmartin.bsky.social and me— buzzy legal AI startup Harvey has closed a $150 million funding round, nabbing a $8 billion valuation.
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AI Video Startup Synthesia Valued At $4 Billion In $200 Million Raise Alphabet’s venture firm GV is leading the round, which nearly doubles Synthesia’s valuation, per three sources.

Scoop: AI video company Synthesia has raised $200 million at a $4 billion valuation in a round led by GV (Google's venture arm). With Anna Tong and @iainmartin.bsky.social.
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TikTok Won’t Say If It’s Giving ICE Your Data Changes to TikTok's policies make it easier for the company to share users’ personal information with governments. TikTok did not respond to questions about the changes.

New from me: TikTok ignored repeated questions about whether and how they share data with ICE. Also, earlier this year, they quietly updated their policies about what happens when law enforcement asks for your data. 1/

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OpenEvidence’s Daniel Nadler $1.3 Billion Richer In Just Three Months After The AI Startup Hits $6 Billion Valuation OpenEvidence, which Forbes profiled in July, has been signing up users fast. Its ultimate goal: To not just help doctors find existing medical research, but to create medical superintelligence.

OpenEvidence’s CEO and cofounder Daniel Nadler is $1.3 billion richer in just three months after the AI startup hit a $6 Billion valuation. With @amyfeldman7.bsky.social.
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OpenAI Ordered To Unmask ChatGPT User Behind 2 Prompts First known warrant of its kind reveals the government can ask OpenAI to provide identifying information on anyone who enters specific prompts.

🚨SCOOP🚨 DHS ordered OpenAI to identify a user who'd made 2 specific prompts.

User was anonymous and accused of helping run 15 child abuse sites. They'd disclosed the prompts to an undercover agent.

First example of what I'm calling a reverse AI prompt search.

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Lonely Seniors Are Turning To AI Bots For Companionship The AI boom has brought with it a new crop of startups looking to build a business on an urgent but vaguely dystopian idea: solving loneliness among the elderly.

“The first humans that actually live with an AI and are building long-term relationships are not like geeks in Silicon Valley... It is older adults in the United States,” said Dor Skuler, founder and CEO of Intuition Robotics.
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Lonely Seniors Are Turning To AI Bots For Companionship The AI boom has brought with it a new crop of startups looking to build a business on an urgent but vaguely dystopian idea: solving loneliness among the elderly.

Older adults across the country are turning to AI companions to help deal with loneliness. We visited a senior care facility in the Bronx and spoke with residents about their experience speaking to AI bots. With @richardnieva.bsky.social.
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This was all found in hundreds of emails obtained via public records requests for comms between various police departments and Amazon's law enforcement and school safety lead, an ex-cop himself.

Yes, Amazon has also been pushing AI surveillance at schools.

Legal AI Startup Legora Is In Talks To Raise Funding At A $1.8 Billion Valuation Just four months after its Series B funding round, the Stockholm-based legal AI startup is picking up more capital.

SCOOP: Legal AI startup Legora is in talks to raise funding at $1.8 billion valuation, multiple sources told Forbes. The startup is raising between $100 million to $150 million, one of the sources said. With @iainmartin.bsky.social.
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Former Meta Researchers Are Building An AI Math Whiz Axiom Math, which has recruited top talent from Meta, has raised $64 million in seed funding to build an AI math whiz.

NEW: Axiom Math, a nascent startup that's developing an AI math whiz, has poached top tier AI talent— largely from Meta. Founded by 24-year-old Stanford dropout Carina Hong, it's raised $64 million in seed funding from B Capital, Greycroft and others.

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My TikTok book is out in stores today!

Why should you read it? Because 1 in 5 Americans now get their news from this thing. We should all understand how it works.

It was inevitable that strongmen would seek to control a tool this powerful. The book is the story of what happened when they did.