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AI Valuations Soar, Talent War Rages

19. Apr. 2025

AI is moving fast, from coding tools hitting massive user numbers organically to hardware plays and intense battles for top minds.


This could be your new gadget

Let's start with a quiet success story: Cursor AI, a coding platform, just hit one million users. No big marketing push needed. That kind of organic growth is rare air. Now they're reportedly talking $10 billion valuations and eyeing bigger business clients.


Meanwhile, OpenAI might be getting into the device game. Word is they're looking at a $500 million deal for a startup linked to Sam Altman and design guru Jony Ive. Think AI-powered gadgets, maybe even something without a screen. A bold move into physical tech.


The fight for AI talent is getting sharp elbows. Google's DeepMind is reportedly leaning hard on non-compete clauses, even lengthy "garden leave" periods. It’s a clear sign of how valuable — and mobile — top researchers are, despite broader pushes against such agreements.


On the model front, Meta is pushing back on claims its Llama AI models were tuned just to game benchmark tests. Their take? Any performance quirks people saw were down to public implementations stabilizing, not some clever manipulation behind the scenes.


And a real-world win: Cobalt Metals used AI to find a high-grade copper deposit in Zambia. They fed geological data into their AI models, and it paid off. It's a solid reminder that AI isn't just about chatbots and code; it's finding tangible things under the ground.


Understanding these varied currents is key to staying, well, Ahead of the Wave AI.

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