What a time to be live. The main thing happening today is Open AI weighing a huge new round of funding. Live from 12–3 BST. Here's your Order of Play.
13:00 - Jacob Wallenberg, VP of International Expansion at Ramp
14:00 - Anthony Peculic, Chief Strategy Officer at Marqeta
14:00 - Keith Vander Leest, US General Manager at BVNK
14:30 - James Cadwallader, Co-Founder & CEO at Profound
14:45 - Sam Hogg, Loveable Rogue
What’s Happening Today
Open AI is weighing a fresh round of funding at a $1.2 trillion valuation.
The talks are still early, but they're a sign of the demand around Open AI after a strong run of model launches. Notably, it was investors who initiated conversations not Open AI. The company is still some way from going public, with Sam Altman saying a listing before 2027 is unlikely. He has said now is an "ill-advised" time to go public as worries about the risks of AI continue to grow.
The company spent $34 billion training its models last year, before raising another $122 billion in March. Revenue is growing too, passing a $40 billion annual rate last month after a 20% jump following the launch of GPT-5.6. Astra, released earlier this month, has added to the momentum.
It's a big change from the start of the year, when Anthropic overtook Open AI and investors began questioning the company's position. Anthropic is now heading towards an IPO and is on track to be profitable for a second straight quarter. It could go public as soon as October at a valuation of around $2 trillion.
Meanwhile, Open AI looks happy to stay private for a while longer.
We're getting into all of it on today's show at 12 BST.
etn. Insight
Eno Reyes, co-founder of Factory AI, came on the show to explain why he thinks businesses will eventually want to own their own AI models rather than use frontier models.
The idea is to have a model “uniquely customised to what we do,” giving businesses more control. If it’s not your model, Reyes said, “there's another company who can choose what you're going to do with that model” and, if they disagree, “they can shut it off.” He sees that as “a real risk to businesses who might have competing priorities with the model creators.”
Watch the full clip below.
Continental Breakfast
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