Why everyone wants a piece of OpenAI

Read time: under 4 minutes

Welcome back, Superhuman

OpenAI has 99 problems but raising capital isn’t one of them. Hot on the heels of releasing its new o1 models a few days ago, the company is now gearing up for what could potentially be a record-breaking funding round.

Today’s Insights

• OpenAI’s potentially record-breaking funding round

• Frontier: Nvidia and UAE team up to tackle climate change

• Tutorial: How to convert images into videos using Gen-3 Alpha

• Everything else you should know today

• 5 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• AI-Generated Images: Marble mood boards

NEXT IN AI

Why every VC wants a piece of OpenAI’s latest funding round

Other AI startups may be catching up, but OpenAI is still the hottest ticket in town. The ChatGPT maker is gearing up for a projected $6.5B funding round — expected to be the largest ever recorded — and is attracting so much interest that OpenAI has the unique luxury of hand-picking each of its backers.

For context:

• The round is expected to value the company at roughly $150B

• Thrive Capital is leading the charge with a $1.25B commitment

• Since there’s so much interest, OpenAI has set a minimum contribution of $250M per backer

• Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft are all interested in joining

• If completed, it’d shatter a fundraising record last set by xAI in May

What it means: After nearly a decade in operation, OpenAI has yet to turn a profit. But investors think there’s still a lot of room to grow. While the world marvels at o1's new problem-solving capabilities, CEO Sam Altman is already eyeing the next frontier: AI that interacts with the physical world and makes decisions for you. This vision already has some investors dreaming of a trillion-dollar valuation. 

The logic? AI’s untapped potential is vast and still mostly uncharted. The chosen investors aren't just providing capital; they're securing front-row seats to what could be a pivotal moment in the evolution of AI.

PRESENTED BY GAMMA

Need a professional presentation? Zain just made one in 5 minutes with AI

Follow along as Zain creates a beautiful presentation in less than 5 minutes with Gamma:

1. Sign up for Gamma (costs nothing)

2. Paste text, upload a file, or submit a prompt for Gamma to build off of (Zain picked the prompt option)

3. Describe the content of the slides, then pick the quantity and desired language

4. You can also use its AI to find or generate images for the slides*

5. Click ‘Generate’

6. If needed, edit the colors and design

7. Finally, present and share!

This tool also works for branded websites and documents (we created the above image with Gamma. Looks nice, right?).

FROM THE FRONTIER

Nvidia breaks ground on a new AI-powered climate lab

With new research showing that a quick ChatGPT search can use up as much as three bottles of water, AI companies are searching for a way to cut down on emissions. Now, Nvidia and the United Arab Emirates-backed G42 are joining forces on what could be an AI-powered solution. 

The partners are building a massive “climate tech lab” in Abu Dhabi, combining an advanced AI model with 100 petabytes (that’s 100 million gigabytes) of data. Leveraging a vast archive of past weather events, the model will be able to generate forecasts with much more precision than current methods. 

It could also help us explore different approaches to fighting climate change: It’ll be able to simulate the global impact of different climate interventions, helping us make better decisions about which strategies to prioritize.

THE AI ACADEMY

How to convert images into videos using Gen-3 Alpha

You can use the new Runway Gen-3 Alpha to turn any image into a short video. Here’s how:

• Go to the Runway website and sign up for an account.

• Click on "Try Runway" and then select ‘Text/Image to Video’.

• Select Gen-3 Alpha Turbo as the model from the top left of the screen.

• Upload the image you want to turn into a video.

• Click on ‘Generate a video’ and wait for a few seconds to get your video.

• Once the video is generated, you can download it, share it, or edit it further.

Pro tip:

• For best results, use images that are high-resolution and well-lit.

• If you're not happy with the results, you can try experimenting with different settings.

PRESENTED BY SECTION

Free session: The Enterprise AI Deployment Playbook

Only a fraction of people are getting real productivity gains from AI. How can you make sure your team are among them? Section's CEO & COO discuss...

• Auditing the baseline AI proficiency of your team and finding your AI champions

• Rolling out AI policies & identifying high-opportunity workflows for AI augmentation.

• Tracking adoption in your team and measuring the success of your pilots.

RSVP for free

AI & TECH NEWS

Everything else you need to know today

• It’s Confirmed: Legendary former Apple designer Jony Ive admitted he’s collaborating with OpenAI on a new computing device inspired by the original iPhone.

• Please Hold: Apple’s iPhone 16 hit shelves Friday without its long-awaited AI capabilities, although the company has begun testing those features in beta.

• Power Trip: Three Mile Island, the site of the worst nuclear accident in the US, could soon come back online in a 20-year deal to fuel Microsoft’s AI capabilities.

• Bargain Finder: Just in time for Prime Day, Amazon is rolling out an improved product recommendation algorithm that uses AI to pair shoppers with items they’re interested in.

• Break it Down: Microsoft unveiled GRIN-MoE, a coding and math-focused model that uses small subsets of its parameters to solve problems, boosting efficiency and accuracy.

🎮 One Fun Thing: The video game maker Electronic Arts showed off a video of its new AI model, which lets you build your own game with text. In the tech demo, two players generated a world made out of cardboard boxes, created their own characters, and started a multiplayer battle. They were even able to adjust the setting and rules mid-game.

🐶 Pet Project: The next time you find yourself refilling your dog’s bowl, keep in mind that AI might have played a hand in getting it to you. The food manufacturer Mars is investing $1B into digital, AI-powered projects, and that extends even to its pet food divisions, Iams and Pedigree. It’ll use AI to scrape scientific journals and social media for new recipes and to help veterinarians diagnose pets’ diseases.

PRODUCTIVITY

5 AI Tools to Supercharge Your Productivity

✅ LlamaCoder: Turn your idea into an app with just a single prompt.

✅ Surfsite: Let an AI assistant connect to your files, tap into your data, and help you make informed decisions.

✅ HighLightFactCheck: Type or paste a sentence to check if it’s true, partially true, or false with an AI-powered browser extension.

✅ Hashnode: Create and scale dynamic developer docs and API references with AI.

✅ Locbi: Generate a business intelligence report from Google Maps reviews to understand customer sentiment and identify areas for improvement.

^{* indicates a promoted tool, if any}

PROMPT OF THE DAY

Getting better after an injury

Prompt: Provide advice on how to modify my exercise or workout routine to accommodate for my injury/physical limitation. I have <describe your injury or physical limitation>, and I am experiencing pain/discomfort when doing <describe the exercises or workouts causing discomfort>. I have been recommended by my healthcare professional to <describe any recommended modifications or restrictions>. My fitness goals are <describe your fitness goals>, and my current exercise routine includes <describe your current exercise routine>. What are some suggestions you have for me?

_{Source: Upbase}

AI-GENERATED IMAGES

Marble Moodboards

Midjourney Prompt: interior moodboard, top view, surface is [insert color]marble with alabaster and white sparkles, black leather, black metal, brushed chrome, cream fabric, brass, mirror, polished wood, shagreen, oak wood, white luxury mesh, white marble

Acquire new customers and drive revenue by partnering with us

Superhuman is the world’s biggest AI newsletter for businesses and professionals with 600,000+ readers and 1.5 Million followers on socials working at the world’s leading startups and enterprises. Companies like Amazon, Hubspot, and Salesforce feature their products in Superhuman. You can learn more about partnering with us here.

🧞Your wish is my command

Got more feedback or just want to get in touch? Reply to this email and we’ll get back to you.

Thanks for reading.

Until next time!

Zain & the Superhuman AI team