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1.	OpenAI Strikes Six Gigawatt Compute Deal With AMD By Stephanie Palazzolo Source: The Information

OpenAI and Advanced Micro Devices announced on Monday a new partnership that would see OpenAI deploy six gigawatts of AMD’s chips over multiple years, starting in the second half of next year. That deal is larger than the $300 billion, 4.5 gigawatt cloud deal OpenAI struck with Oracle earlier this year.

As part of the deal, OpenAI will receive the option to purchase up to 10% of AMD stock if it hits certain milestones. The deal is yet another sign of OpenAI’s insatiable appetite for computational power, as it looks to power its popular chatbot to over 700 million weekly active users, build new products like agents and develop new advanced models.

The deal is also a major win for AMD, as it looks to take on Nvidia’s dominance in the AI chip market. However, it’s still smaller than the deal OpenAI and Nvidia announced last month to deploy 10 gigawatts worth of Nvidia chips. AMD’s stock rose 35% during premarket trading on the news.

2.	Musk’s XAI Said to Name Ex-Morgan Stanley Banker as CFO By Laura Mandaro Source: Financial Times

Elon Musk’s XAI has hired Anthony Armstrong, a former Morgan Stanley banker, as the artificial intelligence startup’s new CFO, according to the Financial Times. Armstrong replaces Michael Liberatore, who had left xAI for OpenAI amid an exodus of senior staff.

Armstrong had advised on Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter, now called X, in 2022. He will oversee finance functions for both xAI and X, which merged earlier this year. X’s chief financial officer Mahmoud Reza Banki is also leaving the company, the FT reported.

3.	SEC investigates AppLovin’s data collection practices By Catherine Perloff Source: Bloomberg

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating mobile ad technology company AppLovin’s data collection practices, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

The regulator is looking into whether AppLovin violated the terms of companies it partners with in its approach to targeted advertising, according to the report. AppLovin helps mobile apps sell and buy ads. Several short sellers have accused AppLovin of shady data collection practices, and also of charging advertisers for results it didn’t achieve. Those reports, and a whistleblower complaint, form the basis of the SEC’s probe, according to Bloomberg.

AppLovin’s revenue and market capitalization have skyrocketed in the past year, fueled in part by besting competitors in the mobile advertising technology space, including Google, as reported earlier this year. AppLovin’s stock was down more than 14% in after hours training, though the company still has a market cap of nearly $200 billion.

“We regularly engage with regulators and if we get inquiries we address them in the ordinary course,” an AppLovin spokesperson said, noting material developments would be disclosed publicly. A SEC spokesperson said that the agency could not respond to many press inquiries due to the government shutdown.

4.	Verizon Appoints Former PayPal CEO Schulman as CEO By Martin Peers Source: The Information

Verizon abruptly replaced its CEO, Hans Vestberg, with PayPal’s former CEO Daniel Schulman, in a sign the cellular giant is hoping to shake up its stalled business.

Schulman, who is in his late 60s, had been a director of Verizon since 2018 and the lead independent director since last December. He ran PayPal from 2015 to 2023. But he also has a history in telecomm, having spent many years as an executive at AT&T as well as briefer stints at Sprint Nextel and as the founding CEO of Virgin Mobile USA.

Schulman takes the reins at Verizon at a challenging time for the cellular firm. Long the market leader, regarded as operating the best cellular network, it has stalled in recent years as T-Mobile has emerged as the industry leader. Verizon lost contract-based subscribers in the past two quarters, while its stock has been flat for the past couple of years. On Monday, Verizon shares were down 4%..

5.	CoreWeave Extends Deal Streak With Monolith AI Purchase By Miles Kruppa Source: The Information

CoreWeave said Monday it had bought startup Monolith AI for an undisclosed price, adding to the cloud provider’s software company acquisitions as it tries to expand beyond its core server rental business.

Monolith AI, founded in 2016, sells software used by teams of engineers at companies including Nissan, BMW and Honeywell to develop and test new products. It previously raised an £8.5 million ($11.5 million) round of funding in 2021 led by Insight Partners.

CoreWeave last month acquired reinforcement learning startup OpenPipe and in March paid about $1.7 billion to buy AI developer tools provider Weights & Biases. CoreWeave shares rose slightly in after-hours trading.

6.	OpenAI Adds Outside Apps to ChatGPT By Rocket Drew Source: The Information

OpenAI on Monday announced new features to allow users to access external apps, such as Zillow or Spotify, through ChatGPT.  That paves the way for ChatGPT to become a “super app” that allows users to complete a range of tasks without leaving the app.

At the company’s developer event, which was livestreamed, OpenAI also announced software to help companies develop AI agents that can take virtual actions, including software to evaluate the capabilities of agents and block inappropriate content.

OpenAI previously announced a similar apps feature called “ChatGPT plugins” that was launched in March 2023 but deprecated in April 2024. While those plugins were mostly limited to text, the new apps feature is designed to work with other kinds of media, such as virtual maps.