Week in Review – ByteDance’s $10B AI Fund, Publicis Unveils ‘Leo,’ and Musk vs. Altman on Stargate

Rockem Sockem Boxing Match Sam Altman and Musk

In this week’s Week In Review: ByteDance commits $10 billion to AI infrastructure, Salesforce attributes revenue growth to agentic AI, Publicis Groupe merges two networks to create ‘Leo’, and Elon Musk criticises OpenAI’s role in Trump’s ambitious $500 billion Stargate project. 

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calls ‘AGI’ a marketing term 

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, called artificial general intelligence (AGI) a marketing term during an appearance on CNBC’s debate show Squawk Box.

AGI, which refers to AI capable of understanding and performing any task like a human, remains a hypothetical concept. According to Amodei, “AGI has never been a well-defined term,” and its ambiguity diminishes its utility. He suggested viewing advanced AI systems as “a country of geniuses in a data center,” predicting that “at some point, we’re going to get AI systems that are better than almost all humans at almost all tasks.”

ByteDance plans to spend roughly $12 billion on AI infrastructure

ByteDance, the Chinese tech company that owns TikTok, will reportedly spend roughly half of its $20.64 billion expenditure for this year on AI infrastructure, according to a report from Reuters. This infrastructure includes data centers and networking equipment, with substantial spending directed toward companies such as Huawei Technologies, Cambricon Technologies, and NVIDIA.

ByteDance’s investment plans, denied by the company, come amid TikTok facing a possible ban in the US over fears of user data being shared with Chinese officials. The ban has been put on hold by newly appointed President Trump, extending the restrictions by 75 days to see if TikTok will separate from its parent company.

The platform has already received bids from the likes of Youtuber MrBeast and Perplexity, the AI search tool.

Publicis Worldwide and Leo Burnett merge to form AI-powered ad firm ‘Leo’

Publicis Groupe has merged two of its creative networks into a new global entity called ‘Leo’, aiming to foster “exponential creativity” in the age of data-driven and AI-powered advertising. Named after Publicis’ lion logo and the iconic founder of Leo Burnett, the new organisation will be led by the team behind Publicis Conseil, Cannes Lions 2024 Agency of the Year, alongside Andrew Bruce, who will serve as chairman in North America.

The move reflects Publicis’ ongoing investment in AI and data, with the company committing over $300 million over three years to establish itself as the first AI-powered intelligent system in the industry. The creation of Leo also positions Publicis to compete amid major agency consolidation, such as the upcoming Omnicom-IPG merger, while continuing its expansion through acquisitions like Influential and Mars United Commerce.

Salesforce revenue increases by 25 percent thanks to agentic AI offering

Salesforce reported an 8 percent revenue growth to $9.44 billion, citing its position in the agentic AI movement as a leading factor. The software company’s own agentic platform ‘Agentforce’ enables ‘agents’ to complete tasks on a user’s behalf.  This tech, the company believes, has contributed to Salesforce achieving a net income rise to $1.5 billion, a 25 percent increase.

‘Agentic AI’ – an adaptable AI that can perform tasks independently – is seen as the significant ‘next step’ in the world of AI for many tech companies.

Trump announces $500 billion AI infrastructure project ‘Stargate’

US president Donald Trump announced Stargate, a $500 billion AI project to be funded by tech companies OpenAI, Oracle,Japan’s SoftBank, and UAE tech investor MGX. The project aims to establish the US as a leader in AI development, competing with advancements from rivals like China.

Drama stirred between the company’s CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, after the xAI CEO slammed Stargate, saying the project’s funders don’t have enough money.

On X, Musk said the project doesn’t “actually have the money” and that he “has under good authority” that SoftBank has “well under $10 billion secured”.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, defended the initiative and took a dig at Musk, responding: “This is great for the country. I realise what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll mostly put [America] first”.

China’s DeepSeek rivals ChatGPT

DeepSeek, a Chinese start-up, has caused waves after releasing DeepSeek V3 and R1 as some spectators say the Chinese tool outperforms the likes of Meta and OpenAI products like ChatGPT.

DeepSeek V3 and R1 are apparently more cost-efficient than some of its competitors, propelled by less advanced computer chips and more specialised, specific sets of data. Reportedly, the training of DeepSeek-V3 cost $5.5 million, a fragment of OpenAI’s GPT cost which neared $100 million. DeepSeek was also reportedly more energy efficient than larger competitors, using fewer computing resources than bigger tech firms.

Google releases AI-powered news summary in same week Apple pulls its

Google has introduced a new experimental feature called News Briefs, which collects and provides a summary of major news stories from each day. This tool, powered by Google’s Gemini AI software, provides supplemental videos for the generated news stories which it gathers from YouTube. Google announced this addition earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but the feature launched on Google TV products as of this week.

Meanwhile, Apple has pulled a similar AI-driven news feature following complaints about inaccuracies in headlines and summaries.

Number of the Week

$1 billion. That’s how much Google invested in Anthropic, the AI giant behind Claude. This funding is part of Google’s broader commitment to advancing AI and is separate from its prior $2 billion investment in Anthropic. The partnership underscores Google’s dedication to developing sophisticated AI systems and wanting to stay ahead of competitors.

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