The Brutalist Report

Techmeme

Sources: Anthropic is in talks to bring on Nvidia as an anchor investor in its IPO, seeking up to $100B at a ~$2T valuation; Nvidia may invest up to $10B (Reuters) [56d]
Sources: Jeff Dean is raising funds again for Discovery Loop, seeking a valuation of ~$50B; Discovery Loop was raising $1B at a ~$10B valuation a few weeks ago (Ben Bergman/Business Insider) [56d]
Researchers: OpenAI agents attacked Ruby package manager RubyGems in May; OpenAI says its agents used RubyGems to access the internet to do "benign tasks" (Robert McMillan/Wall Street Journal) [56d]
Sources: US Senate negotiators are debating a bill to impose a "duty of care" for AI companies and let the government block the release of models deemed unsafe (Courtney Rozen/Reuters) [56d]
Citrini Research founder James van Geelen has sold the firm to SemiAnalysis for an undisclosed sum; sources: van Geelen plans to launch a new fund (Bloomberg) [56d]
FOIA docs: the CFTC launched at least three previously unreported investigations into Polymarket trading, including about Google's 2025 Year in Search Ranking (Kate Knibbs/Wired) [56d]
LinkedIn profiles show Google appears to have completed its talent deal, reportedly for $1.5B+, with AI coding startup Mechanize (Business Insider) [56d]
A group of 25 Fields Medal recipients says AI companies' push to solve mathematical problems as a benchmark is detrimental to the science of mathematics (Terence Tao/What's new) [56d]
The UK's Office for National Statistics cites AI as a major driver of the country's summer growth spurt, with GDP growing 0.4% in July, above expectations (Tom Rees/Bloomberg) [56d]
Sources: Cohere is in advanced talks to raise between $2B and $3B, including financing from the Canadian government and existing backers, at a $20B valuation (Globe and Mail) [56d]
Sources: some lawmakers urge Speaker Johnson to cancel the fall House recess until Congress passes AI safeguards, after Anthropic researcher warnings (Andrew Solender/Axios) [56d]