Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence
AI boom drives Cerebras to spectacular market debut
The almost insatiable investor demand for companies leveraged to the artificial intelligence (AI) boom was starkly demonstrated when Cerebras Systems shares more than doubled when they started trading on Thursday. The Cerebras (NASDAQ: CBRS) stock price surged to a high of US$386.34 from the initial public offer (IPO) level of $185 before settling back to close at $311.07, up 68% on the day and capitalising the American AI chipmaker at $95 billion (A$131 billion). Shares in the California-based company, which raised $5.55 billion in the largest IPO of 2026, had opened at $350 and traded between $300 and $386.34 on the Nasdaq exchange. “In Silicon Valley we understand just how big AI will be, and what that means,” Chief Executive Officer Andrew Feldman was quoted as saying in this Reuters story. The frenzy over AI stocks has been likened to a gold rush, with the Dow Jones U.S. Semiconductors Index, which tracks chip heavyweights such as Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), rising 107% over the past year. It also sets the scene for AI-related IPOs by companies including OpenAI, Anthropic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which are thinking about listing. Investor interest in Cerebras’ IPO
Artificial Intelligence
China blocks Meta's purchase of AI company Manus
China’s government has blocked Meta’s US$2 billion (A$2.78 billion) acquisition of artificial intelligence company Manus, amid escalating tensions between the United States and China over the AI industry. The acquisition was announced in December. Manus, which produces AI agents, was initially based in China before relocating to Singapore last year. The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission, which manages economic planning, said it would “prohibit foreign investment in Manus in accordance with laws and regulations, and requires the parties involved to withdraw the acquisition transaction.” “The transaction complied fully with applicable law,” a Meta spokesperson told the BBC. “We anticipate an appropriate resolution to the inquiry.” China’s Ministry of Commerce had said in January that it had begun investigating the acquisition. Manus’ CEO Xiao Hong and top scientist Ji Yichao were summoned to Beijing in March for interviews with regulators, and were later prevented from exiting China, Reuters reported. The decision to block the Manus purchase comes amid growing tension between the United States and China over the AI industry. The U.S. State Department reportedly told diplomatic staff last week to
Artificial Intelligence
Former Google researcher's AI startup raises US$1.1bn
Ineffable Intelligence, an artificial intelligence startup founded by former Google DeepMind researcher David Silver, has raised a record US$1.1 billion (A$1.53 billion) in seed funding. Silver previously led the reinforcement learning team at DeepMind, Google’s AI arm, before founding Ineffable Intelligence last year. The company’s seed round was the largest ever in Europe, it said. Ineffable’s goal is “to make first contact with superintelligence”, according to seed round co-leader Sequoia Capital. The company has said it plans to train its agents using reinforcement learning, which includes practical experience, rather than with pre-existing human data like many other major AI models. “Ineffable is building what David calls a superlearner: a system that discovers all knowledge directly through its own experience, from elementary motor skills to profound intellectual breakthroughs,” wrote Sequoia. The seed round was also co-led by Lightspeed, with Nvidia, Google, DST Global, Index, and the United Kingdom’s Sovereign AI fund participating. Ineffable is based in London. Following the round, Ineffable said its valuation had reached $5.1 billion. Recursive Superintelligence, another London-based startup founded
Artificial Intelligence
US warns other countries of alleged China AI model theft
The United States is reportedly seeking to warn other countries about alleged efforts by China-based artificial intelligence companies to train their models with U.S. AI businesses’ intellectual property. A State Department cable from Friday instructed U.S. diplomatic staff to tell foreign counterparts about “concerns over adversaries' extraction and distillation of U.S. A.I. models”, per Reuters. The distillation process trains AI tools by using thousands of accounts with a larger AI model to expose and save its training data. “A separate demarche request and message has been sent to Beijing for raising with China,” according to the cable. The State Department’s cable named DeepSeek, Moonshot, and Minimax, all Chinese businesses, claimed they had trained their models using distillation. China has denied allegations that Chinese AI companies are stealing U.S. intellectual property. U.S.-based OpenAI has accused Chinese company DeepSeek of training its models based on OpenAI’s data. DeepSeek denied this, saying that its V3 model was trained using data it had collected naturally from the internet. Anthropic also said in February that it had found “industrial-scale” efforts to distill its data by DeepSeek, Moonshot, an
Artificial Intelligence
Trump: Deal between Anthropic and DOW possible
President Donald Trump told CNBC that “it’s possible” there will be a deal between Anthropic and the Department of War. “They came to the White House a few days ago, and we had some very good talks with them, and I think they’re shaping up,” Trump said during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “They’re very smart, and I think they can be of great use.” These comments follow a high-profile clash between Anthropic and the Pentagon. Anthropic was considered a supply-chain risk after the AI company requested that its models not be used in fully autonomous domestic surveillance weapons during negotiations for a new deal with the Department of War. This label requires defence contractors to certify that they don’t use Anthropic's Claude AI models in their work with the military. In a post to Truth Social, Trump ordered all federal agencies to “IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology”. The Pentagon is currently using Anthropic’s technology in the war in Iran, as Trump set a six-month deadline in February for U.S. federal agencies to shift out of the platform. In retaliation, Anthropic tried to sue the Trump administration to try to reverse its blacklisting. Anthropic lost its lawsuit in Washington t

Artificial Intelligence
Amazon agrees to invest up to US$25bn in Anthropic
Amazon said it will invest up to US$25 billion (A$34.93 billion) in Anthropic, on top of the $8 billion into AI in recent years, as part of an extended agreement to build out AI infrastructure. In the announcement, the businesses said they are deepening their collaboration with a commitment from Anthropic to spend more than $100 billion over the next 10 years on AWS technologies. "Our users tell us Claude is increasingly essential to how they work, and we need to build the infrastructure to keep pace with rapidly growing demand,” Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei said. Amazon has agreed to invest $5 billion in Anthropic today and up to $20 billion in future, tied to certain commercial milestones. "Anthropic's commitment to run its large language models on AWS Trainium for the next decade reflects the progress we've made together on custom silicon, as we continue delivering the technology and infrastructure our customers need to build with generative AI,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said. According to the release, Anthropic will secure up to 5 gigawatts of capacity to train and power its advanced AI models, like Tranium 3, which is expected to come online this year. The deal between Amazon and Anthropic includes
Artificial Intelligence
Anthropic to expand in UK with new London office
Anthropic will move into a new United Kingdom office that could allow it to nearly quadruple its London headcount, amid the UK government’s efforts to court the company. The 158,000 square foot London office includes space for 800 employees, and is located in the Knowledge Quarter district. Anthropic currently has over 200 people based in London, it said. “London is already one of our most important research and commercial hubs outside the U.S., and our expansion in the Knowledge Quarter gives us the room to grow into,” said Anthropic head of EMEA north Pip White. “The UK combines ambitious enterprises and institutions that understand what’s at stake with AI safety with an exceptional pool of AI talent — we want to be where all of that comes together.” The Knowledge Quarter area in central London also includes offices from OpenAI, Meta, and Google DeepMind. Anthropic aims to release its new Claude Mythos artificial intelligence model to UK financial institutions within the next week. Claude Mythos specialises in identifying security flaws in software, according to the company. The UK government has reportedly encouraged Anthropic to expand in the country. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology had
Artificial Intelligence
Japan to inject US$4bn into Rapidus for chip development
The Japanese Government will provide an extra ¥631.5 billion (US$4 billion) ‌to Rapidus to develop the next generation of computer chips. The announcement was made by Japan's industry ministry and the Government-backed semiconductor manufacturer on Saturday (Sunday AEST). The support from the ministry’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) brings total research and development assistance to the company to ¥2.354 trillion. The ministry also said NEDO had decided to support semiconductor ‌design-related ⁠projects by Fujitsu (TYO: 6702) and IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) IBM Japan. "We will spare no effort in providing support necessary to ensure the (mass production) plan's success," Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa was quoted as saying in this nippon.com story. Akazawa was speaking at the opening ceremony of a Rapidus semiconductor analysis facility in Chitose in the prefecture of Hokkaido on Saturday. Rapidus Corporation plans to begin mass production of 2-nanometer chips in the 2027 financial year. Japan dominated the semiconductor industry in the 1980s, but with this financial assistance, it aims to restore domestic chip production, secure supply chains and compete in next-generation chips
Artificial Intelligence
Could Australia's kids be excluded from the power of AI?
Aimed at protecting children, Australia's new digital privacy framework is on a collision course with the architecture of generative AI - because regulators are demanding an incredibly complex, if not entirely impossible, technical standard. Laying the groundwork for this shift back in December, the Australian government's Social Media Minimum Age mandates forced networks to authenticate users >16 without storing their verification telemetry. Now, April's Draft Children’s Online Privacy Code casts a much wider legislative net across the consumer internet via strict operational mechanics. By targeting any designated internet service likely to be accessed by minors, this deliberately broad definition drags machine learning models into a compliance matrix they struggle to accommodate.Best interests…This proposed legislation forces operators to apply a highly subjective, United Nations-derived welfare test to standard data gathering protocols - a move that fundamentally upends established technology industry norms. Even if a conversational input remains technically essential to process a prompt, the interaction becomes strictly prohibited should authorities decide it contradicts a minor's developmental well-being. "T

Artificial Intelligence

AI boom drives Cerebras to spectacular market debut

China blocks Meta's purchase of AI company Manus

Former Google researcher's AI startup raises US$1.1bn

US warns other countries of alleged China AI model theft

Trump: Deal between Anthropic and DOW possible

Amazon agrees to invest up to US$25bn in Anthropic

Anthropic to expand in UK with new London office

Japan to inject US$4bn into Rapidus for chip development

Could Australia's kids be excluded from the power of AI?

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