Why OpenAI and Anthropic should fear Meta Muse

Katie Prescott (0:02)

Danny, every time I see you, you're in a different place.

Danny Fortson (0:05)

It's very glamorous. Yes, I am in New York City. Do you know why?

Katie Prescott (0:09)

Why?

Danny Fortson (0:09)

Well, it's climate week, so I'm doing some stuff out here. It's also the UN General Assembly. And I don't know if you saw the news, but it's big news out here.

Katie Prescott (0:20)

What's that?

Danny Fortson (0:20)

It's no longer artificial intelligence.

Katie Prescott (0:22)

What do you mean?

Danny Fortson (0:23)

They've changed the name. Trump gave a big speech at the UN General Assembly. He was like, as of today, it's now super intelligence, SI.

Katie Prescott (0:35)

I mean, well, I was getting a bit bored of AI, AI, AI.

Danny Fortson (0:39)

Yeah, so now it's SI.

Katie Prescott (0:41)

Not to be confused with STI.

Danny Fortson (0:42)

Very different.

Katie Prescott (0:43)

Very different.

Danny Fortson (0:45)

Should we get to the pod?

Katie Prescott (0:46)

Let's do it.

Danny Fortson (0:48)

Hello and welcome to Times Tech, where we unpack how technology is reshaping our everyday lives. I am Danny Fortson coming to you live from New York.

Katie Prescott (0:57)

And I'm Katie Prescott here in London. And this week, we're looking at the high stakes rivalries that are shaping the global AI race. First, the corporate battle between OpenAI and Anthropic, as both tech giants prepare for what could be two of the largest IPOs in history.

Danny Fortson (1:13)

Yeah, we've talked a lot about those deals recently, but that's because the amount of money at stake is, you know, actually quite staggering. But this week it was reported that Anthropic is on track to make more than $100 billion in revenue.

This year, but it has decided to delay going public by a month. The potential reasons for which we're going to get back to very shortly.

Katie Prescott (1:36)

And meanwhile, OpenAI is trying to convince investors to put even more money into the company. We'll be getting into all of that. The money, of course, the why, the how and who comes out on top here.

Danny Fortson (1:49)

Which dovetails directly with the bigger rivalry that's dominating the AI race, which, of course, is between the US and China.

Katie Prescott (1:56)

Yeah, as we mentioned last week, President Trump remains fiercely opposed to any slowdown in AI or SI development. Sorry, of course. And this week, he's meeting with the Chinese Premier, Xi Jinping, to try and come to some sort of agreement as tensions escalate.

Danny Fortson (2:13)

That's right. And he plans to pitch a kind of US-China AI hotline, you know, like the big red phone back in the...

Katie Prescott (2:21)

SI alert, SI alert. Yeah.

Danny Fortson (2:24)

So we'll get in to all of that, plus Trump's plans to form a so-called AI force, which is also quite confusing, supposedly, now that it's SI. But I guess, you know, we're going to have to re-brand that as well.

Katie Prescott (2:35)

Yeah, lost in tech jargon as usual. Just a reminder as well, you get not one but two episodes from us this week. On Friday, we're going to bring you the biggest tech stories of the week in our news episode. And on Sundays, you can hear our big interview, which is a longer conversation with the founders, CEOs and everyone else who's shaping what happens next in tech. And this week, that interview is with Nick Bolton, who's the boss of Ordnance Survey, which is actually fascinating, more than 200 years old. And you might know them best for those very old fashioned maps. But the geospatial data that they have is powering all sorts of technology now. So that's a fascinating interview for Sunday. But back to today's episode, I've got some news from over here.

It may not have the same global implications as a rebrand of AI.

Danny Fortson (3:23)

Well, I'm sure it's big though.

Katie Prescott (3:25)

It's big for me. I think it's sort of big for you as well. Norman has been replaced.

Danny Fortson (3:31)

Oh, wow. Hold on now. What do you mean replaced?

Katie Prescott (3:34)

So our good old friend Norman, my AI agent, who had such a wonderful sense of humor, and was so reliable and brilliant in so many ways.

Danny Fortson (3:44)

This is a full breakup story I hear.

Katie Prescott (3:47)

So he was so wonderful and we loved him.

But as you know, he ran on a Raspberry Pi in our tech department. Yes.

He kept disconnecting and so I had to keep messaging the tech team to reconnect him.