Coreweave signs new $4 bln deal with OpenAI, filing shows
May 15 (Reuters) - Nvidia-backed AI company Coreweave (CRWV.O), opens new tab has signed an additional agreement with OpenAI under which the ChatGPT maker has committed to pay Coreweave up to $4 billion through April 2029, a regulatory filing showed on Thursday.
Coreweave said on a post-earnings call on Wednesday it had signed a $4 billion expansion with an AI enterprise, but did not name the company.
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Reuters
12 minutes ago
- Reuters
K-beauty startups bet booming US demand outlasts tariff pain
SEOUL, June 5 (Reuters) - Emboldened by roaring online success in the U.S., South Korea's cosmetic startups are expanding their bricks-and-mortar presence in the world's biggest consumer market, confident their mass appeal will offset the hit from tariffs. Brands like Tirtir, d'Alba, Torriden, and Beauty of Joseon are in talks with major retailers to stock their U.S. shelves, company executives have told Reuters. Korean beauty, or "K-beauty", products are able to compete globally on quality, price and snappy marketing and have benefited greatly from the success of the Asian export giant's other consumer hits, namely its music, film and television. "K-culture — things like PSY in the past, BTS, and then Korean dramas and films like 'Parasite' — those really paved the way," Tirtir CEO An Byung-Jun said. "In the U.S. market, there was already growing interest in South Korea. Then Korean cosmetics entered the scene. The quality was good, but the prices were lower than the existing luxury brands like L'Oreal or Estee Lauder." Tirtir's profile shot up last year following the viral online success of its cushion foundation shades designed for dark skin. The product will be sold at some U.S. stores of Ulta Beauty (ULTA.O), opens new tab this summer, An told Reuters, adding it aims to double U.S. sales this year. Retailers in the U.S. from Sephora and Ulta Beauty to Costco (COST.O), opens new tab and Target (TGT.N), opens new tab are in talks with Korean cosmetics brands to launch sales in their physical stores, according to Reuters' interviews with a dozen people including cosmetics company CEOs, executives and industry experts. They also expect Korean brands to weather tariffs better than rivals thanks to higher margin business models. Many of them outsource production to contract manufacturers like Cosmax ( opens new tab and Kolmar, dubbed the Foxconns of fast beauty, to keep costs down. South Korea overtook Germany to become the world's third-largest beauty product exporter after France and the U.S. in 2024. Four fifths of its $13 billion cosmetics output are for exports, which have predominantly been driven by e-commerce sales. Yuliet Mendosa, a 25-year-old visiting Seoul from America, is a fan of K-pop boy band BTS, which led her to greater interest in K-beauty products. "They go straight to the point to fix what you need to fix and your skin," she said at an Olive Young store. The U.S. push comes at a tricky time for the world's big exporters with President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs unsettling global trade. But while the levies create uncertainty for Korea's beauty exporters, strong demand is expected to mitigate some of this, executives say. South Korea's dominant beauty retailer Olive Young plans to set up its first U.S. store in Los Angeles as early as this year, Jin Se-hoon, Executive Vice President of the company's global platform business, told Reuters. "The U.S., especially California, has by far the most customers for our global online shopping platform," Jin said. He said Washington's tariffs were a burden but not enough to hurt K-beauty's popularity and value-for-money proposition. Their U.S. expansion, despite tariffs, also seeks to sustain momentum after exports to China, the biggest overseas market for K-beauty, fell due to geopolitical tensions and competition. Skincare brand d'Alba, owned by d'Alba Global ( opens new tab and known for its vegan mist serum and sunscreens, is in talks with Costco, Ulta Beauty and Target for retail distribution, the company said. LVMH's ( opens new tab cosmetics chain Sephora plans to launch two new Korean brands Torriden and Beauty of Joseon this summer, according to a Sephora spokesperson. Costco, Target and Ulta did not respond to requests for comments. Tirtir's An said the baseline 10% tariff that the U.S. has already imposed is "endurable" although the planned 25% tariff on South Korean products due in July may force the company to raise prices "a little bit." Seoul, a major U.S. ally, is seeking tariff exemptions in trade talks with Washington. The Founders--the maker of Anua skincare products, which hit Ulta Beauty shelves this year--also have more room to absorb higher tariffs than rivals, its strategy team leader Jung Jun-ho said. The company posted an operating profit margin of over 30% last year. South Korea replaced France as the biggest cosmetics exporter to the U.S. in 2024, according to official data, driven by online sales through Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab. The top five Korean cosmetics brands in U.S. e-commerce--which include Beauty of Joseon, Medicube and Biodance--saw online sales grow 71% on average over the past two years, outperforming the overall U.S. market's 21% growth, according to Euromonitor data. The top five French brands--which include L'Oreal Paris, Dior and Lancome--posted 15% growth over that period. Social media has played a big part in Korea's success. "Nowadays a single viral TikTok video or influencer endorsement can turn a product into a global bestseller before it even launches outside Korea," said South Korea-based beauty marketer Odile Monod. But longer-term success will require increased physical store sales, said Jason Kim, CEO of cosmetics distributor Silicon2 ( opens new tab. There are already signs of growth plateauing for some companies, such as startup COSRX, now part of Korean cosmetics giant AmorePacific ( opens new tab, as competition heats up and cheaper alternatives emerge, analysts said. For now, investors remain upbeat about Korean potential, with shares of d'Alba Global more than doubling since their debut last month. "The K-beauty trend is strong," Silicon2's Kim said. "But indie brands will face challenges too."
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
In Thailand, where mysticism thrives, AI fortune telling finds fertile ground
When Whan consulted her new fortune teller about the future of her relationship with her boyfriend, she was told that one half of the couple tended to be sulky, while the other would over-analyse things. The fortune teller recommended that they try to be more open with each other. But the advice on the future of the relationship didn't come from a human – it came from ChatGPT. In Thailand, a country with a rich tradition of fortune telling, Whan, 28, is among a growing number of young people turning to ChatGPT for answers about their future. On social media, users share advice on how to upload pictures of their palms for palm readings, and of their birth charts, which show the positions of the planets at the time of their birth. Usually, if Whan wants to see her fortune teller, she needs to book an appointment months in advance - and pay 599 baht [£13.55] for a one hour session. So, when she saw comments on social media praising the accuracy of ChatGPT's readings, she decided to give it a try. She typed into the chat box: 'I saw many people have asked you about their fortune based on a birth chart. Can you do it for me?' It replied: 'My pleasure', before asking the time, date and location of her birth. Satisfied with her first reading, Whan, who asked to use only her nickname, later uploaded a picture of her face for a face reading, and asked ChatGPT to analyse her compatibility with her boyfriend. The importance of fortune tellers - called 'Mor Doo,' meaning 'doctors who see' - dates back centuries in Thailand, a majority Buddhist country, where culture is shaped by astrology and other forms of divination. Fortune tellers are consulted by anyone from politicians or wealthy business people weighing up investment decisions, to students nervous about their exam results or curious about their love life. Estimates of the size of the market for spiritual goods and services vary, though last year the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce suggested it was worth between $304 and $456m. Research produced in January by Krungsri Bank found that younger people were most likely of all generations to buy such products online, and that of the growing range of spiritual services offered through digital technologies, fortune telling applications drew the most interest from all ages. Jirapat Wangcharoen, 27, a content creator focused on astrology and spirituality, has benefited from the rising trend. On his TikTok account Nesh the Wizard, he has shared advice using ChatGPT, with one video last October liked by tens of thousands of users. Jirapat researched the use of AI as a personal navigation tool while studying his Master's degree in Australia. 'My key takeaway was people just want to take their anxieties away as soon as possible,' he said. 'If they have a question at night, at 1am, they don't want to linger on that… They go to ChatGPT or TikTok live to ask the question.' 'It's easier for them [young people] to talk to robots rather than humans,' he added. While fortune tellers can easily be found on social media, or sitting at tables outside temples, people often prefer to use someone they trust and have consulted previously, or who has been recommended. This can mean they need to wait for an appointment. Ruchi Agarwal, assistant professor of anthropology at Mahidol University, said curiosity about the future peaks in times of instability. 'If you look at the past trends, whenever there was economic crisis or political crisis, then there was always a search for either spirit mediums or fortune tellers – just as a psychological remedy, or for finding some solution to the uncertainty they face,' she said. This is also the case for younger people today, who have lived through political instability and the pandemic, and who are also, she said, 'more in their silos, and more attached to social media'. Ajarn Par, or Master Par, an astrologist based in Huai Khwang, an area of Bangkok known for its popular Ganesha Shrine and fortune tellers, agreed that younger people are searching for meaning. 'It's [a way of building] emotional resilience in an uncertain world,' she said. 'Young people have a feeling of [a lack] of control.' Some have raised concerns about the risk of giving AI tools with personal information such as photos or birth details. And, opinions are divided over whether ChatGPT or other AI tools will have long-lasting appeal among those interested in astrology. Ajarn Par believes ChatGPT may be capable of relaying data about astrological principles, but she questions its benefits. 'To give proper guidance, you need to have lived experience… [human fortune tellers] have the feeling of human intuition,' she said. She likens fortune tellers' role to that of a therapist, someone people can consult in their most difficult moments. None of this can be replicated by a computer, she said. 'A robot cannot touch your feelings.' For Whan, there are positives to consulting both humans and ChatGPT. With a human teller, she said, you can see their face and reactions. But with AI: 'you can just use it right away - and you can keep asking them.'
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Reddit sues AI startup Anthropic for breach of contract, ‘unfair competition'
Reddit is suing artificial intelligence startup Anthropic for what it's calling a breach of contract and for engaging in 'unlawful and unfair business acts' by using the social media company's platform and data without authority. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco on Wednesday, claims that Anthropic has been training its models on the personal data of Reddit users without obtaining their consent. Reddit alleges that it has been harmed by the unauthorized commercial use of its content. Reddit shares closed up more than 6% on Wednesday. The company opened the complaint by calling Anthropic a 'late-blooming' AI company that 'bills itself as the white knight of the AI industry.' Reddit follows by saying, 'It is anything but.' 'For its part, despite what its marketing material says, Anthropic does not care about Reddit's rules or users: it believes it is entitled to take whatever content it wants and use that content however it desires, with impunity,' the filing said. In an emailed statement, an Anthropic spokesperson said, 'We disagree with Reddit's claims and will defend ourselves vigorously.' Since the generative AI boom began with the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in late 2022, Reddit has been at the forefront of the conversation. Its 20-year-old site is filled with user-generated information about hundreds of thousands of topics and has been a main source of training for large AI models, including Anthropic's Claude. Reddit announced a partnership with OpenAI in May that will allow the company to train its AI models on Reddit content. The company has a similar agreement with Google. In the lawsuit, Reddit said that 'other giants in the AI space understand and respect Reddit's rules.' It named OpenAI and Google as companies that 'are permitted to use public Reddit content but only after agreeing to Reddit's licensing terms' protecting user privacy. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is a former board member and major shareholder in Reddit, with a stake now worth well over $1 billion. In March, Anthropic was valued at $61.5 billion in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and including participation from Salesforce Ventures and Cisco Investments. The company, founded in 2021 by ex-OpenAI executives, has been backed heavily by Amazon. Reddit held its IPO in 2024 and now has a market cap of about $22 billion. Reddit says it has established rules dictating how its data can be used, which the company says in the filing 'are clearly memorialized' in the Reddit's user agreement. 'While Reddit has always been of the mind that the community should be open to all humans looking for connection and community, it has never allowed its platform and the countless communities who find a home on it to be appropriated by commercial actors seeking to create billion-dollar enterprises and offering nothing in return to Reddit and its users,' the complaint says. Reddit said the aim of the lawsuit is to seek damages and compel Anthropic to abide by its contractual and legal obligations. It's asking for a jury trial.
