Musk's xAI Receives High Marks From Early Grok 3 Users
Hi! It's Shirin in San Francisco. Days after Elon Musk failed to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, he's now claiming to have built a model that outperforms the ChatGPT maker's best AI systems. But first…
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CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
Google, Scale AI's largest customer, plans split after Meta deal, sources say
Alphabet's Google, the largest customer of Scale AI, plans to cut ties with Scale after news broke that rival Meta is taking a 49% stake in the AI data-labeling startup, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Google had planned to pay Scale AI about $200 million this year for the human-labeled training data that is crucial for developing technology, including the sophisticated AI models that power Gemini, its ChatGPT competitor, one of the sources said. The search giant already held conversations with several of Scale AI's rivals this week as it seeks to shift away much of that workload, sources added. Scale's loss of significant business comes as Meta takes a big stake in the company, valuing it at $29 billion. Scale was worth $14 billion before the deal. Scale AI intends to keep its business running while its CEO, Alexandr Wang, along with a few employees, move over to Meta. Since its core business is concentrated around a few customers, it could suffer greatly if it loses key customers like Google. In a statement, a Scale AI spokesperson said its business, which spans work with major companies and governments, remains strong, as it is committed to protecting customer data. The company declined to comment on specifics with Google. Scale AI raked in $870 million in revenue in 2024, and Google spent some $150 million on Scale AI's services last year, sources said. Other major tech companies that are customers of Scale's, including Microsoft, are backing away as well. Elon Musk's xAI is also looking to exit, one of the sources said. OpenAI decided to pull back from Scale several months ago, according to sources familiar with the matter, though it spends far less money than Google. OpenAI's CFO said on Friday that the company will continue to work with Scale AI, as one of its many data vendors. Companies that compete with Meta in developing cutting-edge AI models are concerned that doing business with Scale could expose their research priorities and road map to a rival, five sources said. By contracting with Scale AI, customers often share proprietary data as well as prototype products for which Scale's workers are providing data-labeling services. With Meta now taking a 49% stake, AI companies are concerned that one of their chief rivals could gain knowledge about their business strategy and technical blueprints. Google, Microsoft and OpenAI declined to comment. xAI did not respond to a request for comment. The bulk of Scale AI's revenue comes from charging generative AI model makers for providing access to a network of human trainers with specialized knowledge — from historians to scientists, some with doctorate degrees. The humans annotate complex datasets that are used to "post-train" AI models, and as AI models have become smarter, the demand for the sophisticated human-provided examples has surged, and one annotation could cost as much as $100. Scale also does data-labeling for enterprises like self-driving car companies and the U.S. government, which are likely to stay, according to the sources. But its biggest money-maker is in partnering with generative AI model makers, the sources said. Google had already sought to diversify its data service providers for more than a year, three of the sources said. But Meta's moves this week have led Google to seek to move off Scale AI on all its key contracts, the sources added. Because of the way data-labeling contracts are structured, that process could happen quickly, two sources said. This will provide an opening for Scale AI's rivals to jump in. "The Meta-Scale deal marks a turning point," said Jonathan Siddharth, CEO of Turing, a Scale AI competitor. "Leading AI labs are realizing neutrality is no longer optional, it's essential." Labelbox, another competitor, will "probably generate hundreds of millions of new revenue" by the end of the year from customers fleeing Scale, its CEO, Manu Sharma, told Reuters. Handshake, a competitor focusing on building a network of PhDs and experts, saw a surge of workload from top AI labs that compete with Meta. "Our demand has tripled overnight after the news," said Garrett Lord, CEO at Handshake. Many AI labs now want to hire in-house data-labelers, which allows their data to remain secure, said Brendan Foody, CEO of Mercor, a startup that in addition to competing directly with Scale AI also builds technology around being able to recruit and vet candidates in an automated way, enabling AI labs to scale up their data labeling operations quickly. Founded in 2016, Scale AI provides vast amounts of labeled data or curated training data, which is crucial for developing sophisticated tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. The Meta deal will be a boon for Scale AI's investors including Accel and Index Ventures, as well as its current and former employees. As part of the deal, Scale AI's CEO, Wang, will take a top position leading Meta's AI efforts. Meta is fighting the perception that it may have fallen behind in the AI race after its initial set of Llama 4 large language models released in April fell short of performance expectations.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tesla Drops Killer Cybertruck Lease Offer for June
Tesla Drops Killer Cybertruck Lease Offer for June originally appeared on Autoblog. Tesla's Cybertruck is among the market's highest-performing and most durable electric pickups. Drivers behind the wheel of the Cybertruck's peak trim, the Cyberbeast, receive up to 845 horsepower, a maximum torque rating of 864 lb-ft, and all-wheel drive (AWD). The Cyberbeast's robust powertrain doesn't force drivers to sacrifice excess range, as a full charge provides up to 301 miles, and a Supercharger supplies a maximum of 135 miles in 15 minutes. This trim also boasts impressive acceleration for its size, traveling from 0-60 mph in 2.6 seconds. The Cybertruck's other trims include the mid-level AWD version and the base Long Range variant. The AWD trim has a slightly longer range of 325 miles, and although it is lower in horsepower and torque, at 600 hp and 521 lb-ft, respectively, it matches its counterpart's 11,000-lb. towing capacity. Drivers prioritizing range and savings can look toward the rear-wheel drive (RWD) Cybertruck Long Range trim with 354 miles per charge, 315 horsepower, and 320 lb-ft of torque. You'll receive three motors within a Cyberbeast, two in an AWD Cybertruck trim, and a single motor within the base Long Range. The Cybertruck's 6x4-ft. bed holds its own against full-size competitors with 56.2 cu. ft. of cargo space, a powered frunk, an under-bed storage compartment, and 54 cu. ft. of interior storage volume with the rear seats up. With starting prices of $62,490, $72,490, and $99,990 for the Long Range, AWD, and Cyberbeast trims, the Cybertruck's higher average costs might lead some to favor leasing over a cash or finance purchase. Let's take a closer look at where Tesla Cybertruck lease offers stand. Tesla offers the Long Range Cybertruck for $779 per month for 36 months, with a 10,000-mile allowance and a $5,000 down payment. However, you can upgrade to the mid-level AWD Cybertruck trim for just $20 more at $799 monthly, with the same contract length, mileage limit, and down payment. The peak Cyberbeast trim costs $1,078 per month over 36 months, with 10,000 annual miles and a $5,000 down payment. Consider the monthly payment cost, taxes, and fees before signing a lease. Lease offers may vary by metro market. Check your local Cybertruck lease pricing here. Some lessees prefer to put $0 down to lower upfront costs. In this case, you'd pay about $918 monthly for a base Long Range Cybertruck, $938 monthly for the mid-level AWD Cybertruck, and $1,217 monthly for the Cyberbeast. Leasing a Cybertruck may be a better fit than a cash or finance purchase, since you have more flexibility in deciding whether the model's unique design is right for you. Additionally, Tesla ended its lease buyout ban in November, so Cybertruck lessees pleased with their experience can transition into ownership gradually vs. immediately. While the Cybertruck isn't your typical pickup, it offers a standout design, daily practicality, and its steel exoskeleton provides durability for more peace of mind. Those considering a Cybertruck lease also have access to the Long Range RWD trim that wasn't initially available. *Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. The information presented herein is based on manufacturer-provided lease offer information, which is subject to frequent change and may vary based on location, creditworthiness, and other factors. We are not a party to any lease agreements and assume no liability for the terms, conditions, availability, or accuracy of any lease offers mentioned. All terms, including but not limited to pricing, mileage allowances, and residual values, require direct verification with an authorized local OEM dealership. This article does not constitute financial advice or an endorsement of any particular lease or vehicle. Tesla Drops Killer Cybertruck Lease Offer for June first appeared on Autoblog on Jun 13, 2025 This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Jun 13, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘This is coming for everyone': A new kind of AI bot takes over the web
People are replacing Google search with artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, a major shift that has unleashed a new kind of bot loose on the web. To offer users a tidy AI summary instead of Google's '10 blue links,' companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic have started sending out bots to retrieve and recap content in real time. They are scraping webpages and loading relevant content into the AI's memory and 'reading' far more content than a human ever would. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. According to data shared exclusively with The Washington Post, traffic from retrieval bots grew 49 percent in the first quarter of 2025 from the fourth quarter of 2024. The data is from TollBit, a New York-based start-up that helps news publishers monitor and make money when AI companies use their content. TollBit's report, based on data from 266 websites - half of which are run by national and local news organizations - suggests that the growth of bots that retrieve information when a user prompts an AI model is on an exponential curve. 'It starts with publishers, but this is coming for everyone,' Toshit Panigrahi, CEO and co-founder of TollBit, said in an interview. Panigrahi said that this kind of bot traffic, which can be hard for websites to detect, reflects growing demand for content, even as AI tools devastate traffic to news sites and other online platforms. 'Human eyeballs to your site decreased. But the net amount of content access, we believe, fundamentally is going to explode,' he said. A spokesperson for OpenAI said that referral traffic to publishers from ChatGPT searches may be lower in quantity but that it reflects a stronger user intent compared with casual web browsing. To capitalize on this shift, websites will need to reorient themselves to AI visitors rather than human ones, Panigrahi said. But he also acknowledged that squeezing payment for content when AI companies argue that scraping online data is fair use will be an uphill climb, especially as leading players make their newest AI visitors even harder to identify. Debate around the AI industry's use of online content has centered on the gargantuan amounts of text needed to train the AI models that power tools like ChatGPT. To obtain that data, tech companies use bots that scrape the open web for free, which has led to a raft of lawsuits alleging copyright theft from book authors and media companies, including a New York Times lawsuit against OpenAI. Other news publishers have opted for licensing deals. (In April, The Washington Post inked a deal with OpenAI.) In the past eight months, as chatbots have evolved to incorporate features like web search and 'reasoning' to answer more complex queries, traffic for retrieval bots has skyrocketed. It grew 2.5 times as fast as traffic for bots that scrape data for training between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, according to TollBit's report. Panigrahi said TollBit's data may underestimate the magnitude of this change because it doesn't reflect bots that AI companies send out on behalf of AI 'agents' that can complete tasks on a user's behalf, like ordering takeout from DoorDash. The start-up's findings also add a new dimension to mounting evidence that the modern internet - optimized for Google search results and social media algorithms - will have to be restructured as the popularity of AI answers grows. 'To think of it as, 'Well, I'm optimizing my search for humans' is missing out on a big opportunity,' he said. Installing TollBit's analytics platform is free for news publishers, and the company has more than 2,000 clients, many of which are struggling with these seismic changes, according to data in the report. Although news publishers and other websites can implement blockers to prevent various AI bots from scraping their content, TollBit found that more than 26 million AI scrapes bypassed those blockers in March alone. Some AI companies claim bots for AI agents don't need to follow bot instructions because they are acting on behalf of a user. Mark Howard, chief operating officer for the media company Time, a TollBit client, said the start-up's traffic data has helped Time negotiate content licensing deals with AI companies including OpenAI and the search engine Perplexity. But the market to fairly compensate publishers is far from established, Howard said. 'The vast majority of the AI bots out there absolutely are not sourcing the content through any kind of paid mechanism. … There is a very, very long way to go.' Related Content He's dying. She's pregnant. His one last wish is to fight his cancer long enough to see his baby. The U.S. granted these journalists asylum. Then it fired them. 'Enough is enough.' Why Los Angeles is still protesting, despite fear.
