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Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom. Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble?

Inside the 81-year-old billionaire’s risky, debt-fueled scramble to transform his data empire into an A.I. juggernaut. The president announced “the largest A.I. infrastructure project by far in history” and told the world that his friend Larry Ellison was just the man to get it done. “He’s sort of C.E.O. of everything,” Trump said. Ellison began by thanking Trump. “We certainly couldn’t do this without you,” he said. “It would simply be impossible.” He then proceeded to sketch out the ambitious plan. Ellison’s database software and cloud computing company, Oracle, and its partners — most prominently OpenAI — were going to invest as much as $500 billion over the next four years into a group of sprawling data centers, 500,000 square feet each, that would produce 10 gigawatts of computing power, using enough energy to power as many as 10 million homes. It was called Project Stargate, after the 1994 sci-fi movie. The effort began in late 2022 when the launch of ChatGPT stunned the world and set in motion a race to master and control the most transformative new technology since the birth of the internet. Analysts began bidding up how much generative A.I. would add to the global economy: $7 trillion over 10 years, $200 trillion by 2030and so on. Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom. Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble? – The New York Times

OpenAI Partners with Walmart to Let Users Buy Products in ChatGPT by Wyatte Grantham-Philips

OpenAIis partnering with Walmart to let shoppers make purchases directly within ChatGPT, furthering the artificial intelligence company’s push to turn its chatbot into a virtual merchant as it seeks to boost revenue. In an Tuesday announcement, Walmart said the new offering will give customers the option to “simply chat and buy.” That means the retailer’s products would be available through instant checkout in ChatGPT — allowing users to buy anything from meal ingredients or household items, to other goods they might be discussing with the chatbot.  OpenAI partners with Walmart to let shoppers buy products in ChatGPT | AP News

Nvidia to Invest $100 Billion in OpenAI to Help Expand the ChatGPT Maker’s Computing Power

Chipmaker Nvidia will invest $100 billion in OpenAI as part of a partnership announced Monday that will add at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia AI data centers to ramp up the computing power for the owner of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. Per the letter of intent signed by the companies, the first gigawatt of Nvidia systems will be deployed in the second half of 2026. Nvidia and OpenAI said they would be finalizing the details of the arrangement in the coming weeks. The Nvidia-OpenAI partnership also comes about 10 days after OpenAI said it had reached a new tentative agreement that will give Microsoft a $100 billion equity stake in its for-profit corporation. OpenAI is technically controlled by its nonprofit. OpenAI says it has 700 million weekly active users. Nvidia to invest $100 billion in OpenAI to help expand ChatGPT maker’s computing power | AP News

Trump’s Permitting Boss Aims to Deliver on AI Data Center Plans by Stephen Lee

The White House’s new permitting director wants to vastly expand her office’s work in getting projects built—including, for the first time, data centers and artificial intelligence facilities. That would be a boon to President Donald Trump, whose economic policy advocates for the construction of projects like OpenAI Inc.‘s $500 billion Stargate AI venture, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.‘s $100 billion investment in new chip factories, and as many new hardrock minesas possible. Many of those projects will have to secure federal permits under the National Environmental Policy Act before they can break ground, a daunting prospect that can take years. Enter the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, which shepherds complex projects through the process by harmonizing different agencies’ environmental reviews, anticipating hurdles before they create delays, and holding agencies accountable to deadlines. On average, the 25-person council says it’s able to shave 18 months off a project’s review time. Trump’s Permitting Boss Aims to Deliver on AI Data Center Plans

OpenAI to Soon Offer Deep Research To All ChatGPT Users for Free by Akshay Kumar

Earlier in February, OpenAI introduced Deep Research, its new agentic capability in ChatGPT. The feature allows you to use artificial intelligence to compile factual information into detailed reports on any topic. So far, the advanced functionality of one of the world’s most popular chatbots has only been exclusively available to Plus, Pro, and Enterprise subscribers. However, OpenAI is all set to offer the Deep Research AI agent to all ChatGPT users for free. Currently, you need to pay $20 per month for the ChatGPT Plus subscription to use the Deep Research functionality. You can avail yourself of extended access to the feature by paying $200/month for the ChatGPT Pro subscription.  ChatGPT’s Deep Research AI agent can do work for you independently. Once you give it a prompt, it will analyze and synthesize hundreds of sources online to make a detailed report at the level of a research analyst. You can think of it as your very own analyst who can go off on its own and report findings to you in a matter of minutes. It can also cross-verify the report against the millions of sites on the internet. OpenAI to soon offer Deep Research to all ChatGPT users for free

 

High-Tech Partnership Invests $500 Billion in AI

President Donald Trump on Tuesday talked up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by Sam Altman of OpenAI, Larry Ellison of Oracle, and Masayoshi Son of SoftBank. The new entity, Stargate, will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum. “This will be the most important project of this era,” said Altman, CEO of OpenAI. The White House has put an emphasis on making it easier to build out new electricity generation in anticipation of AI’s expansion, knowing that the United States is in a competitive race against China to develop a technology increasingly being adopted by businesses. High-Tech Partnership Invests $500 Billion in AI – electrifiED

Interesting: The Three Pillars of Independence of an Organization

The 3 Pillars of Independence most commonly refers to a framework from the UK voluntary sector (specifically promoted by organizations like Bond and the Directory of Social Change). It is a toolkit for assessing and maintaining the independence of charities, NGOs, or civil society organizations.

The Three Pillars are:

  1. Independent of Party Politics – The organization (or regulator) must remain free from bias or influence by any political party or the government of the day. Decisions should be impartial, not favoring one political side.
  2. Independent of Populism – It should not be swayed by popular public opinion, media-driven campaigns, or transient public pressure, especially on controversial or unpopular causes.
  3. Independent of the Press – Freedom from media influence or pressure, ensuring decisions are based on evidence and law rather than headlines or public narratives.

This toolkit was created to monitor potential political encroachment on charitable regulation and to ensure charities can operate without undue external interference.

 

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