A rough week for the AI money machine.
The headlines
- OpenAI has reportedly cut its funding target from $30 billion to $20 billion, led by UAE investors. The WSJ says it has $11 billion so far and calls some investors “tepid.”
- Anthropic, which just filed to go public, is expected to get a high “junk” (double-B) credit rating after its IPO, per the FT, citing Blackstone. Blackstone had earlier predicted investment grade. Anthropic and Blackstone declined to comment.
- Big Tech capex: Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft plan more than $740 billion this year. Alphabet posted negative free cash flow of $9.1 billion and had its worst day on record as AI Mode eats into Search ads. On Friday the Nasdaq fell 2.9%.
My take
I’m not a stock guy, but this matters to anyone who uses these tools. When money gets tight, prices go up, limits go down and free tiers shrink. That’s one more reason I keep local models and a token budget in my setup. Don’t build your whole workflow on one vendor’s subsidy.
God Bless, and May the Source Be with You!
