Fambirai Monthly Newsletter – February 2025

Here’s your AI briefing for February, and wow—a lot has been happening! We’ve got billion-dollar power moves, AI shaking up finance, and a few creative controversies to keep things spicy. SoftBank is looking to drop a casual $40B into OpenAI, while Elon Musk, not one to be left out, tried to buy the whole thing for $97B—only to get shut down. Meanwhile, DeepSeek claims to have trained a GPT-4 level AI for just $5.6M, sending Nvidia’s stock tumbling. 

Elsewhere, the EU just banned emotion-tracking AI and shady website practices, marking a major shift in AI ethics. Over in creativity, Marvel denies using AI for a botched Fantastic Four poster (despite some very suspicious extra fingers), and Christie’s first AI art auction sparked protests. On the consumer side, Apple is teaming up with Alibaba to bring AI-powered features to China’s iPhones, while Google is testing AI age verification—so good luck sneaking past that one.

Plenty more in the articles below, including AI breakthroughs in healthcare, banking, and quantum computing. 

1. Big Moves in AI Investment & Competition

SoftBank Eyes Record $40B OpenAI Investment – SoftBank is in discussions to lead a $40B funding round for OpenAI, potentially reshaping its governance and valuing the company at $300B.
Read more here: https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-talks-investment-round-valuing-it-up-340-billion-wsj-reports-2025-01-30

Musk’s Offer to Buy OpenAI Roils Industry – Elon Musk made a $97B bid for OpenAI, vowing to make it open-source again. The board is expected to reject the offer, but the move signals major tensions over AI governance.
Read more here: https://www.itpro.com/technology/strategy/367467/elon-musk-openai-97-billion-hostile-bid

Nvidia Stock Sinks on Cheap AI Rival – Nvidia’s stock plummeted after DeepSeek claimed it trained a GPT-4-level AI for just $5.6M, sparking fears of lower-cost competition in AI development.
Read more here: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/29/nvidia-stock-falls-as-deepseek-ai-cost-claims.html

xAI Launches Grok-3 Model – Elon Musk’s xAI introduced Grok-3, a chatbot that boasts real-time web access. It gained over a million sign-ups in just 48 hours.
Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/18/elon-musk-grok-3-ai-chatbot

ElevenLabs Raises $180M for Voice AI – Voice AI startup ElevenLabs secured $180M in funding, tripling its valuation to $3.3B. The investment will enhance its generative speech technology for lifelike AI voices.
Read more here: https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/voice-ai-startup-elevenlabs-closes-new-funding-round-33-billion-valuation-2025-01-30/

2. AI in Business & Finance

UK Opens Inquiry into AI in Finance – The UK Treasury Committee is investigating AI’s impact on banking, including fraud detection, automation, and job displacement. Responses are due by March 17.
Read more here: https://www.fintechfutures.com/2025/02/uk-government-launches-inquiry-into-use-of-ai-in-banking-and-financial-services/

CaixaBank Launches “Cosmos” AI Initiative – Spain’s CaixaBank is investing €60M to enhance AI use in lending, fraud detection, and customer service automation.
Read more here: https://www.fintechfutures.com/2025/02/spains-caixabank-launches-cosmos-initiative-to-drive-ai-enabled-transformation/

Lloyds Bank Hires Head of Responsible AI – Lloyds Banking Group has appointed Dr. Magdalena Lis as its first Head of Responsible AI, reinforcing its commitment to ethical AI governance.
Read more here: https://www.fintechfutures.com/2025/02/lloyds-banking-group-appoints-dr-magdalena-lis-as-head-of-responsible-ai/

3. AI Regulation & Ethics

The Paris AI Action Summit built on discussions from Bletchley Park and Seoul, bringing together nearly 100 countries and over 1,000 stakeholders. Key outcomes included the release of the International AI Safety Report, a $400 million investment in Current AI to develop public-interest AI, and the formation of an environmental sustainability coalition with 91 partners. Europe also launched InvestAI, aiming to mobilise €200 billion for AI, while China expressed willingness to collaborate on AI safety. A notable rift emerged as the US refused to endorse an inclusive AI declaration, reflecting geopolitical tensions in AI governance.
Read more here: https://www.techpolicy.press/at-paris-ai-summit-us-eu-other-nations-lay-out-divergent-goals/

EU Bans Emotion-Tracking & AI Dark Patterns – The EU has outlawed AI tools that track workers’ emotions and AI-driven manipulative website practices. This is the first major enforcement under the EU AI Act.
Read more here: https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/eu-lays-out-guidelines-misuse-ai-by-employers-websites-police-2025-02-04/

UN Proposes Global AI Oversight Panel – The UN is advocating for a new international AI regulatory body, similar to the IPCC for climate change, to oversee AI governance and safety.
Read more here: https://unsdg.un.org/latest/announcements/great-power-greater-responsibility-un-secretary-general-calls-shaping-ai-all

EU Countries Unanimously Approve AI Act – EU nations reached an agreement on the AI Act, setting the stage for comprehensive AI governance while ensuring innovation is not stifled.
Read more here: https://iapp.org/news/a/eu-countries-vote-unanimously-to-approve-ai-act

Africa: Governance Gaps in AI- A new report highlights that many African organisations lack AI governance frameworks, leaving them vulnerable to compliance risks and ethical pitfalls. Experts are calling for urgent action to ensure transparency, accountability, and fairness in AI adoption.
Read more here: https://itweb.africa/content/mYZRX79gwO3qOgA8

Australia Introduces Voluntary AI Safety Standard - The Australian Government has released a voluntary AI safety framework to guide businesses in responsible AI use, focusing on accountability, risk management, and human oversight.
Read more here: https://www.industry.gov.au/publications/voluntary-ai-safety-standard

New Zealand: Public Sector AI Framework Released - The NZ government has launched the Public Service AI Framework, ensuring AI is used ethically in government decision-making. This framework aims to boost efficiency while maintaining public trust. 
Read more here: https://www.dia.govt.nz/press.nsf/d77da9b523f12931cc256ac5000d19b6/dd22bbdc433e7471cc258c210072b2d1!OpenDocument

4. AI in Science & Healthcare

AI Cracks Superbug Mystery in Just Two Days – Google’s AI solved a decade-long microbiology mystery in 48 hours, validating human research and suggesting new treatment hypotheses.
Read more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyz6e9edy3o

Climate Researchers Use AI Forecasts – AI models like Nvidia’s "CorrDiff" are being used to improve climate forecasting accuracy and deliver more precise weather predictions.
Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2025/02/24/nvidia-ai-weather-forecast-corediff

5. AI in Creativity & Media

Marvel Denies AI-Created Fantastic Four Poster – Marvel faced backlash over an allegedly AI-generated Fantastic Four: First Steps poster, which contained errors like extra fingers and duplicate faces. Disney/Marvel denied using AI, but the controversy has reignited debates on AI in creative industries.
Read more here: https://petapixel.com/2025/02/06/disney-and-marvel-deny-using-ai-in-fantastic-four-first-steps-movie-poster/

Christie’s AI Art Auction Sparks Protest – Christie’s held its first auction dedicated to AI-generated art, drawing protests from artists concerned about copyright and authenticity. The sale, featuring 20 AI-generated works, has sparked debates over AI’s role in creative industries.
Read more here: https://www.artandobject.com/news/artists-protest-first-ever-ai-art-auction-christies

Adobe’s Firefly Video Model Goes Live – Adobe launched its Firefly Video Model in beta, bringing generative AI to video creation. Users can generate short clips and apply AI-driven effects via text prompts. Adobe claims Firefly’s outputs are "commercially safe," as they are trained on licensed content.
Read more here: https://news.adobe.com/news/2025/02/photoshop-mobile-web

Spotify Embraces AI-Narrated Audiobooks – Spotify has opened its platform to AI-narrated audiobooks using ElevenLabs’ generative voice technology. This will allow authors to publish audiobooks faster and in multiple languages. AI-narrated works will be labelled as such.
Read more here: https://www.theverge.com/news/616355/spotify-audiobooks-elevenlabs-ai-narration

6. Consumer AI Developments

Apple & Alibaba Form AI Partnership – Apple is partnering with Alibaba to bring AI-powered features to iPhones in China. This includes voice assistance and local AI models tailored to comply with Chinese regulations. Alibaba’s stock jumped to a three-year high following the announcement.
Read more here: https://www.theverge.com/news/611992/apple-intelligence-ai-china-alibaba-iphone

Google Tests AI to Verify Users’ Ages – Google has begun testing AI-powered age verification for YouTube and other services. The system analyses behaviour and biometric hints to estimate whether a user is under 18, aiming to improve child safety online.
Read more here: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/12/google-to-test-using-ai-to-determine-users-ages.html

AI Coach to Quit Smoking Shows Promise – A study found that an AI health coach chatbot helped smokers quit at a higher rate than traditional quitting apps. The chatbot provides personalised encouragement, tracks progress, and offers distraction exercises.
Read more here: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-smart-ai-smokers.html

JD.com Unveils "ChatJD" for Retail – Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com launched ChatJD, a generative AI assistant for online shopping. It can answer product questions, provide fashion advice, and assist with after-sales service via natural conversation.
Read more here: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/10/chinese-e-commerce-giant-jdcom-to-launch-chatgpt-style-product.html

7. Emerging AI Technologies & Research

Anthropic Debuts 100K-Token Context Window – Anthropic announced that its Claude chatbot now supports a 100,000-token context window, allowing users to process book-length documents in a single interaction. This surpasses OpenAI’s GPT-4 32K context limit and is a major step toward long-form AI comprehension.
Read more here: https://blog.anthropic.com/claude-long-context-100k

Microsoft Unveils Majorana Quantum Chip – Microsoft revealed its "Majorana 1" quantum computing chip, which uses topological qubits. If scalable, it could lead to fault-tolerant quantum computers, potentially revolutionising AI processing.
Read more here: https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/innovation/microsofts-majorana-1-chip-carves-new-path-for-quantum-computing/

Convergence AI Launches Web Agent – Startup Convergence AI introduced Proxy 1.0, an AI-powered web agent that can browse websites, click buttons, and perform tasks for users—offering a glimpse at more autonomous AI assistants.
Read more here: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/proxy-1-0

NVIDIA & Partners Launch “SIGNS” for ASL – NVIDIA has launched SIGNS, an AI-powered platform to help people learn American Sign Language (ASL). The tool provides real-time feedback on signing accuracy and can translate ASL into text or speech.
Read more here: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-sign-language/

Pentagon Trials “GhostFleet” AI Drones – The U.S. Department of Defense has started testing GhostFleet, an AI-powered drone swarm designed for search-and-rescue and surveillance. The drones can adapt to new scenarios without direct human control.
Read more here: https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/ghostfleet-ai-drone-trial/