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Tue, May 13 - OpenAI and Microsoft Restructure Partnership Amid IPO Talks

Hak

Hak

— 3 min read
Tue, May 13 - OpenAI and Microsoft Restructure Partnership Amid IPO Talks

It's Tuesday, May 13, 2025, and you're reading the Agentive Daily Report.

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OpenAI and Microsoft are renegotiating their multibillion-dollar partnership to enable a potential OpenAI IPO, possibly restructuring OpenAI into a public benefit corporation.
Research breakthrough: 'Absolute Zero' enables AI learning without any training data, outperforming benchmark models and challenging human-centric dataset paradigms.
Google launches advanced game dev and NotebookLM video features, deepening multimodal AI applications and content generation for developers and users.
Sakana AI debuts neuro-inspired 'Continuous Thought Machine,' integrating neuron synchronization for emergent, stepwise reasoning and improved decision-making.
U.S. enterprise adoption of OpenAI tools soars from 19% to 32% in four months, underscoring its dominance over Anthropic (8%) and Google AI (0.1%).
SoundCloud updates terms to allow AI training on user content, raising transparency and consent concerns in content creator communities.
AI deals and tools accelerate: OpenAI acquires Windsurf/Codeium for $3B; new tools from Google, Tencent, Bytedance, and others reshape workflows across research, marketing, and automation.

Today's Top Stories

OpenAI and Microsoft in High-Stakes Partnership Restructuring and IPO Talks

OpenAI is in advanced talks with Microsoft to rewrite their partnership—Microsoft may trade a portion of its $13B equity stake for extended post-2030 access to OpenAI’s technology, enabling OpenAI’s conversion to a public benefit corporation and preparing for an IPO. This shift would reduce Microsoft’s revenue share and grant OpenAI greater independence, while the nonprofit board retains control, a crucial safeguard after previous governance crises.

This deal isn’t just technical: it realigns the power dynamics between two AI titans, with OpenAI’s Stargate supercomputer project signalling intent to lessen cloud dependence on Microsoft. Both need each other—Microsoft for AI leadership, OpenAI for deep pockets and infrastructure—but long-term, this negotiation could signal a move toward less vertically integrated AI labs or spark similar governance shifts across the ecosystem.

Data-Free AI Training: ‘Absolute Zero’ Reinvents How AI Learns

A new model, Absolute Zero, achieves state-of-the-art benchmark results without being trained on any real human data, using a self-invented challenge/solve feedback loop instead. By generating its own synthetic problems for code and math, it matches or beats models trained on hundreds of thousands of labelled examples, and even exhibits generalised reasoning across domains.

This approach upends the traditional need for massive human-annotated datasets, potentially changing the role of humans from data curators to guardrail designers. If scalable, this technique could enable rapid progress in low-data domains, cut training costs, and sidestep many of the biases baked into currently used datasets.

Google and Sakana AI Push Boundaries of Multimodal and Brain-Like AI

Google rolled out Gemma 3 for local multimodal gaming AI and NotebookLM’s Veo 2-powered video summaries, showing a commitment to horizontal and vertical innovation—from game UX to knowledge workflows. At the same time, Sakana AI announced the Continuous Thought Machine, a neural net inspired by biological neuron synchronisation, which demonstrates human-like sequential reasoning in complex tasks.

Both moves are less about flashy demos and more about expanding the technical toolkit: Google arms developers with real-time, context-rich NPCs and seamless multimedia summarisation; Sakana AI brings us closer to interpretable, emergent reasoning, a step toward more transparent and adaptable AI models.

Fast Forward

  • OpenAI Market Dominance: U.S. OpenAI enterprise adoption leaps from 19% to 32% in four months, with revenue set to double by 2026, putting competitive pressure on Anthropic and Google while setting the enterprise AI standard.
  • AI Training on Creator Content: SoundCloud’s quiet ToS update legalises AI model training on uploaded music, spotlighting ongoing consent and monetisation controversies across the creative economy.
  • Tencent, Bytedance Launch Agents: Tencent’s open-source agent can generate multi-subject videos, while Bytedance’s TARS handles real-time MacOS automation, pointing to rapid advances in consumer and developer agents.
  • Alibaba’s Search-Free Training: ZeroSearch trains AI assistants to search “without the web,” achieving cost reduction and performance parity, potentially democratising advanced AI training.
  • Meta AssetGen 2.0 & FAIR Leadership: Meta launches AssetGen 2.0 for higher-fidelity 3D asset creation and appoints ex-DeepMind director to turbo-charge its AI research lab.

New Tools Discovered

  • Illustrae: Professional scientific illustration platform streamlining visual content creation for researchers.
  • Insighto AI Agents: Automates voice and chat interactions using customizable AI agents for sales and support.
  • Flatlogic: No-code AI-powered web app development for startups and growing businesses.
  • VoltAgent (GitHub): Open-source TypeScript agent framework enabling complex automation and developer workflows.
  • DeckSpeed: Transforms written notes or chats into personalised presentation slides at speed.

Discover more tools at Agentive.Directory

That's a wrap for today! Thank you for reading this report.

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Until tomorrow,
Hak from Agentive.Studio

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