This Sam Altman-Backed $1.8 Billion Startup Bets AI Can Get Drugs Through Clinical Trials Faster Formation Bio CEO Ben Liu is convinced that drug discovery isn’t the bottleneck in getting medicines to market—it’s going through clinical trials. Now he’s raised some $615 million from top investors ...

My latest @forbes.com feature looks at $1.8B startup Formation Bio, which is making a big bet that AI can push clinical trials faster.

“What we think the world has wrong is that drug discovery is the bottleneck,” says cofounder and CEO Ben Liu.

www.forbes.com/sites/amyfel...

Forget Palantir. Meet ‘Poulantir”. It seems to be a running joke among Mistral’s 700-strong staff that the company’s future leans on challenging Palantir.

Inside Messy, Fast-Growing Mercor, Run By Youngest-Ever Self-Made Billionaires Founded in 2023 by 20-somethings, data labeling startup Mercor exploded to $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate earlier this year. Now it's confronting a wave of challenges, including an employee...

Mercor reached $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate earlier this year. Run by the youngest-ever self made billionaires, the startup is facing a wave of challenges: employee fraud, North Korean infiltration and cultural growing pains.

With Anna Tong.

www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

What Anthropic’s Leak Means For The Coming Wave Of ‘Dark Code’ The leak, triggered by a human error, exposed 500,000 lines of source code of Anthropic’s star product Claude Code.

Inside the latest edition of The Prompt: We're entering the era of "dark code" says VC Sarah Guo. And with AI agents shipping software super-fast, security incidents like Claude Code's leak and Mercor hit by a widespread attack are only going to be more prevalent.
www.forbes.com/sites/the-pr...

Buzzy Startups Like Cursor Are Using This AI Law Firm To Close Deals Faster New York-based startup Crosby’s AI agents and lawyers work together to review contracts quickly, billed by the page, for the likes of Cursor and Runway. CEO Ryan Daniels calls it a “neofirm.”

Crosby is an entirely new type of law firm where AI agents and lawyers work together to speed up contract review for buzzy AI startups like Cursor, Cognition and Runway. The $400 million-valued firm is disrupting the way traditional law firms work.
www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

Next Billion-Dollar Startups 2026: Nominations Are Open For the 12th annual Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups list, we’re on the hunt for 25 fast-growing companies most likely to become unicorns — and thrive well beyond that.

This year I’m taking over our Next Billion-Dollar Startups list. We want to highlight the best up-and-comers. If your company’s valuation is under $1B, apply here!
www.forbes.com/sites/richar...

“We Almost Didn’t Do It”: Jonathan Ross On The $20 Billion Deal With Nvidia The Christmas Eve agreement—billed as Nvidia’s biggest deal in its three-decade history—landed at a precarious moment for Groq. Now Nvidia is betting on Groq’s inference-speed tech inside a newly anno...

Three months after a blockbuster $20 billion deal, Nvidia announced its plans for Groq’s inference-speed tech. Here's how it came together and what's next.

My latest for @forbes.com, with @iainmartin.bsky.social, @richardnieva.bsky.social and Anna Tong:

www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Cursor Goes To War For AI Coding Dominance After becoming the hottest, fastest growing AI coding company, Cursor is confronting a new reality: developers may no longer need a code editor at all.

After becoming the hottest, fastest growing AI coding company, Cursor is confronting a new reality: with the rise of powerful AI agents like Claude Code, developers may no longer need a code editor at all. With Anna Tong.

www.forbes.com/sites/annato...

How Anthropic’s Kerfuffle With The Pentagon Became A Optics Headache For OpenAI Plus: Popular Chinese open source models are helping mint billionaires.

AI behemoth Anthropic has come into the U.S. government’s line of fire. But thanks to wild turn of events over the last few days, the Anthropic-Pentagon kerfuffle has become a optics headache for OpenAI.

A full recap in the latest edition of The Prompt:
www.forbes.com/sites/the-pr...

AI’s Biggest Builders Are Now Its Biggest Lobbyists OpenAI and Anthropic spent more on lobbying in 2025 than ever. They’re pushing for friendly treatment amid tensions—at least for Anthropic—with the Trump administration.

OpenAI and Anthropic spent more on lobbying in 2025 than ever. My latest for @forbes.com is a breakdown of what the big #AI model makers lobbied on last year and why:

www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Ex-Top Tesla Engineer Raises $140 Million To Rewire The Electric Grid Heron Power, backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Breakthrough Energy, is scaling up production of solid-state transformers that more efficiently move power to the grid.

NEW: An ex-Top Tesla engineer raises $140 million to rewire the electric grid with solid-state transformers www.forbes.com/sites/alanoh...
#infrastructure #renewableenergy

Jennifer Doudna’s $1 Billion Plan To Bring Gene Editing To The Masses Crispr’s ability to cut genetic code like scissors has just started to turn into medicines. Now, gene editing pioneer Jennifer Doudna wants to build an entire ecosystem to bring these treatments mains...

NEW for @forbes.com: Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna’s plan to create a gene editing ecosystem to solve major problems in medicine, agriculture and climate.

“I don’t want it to be a curio, a topic of academic interest,” she says.

www.forbes.com/sites/amyfel...

The Dark Side Of AI Video Startup Higgsfield’s Super-Fast Growth Influencer marketing helped AI video company Higgsfield hit $300 million in annual revenue run rate in just 11 months. But misleading marketing tactics and a shock-based social media strategy has led ...

Influencer marketing has helped AI video company Higgsfield hit $300 million in annual revenue run rate in just eleven months. But misleading marketing tactics, payment problems and a social media strategy based on shock has led to backlash among creators.
www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

Sam Altman went deep with us for the latest cover of Forbes on OpenAI's new device, his feud with Elon, and how he's thinking about his legacy now that he has a son, and another baby on the way.

Why Penguin Random House And Macmillan Are Recruiting AI Engineers Publishing giants like Penguin Random House and Macmillan are eager to use AI internally—but not for writing or editing. Their authors still might revolt.

While authors litigate, publishers are leaning in.

Publishers like Penguin Random House, Macmillan, and Wiley are actively, and perhaps quietly, recruiting AI engineers. Despite writer pushback, the industry is looking to leverage AI for back-office efficiency.

www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

Microsoft Gave FBI BitLocker Encryption Keys, Exposing Privacy Flaw The tech giant said providing encryption keys was a standard response to a court order. But companies like Apple and Meta set up their systems so such a privacy violation isn’t possible.

🚨 SCOOP 🚨 Microsoft gives encryption keys to the FBI to unlock data on seized computers.

Comes from a fraud case in Guam.

But Microsoft tells me it gets around 20 requests for BitLocker keys a year.

How many keys has it given to feds over the years?

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...

AI Startup Merges With A Billionaire-Backed Data Center Operator In $2.5 Billion Deal The startup behind open source tool PyTorch Lightning has merged with compute provider Voltage Park to create a “full stack AI cloud” to serve corporates and startups like Cursor.

PyTorch Lightning's developer merges with "neocloud" Voltage Park to create an “AI cloud” with a $2.5B valuation, managing 35,000+ Nvidia GPUs across six data centers www.forbes.com/sites/iainma...

Warehouse With $35 Million Of Apple Devices Linked To Chinese Fraud Ring DHS has been investigating a sprawling fraud operation where Chinese criminals have been buying iPhones and iPads with funds from scams, including sextortion and romance swindles.

🚨 NEW 🚨 During three months in summer last year, over 30,000 Apple devices, worth some $35 million, were shipped to a warehouse in a small industrial park.

DHS says it's part of a sprawling Chinese fraud involving gift cards obtained in sextortion and romance scams.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...

A 'Holy Grail' Sleep Apnea Pill Could Be On The Market Next Year Sleep apnea affects as many as 80 million in the U.S. Now Apnimed, the $400 million company behind the first ever pill to treat it, is preparing to file for FDA approval.

A ‘holy grail’ pill for sleep apnea could be on the market next year.

My latest @forbes.com feature profiles Apnimed, whose nightly pill could help some of the est 80M people in the U.S. w/ the breathing disorder, the majority of whom are undiagnosed and untreated.

www.forbes.com/sites/amyfel...

AI Fraud Has Exploded. Background-Check Startup Checkr Is Cashing In. San Francisco-based Checkr has seen its revenues jump 14% to $800 million as companies try to spot a flood of AI-generated CVs and faked financial documents.

Checkr, which got its start running criminal record checks on Uber drivers and gig workers, has seen its revenues jump 14% to $800 million as companies try to spot a flood of AI-generated CVs and faked financial documents.
www.forbes.com/sites/iainma...

New: OpenAI wanted GPT-5 to be less warm and agreeable than its predecessor GPT-4o, but a group of users says the change was disruptive, particularly for people with autism, ADHD and special needs. www.forbes.com/sites/richar...

After her most recent grant announcement on Tuesday, MacKenzie Scott is now America's third-most-generous philanthropist by dollar amount, and second by percentage of wealth. More insights and context in my latest for @forbes.com:

www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Brinc Founder Blake Resnick Wants To Kick Chinese Drones Out Of U.S. Skies Backed by Sam Altman and Peter Thiel, Brinc founder Blake Resnick is on his way to making his quadcopters the top choice for America’s cops—if only he can get the federal government to ban his primary...

🚨 NEW 🚨 Brinc, founded by 25-year-old Blake Resnick, is trying to get DJIs out of American cops drone fleets.

Come December 23, the Chinese giant may not be able to put new devices in the hands of the police.

Some cops are really not happy about it.

www.forbes.com/sites/zoyaha...

30 Under 30 Healthcare 2026: Using AI To Improve Care And Cut Administrative Burdens These young entrepreneurs, researchers and doctors are improving care, empowering patients and making healthcare more efficient.

This year’s @forbes.com 30 Under 30 is out. Check out the Healthcare list here. With @thealexknapp.bsky.social and Genevieve Bookwalter

www.forbes.com/sites/alexkn...

The new edition of Forbes magazine just dropped - the cover story is on two 30-year-old entrepreneurs from Poland, who sick of bad movie dubbing, built their own voice AI model. Today, it's worth $6.6 billion, they are new billionaires & are beating Silicon Valley's tech giants

Napster Said It Raised $3 Billion From A Mystery Investor. Now That Investor Is Gone Forbes raised questions about a massive funding round metaverse-turned-AI firm Napster supposedly raised in January. The money is never coming, the company said Thursday.

Metaverse startup Napster earlier this year claimed to have raised a massive $3 billion round from one, unnamed investor, valuing it at $12 billion. Now it claims the money never landed and its working with law enforcement as a “victim of misconduct”.
www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

AI Founder Illegally Shipped Nvidia Chips To China, DOJ Alleges Prosecutors have accused Brian Raymond, founder of AI infrastructure and consulting company Bitworks, and three others of selling coveted Nvidia chips to unspecified Chinese companies.

🚨NEW🚨 A US AI founder and NVIDIA partner got caught trying to ship the most powerful of the chip maker's processors to China, the DOJ says.

He just got offered a job at another NVIDIA partner as CTO. The offer has been rescinded.

H/T @courtwatch.bsky.social

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...

How AI Language Learning App Speak Is Taking On Duolingo Founded by former Thiel fellows, AI language tutoring app Speak started its journey in Seoul, South Korea. But as it enters the U.S. market, it’ll have to compete with popular apps like Duolingo.

AI language learning app Speak has crossed $100 million in annualized revenue. Founded by former Thiel fellows Connor Zwick and Andrew Hsu in 2016, the company is up against better-known rival Duolingo as it enters the U.S. market.
www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

Here’s How Much Cash OpenAI Is Burning On AI Video App Sora. What It Means Some back-of-napkin math suggests OpenAI is spending more than a quarter of what it’s making to power the AI slop factory.

Have you been using #Sora? Some back-of-napkin math suggests OpenAI is spending more than a quarter of what it’s making to power its AI slop factory. There are also potential silver linings (more training data + future tax savings). My latest for @forbes.com:

www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Here’s What Happens If OpenAI Can’t Pay For Its $1.4 Trillion AI Deals OpenAI has gone wild with compute deals this year, committing to spend far more than its balance sheet can currently sustain. So who takes the fall if it can’t pay? It won’t be Altman.

OpenAI has gone wild with compute deals this year, committing to spend far more than its balance sheet can currently sustain. So who takes the fall if it can’t pay?

Latest for @forbes.com with @pheebini.bsky.social and @richardnieva.bsky.social.

www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...