Mario Nawfal, the founder of venture capital firm IBC Group, recently compiled the major events in the AI industry this week, from Grok 3 to GPT-5, from France to the US-China layout, from major investments to breakthrough technologies, the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is undoubtedly developing at an astonishing speed.
So much happened in AI this week 🤯
From groundbreaking research to powerful new AI models, the industry is moving at lightning speed.
Here's everything you need to know: 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/nmheUnpeMg
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) February 16, 2025
Table of Contents
ToggleFrance Announces $100 Billion AI Investment Plan
First, French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced that he will invest €109 billion (about $112 billion) in private investment to drive the development of the country's AI ecosystem, seen as France's response to the US "Stargate program":
The fundraising plan is expected to include investment funds from the UAE, the US, and Canada, as well as support from the French telecommunications industry.
The announcement came as Paris was hosting the AI Action Summit, the third global AI summit after the UK and South Korea.
Musk: Grok 3 is the Most Powerful AI Model to Date
Tesla founder Musk also revealed earlier at the World Government Summit (WGS Talk) in Dubai that Grok 3 will be released in one to two weeks, and claimed that its reasoning ability surpasses all current AI models:
Grok 3 is scarily smart and has extremely strong reasoning abilities, able to come up with solutions that exceed expectations.
(Musk Talks DOGE, Grok 3 and OpenAI, From Cutting Bureaucracy to Dubai Loop New Plan)
OpenAI Announces GPT-4.5 & GPT-5 Roadmap
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that GPT-5 will be released in a few months, and GPT-4.5 will be launched before that:
The GPT-5 model will integrate o3 reasoning technology, combining functions like voice, Canvas, search, and Deep Research, bringing more powerful AI capabilities.
Additionally, GPT-4.5 will be the last model without "Chain of Thought (CoT)" capability.
Notably, free users will have unlimited usage rights, greatly increasing the accessibility of AI; while Plus and Pro paid users will access the more intelligent GPT-5.
Perplexity Launches Deep Research Feature
The conversational search engine Perplexity announced that users can now use its AI to conduct Deep Research and generate research reports.
Free users can query up to 5 times per day, while professional users can query up to 500 times per day.
This feature will provide strong support for academic research, business decision-making, and other domains.
ByteDance's Goku Emerges, Enters AI Video Generation
Chinese tech giant ByteDance launched the Goku AI video generation model, seen as the latest weapon to counter the US AI industry.
This technology can make it easier for companies to generate product videos, especially in the fields of marketing and advertising.
Apple partners with Alibaba to enter the China AI market
Previously reported, Apple plans to collaborate with Alibaba to expand its AI platform Apple Intelligence to China, in an effort to revive the declining iPhone sales in China. The news has driven the stock prices of Alibaba and Apple to rise in recent days.
Previously, Apple had considered collaborating with DeepSeek or ByteDance, but ultimately chose Alibaba.
Adobe launches Firefly AI subscription service
Adobe has announced the launch of an independent Firefly AI subscription service, allowing users to freely generate AI images and videos.
This is Adobe's largest-scale AI commercialization initiative to date, signifying the company's intention to develop Firefly into an independent product line.
YouTube Shorts integrates AI video generation technology Veo 2
YouTube Shorts has collaborated with Google DeepMind to launch Veo 2, allowing creators to directly generate AI videos on the platform:
Veo 2 can generate high-quality videos on various topics and styles to meet the needs of creators. It can understand the physical and human movements in the real world, resulting in more detailed and realistic footage. Creators can even specify the style, camera angle or video effects.
Undoubtedly, this will significantly increase the influence of AI in the field of audiovisual creation.
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