Rashi Shrivastava
@rashis.bsky.social
Staff writer @Forbes covering tech and artificial intelligence. I write The Prompt, a newsletter on all things AI. Tips: rshrivastava@forbes.com or Signal: rashis.17.
The AI arms race isn’t just being fought over Nvidia chips. Chinese labs are matching OpenAI and Anthropic by purchasing the exact same data from US vendors like Mercor and Surge AI (who also work with the US federal govt) www.forbes.com/sites/annato...
Scoop: Flapping Airplanes, a startup that’s trying to develop ways to use less data to train AI models, is in talks to raise capital at a $5 billion valuation. With @iainmartin.bsky.social and @richardnieva.bsky.social. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
AI Startup Flapping Airplanes Is In Talks To Raise Funding At A $5 Billion Valuation
The data efficiency startup is researching a better way to train AI models using less data.
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This Indian startup is sending professional cleaners into people's homes wearing cameras on their heads to collect AI training data for U.S. labs. Founded by Anjali Sardana, 24, Pronto wants to give domestic workers in India a share in the AI gold rush. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
AI Companies Are Paying This Indian Startup To Strap Cameras To Housekeepers’ Heads
Twenty-four-year-old founder Anjali Sardana wants to give domestic workers in India a share in the AI gold rush by sending them into people’s homes to collect training data for U.S. AI companies.
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Here comes the AI pivot: From neural signal headphones to viral presentation builders, these buzzy AI startups raised millions but later pivoted away from their initial product in a high-stakes race for survival and revenue. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
AI Startups Are Pivoting From Flashy Demos To Tech That Pays The Bills
Founders who were working on neural-signal headphones and viral presentation builders are starting over in a high-stakes race for survival and revenue.
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Latest in The Prompt: Reflection says it plans to buy a $1 billion worth of compute from Nebius to train its open source model. The model is expected to be released later this year, cofounder Ioannis Antonoglou tells me. www.forbes.com/sites/the-pr...
AI Startup Reflection Inks $1 Billion Compute Deal To Challenge China’s Open Source Dominance
The company says it plans to release its open source model later this year.
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Latest in The Prompt: Chinese authorities are in talks to potentially curb overseas access to the country’s leading AI models. That could spell trouble for some American AI firms are increasingly adopting open source Chinese models. www.forbes.com/sites/the-pr...
The Chinese AI Blockade Is Coming
Beijing has made a slew of moves in recent months to gatekeep its cutting edge and cost-efficient models.
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For my latest @forbes.com feature, @rashis.bsky.social and I delved deep into OpenAI’s plans in healthcare www.forbes.com/sites/amyfel...
How OpenAI Plans To Win Over Doctors, Patients And Hospitals
The AI juggernaut is all-in on the healthcare industry, launching three new products in the last six months. But it needs to make sure ChatGPT is accurate enough for the millions of people who already...
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AI valuations have always been mind boggling. But "tranched" funding rounds mystify them even further, allowing VCs to invest at wildly different prices and founders to raise unprecedented amounts of money without any product or revenue. With @iainmartin.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
AI Startups With No Revenue Are Using This Tactic To Supersize Their Valuations
Funding rounds where VCs can invest at wildly different prices are helping AI founders raise unprecedented amounts of money at sky-high valuations, before they even have a product.
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The AI boom has turned memory chip manufacturers like Micron and SK Hynix from cyclical businesses into a sizzling hot growth sector. Memory giant Micron's revenue has grown 196% year over year to about $24 billion in the second quarter of 2026. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
The World’s Largest Tech Companies: Memory Chips Skyrocket Amid AI Data Center Buildout
The AI boom has turned memory chip manufacturers like Micron and SK Hynix from cyclical businesses into a sizzling hot growth sector.
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NEW: SpaceX’s $60 billion Cursor acquisition will double the net worths of Cursor’s four young billionaire cofounders. Michael Truell, Aman Sanger, Sualeh Asif and Arvid Lunnemark will be worth $2.7 billion each, according to Forbes estimates. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
SpaceX’s $60 Billion Cursor Acquisition Doubles 20-Something Cofounders’ Net Worths
Cursor’s four young billionaire cofounders will be worth $2.7 billion each when the deal goes through, according to Forbes estimates.
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EliseAI started building AI tools back when it wasn't cool. Today it's AI answers phones, responds emails and manages systems for 90% of the largest residential communities in the country. The startup has crossed $200 million in ARR. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
This $2.2 Billion AI Startup Is Helping The Country’s Largest Landlords With Admin Work
EliseAI is using AI to slash millions in labor costs across real estate and healthcare.
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Scoop: Home battery startup Base Power, founded by Zach Dell, son of billionaire Michael Dell, is in talks to raise around $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation, sources told Forbes. With @annatonger.bsky.social and @iainmartin.bsky.social. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
Zach Dell’s Battery Company Is In Talks To Raise Funding At A $12 Billion Valuation
Helmed by billionaire Michael Dell’s Son, Base Power is manufacturing its own home batteries to provide back up electricity in regions where the grid fails to serve people reliably.
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Every major frontier lab including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind uses Gray Swan's software to pressure test its AI models. Now Gray Swan has raised $40 million at a $200 million valuation to sell to large enterprise. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
This AI Startup’s Army Of 15,000 Hackers Pressure Test Claude, GPT-5 And Gemini
Gray Swan works with every major frontier AI lab. Now it’s raised $40 million as it expands to sell security tools to enterprises building AI agents.
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“It’s like these alien intelligences have crash landed on earth and they're incredibly smart, but nobody knows how they work,” says Eric Ho, CEO of $1.25 billion startup Goodfire, which has built tools that allow researchers to peek under the hood of AI models. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
We Have No Clue What Goes On Inside AI's Brain. This $1.25 Billion Startup Is Trying To Find Out
Founded in 2024, Goodfire is trying to fix AI’s black box problem — increasingly important as AI systems take on high-stakes tasks in cybersecurity and finance.
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Another day. Another neolab fundraise. xAI cofounder Igor Babuschkin is in talks to raise up to $1 billion at an up to $5 billion valuation for a new AI startup, sources tell Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
xAI Cofounder Igor Babuschkin In Talks To Raise Up To $1 Billion For A New AI Startup
He’s the latest superstar AI researcher to take advantage of the wave of investment dollars going into so-called ‘neolabs,’ which have no product or revenue.
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NEW: Scribe develops AI software that records employees while they work to help businesses find inefficiencies and workflows for automation. The $1.3 billion startup crossed $100 million in ARR, the company tells Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
$1.3 Billion Startup Scribe Builds AI Software To Record Employees’ Work
Cofounded in 2019 by former consultant Jennifer Smith, Scribe’s software helps hundreds of thousands of companies record what their employees do so AI agents can take over repetitive tasks in the futu...
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AI music startup Suno is battling record labels and angry artists as it upends how millions of people create songs. It's become smash-hit success with some $150 million in estimated 2025 revenue, as the tide starts to turn in its favor. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
AI Music Is Here To Stay, If $2.5 Billion Startup Suno Gets Its Way
The music AI startup is battling record labels and angry artists as it upends how millions of people create songs. Now, some of its critics are starting to get on board.
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Tim Cook to step down as Apple CEO in September; hardware veteran John Ternus to take the helm. Ternus faces an immediate challenge: fixing Apple’s lagging AI strategy as the company trails rivals in the generative AI race. www.forbes.com/sites/the-pr...
New Apple CEO’s Big Challenge: Readying The $4 Trillion Behemoth For The AI Era
John Ternus, the tech giant’s freshly appointed CEO, has been a central figure inside the company, leading multiple product launches. Next up: helping Apple find its footing in the AI age.
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Excited to reveal the 2026 Forbes AI 50 List, which spotlights the most promising privately-held AI companies in the world. forbes.com/lists/ai50/
Forbes 2026 AI 50 List | Top Artificial Intelligence Companies
The Forbes 2026 AI 50 List spotlights the most promising artificial intelligence businesses. See the leaders driving the future of AI.
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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...
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...
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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...
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.
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The OpenAI Graveyard: All The Deals And Products That Haven’t Happened. With @pheebini.bsky.social. www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...
The Graveyard Of OpenAI’s Dead Products And Incomplete Deals
As it announces one of the biggest funding rounds in history, OpenAI has trumpeted hundreds of billions in other deals and products—including Sora—that haven’t yet become reality.
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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...
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.”
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Exclusive: Latent Health, which is building an AI system to help doctors and pharmacists get drugs and treatments approved by insurers faster, has raised $80 million from Spark Capital and Transformation Capital. The startup is valued at $600 million. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
This $600 Million AI Startup Is Speeding Up Paperwork So Patients Get Drugs Faster
Latent Health is tapping into the $200 billion market for specialty drugs with AI agents that help doctors convince insurers to more quickly approve drugs and treatments people need.
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🚨NEW🚨 Cops used an AI-generated teenager to catch pedophiles on Kik Messenger, an app notorious as a hive of predator activity. A rare insight into how police can spin up AI teens for sting operations on social media. But where else are cops using AI personas? www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...
Undercover Cop Generated An AI Teenager To Catch Pedophiles
A DHS investigator generates an AI for catching pedophiles on Kik Messenger, a known hotspot for predators.
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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...
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.
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After becoming the hottest, fastest growing AI coding company, Cursor is confronting a new reality: with the rise of powerful AI agents developers may no longer need a code editor at all. With Anna Tong. www.forbes.com/sites/annato...
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.
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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...
How Anthropic’s Kerfuffle With The Pentagon Became A Optics Headache For OpenAI
Plus: Popular Chinese open source models are helping mint billionaires.
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Anthropic has been on a roll lately, from snarky Superbowl ads to a $30 billion mega funding round to product launches that triggered a global software stock selloff. Read more in the latest editon of The Prompt: www.forbes.com/sites/the-pr...
Anthropic Is Giving OpenAI A Run For Its Money
Plus: This hot AI video startup has drawn fire from creators over its misleading marketing tactics.
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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...
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 ...
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