🚀 xAI Raises $5B, Hits $50B Valuation xAI has reportedly raised $5B with a $50B valuation, achieving $100M in annualized revenue. 🤖 OpenAI Enhances GPT-4o Speed, Creativity OpenAI released an update for GPT-4o, improving its creative writing abilities and speeding up responses. 📉 9.5% Software Engineers 'Ghost Workers' A Stanford study found that 9.5% of software engineers at tech firms are unproductive or 'ghost workers.' 🧠 Neuralink Approved for Canadian Trials Neuralink received approval to conduct clinical trials in Canada, advancing its brain-machine interface technology. 🔄 Meta Shifts Focus to Generative AI Meta, under Mark Zuckerberg's leadership, has pivoted its strategy to focus on generative AI, with Llama at the core. 🇨🇳 Chinese AI Model Challenges OpenAI A new Chinese AI model aims to rival OpenAI and is backed by High-Flyer Capital Management. 🛰️ SpaceX Plans Upgrades for Starship SpaceX may increase the size and power of its Starship components if FAA approvals are finalized. 🚀 SpaceX Gets Approval for Texas Launches The FAA plans to allow SpaceX to increase its Starship launches in Texas to 25 per year. 🐍 FireDucks Boosts Python's pandas API A compiler-accelerated dataframe library, FireDucks, now enhances Python's pandas API without manual code changes. ⚠️ Russia Deploys ICBMs Against Ukraine Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) into Ukraine for the first time. 🚔 Bill Hwang Sentenced in Archegos Scandal Bill Hwang has been sentenced to 18 years for his involvement in the Archegos capital scandal. 📈 US Startup Valuations Soar 577% The value of VC-backed startups in the U.S. has increased by 577% over the last decade.