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Top stories today:
- Israel reportedly strikes roads to Iran’s Fordo nuclear site
- Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab said to have raised $2B
- Meta said to have held talks to buy top AI startups
- OpenAI pulls materials around Jony Ive deal over trademark suit
- Corporate Bitcoin holdings +170% YoY amid share price boom
0. Data and calendar
All values as of 6 AM ET / 3 AM PT, other than S&P500 and NASDAQ close (4 PM ET / 1 PM PT).
All times are ET.
Listen to our AI-generated podcast summarizing today’s newsletter (beware of hallucinations):
1. Israel reportedly strikes roads to Iran’s Fordo nuclear site amid uncertainty over damage
Polymarket prices in 35% chance of Fordow being confirmed to be destroyed by the end of the month:
Details of Israeli strikes still TBD as of writing.
Sat.: the U.S. launched airstrikes on 3 Iran nuclear sites.
Some Democrats and Republicans have urged Congress to limit Trump’s military actions in Iran.
Tehran has yet to say if or how it will strike the U.S. targets in the Middle East.
Israeli PM Netanyahu pledged to continue its military campaign in Iran and the Gaza Strip.
Brent oil reached a high of $79 after the U.S. bombing, nearing Jan. highs, and now trades at $76
Sun.: Iran’s parliament urged closing the Strait of Hormuz, a route for ~20% of global oil.
Pending: Supreme Leader decision.
2 supertankers capable of hauling ~2M barrels of crude U-turned in the strait on Sun.
Iran’s proxy militant groups, including Hezbollah and Hamas, are refusing or unable to enter the fight
Iran’s Gulf neighbors are urging restraint.
Russia and China are offering only rhetorical support to Iran.
Europe has little sway over the outcome.
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3. Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab said to have raised $2B in seed round at $10B valuation
Representational image generated using ChatGPT.
a16z has reportedly led the round, with participation from Sarah Guo’s Conviction Partners.
Sep. 2024: Murati left OpenAI and founded her venture in Feb.
Former OpenAI employees, including co-founder John Schulman, special projects head Jonathan Lachman, and VPs Barret Zoph and Lilian Weng, have also joined Murati’s startup.
Scant information on what the startup is working on.
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5. Meta said to have held talks to buy Safe Superintelligence, Thinking Machines, Perplexity
