Nathaniel Whittemore

However, where a lot of people are looking in the future is that the data that's left that the foundation model labs don't have is the data exhaust that comes from real-world usage, and that could in and of itself be extremely valuable.

That's certainly the argument that Open Evidence is making, and we'll have to see how it plays out.

Staying on fundraising, music-gen startup Suno is said to be in talks to raise $100 million at a $2 billion valuation.

Sources speaking with Bloomberg said the deal would quadruple the company's valuation since their last raise.

That last round closed in May of last year and brought in $125 million, although the valuation was not disclosed at the time.

Importantly, the startup is now generating $100 million in ARR, according to sources familiar with the numbers.

And what's more, Suno may be able to settle their legal disputes very shortly.

In June of last year, Universal and Warner Music filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement against Suno and competitor Unio.

But this June, Bloomberg reported that the labels are in talks to settle the litigation and establish a licensing framework for generated music.

The labels are also rumored to be looking to take an equity stake in both of those companies.

Reinforcing the idea of a truce between the music industry and AI startups, last week, Spotify announced plans to work with the record labels on AI-powered features.

Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grange is boosting a pro-AI message internally.

Last week, he sent a memo to staff reemphasizing his interest in partnering on AI products as long as they respect artists' copyrights and likenesses.

Now, for anyone who has watched the history of the record labels all the way going back to Napster, this should be no surprise at all.

There is no industry, frankly, more adept at figuring out how to monetize the new thing.

Lastly today, the latest company to make some big AI pronouncement is Starbucks.

Starbucks CEO Brian Nicol said that they're all in on AI.

Appearing on a Yahoo Finance podcast recorded at the Dreamforce conference last week, Nicol discussed a wide range of AI deployments at the company.

A major scaled use case is an in-store knowledge assistant referred to as the Green Dot.

It helps store leaders manage daily operations, including troubleshooting equipment and providing drink recipes.