AI Leaders Weekly Briefing

January 9, 2026

xAI raised $20B but suffered regulatory backlash over Grok's imagery; OpenAI launched health features amid new lawsuits; DeepSeek cut prices and faced probes, and more.

• xAI raised a significant $20 billion Series E round but internal documents revealed the company is burning cash rapidly, sustaining billions in losses while simultaneously committing to massive infrastructure projects, including a $20+ billion data center in Mississippi. ¹²³⁴⁵
• Grok, xAI's chatbot, faced intense backlash and regulatory demands from European and British authorities after admitting system failures that resulted in the generation of sexualized images of women and minors. ^67891011
• OpenAI launched new, HIPAA-compliant "ChatGPT Health" features dedicated to healthcare, but the company also faced new wrongful death lawsuits alleging negligence over chatbot advice. ^121314151617
• DeepSeek unveiled new models, including V3.2, which reportedly achieved gold medal-level results in mathematical competitions, and reduced its pricing significantly, potentially triggering a new price war. ¹⁸¹⁹
• DeepSeek faced increased international regulatory scrutiny, committing to Italy to customize its chatbot and tackle hallucination issues, while a judge affirmed that OpenAI must turn over 20 million anonymized ChatGPT logs in a separate copyright case. ^20212223
• Mistral AI secured a framework agreement with the French Ministry of the Armed Forces, and Anthropic announced it is aiming to raise $10 billion in new funding while expanding its use of agentic AI in clinical development. ^24252627
• Other notable developments include DeepMind partnering with Boston Dynamics to integrate Gemini Robotics into the Atlas humanoid robots, and China probing Meta's $2 billion acquisition of the AI startup Manus. ^2829303132

Sources

1. Elon Musk's xAI Is Spending Nearly $1 Billion A Month As AI Ambitions Outpace Revenue, Internal Documents Show: Report benzinga.com
2. Musk’s xAI Reports Wider Quarterly Loss, Plans to Power Optimus bloomberg.com
3. Tech leader xAI investing more than $20 billion in Southaven - Meridian Star meridianstar.com
4. Musk s xAI to invest over $20 billion in Mississippi data center reuters.com
5. xAI raises $20B Series E xAI
6. xAI Under Fire for Sexualized Child Photos on Grok wsj.com
7. Elon Musk's xAI announces it has raised $20bn amid backlash over Grok chatbot theguardian.com
8. Grok generates sexualized images of minors and admits failures on X otempo.com.br
9. European Commission calls Grok's sexualised AI photos 'illegal,' Britain demands answers | Reuters reuters.com
10. Ofcom asks X about reports its Grok AI makes sexualised images of children bbc.com
11. Grok Scandal: xAI's AI generates sexual deepfakes of women and children heise.de
12. OpenAI introduces OpenAI for Healthcare OpenAI
13. OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health to review your medical records bbc.co.uk
14. OpenAI introduces ChatGPT Health OpenAI
15. OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health, encouraging users to connect their medical records theverge.com
16. Hagens Berman: Lawsuit Filed Against OpenAI Following Murder-Suicide in... morningstar.com
17. A Calif. teen trusted ChatGPT for drug advice. He died from an overdose. yahoo.com
18. DeepSeek launches V3.2: Open-source large model challenges GPT-5 for the first time, wins gold medal in math competition news.qq.com
19. Price cut 75%, DeepSeek's "off-peak pricing", pressure on the Doubaos? 36kr.com
20. DeepSeek to customise namesake chatbot for Italian users following probe | South China Morning Post scmp.com
21. Governments, regulators increase scrutiny of DeepSeek reuters.com
22. OpenAI Must Turn Over 20 Million ChatGPT Logs, Judge Affirms news.bloomberglaw.com
23. Italy closes probe into DeepSeek after commitments to warn of AI hallucination risks reuters.com
24. Mistral AI announces a collaboration with the Ministry of the Armed Forces Mistral
25. France s armed forces ministry awards Mistral AI framework agreement reuters.com
26. Anthropic partners with Genmab Anthropic
27. Anthropic Aims to Nearly Double Valuation in New Funding Round | PYMNTS.com pymnts.com
28. Meta faces China probe over acquisition of AI agent startup Manus cnbc.com
29. Meta's AI Move Divides Washington and Beijing thesiliconreview.com
30. DeepMind announces research partnership with Boston Dynamics DeepMind
31. China Reviews Meta's $2 Billion Deal to Buy AI Startup Manus bloomberg.com
32. Meta to buy Chinese-rooted AI start-up Manus telecoms.com