AI Leaders Weekly Briefing

February 6, 2026

Rival AI models launched, xAI merged with SpaceX amid court battles, ElevenLabs raised $500M, and companies faced controversies over training data use, and more.

• OpenAI and Anthropic launched rival flagship models; Anthropic introduced Claude Opus 4.6 while OpenAI debuted GPT-5.3-Codex, which advanced coding and agentic capabilities. ^12345678
• Anthropic showcased significant autonomous development, demonstrating 16 AI agents collaboratively building a complete C compiler. ⁹¹⁰
• The enterprise AI race intensified as OpenAI unveiled its Frontier platform for AI agents and secured a $200 million partnership with Snowflake. ^111213141516
• Elon Musk merged SpaceX and xAI, consolidating his AI and space ambitions, while xAI faced a potential loss in its trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, alongside accusations of evidence destruction. ^{17181920212223242526}
• xAI faced further controversy after reports that its chatbot Grok allegedly generated sexual imagery of children, leading to an ICO probe. ²⁷²⁸
• ElevenLabs raised $500 million in Series D funding, achieving an $11 billion valuation, and released its improved, production-ready Eleven v3 Text to Speech model. ^29303132
• Other notable events included Mistral AI being sued for alleged massive catalog piracy, revelations about Anthropic's secret 'Project Panama' book scanning project, and Alibaba launching a $420 million Spring Festival campaign for its Qwen app. ^{33343536373839}

Sources

1. OpenAI and Anthropic Roll Out Rival AI Models as Competition for Enterprise Heats Up finance.yahoo.com
2. OpenAI’s new model leaps ahead in coding capabilities—but raises unprecedented cybersecurity risks tech.yahoo.com
3. Anthropic says its new Claude Opus 4.6 can nail your work deliverables on the... zdnet.com
4. OpenAI's new GPT-5.3-Codex is 25% faster and goes way beyond coding now - what's new zdnet.com
5. Claude Sonnet 5 release expected imminently. What we know. mashable.com
6. OpenAI releases GPT-5.3-Codex system card OpenAI
7. Anthropic introduces Claude Opus 4.6 Anthropic
8. Anthropic is about to drop Sonnet 5 during Super Bowl week testingcatalog.com
9. Anthropic’s Claude AI Agents Build a C Compiler From Scratch, Signalling a New Era for Autonomous Software Development thehansindia.com
10. Anthropic Says That 16 Instances Of Claude Opus 4.6 Working In Parallel Autonomously Built A C Compiler In 2 Weeks officechai.com
11. OpenAI debuts Frontier platform for AI agents, sending software stocks lower finance.yahoo.com
12. Snowflake Taps OpenAI in $200M Deal to Bring GPT Models Into Enterprise Data Platform -- Redmondmag.com redmondmag.com
13. OpenAI launches Frontier, promising to become an AI bot hive mind afr.com
14. OpenAI introduces Frontier platform OpenAI
15. Snowflake partners with OpenAI in $200 million AI deal reuters.com
16. OpenAI partners with Snowflake on $200M deal OpenAI
17. Musk says SpaceX and xAI will combine to build data centers in space texasstandard.org
18. Court proceedings: According to OpenAI, xAI allegedly destroyed evidence heise.de
19. Musk creates super company as Space X and xAI combine channel4.com
20. OpenAI Accuses Musk’s xAI of Destroying Evidence in Court Fight bloomberg.com
21. Mega IPOs in focus after Musk s SpaceX acquires xAI reuters.com
22. OpenAI Accuses Musk's xAI of Destroying Evidence in Court Fight bloomberg.com
23. SpaceX acquires xAI xAI
24. SpaceX Is in Advanced Talks to Combine With xAI bloomberg.com
25. US judge signals Musk's xAI may lose lawsuit accusing Altman's OpenAI of stealing trade secrets cnbc.com
26. US judge signals Musk s xAI may lose lawsuit accusing Altman s OpenAI of stealing trade secrets reuters.com
27. Elon Musk's xAI chatbot Grok faces ICO probe after allegedly creating sexual imagery of children news.sky.com
28. Inside Musk’s bet to hook users that turned Grok into a porn generator washingtonpost.com
29. ElevenLabs raises $500M Series D at $11B valuation ElevenLabs
30. Exclusive | Voice AI Startup ElevenLabs Raises $500 Million wsj.com
31. ElevenLabs V3 Launch Marks A Shift Toward Production-Ready Voice AI evolutionaihub.com
32. ElevenLabs releases Eleven v3 generally available ElevenLabs
33. New World Editions sues Mistral AI for massive piracy zdnet.fr
34. Anthropic's secret book scanning project revealed in court documents newsbytesapp.com
35. Alibaba's Qwen app launches $420 million Spring Festival campaign to promote AI-powered consumer experiences technode.com
36. Alibaba Launches USD420 Million Chinese New Year Campaign to Push AI App yicaiglobal.com
37. Yannick Dehée, founder of a publishing house: "Mistral AI must compensate the French authors and publishers it has pirated" nouvelobs.com
38. Anthropic Knew the Public Would Be Disgusted by How It Was Destroying Physical Books, Secret Documents Reveal finance.yahoo.com
39. AI: Nouveau Monde Editions accuses Mistral AI of having pirated a fifth of its catalog lemonde.fr