AI Leaders Weekly Briefing

March 13, 2026

AI leaders hit major milestones with Anthropic's $100M partner push, Meta's new in-house chips, and multi-billion dollar funding rounds and more.

• Anthropic launched a $100 million Claude Partner Network and a new marketplace to streamline enterprise AI procurement, while simultaneously engaging in a high-stakes legal battle with the U.S. government over its designation as a supply-chain risk. ^{1234567891011}
• OpenAI expanded its technological footprint by acquiring the AI security startup Promptfoo, developing a GitHub competitor to address platform reliability, and reportedly preparing to integrate its Sora video generation tool into ChatGPT. ^12131415
• Meta unveiled four generations of custom MTIA AI chips to reduce reliance on third-party hardware, while also facing a class-action lawsuit over privacy concerns related to human contractors reviewing footage from its AI smart glasses. ^1617181920
• Elon Musk's xAI secured approval for a controversial 41-turbine methane power plant at its Colossus 2 campus in Mississippi, even as the company experienced a wave of co-founder departures and announced new software collaborations with Tesla. ^{21222324252627}
• Google DeepMind celebrated the 10th anniversary of its AlphaGo victory by opening a new sustainable headquarters in London and publishing research refuting the possibility of machine consciousness through computational functionalism. ^28293031
• A $1.03 billion funding round was secured by Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI) Labs, a startup founded by former Meta AI researchers, valuing the Paris-based firm at approximately $3.5 billion. ³²³³
• Other notable developments include Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab entering a massive compute partnership with NVIDIA, ElevenLabs signaling IPO readiness within three years, and Mistral AI hosting its inaugural 'AI Now' summit. ^{3435363738394041}

Sources

1. Anthropic invests $100m into Claude AI programme gulfbusiness.com
2. Anthropic Pours $100 Million Into Claude Partner Network In Channel Push crn.com
3. Anthropic seeks court stay of Pentagon supply-chain risk designation reuters.com
4. Anthropic launches Claude Partner Network Anthropic
5. Anthropic Sees Clients Step Back Following Government Ban | PYMNTS.com pymnts.com
6. AI company Anthropic expands to NZ and Australia rnz.co.nz
7. Anthropic has strong case against Pentagon blacklisting, legal experts say reuters.com
8. Anthropic opens Sydney office in Asia-Pacific Anthropic
9. Anthropic’s Standoff With the Pentagon Is a Test of U.S. Credibility | Council on Foreign Relations cfr.org
10. Anthropic debuts Claude Marketplace to target AI procurement bottlenecks infoworld.com
11. Anthropic sues US over blacklisting; White House calls firm "radical left, woke" arstechnica.com
12. OpenAI Begins Work on a GitHub Competitor After Multiple Platform Outages androidheadlines.com
13. OpenAI plans to launch its Sora video tool in ChatGPT, The Information reports reuters.com
14. OpenAI Buying AI Security Startup Promptfoo to Safeguard AI Agents bloomberg.com
15. OpenAI announces acquisition of Promptfoo OpenAI
16. Meta Sued Over AI Glasses Privacy Concerns After Reports Find Kenya-Based Workers Review User Footage blackenterprise.com
17. Meta Is Developing 4 New Chips to Power Its AI and Recommendation Systems wired.com
18. Meta’s New AI Chips Reveal a Faster, More Self-Reliant Hardware Strategy techrepublic.com
19. Meta develops four MTIA AI chip generations Meta AI
20. 'We see everything': Report says Meta's AI smart glasses footage is reviewed by human contractors who see far more than they bargained for, which has led to a new lawsuit against the company | PC Gamer pcgamer.com
21. Another xAI Co-Founder Leaves theinformation.com
22. Tesla (TSLA) Converts Investment from xAI to SpaceX Shares Amid U.S. Listing Plans gurufocus.com
23. Tesla and xAI to Work Together on AI, Elon Musk Says theinformation.com
24. Musk unveils joint Tesla-xAI project Macrohard , eyes software disruption reuters.com
25. xAI files $15M permit for office buildout at Colossus 2 campus - Memphis Business Journal bizjournals.com
26. Residents Raise Alarms as Mississippi Approves Turbines for Musk’s xAI nytimes.com
27. Musk’s xAI wins permit for data center’s makeshift power plant despite backlash theguardian.com
28. DeepMind unveils Platform 37 building DeepMind
29. From 'Move 37' to AGI: 10 years after AlphaGo, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis explains why AGI is the 'ultimate tool' timesofindia.indiatimes.com
30. DeepMind marks 10 years of AlphaGo DeepMind
31. DeepMind publishes paper refuting AI consciousness via abstraction fallacy DeepMind
32. AMI raises $1.03B funding round AMI
33. Former Meta A.I. Chief’s Start-Up Is Valued at $3.5 Billion nytimes.com
34. NVIDIA (NVDA) Enters a Multi-Year Partnership With Thinking Machines Lab finance.yahoo.com
35. Mistral introduces AI Now Summit Mistral
36. Mistral AI attends NVIDIA GTC Mistral
37. ElevenLabs introduces Flows in ElevenCreative ElevenLabs
38. ElevenLabs debuts '11 Voices' docuseries at SXSW as part of global campaign to reach 1 million... morningstar.com
39. Thinking Machines Lab announces strategic partnership with NVIDIA Thinking Machines
40. Nvidia Invests in Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab wsj.com
41. AI Startup ElevenLabs Aims to Be IPO-Ready in Two or Three Years livemint.com