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Hard Numbers: Cash for footage, Blackstone bets on AI data, Military tech is thriving, Adobe’s AI powers

January 14, 2025
Scott Nover
A low-angle view of a video camera.
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

4: Social media creators are selling their unused video footage to AI companies hungry for content to train their generative AI models. OpenAI, Google, and others are reportedly paying up to $4 a minute to license this footage.

300 million: The private equity giant Blackstone invested $300 million in an AI data company called DDN, valuing the firm at $5 billion. DDN provides specialized data analytics for businesses developing and running AI models, helping them process and store large amounts of data.

32 million: The defense tech startup Overland AI raised $32 million in venture capital as the Pentagon ramps up demand for artificial intelligence. The company’s OverWatch software specializes in “ground autonomy” to help unmanned vehicles navigate off-road terrains.

10,000: Adobe’s new AI suite, called Firefly, can perform edits on 10,000 images at once. For example, it can resize tons of pictures or replace their backgrounds in one fell swoop.

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