Hard Numbers: Code breakers, Spending boom, Perplexing ad prices, Holistic defections

​A computer keyboard lit by a displayed cyber code is seen in this illustration.
A computer keyboard lit by a displayed cyber code is seen in this illustration.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration

433 million: Artificial intelligence is quickly changing computer science, allowing programmers to simplify and race through the rote parts of their code. And big money is flowing to these tools: AI coding assistants such as Replit, Anysphere, Magic, Augment, Supermaven, and Poolside AI have raised $433 million in funding this year, and nearly $1 billion since the beginning of 2023.

632 billion: Global spending on AI will more than double in the next five years to $632 billion in spending by 2028, according to a new report from the market intelligence firm, International Data Corporation.

50: The AI search engine Perplexity announced it’ll start selling ads in the fourth quarter of 2024. The company, which seeks to challenge search and advertising giant Google, is reportedly planning to charge $50 per thousand impressions, much higher than industry averages for comparable ad products, causing head-scratching among ad professionals.

220 million: The French company H, formerly called Holistic, raised $220 million to fund its artificial intelligence models. But now, three of its five co-founders are leaving the company over “operational and business disagreements,” a sign of turmoil at one of the buzziest European AI startups.

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