There’s a leaked exchange from Facebook’s early days wherein Mark Zuckerberg reportedly brags to a friend that he’s amassed a vast amount of data on his fellow college students. “People just submitted it. I don’t know why they ‘trust me.’ Dumb f***ks,” Zuck reportedly said.
Anthropic recently announced a new science-focused AI model. It touted big pharma clients already using its LLMs, including Sanofi and Novo Nordisk. The US AI giant also announced it would soon begin developing new drugs itself. Palantir’s Alex Karp quickly took to CNBC to proclaim that all enterprises should now wonder whether they’re paying for compute twice: once with tokens, and once with all that data that they’ve been feeding into Anthropic’s models.
The message was co-signed by VC David Sacks on the All-In podcast, who noted that moving from provider to competitor isn’t new for Anthropic. Figma was reportedly blindsided after Anthropic, which it had partnered with on AI-assisted tools, launched Claude Design this year. As Chamath Palihapitiya has repeatedly cautioned OpenAI and Anthropic clients, “you are letting the fox into the henhouse.”
Karp, Sacks, and Palihapitiya all have various interests in Anthropic competitors, giving them plenty of reason to prod at the company’s staggering 41 percent enterprise market share. But for any company protective of its intellectual property—especially in fields like health, legal, or finance rapidly being transformed by AI—this past week’s conversation might have finally stated what everyone is thinking. And, in doing so, open-source, locally hosted models might start to look much more appealing.
Sarah Rieger,
Managing Editor
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Latest news across tech
Smear campaAIgn
Companies have started using generative engine optimization for a sneaky competitive advantage. * Sherwood News* reports that some firms are planting negative information about their competitors online so AI chatbots recommend against their products.
In your AI’s words
AI doesn’t always need to be tricked. While many people use AI to clean up or draft their writing, * The Guardian* reports that researchers have found the technology tends to inject its own biases into text, often directly changing its meaning even when explicitly asked to keep the original intent.
Gen Alpha entrepreneurs
BetaKit reporters have noticed how AI seems to be enabling younger and younger entrepreneurs. Mana Jampala, a 12-year-old from British Columbia, is already pencilling in her admission to Y Combinator. * Business Insider* wrote about Voxa, the AI-powered receptionist business she created with ChatGPT and Claude so small businesses don’t miss a potential customer’s calls.
A legaltech lawsuit
Toronto-based legaltech startup Alexi and Clio subsidiary FastCase are in a Washington, DC court today. The two sides are suing each other; FastCase has accused Alexi of allegedly misusing a licence for the data at the centre of Clio’s $1-billion acquisition last year, and Alexi fired back at Clio for alleged uncompetitive behaviour. The case could set a standard for licensed case law data going forward. Tech media recently lost a giant in Om Malik, who died last month at age 59. Malik’s tech publication GigaOM, which offered in-depth, critical reporting through a deeply human lens, was a point of inspiration during BetaKit’s inception, BetaKit founding managing editor Erin Bury said.
“We really respected their fair, balanced reporting on the tech space,” Bury told BetaKit in an email. For a primer on Malik’s coverage, consider his post from just last month musing why Anthropic chose the name Mythos for its most powerful model, or his excellent book Broadbandits on financial fraud within the telecom industry.
Read BetaKit Most Ambitious 2026.
In the 21st century, there is no sovereignty without technology. Meet the nearly 100 Canadian innovators strengthening our nation’s autonomy, security, and prosperity in BetaKit Most Ambitious.
On the move
This week’s hires, fires, and exec shakeups:
- Knix founder Joanna Griffiths is exiting the Toronto apparel company four years after she sold a majority stake to Swedish firm Essity, according to The Globe and Mail. - Microsoft is laying off about 4,800 employees, mostly in its Xbox division. While neither Xbox nor Microsoft shared the Canadian impact, Montréal-based Compulsion Games isspinning offas an independent studio. - A growing number of companies are hiring for specialized roles focused on how to best adopt and use AI, reports .The Globe and Mail - Toronto-based data centre hardware provider Celestica has appointeda new president of its cloud division. - Kitchener-Waterloo-based information management company OpenText has laid offtwo percent of its workforce, citing “ongoing organizational planning.” - Vancouver-based quantum company Photonic has hireda new chief marketing officer and VP of global government affairs. - Vancouver-based Rocket Doctor has added Andrew Lauas CFO to manage the finances of its US expansion.
Want to feature a hiring announcement on our list? Email partnerships@betakit.com with the subject line JOBS.
#1. A Canadian-made device is expected to launch into orbit later this year to test for what?
Your score: #
Quiz answer: b) Blood clots. Edmonton’s Somagen Diagnostics’ portable device will be used on astronauts in the International Space Station, according to the IJF*.*
Quiz answer: b) Blood clots. Edmonton’s Somagen Diagnostics’ portable device will be used on astronauts in the International Space Station, according to the IJF*.*
Contributors to the BetaKit newsletter include: Alex Riehl (Ottawa staff writer), Madison McLauchlan (Montréal reporter), Douglas Soltys (editor in chief), Sarah Rieger (managing editor), Trevor Nichols (web editor).
Feature image courtesy TechCrunch via Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0.