Thinking Machines' Human Problems, Claude Health Integrations, Elon’s $800B Net Worth, and a $480M Seed Round
This Week in AI Newsletter: 1/21/2026
Zipline hit its 2 millionth commercial delivery, expanded operations to Houston and Phoenix, and reached a $7.6 billion valuation after raising $600 million in new funding. More here.
Claude announced new integrations that let users securely connect and analyze their health data from Apple Health, Android Health Connect, HealthEx, and Function Health with no training use. More here.
An internal issue at Thinking Machines Lab involving a personal relationship led CEO Mira Murati to fire co-founder Barret Zoph after learning he was in a relationship with a colleague and observing a decline in productivity. More here.
Elon Musk moved closer to an $800 billion net worth after investors more than doubled the valuation of xAI to $250 billion, adding an estimated $62 billion to his fortune. More here.
Ukrainian learning platform Preply reached a $1.2 billion valuation after raising $150 million, showing the resilience of its founding team as they continue to operate in Kyiv during the war. More here.
Kuaishou’s AI video tool Kling has passed 12 million monthly active users and is generating tens of millions in revenue as the company leans on AI to fuel growth. More here.
Humans&, founded by former Anthropic, xAI, and Google leaders has raised a massive $480 million seed round at a $4.48 billion valuation to build tools that help people collaborate rather than be replaced by AI. More here.
OpenAI will begin testing ads in the free and low cost versions of ChatGPT as it looks to boost revenue while assuring users that answers will not be influenced by advertisers. More here.
Elon Musk is seeking up to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, arguing he was defrauded after helping found the company. More here.
ElevenLabs has partnered with LTX Studio to launch an exclusive audio to video model that lets creators generate video directly from voice, music, or sound effects on the ElevenLabs Creative Platform for the next seven days. More here.