The annual Stanford AI Index report, released this week to the sound of engineers nervously refreshing their employment contracts, has confirmed that artificial intelligence models are continuing to improve at a pace that experts describe as “really quite fast” and venture capitalists describe as “not fast enough.”
Among the report’s key findings: Anthropic has overtaken all rivals to lead in overall model performance, people are adopting AI faster than they adopted the personal computer or the internet, and OpenAI — not content with merely building superintelligence — is reportedly taking early steps toward an IPO that could value the company at over $300 billion, because apparently that is just a number that exists now.
“The models just keep getting better,” said a Stanford researcher who asked to remain anonymous because they are “still processing the implications.” “We said they’d hit a wall. They did not hit a wall. The wall has been discontinued.”
OpenAI surpassed $25 billion in annualized revenue this year, while rival Anthropic is approaching $19 billion — a fact that has prompted celebration at both companies and quiet existential dread at every other company.
The report also notes that a small group of organizations is capturing the vast majority of AI’s economic value, with three-quarters of financial gains flowing to just twenty percent of companies. The remaining eighty percent of businesses are reportedly “still figuring out the chatbot.”
“We are entering a new phase of AI deployment,” said a technology analyst whose job is to say things like that. “The question is no longer whether AI will transform every industry. The question is whether any of us will be emotionally prepared for it.”
Meanwhile, Meta has announced it will raise prices on its Quest VR headsets, citing rising memory chip costs driven by AI data center buildouts — completing the circle of technology making itself more expensive in order to become more capable of explaining why it made itself more expensive.
OpenAI’s prospective IPO is expected sometime in late 2026. The company plans to ring the opening bell, which will be performed by a robot.
Globe News Daily has asked an AI to fact-check this article. It rated itself nine out of ten and suggested we could phrase things more positively.
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