OpenAI Can Use Cloud Providers Besides Microsoft Now; Elon’s Suit vs OpenAI Starts; US Wants to Cut Chip Equipment for China; Palantir Employees Distressed About Firm’s ‘Descent into Fascism’

The agreement between OpenAI and Microsoft has been modified. 9to5google.com is reporting that now, OpenAI will be able to serve all its products using cloud providers other than Microsoft. Up to now, GPT AI has only been available via Microsoft Azure. It’s possible that by using Google and other cloud providers that prices could come down for usage. OpenAI already uses Google Cloud for its flagship ChatGPT product. In the deal, Microsoft will continue to have a license to OpenAI IP for models and products through 2032…but the license is now non-exclusive. 

OpenAI, one of the darlings of Large Language Models, was co-founded by Elon Musk a few years ago. Musk took his football and went home when he wasn’t named CEO…and Sam Altman was. Now, Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI is set to start today with jury selection getting underway. According to theverge.com, the Musk team’s legal theories against OpenAI have included breach of contract, unfair business practices, and false advertising. It is worth noting that in the meantime, Musk started his own firm, xAI, which is part of the SpaceX and Starlink conglomerate he owns….which has filed for an IPO. It remains to be seen if Musk can get anywhere with this case, but if nothing else, it can embarrass and damage Altman and OpenAI, which may be enough for Musk…even if the case flops. This will be his 4th lawsuit against OpenAI. There will be one winner…the attorneys for both sides, which are no doubt billing top rates to both Musk and OpenAI. 

There is legislation in Congress that is called the Match Act. Thenextweb.com says it is aimed at requiring countries such as the Netherlands and Japan to ‘align their chip equipment export restrictions’ with American rules within 150 days or face unilateral US enforcement, including an expanded Foreign Direct Product Rule that would give Washington jurisdiction over equipment containing any American technology, regardless of where it was manufactured. What that means is China would lose access to machines used in all advanced chip making. China has warned that this would “severely disrupt the international economic and trade order and seriously undermine the stability of the global semiconductor industry chain and supply chain.” Considering how much chip production is in China, this is no doubt true. The bill has already made it out of committee in the House, and a companion bill has been introduced in the Senate. The US has already had restrictions on selling the most powerful AI chips to China. These bills would benefit Nvidia, but could cost ASML…which makes chip lithography machines…about 20% of its revenue that comes from selling machines to China. Its revenue share from China was 33% in 2025. Meanwhile, China is barreling ahead in the effort to design its own chips that match Nvidia’s top AI chips. 

Their software is widely used by governments to identify and track people, and apparently some employees are warning about Palantir’s ‘descent into fascism.’ Wired.com notes that the company was started with initial capital from the CIA, so spying is at its heart. The company that was cofounded by Peter Thiel makes and sells software that acts as a high-powered data aggregation and analysis tool powering everything from private businesses to the US military’s targeting systems. It initially was aimed at fighting terrorism from abroad. More recently, the company has been criticized for enabling ICE sweeps. Former employee have expressed concern that as one put it “a sufficiently malicious customer is, like, basically impossible to prevent at the moment” and could only be controlled through “auditing to prove what happened” and legal action after the fact if the customer breached the company’s contract. It is at least disturbing if not alarming that the company might not be able to track misuse of its products if a bad acting agency wipes its audit logs. It definitely seems like Palantir is becoming more like the all-seeing eye from ‘Lord of the Rings’ that it is named for. 

i’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.