Byte-Sized: Your AI Industry News Summary

ChatGPT uses Grok, Siri 2.0 February launch & more (January 26, 2026)

David Pawlan David Pawlan January 26, 2026 3 min read
ChatGPT uses Grok, Siri 2.0 February launch & more (January 26, 2026)

Good morning,

Capital is flooding into AI infrastructure, assistants are getting reshixed under the hood, and enterprise tools keep quietly absorbing AI where workflows already live. This week’s stories show how quickly the stack is consolidating, from compute to copilots to healthcare.

Let’s dive in πŸ‘‡

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πŸš€ Platform Moves & AI Infrastructure

πŸ’° Nvidia Backs CoreWeave at Scale

Nvidia is investing $2 billion into CoreWeave, reinforcing its strategy of backing GPU-native cloud providers as demand for AI compute continues to outstrip supply. The deal tightens Nvidia’s grip on the AI infrastructure layer while giving CoreWeave capital to expand data centers rapidly. It also signals that hyperscalers are no longer the only winners in the AI cloud race.

🧠 ChatGPT Pulls From Grok’s Knowledge Base

ChatGPT is now pulling answers from Elon Musk’s Grok-powered Grokipedia, highlighting a new phase of model-to-model knowledge reuse. Instead of retraining from scratch, assistants are increasingly stitching together external AI-generated corpora. This raises questions around provenance, accuracy loops, and how attribution will work as models reference each other.

Robot with a ChatGPT logo reads a book titled β€œGrokipedia”

🍎 Apple Preps Gemini-Powered Siri

Apple will reportedly unveil a Gemini-powered Siri assistant in February, marking a major shift in Apple’s AI strategy. Rather than building everything in-house, Apple appears ready to lean on Google’s models to stay competitive. This move could reshape consumer AI expectations across hundreds of millions of devices.

πŸ₯ Enterprise, Productivity & Valuations

πŸ“Š Claude Adds Excel Integration

Anthropic is expanding Claude with direct Excel integration for Pro users, pushing AI deeper into everyday business workflows. Instead of chat-only use, Claude now operates inside structured data environments teams already trust. This signals a broader shift toward AI embedded where work actually happens.

πŸŽ₯ Synthesia Hits $4B Valuation

AI video startup Synthesia reached a $4 billion valuation and is letting employees cash out shares. The milestone shows sustained investor confidence in AI-generated media for enterprise use cases. It also reflects a maturing startup cycle where liquidity arrives earlier than traditional exits.

Victor Riparbelli with blurred money in the background

🩺 OpenEvidence Doubles to $12B

Medical AI startup OpenEvidence doubled its valuation to $12 billion in its latest round. Investors are betting big on AI-driven clinical decision support and evidence synthesis. Healthcare continues to emerge as one of the most defensible and capital-intensive AI verticals.

🧰 Tools of the Day

β†’ Verdent Deck – AI-generated pitch decks designed for fast investor-ready storytelling
β†’ PingPolls – Create lightweight polls to collect instant feedback from audiences
β†’ HeyTraders – AI-driven market insights and trading analysis tools

⚑ Quick Hits

β†’ Japanese researchers use AI to optimize real-time traffic flow
β†’ BBC reports on AI regulation tensions in public services
β†’ Nature study explores AI limits in complex reasoning
β†’ Bloomberg covers Tandem hitting a $1B valuation
β†’ Anthropic’s Economic Index highlights labor disruption trends
β†’ Legal AI firm Harvey acquires Hexus

🧠 TLDR

Nvidia is doubling down on AI infrastructure with a massive CoreWeave investment, while Apple and OpenAI lean more heavily on external model partnerships. Enterprise AI continues moving into existing workflows, from Excel integrations to healthcare decision support. Valuations remain aggressive, signaling investor belief that AI’s next phase is operational, not experimental.

Cheers,
David