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BlinkLab to Participate in the Landmark Monash University Autism/ADHD MAGNET Project
BlinkLab Limited (ASX:BB1) (“BlinkLab” or the “Company”), an innovative digital healthcare company developing smartphone-based AI powered diagnostic tests for neurological conditions, is pleased to announce their participation in the landmark MAGNET (Monash Autism & ADHD Genetics and Neurodevelopment) study conducted by Monash University’s School of Psychological Sciences.
Link: https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-021-00457-3
Highlights
- The MAGNET project is an ongoing large cohort study aiming to enrol 1,000 families with children diagnosed with only autism, only ADHD, or with both autism and ADHD.
- MAGNET is utilising a novel family-based trial design where the parents, affected child and siblings (either affected or unaffected) are all enrolled in the same study.
- The aim of the study is to identify novel data-driven autism and ADHD subtypes using deep phenotyping data, including the BlinkLab Dx 1 biomarkers, that may outperform current categorical diagnoses with potential future implications for better and more personalised autism and ADHD diagnosis and treatment.
The project will help to unravel the complex symptoms of autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and why they overlap in some children. The data generated by the study will address several limitations of categorical conceptualisations of these conditions. It is an important step towards a more dimensional understanding of their psychopathology, leading to better diagnostic models and more personalised support for children diagnosed with autism and/or ADHD. Using BlinkLab Dx 1, we aim to complete comprehensive deep sensory phenotyping of subjects with only autism, only ADHD, or with both autism and ADHD from the large MAGNET cohort.
Significance of the Study
Autism and ADHD are neurodevelopmental conditions affecting 1-4% and 5-7% of the population, respectively. Autism is characterised by deficits in social communication, restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour and interests and altered sensory processing, whereas ADHD is defined by hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention. In autism, 30-80% of cases exhibit ADHD symptomatology. In ADHD, 20-50% of cases exhibit autism symptoms.
The introduction of the DSM-5 has allowed, for the first time, the concurrent diagnosis of autism and ADHD and the two conditions are now recognized to co-occur in up to 50% of cases. This co-occurrence can be associated with a more severe ADHD phenotype and higher treatment needs overall. DSM-5 is a comprehensive classification system published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). It serves as the authoritative guide used by healthcare professionals to diagnose mental disorders.
Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is a key measure used in BlinkLab Dx 1 and is considered an effective proxy for sensorimotor gating - the brain's ability to filter out irrelevant information and prioritise what is relevant. Deficits in PPI have been observed in individuals with autism but not in those with ADHD, suggesting its potential as a tool to differentiate between these two conditions. Clinically, this distinction is crucial, as treatment, support, and care strategies differ significantly for individuals with only autism, only ADHD, or with both autism and ADHD. There is also little known about the extent to which any deficits in PPI extend to the undiagnosed family members of children with autism, ADHD, or with both autism and ADHD. The diagnostic process for these neurological conditions is time-consuming and expensive and they are both characterised by significant heterogeneity in presentation. Objective behavioural markers, like PPI, potentially will play an important role in the next generation of diagnostic pathways and personalised interventions.
Dr. Henk-Jan Boele, CEO BlinkLab, commented: “Participation in the MAGNET study will enable BlinkLab to assess how its digital biomarkers, including the PPI measure, correlate with other validated behavioural, neurocognitive, neuroimaging and, potentially, genetic markers. Using these deep phenotyping and machine learning techniques, we expect to uncover novel, homogeneous data-driven clusters and subtypes of these diseases with significant future implications for better and more personalised autism and ADHD diagnosis and treatment.”
Study Design
The MAGNET study will enrol approximately 1,000 families with children aged between 4 and 18 years of age. The study will incorporate the BlinkLab PPI measure to determine how prepulse inhibition measures vary within the different diagnostic categories (i.e. ADHD vs autism vs ADHD+autism). The results will show whether BlinkLab’s Dx1 platform can distinguish between these groups. BlinkLab Dx 1 platform will be assessed alongside other validated questionnaires and biomarkers used in the MAGNET project. A unique feature of the study design is that tests will be carried out with the diagnosed child and their family members. The data from both parents (wherever possible) will determine the degree to which BlinkLab can detect performance variation within families, and thus can serve as a proxy for familial risk for these conditions.
“From the very foundation of our technology, the BlinkLab mission was always to disrupt the traditional methods of diagnosis and categorisation of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions. Using more objective methods will lead to more personalised treatments and interventions. Participation in this landmark study with world- leading researchers and authorities in the field of autism and ADHD, is a testament to our mission and hard work by our team,” commented CEO of BlinkLab, Dr Henk-Jan Boele.
Lead researcher Professor Mark Bellgrove of Monash University’s School of Psychological Sciences said that he is delighted to collaborate with BlinkLab on the MAGNET study. “BlinkLab’s innovative digital technologies make it easy for the children and families enrolled in the study to provide critical data. This will hopefully lead to better outcomes for future families and children affected by these two complex and challenging conditions.”
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This article includes content from Blinklab Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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Investor Insight
BlinkLab’s transformative AI-based healthcare technology is at the forefront of innovations in the global medical field that are quickly gaining traction among keen investors.
Overview
BlinkLab (ASX:BB1) offers a smartphone-based diagnostic platform that leverages computer vision, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). A company started by neuroscientists at Princeton University, Blinklab has developed its novel technology over several years, providing an app-enabled, smartphone-based diagnostic tool for evaluating children with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and ADHD.
The app turns a smartphone into a diagnostic tool that helps to conduct remote and rapid tests that can assist in diagnosing neurodevelopmental conditions. BlinkLab’s smartphone app provides a screening tool that can help with diagnoses much earlier than the age that children are typically assessed at present (approximately 5-6 years old). It is also a remote (i.e., accessible) and inexpensive means of beginning the assessment process, which can typically be very costly and take up to multiple years currently.
BlinkLab’s smartphone app facilitates early diagnosis, reduces costs, and improves accuracy.
BlinkLab’s smartphone-based technology, which uses AI and machine learning (ML), makes it attractive to investors. Like other industries, AI is becoming very popular in the healthcare sector. According to Statista, the AI healthcare market is expected to proliferate from $11 billion in 2021 to $187 billion in 2030. The increasing use of AI is driven by advanced ML algorithms, access to data, and use of 5G technology. AI and ML technologies can evaluate and analyze enormous volumes of data faster than humans.
Artificial intelligence, and particularly machine learning, has the potential to serve as the great equaliser for many behavioural healthcare concerns like autism. According to recent data, 97 percent of adults in the United States own a cellular device, and nine in ten own a smartphone. A 2022 Global State of Digital report by We Are Social shows 66.9 percent, or about 5.34 billion, of the world’s population are mobile users. As these percentages continue to rise and internet-powered devices become ubiquitous, access to digital health services can become democratised on a global scale. While autism spectrum disorder (ASD) services are currently restricted to relatively privileged populations, digital solutions powered by emerging data, science, and methodologies can make access to autism therapy more accessible.
Large players are investing in this segment to tap into the vast potential of these new technologies. One such example was Pfizer’s acquisition of ResApp. In October 2022, Pfizer acquired Queensland University startup ResApp Health for $179 million. ResApp developed a smartphone technology to detect respiratory diseases using cough analysis accurately.
Furthermore, big tech companies such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet are also now venturing into the AI healthcare market.
Company Highlights
- Australia-based BlinkLab (ASX:BB1) is focused on transforming mental healthcare through an AI-enabled smartphone application, a breakthrough technology developed with Princeton University.
- The company’s innovative approach leverages the power of smartphones, AI and machine learning to deliver screening tests specifically designed for children as young as 18 months old. This marks a significant advancement, considering traditional diagnoses typically occur around five years of age, often missing the crucial early window for effective intervention.
- Once approved by regulators, this cutting-edge digital technology is poised to capture the imagination of both investors and major pharmaceutical companies, eager to embrace transformative solutions in healthcare.
- BlinkLab is led by an experienced management team and leading experts in the field of machine learning, autism and brain development, bridging the most advanced technological innovations with groundbreaking scientific research. The company is chaired by Brian Leedman, an experienced biotechnology entrepreneur and founder of ResApp Health, a digital diagnostic company recently acquired by Pfizer.
Key Technology and Applications
Neurobehavioral assays of brain function can reveal fundamental mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric conditions, but typically require centrally located equipment in a laboratory test facility. Consequently, these tests are often unpleasant for participants, as they often require instruments attached to their face and cannot be used at scale in daily clinical practice, particularly with paediatric patients.
BlinkLab has developed a smartphone-based software platform, known as ‘BlinkLab Test’, to perform neurobehavioural testing that is free from facial instruments or other fixed location equipment.
This AI-based platform is designed to be used at home or in similarly comfortable environments, either independently or with the assistance of a caregiver, while following instructions from the smartphone application. The tests include, but are not limited to, eyeblink conditioning (EBC), which is a form of sensory-motor associative learning, prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response (PPI), which measures the ability to filter out irrelevant information through sensorimotor gating, startle habituation, which measures the ability for the intrinsic damping of repetitive stimuli and sensory adaptation, and habituation of the eye blink response, which serve as biomarkers for neurological and psychiatric disorders.
The BlinkLab Test App combines a smartphone’s ability to deliver stimuli and acquire data using computer vision with a secure cloud-based portal for data storage and analysis. In the tests, each audio and/or visual stimulus is presented with millisecond-precise control over parameters such as timing, amplitude and frequency. To maintain participant attention, an entertaining movie of choice is shown with normalised audio levels. Participants’ responses are measured by the smartphone’s camera and microphone, and are processed in real time using state-of-the art computer vision techniques. Response data is then fully anonymised, and transferred securely to the analysis portal. There, BlinkLab’s in-house AI/ML algorithms then perform clustering and statistical analysis to identify the prediction value of the experiment in the particular data set.
BlinkLab Test was initially developed as a prescription diagnostic aid to healthcare professionals (HCP) considering the diagnosis of ASD in patients 18 months through 72 months of age that are at risk for developmental delay. In collaboration with Princeton University in the United States and Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, the company has conducted several trials using BlinkLab Test as an early assessment tool for autism. Autism represents a global challenge, with 1 in 36 children in the U.S. having autism, up from the previous rate of 1 in 44. With no early tests currently available to detect the condition, many children are diagnosed with the condition as late as the age of five.
Blinklab’s mobile app can aid in early detection, facilitating diagnoses as early as two years of age and resulting in earlier personalised interventions and monitoring. The testing process is also far more comfortable than traditional means of diagnoses, as the child can watch their favourite movie or cartoon on the phone, and the app will record their reactions, providing key information on the functioning of the brain.
BlinkLab will be subject to regulatory oversight as a medical device and must clear clinical studies. Previous clinical trials completed by Blinklab have shown impressive indicators of success, achieving sensitivity levels of 85 percent and specificity levels of 84 percent. The company notes that these trials are very similar to those that are required by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval and have shown much higher levels of accuracy compared to currently approved products.
In order for the BlinkLab Test technology to be used as a clinical aid in the diagnosis of ASD, BlinkLab will need to complete a pivotal registrational study, and subsequently apply for FDA registration and reimbursement for the tests. The registrational study intends to recruit up to 500 subjects. Enrolment for this study is expected to begin in 2024, with study completion expected by mid-2025. The potential to participate in a disruptive and scalable AI-powered technology close to regulatory approval should attract attention from big medical technology companies.
Research and clinical studies
BlinkLab engages and partners with research and medical institutions across the globe to further test and develop its technology.
In May 2024, BlinkLab initiated a clinical study in partnership with US-based Turning Pointe Autism Foundation to enroll up to one hundred children previously diagnosed with autism and one hundred children without an autism diagnosis. The data obtained during this collaboration will be used to finalise the data collection and processing algorithms and AI/ML models ahead of the FDA registrational study.
The company is also participating in a clinical study of patients with spinocerebellar ataxias, conducted by Columbia University, New York, to study the effect of aerobic physical exercise on neuroplasticity in adults with spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA).
To further improve and accelerate the diagnostic evaluation of ADHD, BlinkLab forged a major research and clinical partnership with Mental Care Group (MCG) in The Netherlands, the fifth largest outpatient mental health care provider in Europe.
To validate BlinkLab’s platform for the assessment of functional neurological disorder (FND), the company has partnered with Bates College in Maine for a clinical study that aims to characterise the behavioural time course of Pavlovian eyeblink conditioning and acoustic startle habituation. It will validate the BlinkLab smartphone test for use as a remote neurobehavioral testing and diagnostic tool for FND.
At Erasmus University Medical Center, BlinkLab’s smartphone-based remote assessment, including eyeblink conditioning and prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex, is being used, among other tools, in a clinical study to set-up an overarching at-home testing lab, named the Digital Dementia Lab, to identify, develop and test a variety of digital biomarkers
measuring clinically relevant behaviour for improving early accurate diagnosis of dementia.
BlinkLab is also working with Monash University in Australia to evaluate BlinkLab as a medical device for monitoring the therapeutic effects of ketamine on cognitive processes whereby sensory information is converted into decision making. Results from this study can help facilitate cognitive behavioural therapy outcomes in patients with psychiatric conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
BlinkLab also recently signed a partnership for more clinical trialling with INTER-PSY, a large centre in the Netherlands that specialises in autism, offering assistance with diagnostics and treatments. This study also mirrors the study design of the Company’s developing FDA regulatory trial, which will be needed for future approval of BlinkLab Test as an approved diagnostic tool in the United States.
Management Team
BlinkLab is led by an experienced management team and directors with a proven track record in building companies and vast knowledge in digital healthcare, computer vision, AI and machine learning. The company’s chairman, Brian Leedman, is an experienced biotechnology entrepreneur and founder of ResApp Health, a digital diagnostic company for respiratory conditions, which was recently acquired by Pfizer for $179 million before reaching FDA approval for their main diagnostic product.
Dr. Henk-Jan Boele – Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Henk-Jan Boele is an assistant professor of neuroscience at the Medical Center of Erasmus University and a researcher at Princeton University. He obtained his PhD from Erasmus University in 2014. Boele has always been pushing scientific and methodological boundaries, and received numerous government and industry grants in the field of neuroscience.
Peter Boele – Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Peter Boele holds a bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy from Leiden University. He has over 20 years of experience in software development and has worked with Erasmus University, Leaseweb, Kaboom Informatics and Insocial.
Dr. Anton Uvarov – Founder and Chief Operational Officer
Anton Uvarov holds a Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba and an MBA from the Haskayne School of Business. He has rich experience in bio-technology investments with a particular focus on neuroscience and has successfully led several IPOs. He started his career as a biotechnology analyst with Citigroup, US.
Dr. Bas Koekkoek – Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Bas Koekkoek is an assistant professor at Erasmus Medical Center. Koekkoek has been working at the Department of Neuroscience mainly in the role of rapid prototype of new technology and techniques for neuroscience. He has numerous publications in the area of brain development including Nature and Science journals.
Professor Sam Wang – Founder and Chair of Advisory Board
Sam Wang holds a PhD from Stanford University. He is a professor of neuroscience at Princeton University, has published over 100 articles on the brain in leading scientific journals and has received numerous awards. He gives public lectures on a regular basis and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and the Fox News Channel.
Professor Chris de Zeeuw – Founder and Scientific Advisor
Chris de Zeeuw is chairman of the Department of Neuroscience at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam and vice-director at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam. De Zeeuw has received over 100 grants, including the Pioneer Award from ZonMw and the ERC advanced grant. In 2006, he received the Beatrix Award for Brain Research from Her Majesty the Queen; in 2014, he became an elected member of the Dutch Academy of Arts & Science; and in 2018, he received the international Casella Prize for Physiology.
How to Invest in OpenAI's ChatGPT
OpenAI’s ChatGPT is one of the latest technological breakthroughs in the artificial intelligence space. But what is ChatGPT, and can you invest in OpenAI?
This emerging technology is representative of a niche subsector of the AI industry known as generative AI — systems that can generate text, images or sounds in response to prompts given by users.
Precedence Research expects the global AI market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.1 percent to reach US$3.68 trillion by 2034. Just how much of an impact OpenAI’s ChatGPT will have on this space is hard to predict, but Fortune Business Insights estimates that the total market revenue of generative AI will see a CAGR of 39.6 percent through 2032, increasing from US$67.18 billion last year to US$967.65 billion in 2032.
In September 2024, Reuters reported that OpenAI is planning a restructuring that would see the non-profit become a for-profit company in order to make it "more attractive to investors." The non-profit OpenAI will still exist on its own and have a minority stake in the for-profit company. CEO Sam Altman will also receive an equity position in the new for-profit OpenAI. The company is planning to make this transition in 2025.
OpenAI completed a new round of funding totaling US$6.6 billion in early October projected to bring its valuation to more than US$157 billion. Tech giants NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) took part in the funding round.
Many investors are wondering if it's possible to invest in ChatGPT stock, and if there are other ways to invest in generative AI. Here the Investing News Network (INN) answers those questions and more, shedding light on this new landscape.
In this article
- What is OpenAI's ChatGPT?
- What is the Stargate Project?
- How much has Microsoft invested in OpenAI?
- What is Elon Musk's relationship to OpenAI?
- OpenAI criticisms and lawsuits
- What's the future of OpenAI and ChatGPT?
- When will OpenAI go public?
- Which stocks will benefit the most from AI chatbot technology?
- FAQs for investing in OpenAI and ChatGPT
What is OpenAI's ChatGPT?
Created by San Francisco-based tech lab OpenAI, ChatGPT is a generative AI software application that uses a machine learning technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) to emulate human-written conversations based on a large range of user prompts. This kind of software is better known as an AI chatbot.
ChatGPT learns language by training on texts gleaned from across the internet, including online encyclopedias, books, academic journals, news sites and blogs. Based on this training, the AI chatbot generates text by making predictions about which words (or tokens) can be strung together to produce the most suitable response.
More than a million people engaged with ChatGPT within the first week of its launch for free public testing on November 30, 2022. The introduction of ChatGPT quickly ushered in a new era in the tech industry.
“With the launch of ChatGPT late in 2022, the true scale of its disruptive potential was more realized across the world in 2023,” said Naseem Husain, senior vice president and exchange-traded fund (ETF) strategist at Horizons ETFs, in an interview with the Investing News Network. “Its success has sparked a wave of generative and chat AI models, from Midjourney to Grok.”
Based on this success, OpenAI created a more powerful version of the ChatGPT system called GPT-4, which was released in March 2023. This iteration of ChatGPT can accept visual inputs, is much more precise and can display a higher level of expertise in various subjects. Because of this, GPT-4 can describe images in vivid detail and ace standardized tests.
Unlike its predecessor, GPT-4 doesn't have any time limits on what information it can access; however, AI researcher and professor Dr. Oren Etzioni has said that the chatbot is still terrible at discussing the future and generating new ideas. It also hasn't lost its tendency to deliver incorrect information with too high a degree of confidence.
Further improving on its product, in May 2024 OpenAI launched Chat GPT-4o, with the o standing for omni. OpenAI describes GPT-4o as "a step towards much more natural human-computer interaction—it accepts as input any combination of text, audio, image, and video and generates any combination of text, audio, and image outputs."
This version has done away with the lagging response time afflicting GPT-4. This proves especially helpful for producing immediate translations during conversations between speakers of different languages. It also allows users to interrupt the chatbot to pose a new query to modify responses.
More recently, in December 2024, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Pro subscriptions targeting engineers and academics. For US$200 monthly, users have nearly unlimited access to all ChatGPT models and tools.
The ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT-4 platforms are free to use, and can be accessed via the web. Those with an iPhone or iPad can also use ChatGPT through an app, and an Android version launched in July 2023. OpenAI also launched a paid subscription, ChatGPT Plus for business use, in August 2023. ChatGPT Plus gives users access to GPT-4 and the newest iteration GPT-4o.
What is the Stargate Project?
The Stargate Project is an AI joint venture focused on building new AI infrastructure in the US through US$500 billion in investments. It was announced on January 21, 2025.
Stargate’s initial funding is coming from OpenAI, Japanese multinational investment firm SoftBank, Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and UAE-based technology fund MGX. In addition to OpenAI and Oracle, Stargate’s technology partners include Microsoft, NVIDIA, and British semiconductor and software design company Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM).
Newly re-elected US President Trump unveiled Stargate during a press conference at the White House highlighting the importance of investment in US AI infrastructure. During the announcement, OpenAI’s Altman, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son credited President Trump’s return to office as a major catalyst in making Stargate a reality. The construction of data centers for the Stargate Project are already underway in Texas, according to Ellison.How much has Microsoft invested in OpenAI?
Ascannio / Shutterstock
Over the years, Microsoft has reportedly invested nearly US$14 billion in OpenAI to help the small tech firm create its ultra-powerful AI chatbot.
As for how Microsoft could benefit from its investment in OpenAI, OpenAI officially licensed its technologies to Microsoft in 2020 in a then-exclusive partnership. Indeed, Pitchbook has described the deal as an “unprecedented milestone” for generative AI technology. Since then, Microsoft has made good use of OpenAI’s technology in developing new advancement in its Azure cloud computing business.
However, the relationship between the two has changed in recent months.
Notably, Microsoft is not a financier of the Stargate Project joint venture, and is instead just described as a technology partner. According to OpenAI’s press release, the new joint venture builds on its existing partnership with Microsoft.
Microsoft’s lack of a funding role in Stargate led some to wonder if the trillion-dollar tech firm had soured on its relationship with OpenAI. This conclusion was understandable given reports that Microsoft refused to make a bigger contribution than the US$750 million it invested during the OpenAI US$6.6 billion funding round in October.
Additionally, Microsoft changed the contract between the two companies and is no longer the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI, but has the right of first refusal for deals the AI firm may make with other cloud companies.
As Bloomberg technology reporter Dina Bass explained, Microsoft stands to benefit from its role as a technology partner without having to invest a dime into the project.
“Microsoft views the revised contract with OpenAI as advantageous, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. The software giant retains its share of OpenAI’s revenue and is the largest investor in a company that may now become even more valuable — though the size of that stake could change as the startup works to restructure as a for-profit,” wrote Bass. “And Microsoft also still has access to OpenAI models, even if they’re trained in a data center funded by Softbank or Oracle.”
Elon Musk's position on OpenAI
DIA TV / Shutterstock
OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Altman, its current CEO, as well as Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and other big-name investors, such as venture capitalist Peter Thiel and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Musk left his position on OpenAI's board of directors in 2018 to focus on Tesla and its pursuit of autonomous vehicle technology.
A few days after ChatGPT became available for public testing, Musk took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to say, “ChatGPT is scary good. We are not far from dangerously strong AI.” That same day, he announced that X had shut the door on OpenAI’s access to its database so it could no longer use it for RLHF training.
His reason: “OpenAI was started as open-source & non-profit. Neither are still true.”
Furthering his feud with OpenAI, Musk filed a lawsuit against the company in March 2024 for an alleged breach of contract. The crux of his complaint was that OpenAI has broken the "founding agreement" made between the founders (Altman, Greg Brockman and himself) that the company would remain a non-profit. Altman and OpenAI have denied there was such an agreement and that Musk was keen on an eventual for-profit structure.
Musk dropped the lawsuit three months later without giving a reason, reported Reuters. The day before he dropped the lawsuit, he reacted to the news that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is partnering with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT with Apple devices. On X, Musk declared, "If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS (operating system)level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation.” It should be noted that OpenAI has said queries completed on Apple devices will not be stored by OpenAI. By August 2024, Musk had resumed his litigation in federal court.
It seems that the US government also has questions about the restructuring of the private company and the involvement of tech giant Microsoft, as reported by Bloomberg. In early January 2025, the Financial Press also reported the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has raised questions about the potential anti-trust violations in the newly emerging AI technology space arising from Microsoft's partnership with and investments in OpenAI.
Of course, Musk took to X to weigh in on the Stargate Project, suggesting OpenAI and its partners don’t actually have the US$500 million they’ve pledged to invest. Sam Altman was quick to reply, telling Musk he’s mistaken and inviting him to visit their data center under construction in Texas.
However, Musk is not alone in his skepticism. For example, Atreides Management Chief Investment Office Gavin Baker also questioned the deal on X. “Stargate is a great name but the $500b is a ridiculous number and no one should take it seriously,” said Baker, backing up his statement by explaining the financial positions of each of the partners. “Nowhere close to $500b. Everyone should just start issuing press releases for $1 trillion AI projects,” he added.OpenAI criticisms and lawsuits
While ChatGPT has served as a major step forward in generative AI technology, there are many technical and ethical concerns with the program that have emerged since it launched, including fears over job destruction and targeted disinformation campaigns.
Accuracy of information in ChatGPT's answers is not guaranteed. Its selection of which words to string together are actually predictions — not as fallible as mere guesses, but still fallible. Even the 4.0 version is “still is not fully reliable (it “hallucinates” facts and makes reasoning errors),” says the company, which emphasizes that users should exercise caution when employing the technology.
Indeed, ChatGPT's failings can have dangerous real-life consequences. Among other negative applications, the tech can be used to spread misinformation, carry out phishing email scams or write malicious code.
There’s also the fear among teachers that the technology is leading to an unwelcome rise in academic dishonesty, with students using ChatGPT to write essays or complete their homework.
“Teachers and school administrators have been scrambling to catch students using the tool to cheat, and they are fretting about the havoc ChatGPT could wreak on their lesson plans,” writes New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose.
Many lawsuits against OpenAI have emerged as well. Multiple news outlets, including the the New York Times, have launched copyright lawsuits against OpenAI, and some of the plaintiffs are also seeking damages from the private tech firm’s very public partner Microsoft.
Additionally, the Authors Guild, which represents a group of prominent authors, launched a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI that is calling for a licensing system that would allow authors to opt out of having their books used to train AI, and would require AI companies to pay for the material they do use.
In October, OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji blew the whistle on the company, reporting that the firm was violating US copyright laws. He died one month later in what was ruled a suicide, but the investigation is still open.
Cybersecurity risks are also a concern for ChatGPT users, and recent events along these lines add validity to Musk's warning. For one, in 2024 ChatGPT for macOS was discovered to be breaching Apple's security rules by storing data as plain text rather than encryption, making it possible for other apps to access.
What's the future of OpenAI and ChatGPT?
What about the long-term goals for OpenAI and ChatGPT? For most of the tech leaders in this space, the end game is artificial general intelligence (AGI) — a system that can perform any function the human brain can, including self-teaching, abstract thinking and understanding cause and effect.
As uptake increases, AI technology is taking over the role of humans and will likely continue doing so in a number of fields, from content creation and customer service to transcription and translation services, and even in graphic design, software engineering and paralegal fields.
In addition to Microsoft's use of the ChatGPT technology as part of Copilot, other companies are working with OpenAI to incorporate the technology into their platforms, including Canva, Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL), Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE), Intercom, Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), Scale, Stripe and Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK).
For 2025, OpenAI is focusing on developing agentic AI capabilities into its ChatGPT platform. Agentic AI, a part of the evolution towards AGI, involves AI systems and models that can act autonomously and complete tasks without much human guidance. Early in January, OpenAI announced the rollout of new task features for ChatGPT Pro, Plus and Teams users. While still in the beta stage, these features allow users to schedule future tasks to be completed by ChatGPT, such as a weekly news brief or reminders about important meetings.
OpenAI first debuted its foray into agentic AI in September 2024 with the introduction of ChatGPT o1, stating "We've developed a new series of AI models designed to spend more time thinking before they respond." The release of the next iteration of this model, ChatGPT o3 mini, is anticipated for 2025.
OpenAI is planning to transition to a for-profit company in 2025. “As we enter 2025, we will have to become more than a lab and a startup — we have to become an enduring company,” stated the press release. “The world is moving to build out a new infrastructure of energy, land use, chips, data centers, data, AI models, and AI systems for the 21st century economy. We seek to evolve in order to take the next step in our mission.”
However, the company can expect to face obstacles to its transition from not only Elon Musk but its other competitors including Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), and the complexity of its partnership with Microsoft.
The recent release of Chinese startup DeepSeek’s AI assistant may pose an even bigger problem for OpenAI and the US tech industry as a whole. In what tech gurus like Marc Andreesen call AI’s Sputnik moment, DeepSeek unseated ChatGPT as the most downloaded free app in the Apple App Store, at reportedly a fraction of the cost. For reference, in 1957 the Soviets launched Sputnik, the earth’s first artificial satellite, beating out the United States and sparking a Cold War space exploration race between the two nations.
The DeepSeek launch set off a significant sell off in technology stocks on January 27, 2025, especially among the Magnificent Seven members, including NVIDIA, Microsoft and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
When will OpenAI go public?
OpenAI stock is not currently publicly traded, but following the recent move to restructure the company from a non-profit to a for-profit entity, an initial public offering (IPO) may be in the works for 2025. For now, investors can gain exposure through related tech companies discussed here.
Which stocks will benefit the most from AI chatbot technology?
While most companies specializing in generative AI remain in the venture capital stage, there are plenty of AI stocks for those interested in the space. INN's article 5 Canadian Artificial Intelligence Stocks, ASX AI Stocks: 5 Biggest Companies, and 12 Generative AI Stocks to Watch as ChatGPT Soars includes some examples.
Other than companies directly tied to generative AI technology, which stocks are likely to get a boost from generative AI advancements?
There are several verticals in the tech industry with indirect exposure to AI chatbot technology, such as semiconductors, network equipment providers, cloud providers, central processing unit manufacturers and internet of things.
Some of the publicly traded companies in these verticals include:
- Graphics processing unit leader NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)
- The world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM)
- Computer memory and data storage producer Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU)
- Digital communications firm Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)
- Networking products provider Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR)
- Semiconductor producer Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ:MRVL)
- Cloud-computing Amazon Web Services' parent company Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)
- Bluechip multinational technology company IBM (NYSE:IBM)
- Major semiconductor chip manufacturer Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)
Investors who don’t like to put all their eggs in one basket can check out these 5 Artificial Intelligence ETFs. And if you’re looking for a more general overview of the market, INN has you covered with How to Invest in Artificial Intelligence. You can also take a look back at the market in 2024 with our AI Market 2024 Year-End Review, or read projections for AI this year in our AI Market Forecast: 3 Top Trends that will Affect AI in 2025. Generative AI is also a major theme in the Top 10 Emerging Technologies to Watch.
FAQs for investing in OpenAI and ChatGPT
How is OpenAI funded?
OpenAI raised US$17.9 billion over 10 funding rounds from 2016 to November 2024.
Top investors include technology investment firm Thrive Capital, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and revolutionary technology investment firm Founders Fund.
What is the market value of ChatGPT/OpenAI?
OpenAI has a market valuation of US$157 billion as of October 2024. The company’s 2023 revenue had reached US$2 billion mark in December 2023 to join the ranks of Google and Meta. OpenAI's annualized revenue reached US$3.4 billion in May 2024.
Does ChatGPT use NVIDIA chips?
ChatGPT’s distributed computing infrastructure depends upon powerful servers with multiple graphics processing units (GPUs). High-performance NVIDIA GPU chips are preferred for this application as they also provide excellent Compute Unified Device Architecture support.
What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is a Chinese AI company that launched new AI-driven, open-source language models known as DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 into the market in January 2025. Reuters reports that "the training of DeepSeek-V3 required less than $6 million worth of computing power from Nvidia H800 chips."
DeepSeek-R1 is designed to compete with the performance of OpenAI-o1 across math, code, and reasoning tasks.
Can ChatGPT make stock predictions?
A University of Florida study from 2023 highlighted the potential for advanced language models such as ChatGPT to accurately predict movements in the stock market using sentiment analysis.
During the course of the study, ChatGPT outperformed traditional sentiment analysis methods, and the finance professors conducting the research concluded that “incorporating advanced language models into the investment decision-making process can yield more accurate predictions and enhance the performance of quantitative trading strategies.”
When to expect ChatGPT 5?
In November 2024, Altman confirmed that ChatGPT-5 wouldn't likely hit the market until later in 2025 as the company switched its focus to ChatGPT o1 and its successors.
Previously, OpenAI filed a trademark application for ChatGPT-5 in mid-July 2023, which hinted that the next iteration of the generative AI technology is currently under development. There were rumors the company planned to complete training for ChatGPT-5 by the end of 2023, but this did not materialize.
PC Guide noted in April 2024 that Sam Altman had teased an “amazing new model this year" in an interview on the Lex Fridman podcast. The following month, tech writer Suswati Basu shared in a blog that OpenAI confirmed that a new model is in the works, and she predicted an expected release in late 2024 or early 2025.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2023.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Tech 5: DeepSeek Disrupts AI Landscape, Tech Stocks and Crypto Tumble
The artificial intelligence (AI) landscape shifted dramatically this week with the emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese startup that's challenging the status quo. Tech stocks tumbled in response, as did cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, Big Tech companies offered a mixed bag in their quarterly earnings reports.
Read on to learn more about the biggest technology stories this week.
1. DeepSeek shakes up tech stocks
DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, shook the tech world on Monday (January 27) after its latest model, called DeepSeek-R1, became the Apple Store’s most popular free app over the weekend.
DeepSeek-R1 is a reportedly cost-effective and open-source AI model that rivals OpenAI's o1 in reasoning abilities. It emergence has raised questions about the competitive landscape of the rapidly evolving AI industry, and caused a sharp downturn in tech stocks, including a historic single-day market cap loss for NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA).
Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) and Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) also saw heavy losses, and the Nasdaq-100 (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) and S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) both declined during the tech selloff.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) saw smaller decreases. Chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDQ:AMD) also suffered declines, although Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) gained.
The news about DeepSeek has also sparked reactions from industry leaders like Sam Altman. Politicians have commented as ell, highlighting concerns about US competitiveness and prompting an investigation into whether DeepSeek managed to acquire high-end chips that the US has tried to restrict foreign access to.
Speaking at the House Republican Conference in Miami, Florida, on Monday, US President Donald Trump said DeepSeek’s release should be a “wakeup call” for US industries to be “laser-focused on competing to win.”
Some analysts and investors see this development as validation of AI's potential, predicting increased ROI for companies using AI, a mid-cycle efficiency gain and further progress toward innovation. “The Jevon’s Paradox strikes again!” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tweeted on Sunday (January 26), referring to the theory that greater efficiency in the use of any given resource — AI computing, in this case — can result in increased demand for that resource.
Reports surfaced midweek that DeepSeek may have used data or models derived from OpenAI's technology. Researchers for NewsGuard also reported that DeepSeek’s capabilities may have been overstated, given its poor performance on news-related queries and its susceptibility to jailbreaking that allows for malicious outputs.
Markets stabilized as Big Tech's earnings reports were released and as the US Federal Reserve signaled that inflation remains under control and that labor market is “not a source of significant inflation pressures.”
NVIDIA, however, was not able to recoup its losses and ended the week down 3.82 percent. Oracle and Advanced Micro also finished the week in the red, while Broadcom, TSM, Arm and Palantir closed up between 4 and 12 percent.
2. Crypto market takes hit on DeepSeek news
Panic selling gripped the cryptocurrency market as well on Monday as investors reacted to DeepSeek headlines.
Bitcoin, which reached around US$106,400 on Saturday (January 25), tumbled to US$98,380 just ahead of Monday’s opening bell. The selloff slashed the crypto sector's market cap by over 6 percent to below US$3.5 trillion.
Market sentiment, however, appears to have stabilized. The latest Bloomberg Markets Live survey indicates that investors believe these developments will have a limited impact on the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks.
Galxe co-founder Charles Wayn also suggested in a Monday email to the Investing News Network that DeepSeek’s emergence could ultimately be a positive development for crypto in the long term.
Bitcoin showed early signs of recovery before the Fed decided to leave rates unchanged on Wednesday (January 29). It retook US$105,000 on Wednesday after Chair Jerome Powell delivered a positive assessment of the labor market, but remained rangebound, failing to break US$106,000 and sliding back to just over US$102,00 as the market wrapped on Friday (January 31). Tariffs imposed by Trump are scheduled to go into effect on Saturday (February 1), leaving the near-term trajectory of the stock market — and risk-on assets like crypto — uncertain.
3. Hits and misses in Big Tech earnings
This week also brought quarterly earnings reports from major tech companies.
ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) was the first to report, and saw its share price rise after it beat analysts' predictions for earnings per share (EPS), revenue and its sales forecast for the first quarter of 2025.
The company reported EPS of 6.85 euros, exceeding the expected 6.68 euros, and quarterly revenue of 9.2 billion euros, surpassing the estimated 9 billion euros. Q1 2025 sales are projected to be between 7.5 billion and 8 billion euros, with net sales for the year expected to reach between 30 and 35 billion euros.
Also sharing their latest results this past week Meta, Microsoft and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).
Microsoft reported a strong performance that beat estimates, but offered a revenue forecast for Q1 that came in below expectations, resulting in a more than 5 percent drop in its share price on Thursday (January 30) morning.
Meta also outperformed analysts' projections and predicted revenue of around US$40 billion for Q1, along with significant investments in AI; however, the market had a better reaction to Meta’s results, sending its share price up after hours. Meta closed the week ahead by nearly 10 percent, while Microsoft is down 2.2 percent for the week.
Tesla’s EPS and revenue for Q4 came up short, but vehicle production and delivery surpassed estimates, and the company anticipates increased vehicle sales in 2025, supported by key initiatives like cheaper models, unsupervised Full Self-Driving and the launch of a robotaxi business later this year. Production of the Cybertruck, which is expected to be eligible for the Inflation Reduction Act consumer tax credit, is now set to begin toward the end of the year.
Tesla shares are up 2.45 percent for the week.
On Thursday, Apple's Q1 2025 results beat revenue estimates with quarterly revenue of US$124.3 billion, a 4 percent annual increase. EPS rose 10 percent from last year to US$2.40, but iPhone sales declined compared to last year and fell short of estimates at US$69.1 billion, largely due to a loss of market share in China. The company projected that revenue will grow in the low to mid-single digits in Q1 and closed the week up 5.32 percent.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Quarterly Activities/Appendix 4C Cash Flow Report
Artificial Intelligence software companyRocketBoots Limited (ASX:ROC) (RocketBoots or the Company), is pleased to provide an update on activities for the quarter ending 31 December 2024 (the Quarter) focused on delivering its AI & cloud based SaaS platform to enable enterprise retail and retail banking businesses to continually adapt their In-Person channels to rapidly changing customer behaviour. The platform enables these businesses to fundamentally transform their performance in workforce management, customer service, and loss prevention.
Highlights
- SaaS contract extended with major Australian retailer, which continues a 5+ year foundation partnership across hundreds of stores
- Advanced discussions continue with a number of international enterprise customers across a growing sales pipeline, with the Company focused on progressing a number of qualified opportunities who are currently trialling RocketBoots technology. The sales pipeline has increased credibility with large multinational retailers currently conducting live trials.
- Experienced investor and growth company specialist Roy McKelvie appointed as Chairman
- RocketBoots successfully raised $1.5 million during the quarter over two tranches with new and existing sophisticated investors that will support the Company’s international expansion strategy.
Key Customer Contracts Won
Major Australian Retailer
RocketBoots confirms a contract extension with a major Australian retailer, as released to the ASX on 6 December 2024, which continues a 7-year partnership providing critical software across its Australian locations. Over this time, the Company has established opportunities to optimise operations, as well as integrate RocketBoots technology with other retailer systems further enhancing the customers ability to leverage value across its operations.
Importantly, RocketBoots has continued to demonstrate a sustainable return on investment that underpins its commercial model where the Company is now building momentum and scaling the business to secure a share in the billion-dollar global retail, grocery and banking markets.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Rocketboots Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Quarterly Activities Report and Appendix 4C for the Period Ended 31 December 2024
BlinkLab Limited (ASX:BB1) (“BlinkLab”, or the “Company”) an innovative digital healthcare company leveraging smartphones, computer vision, Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), and Machine Learning (“ML”) to diagnose neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and ADHD, is pleased to release its Appendix 4C and Quarterly Activity Report for the period ended 31 December 2024 (the “Quarter”).
Highlights
- BlinkLab initiated its FDA registrational study, which aims to revolutionise the diagnostics and care for autism, making it more accessible and reliable.
- The initial phase will recruit up to 100 participants (children aged between 2-11 years old), with the main study recruiting up to 1,000 subjects.
- Four clinical sites have been selected, with six additional sites to be added; the sites are spread across the US to ensure diversity of the population.
- Final results are expected by the end of CY 2025 and will be used for the 510(k) Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approval.
- BlinkLab received positive feedback from a Pre-Submission meeting with the US Federal Drug Administration (“FDA”) regarding the regulatory pathway for BlinkLab Dx 1 diagnostic app.
- Final results from the pivotal autism study (announced in November of 2024) bolster confidence that BlinkLab Dx 1 will surpass the accuracy parameters that are required for regulatory approval in the upcoming FDA registration trial.
- BlinkLab and Monash University have partnered on the large-scale Monash Autism-ADHD Genetics and Neurodevelopment (“MAGNET”) study, which aims to conduct deep phenotyping in children on the autism spectrum, with ADHD, or both. The study will also work towards further improvements to BlinkLab’s Machine Learning (“ML”) algorithm to better distinguish between autism- and ADHD-specific clinical features.
- As at 31 December 2024, the Company had a cash balance of A$4.4 million.
Following the positive outcome from the recent FDA pre-submission meeting, as well as positive final data from the pivotal preliminary study (ASX Announcement 19 November 2024), BlinkLab is confident in the success of its registrational study, as well as the subsequent 510(k) regulatory approval for our first diagnostic tool for autism, called “Blinklab Dx 1”.
US FDA Registrational Study in Autism Now Underway
The FDA registrational study program will consist of a pilot study, followed by the primary study. The pilot study will recruit up to 100 participants (children aged between 2-11 years) and will continue into a registrational study, which will be conducted with up to 1,000 subjects across ten clinical sites in the US. The pilot study will be used to train the investigators and personnel at clinical sites, as well as to test the procedures of subject screening and data collection. These steps are part of BlinkLab’s considered strategy for mitigating risk leading up to the main FDA study and are aimed at ensuring the highest quality of data and diagnostic accuracy of the BlinkLab tests.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Blinklab Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Tech Stocks, Cryptocurrencies Pull Back as OpenAI Competitor DeepSeek Spooks Market
A premarket tech stock selloff extended into the cryptocurrency market on Monday (January 27) ahead of a data-packed week that includes interest rate announcements from the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada.
The selloff began after DeepSeek, a Chinese rival to OpenAI, became the top free app in the Apple Store over the weekend. DeepSeek-R1, which was released on January 10, can reportedly perform reasoning tasks just as well as OpenAI’s o1, but costs less and is a partially open system that allows researchers to study it.
Also last week, ByteDance released Doubao-1.5-pro, an upgrade to its flagship artificial intelligence (AI) model, claiming it outperforms OpenAI's o1 in AIME, a benchmark test that measures how well AI models understand and respond to complex instructions. ByteDance is the owner of popular social media app TikTok.
Reuters later reported that outages were affecting DeepSeek as its popularity skyrocketed.
For its part, OpenAI unveiled its AI agent, Operator, on January 23, launching in the US for ChatGPT Pro users; it has no immediate plans to expand the release to Plus, Team or Enterprise customers. Operator is trained to interact with graphical interfaces online, allowing it to “see” web browsers and perform tasks such as making reservations. It can reportedly self-correct if it makes a mistake and will hand control back to the human user if it runs into challenges.
Elsewhere, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a projection of his company's AI spending targets, indicating that Meta plans to spend between US$60 billion and US$65 billion on AI in 2025.
The funds will primarily be used to build a data center so large that it “covers a significant part of Manhattan.” The data center will power an AI engineer, which will contribute to the company’s research and development efforts.
With the release of DeepSeek, the level of spending and investment in AI by western countries is suddenly facing higher levels of scrutiny, with a cheaper alternative readily available and popular with consumers.
“We still don’t know the details and nothing has been 100 percent confirmed in regards to the claims, but if there truly has been a breakthrough in the cost to train models from US$100 million+ to this alleged US$6 million number this is actually very positive for productivity and AI end users as cost is obviously much lower meaning lower cost of access,” Reuters quotes Jon Withaar, a senior portfolio manager at Pictet Asset Management, as saying.
Researchers for the small Hangzhou startup behind DeepSeek wrote in a paper last month that the DeepSeek-V3 model was trained using NVIDIA's (NASDAQ:NVDA) H800 chips, which were initially developed as a reduced-capability product to get around US restrictions on sales to China. Training the model reportedly cost less than US$6 million.
US sanctions subsequently banned the chips. If DeepSeek is able achieve these results with mid-level chips, it challenges the narrative that advanced computing abilities are necessary.
Tech stocks and crypto react to DeepSeek news
Tech stocks tumbled Monday, with the Nasdaq-100 (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) sinking nearly 3 percent to record its biggest drop since September 2022. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) fell 1.7 percent.
Chipmakers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) pulled back, and NVIDIA, Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) were among the hardest-hit tech names.
Investors sought safety in bonds, pushing 10 year Treasury yields down to 4.54 percent. The CBOE Volatility Index (INDEXCBOE:VIX) spiked to a one month high, reflecting increased market anxiety.
The selloff extended to energy companies like Vistra (NYSE:VST) and GE Vernova (NYSE:GEV), which are expected to benefit from AI's growing energy demands. However, major tech companies Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Meta and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) experienced only modest declines for the day.
Cryptocurrencies joined tech stocks in a Monday downturn, with the total market cap for the sector dipping over 6 percent in premarket trading. Bitcoin saw a sharp 6.5 percent slide on Sunday, falling from above US$104,000 to US$97,790 overnight. Traders are piling into protective US$97,500 strike options, according to Barchart of Business.
While some tokens, such as XRP, SOL and Dogecoin, saw a short-lived rebound of over 2 percent in early trading, overall sentiment among cryptocurrency investors remains cautious.
Charles Wayn, co-founder of Galxe, doesn't see the downturn in the crypto sector lasting long.
"Yes, we’ve seen a slide in crypto tokens today, but it won’t last as crypto is the biggest beneficiary of AI technology," he told the Investing News Network in an email on Monday morning.
"Whether that be AI co-pilots like Alva that can help investors research different digital assets, AI that can assist developers to make faster more efficient advancements in blockchain technology or AI agents that can fully manage portfolios, the possibilities are endless," the expert continued.
"So no matter where this technology comes from, the crypto sector will benefit from it.”
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
4DMedical progresses to a commercial agreement with Qscan
Respiratory imaging technology company 4DMedical Limited (ASX:4DX, “4DMedical”, or the “Company”) today announces the signing of a commercial contract with Qscan Radiology Clinics ("Qscan"), a leading provider of diagnostic imaging services in Queensland. This agreement follows a successful pilot of 4DMedical’s products with Qscan, and represents the first Australian contract to incorporate products from both the Pulmonary Function and Pulmonary Structure suites, including CT LVAS™.
Pilot success leads to commercial agreement
With 40 clinics across Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, Tasmania, and Western Australia, Qscan is one of Australia’s leading medical imaging providers, offering a comprehensive range of diagnostic and interventional radiology services.
Following the success of a pilot program, which demonstrated the clinical and operational effectiveness of 4DMedical’s proprietary suite of products, 4DMedical and Qscan have entered a commercial arrangement under which Qscan will offer 4DMedical’s respiratory imaging solutions at select practices in Brisbane.
This agreement marks 4DMedical’s first Australian commercial contract to incorporate products from both its Pulmonary Function and Pulmonary Structure suites. Specifically, the agreement with Qscan will provide clinicians with access to CT LVAS™, Lung Density Analysis™ - Inspiration (LDAi), Functional Lung Density Analysis™ (LDAf), and Lung Texture Analysis™ (LTA), each providing advanced diagnostic capabilities to support referrers and patients.
Reports will be delivered and billed on a Software-as-a-Service model on terms in line with those of the Company’s other commercial partners.
4DMedical MD/CEO and Founder Andreas Fouras said:
Having completed our pilot with Qscan, we are excited to have progressed to a commercial agreement. This partnership ensures that more patients and clinicians have access to detailed, actionable insights into lung health, supporting better healthcare outcomes.
Momentum continues to build with the commercialisation of our technology across the US and Australia. With the addition of Qscan to our network of providers in Australia, I am excited to see our footprint expand to ensure our cutting-edge technology is now becoming more readily available to all Australians.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from 4DMedical, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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