>>> What to look at today - 29th of January 2026

The record-breaking rally in commodities gained fresh momentum as gold, copper and silver hit all-time highs amid a weaker dollar and rising geopolitical tensions. Gold climbed 2.3% to $5,540 an ounce, boosting this month’s gain to about 30%. Silver extended this year’s advance to 64%, after surging 148% in 2025. Copper jumped 5% on the London Metal Exchange and Brent crude climbed to the highest since September. All these assets are priced in dollars so they benefited from the greenback’s decline. Treasuries fell amid concern rising commodity prices will add to inflation. Increasing market’s concerns, President Donald Trump warned Iran to make a nuclear deal with the US or face military strikes far worse than the attack he ordered last June. Equities fluctuated as megacap tech earnings failed to ignite the markets. With tech earnings sending mixed signals and scrutiny of AI spending intensifying, markets are favoring selective positioning over bold risk-taking until clearer signals emerge. Volatility in bond and currency markets has risen as uncertainty grows, driven by Trump’s threats toward European allies over Greenland and his administration’s sharpened attacks on the Fed’s independence. All those risk factors have fed into more demand for haven assets such as gold. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped 0.3%, retracing some of the gains it made after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US hadn’t intervened to support the yen and reiterated a strong dollar policy. The index slid for a seventh time in nine sessions, putting it line for the worst month since April.  Mixed megacap earnings and a profit beat by Samsung Electronics Co. failed to ignite technology shares. While Tesla Inc. rose 1.9% and Meta Platforms Inc. jumped 6.6% in aftermarket trading, Microsoft Corp. slumped 6%. Asian shares and equity-index futures for the US and Europe fluctuated. On Iran, Trump said the fleet of US ships he’d ordered to the region, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, is “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.” Trump has repeatedly warned Iran that the US might launch another attack, but those threats have recently been linked to Iran’s deadly crackdown on protests rather than its atomic activities. The US leader has previously said Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated” in the strikes last June that targeted three facilities across the country. Elsewhere, a rout in Indonesian stocks extended into a second day, triggering a temporary trading halt, as investors stayed cautious over potential downgrade risks and transparency concerns flagged by MSCI Inc. US After Hours Many huge names report earnings -- IBM +7.4%, LRCX +7.2%, META +7.1%, TSLA +1.9% on upside; WHR -8.9%, MSFT -7%, NOW -4.4% on downside; rare earth stocks under pressure.

Nikkei +0.13% Hang Seng +0.54% CSI -0.10% Shanghai -0.10% Shenzen +0.05%

Eur$ 1.1986 CNH 6.9411 CNY 6.9461 JPY 153.08 GBP 1.3837 CHF 0.7657 RUB 76.5362 TRY 43.4242 WTI$ 64.44 +1.93% Gold 5,575 +2.80% BTC 88,150 -1.25% ETH 2,950 -2.23%

S&P +0.17% Nasdaq +0.34% EuroStoxx +0.13% FTSE +0.24% Dax -0.18% SMI -0.2(%

Macro :
- France’s Gas Consumption Fell 3% in 2025 as Chemicals Dropped
- DeepSeek Sets Sights on AI Search and Agents, Job Postings Show
- UK Car Production Drops to Lowest Since 1956 After JLR Shutdown
- Rare Earth Stocks Sink on Report of Less US Backing on Price

Keep an eye on :
- ABBN SW : ABB to Build New Headquarters in Zurich for ~CHF80 Million
- AEDAS SM : CNMV Approves Neinor Mandatory Takeover Bid for Aedas Homes
- ALKT US : Fintech Company Alkami Is Said to Tap Adviser to Explore Sale
- ALMB DC : Alm Brand 4Q Pretax Profit Beats Estimates
- AXFO SS : Axfood 4Q Operating Profit Meets Estimates
- BMAG AV : BAJAJ Mobility AG FY Revenue Misses Estimates
- BMW GY : UK Car Production Drops to Lowest Since 1956 After JLR Shutdown
- BUCN SW : Bucher FY Sales Meet Estimates
- CVNA US : Carvana Tumbles After It’s Targeted by Short Seller Gotham
- CLS CN : Celestica 4Q Adjusted EPS Beats Estimates
- CENER BB : Cenergy Rated New Outperform at Oddo BHF; PT 22.40 euros
- COIN US : Coinbase Revenue Likely Declined 20% Last Quarter, Analysts Say
- CVC NA : CVC Is Said to Near Deal for DSM-Firmenich’s Animal Health Unit
- DLG IM : De' Longhi FY Revenue Meets Estimates Deutsche Bank Is Said to Eye Stake in Life Insurance Firm (1)
- DBK GY : Deutsche Bank 4Q FIC Sales & Trading Revenue Beat Estimates
- DWS GY : Deutsche Bank’s DWS Raises Profit Target, Plans Special Dividend
- Eikon IPO : Merck Said to Seek $30 Million Stake in Eikon Therapeutics’ IPO
- Ethos IPO : Ethos IPO of 10.5m Shares Prices at $19 Apiece
- EPROB SS : Electrolux Professional 4Q EPS Beats Estimates
- ERF FP : Eurofins Scientific FY Adjusted Ebitda Meets Estimates
- EPR NO : Europris 4Q Revenue Misses Estimates
- EXA FP : Exail Tech Says Prelim FY Rev. About +28%, Above Forecast
- FM CN : First Quantum Said to Seek Buyer for Turkish Copper Mine
- FORN SW : Forbo Names Heinz Hössli as CFO From July 1
- Forgent Power IPO : Forgent Power IPO Said to Be Multiple Times Oversubscribed
- GIVN SW : Givaudan FY Ebitda Misses Estimates
- GJF NO : Gjensidige 4Q Combined Ratio Reported Misses Estimates
- GOOGL US : DeepSeek Sets Sights on AI Search and Agents, Job Postings Show
- GOOGL US : Google Aims Knockout Blow at Chinese Company Linked to Massive Cyber Weapon -- WSJ
- GOOGL US : Waymo Says NHTSA Opens Probe Into Jan. 23 Pedestrian Incident
- GRNG SS : Granges 4Q Adjusted Operating Profit Beats Estimates
- GTT FP : GTT Gets Order From Hanwha for Tank Design of Two LNG Carriers
- IBM US : IBM 4Q Revenue Beats Estimates: Snapshot
- INGA NA : ING 4Q Net Income Beats Estimates
- INMD US : Steel Partners Confirms Offer of $18 Per Share for InMode
- ISP IM : Intesa Not Involved in Garanti BBVA Romania Acquisition Process
- INRN SW : Interroll FY Sales Miss Estimates
- ITP FP : Interparfums Sets Worldwide License Pact With David Beckham
- JOBy US : Joby Aviation Seeks to Raise $1 Billion Via Stock, Convertible
- KER FP : Alexander McQueen’s Italy Unions Warn of Job Cuts at Kering Unit
- LAND SW : Landis+Gyr 3Q Net Revenue $278.7M vs $200.5M Y/Y
- LEVI US : Levi Strauss 4Q Sales Tick Up as Focus Shifts Beyond Denim - Update
- LUN CN : Lundin Mining 4Q Other Items to Boost Earnings About $450m
- MRK US : Merck Said to Seek $30 Million Stake in Eikon Therapeutics’ IPO
- META US : Meta Gains as Revenue Outlook Supports AI Spending: Street Wrap
- MSFT US : Microsoft Falls After Spending More Than Expected: Snapshot
- MTRS SS : Munters 4Q Adjusted Ebita Misses Estimates
- MUR US : Murphy Oil Sees 2026 Production 167,000 to 175,000 Mboed
- NEM GY : Nemetschek FY Ebitda EU371.1M Vs. EU301.0M Y/y
- NOKIA FH : Nokia Proposes Timo Ihamuotila Succeeds Sari Baldauf as Chairman
- NOVOB DC : Novo Must Guard Against Obesity Drug Price War, Chairman Says
- NVDA US : Nvidia CEO Says Chinese Government Yet to Approve H200 Imports
- Open AI : Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon in Talks to Invest Up to $60 Billion in OpenAI - The Information
- PIRC IM : Sinochem Could Move Pirelli Stake to Blind Trust: Messaggero
- RNK LN : Rank Group 1H Net Gaming Revenue GBP420M Vs. GBP401.8M Y/y
- RCO FP : Remy Cointreau 3Q Organic Revenue Beats Estimates, Remy Cointreau Returns to Growth on US, Europe Demand
- HOOD US : Robinhood Is Said to Vie for Key Retail Role in Mega SpaceX IPO
- ROG SW : Roche Sees 2026 Group Sales Growth in Mid Single Digit Range
- BAMNB NA : Royal BAM Group to Buy Gebroeders Blokland; No Terms
- RVRC SS : RVRC Holding 2Q Net Sales Beat Estimates
- SAN FP : Sanofi 4Q Business EPS Beats Estimates, Sees FY Sales Growth
- SAN SM : Santander Chile Accepts Getnet Offer for 49.99% Shares of Unit
- SAP GY : SAP 4Q Non-IFRS Revenue Meets Estimates, SAP 4Q Non-IFRS Revenue Meets Estimates
- STX US : Seagate Gains on ‘Terrific’ Results and Guide: Street Wrap
- SEBA SS : SEB 4Q Net Interest Income Meets Estimates
- SEBA SS : SEB Starts New SEK1.25B Share Buyback Program
- SKAB SS : Skanska, Entra Invest About SEK1.7b in New Oslo Office Project
- STLA IM : Stellantis Cuts Fiat, Opel Prices in France in Race for Volumes
- STMPA FP : STMicro 1Q Net Revenue Forecast Beats Estimates
- STMPA FP : STMicro Sales Outlook Beats Estimates on Chip Recovery
- TEF SM : Telefonica Chile Approves Selling Onnet Stake for CLP168B
- TELIA SS : Telia 4Q Net Sales Meet Estimates
- TTEK US : Tetra Tech Stock Jumps After FY EPS Forecast Beats Estimates
- TSLA US : Tesla to Invest $2B to Buy Series E Preferred Shares of xAI
- TRELB SS : Trelleborg 4Q Adjusted Ebita Misses Estimates
- ULVR LN : Unilever Sells Home Care Units in Colombia and Ecuador; No Terms
- VLTSA FP : Voltalia 4Q Revenue EU166.3M Vs. EU155.2M Y/y
- WBD US : Barry Diller Told Warner Bros. Discovery He Is Interested in Buying CNN -- WSJ
- WHR US : Whirlpool Shares Slump as Full-Year EPS View Disappoints (2)

>>> Europe : Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 29th of January 2026

>>> Up
* Aperam Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 41.20 euros
* ASML PT Raised to 1,500 euros from 1,000 euros at TD Cowen
* ASML Raised to Overweight at Barclays; PT 1,500 euros
* ASML PT Raised to 1,600 euros from 1,400 euros at Citi
* Fresnillo Raised to Buy at Banco BTG Pactual; PT 5,400 pence
* General Motors Raised to Buy at DZ Bank; PT $98
* Lassila & Tikanoja Raised to Buy at Inderes; PT 8.80 euros
* LVMH Raised to Buy at DZ Bank; PT 650 euros
* Meta PT Raised to $825 from $750 at Morgan Stanley
* Nordnet Raised to Buy at SEB Equities; PT 332 kronor
* Schindler Raised to Neutral at Oddo BHF; PT 294 Swiss francs
* UMG Raised to Buy at ING; PT 27.20 euros
* Volvo Raised to Buy at ABG; PT 365 kronor

>>> Down
* Acerinox Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT 10.50 euros
* CAF Cut to Underperform at Oddo BHF; PT 54 euros
* Consti Cut to Reduce at Inderes; PT 12.50 euros
* Helleniq Energy Cut to Neutral at Piraeus Securities S.A.
* Motor Oil Hellas Cut to Neutral at Piraeus Securities S.A.
* OMV Cut to Underperform at RBC; PT 46 euros
* Stolt-Nielsen Cut to Hold at Pareto Securities; PT 317.85 kroner
* SSAB Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT 71 kronor
* Unite Group Cut to Hold at Jefferies; PT 629 pence

>>> Initiation
* Austriacard Rated New Outperform at Piraeus Securities S.A.
* Barrick Mining Rated New Overweight at JPMorgan; PT C$91.96
* Cenergy Rated New Outperform at Oddo BHF; PT 22.40 euros
* Unite Group Reinstated Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 700 pence

>>> Call
* Exail Tech’s Preliminary Figures ‘Encouraging,’ Bernstein Says
* JPMorgan Sees Risk/Reward Improving for EU Stainless Steel
* OMV Cut to Underperform at RBC on Extended Chemicals Downcycle

FT : An AI vision of the future

An AI vision of the future


Meta made a splash in 2023 with its first AI glasses developed in partnership with sunglass brand Ray-Ban. Several generations of smart glasses later, the Facebook parent kicked the race into higher gear when it unveiled AI glasses with a built-in, full-colour display in September of last year.

Chinese companies, however, are not standing aside and letting Meta have the market all to itself, Nikkei Asia’s Cissy Zhou and Yifan Yu write.

Backed by China’s strong supply chain, sizeable domestic consumer market and abundant choice of open-source AI models, tech giants and start-ups alike in the country are racing to launch their own AI glasses while Meta struggles to keep up with demand.

Buoyed by the strong performance of Meta’s latest smart glasses, HSBC raised its forecasts for both shipment volumes and average selling prices. It now estimates the total addressable market for smart glasses could reach about $200bn by 2040, a 33 per cent increase from its previous forecast.

>>> Stoxx 600 Pre-Market Indications

  • STMicro (SGM TH) +3.8%
    • STMicro Sales Outlook Beats Estimates on Chip Recovery
  • Fresnillo (FNL TH) +3.3%
  • Swedbank (FRYA TH) +2.7%
    • Swedbank 4Q Net Interest Income Meets Estimates
  • Nemetschek (NEM TH) +2.2%
    • Nemetschek FY Ebitda EU371.1M Vs. EU301.0M Y/y
  • Siemens (SIE TH) +2%
  • Boliden (BWJ TH) +2%
  • Glencore (8GC TH) +1.7%
  • Deutsche Bank (DBK TH) +1.6%
    • Deutsche Bank Has Record Fourth Quarter in Fixed Income: TOPLive
  • Aurubis (NDA TH) +1.6%
  • Anglo American (NGL0 TH) +1.4%
  • Novo (NOV TH) -1.3%
  • SEB (SEBA TH) -3.8%
    • SEB Lending Profit Meets Estimates as Fees Offset Low Rates (1)
  • SAP (SAP TH) -3.9%
    • SAP Forecasts Cloud Revenue Growth in 2026 as Clients Switch (1)

>>> TradeGate Pre-Market Indications

DAX:
  • Deutsche Bank (DBK TH) +1.6%
    • Deutsche Bank Plans New Buyback in Results Overshadowed by Raid
  • Infineon (IFX TH) +1.6%
  • Siemens (SIE TH) +1.4%
  • SAP (SAP TH) -3.1%
    • SAP Forecasts Cloud Revenue Growth in 2026 as Clients Switch (1)
MDAX:
  • DWS (DWS TH) +5%
    • Deutsche Bank’s DWS Raises Profit Target, Plans Special Dividend
  • Nemetschek (NEM TH) +3.2%
    • Nemetschek FY Ebitda EU371.1M Vs. EU301.0M Y/y
  • Puma (PUM TH) +1.4%
    • Puma Investor Declares 33.70% Voting Rights on Jan. 26
SDAX:
  • Schaeffler (SHA0 TH) -2.1%

Variety : What Is David Ellison’s Warner Bros. Endgame?

What Is David Ellison’s Warner Bros. Endgame?
Paramount Skydance CEO is betting the regulatory tide will turn against the Netflix deal

For more than five months, Paramount Skydance’s David Ellison has tried in vain to win a deal for Warner Bros. Discovery. Nothing has worked: The WBD board of directors has rejected Paramount’s acquisition overtures eight times and remains committed to its industry-altering $83 billion pact with Netflix.

But Ellison refuses to go away. Paramount Skydance last week extended the deadline for its hostile $30-a-share all-cash offer for WBD to Feb. 20 — and officially urged Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders to vote against WBD’s amended all-cash deal with Netflix at April’s special meeting of stockholders. Predictably, Warner Bros. Discovery sharply dismissed Ellison’s latest maneuvers, claiming more than 93% of its shareholders have rejected Paramount’s “inferior scheme,” the company said.

Sources familiar with the thinking of Paramount Skydance and its financial backers, which include Larry Ellison, David’s multibillionaire father, say the company isn’t prepared to go higher than $30 a share (which is up more than 50% from its first $19-a-share proposal). But at this point, more cash on the table would seem to be the Ellisons’ only option.

Is David Ellison just a rich guy trying to save face after multiple rebuffs?

Actually, he appears to truly believe Paramount has a chance to land WBD. His disrupt-and-delay strategy is engineered around the possibility that regulators in the U.S. or Europe — or President Trump — will spike the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal outright or attach onerous conditions, clearing a path for Paramount’s rival offer.

Through its tactics, Paramount is “buying time for negotiations, raising the costs for rejecting the deal and signaling commitment” to buying WBD, says Joseph Kalmenovitz, assistant professor of finance at the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester.

Columbia Law School professor Reilly Steel suggests that David Ellison and Paramount Skydance are hoping that Trump will direct the Department of Justice to block the Netflix-WB merger. “It should be obvious by now that Trump does not care about traditional norms of presidential noninterference with individual enforcement decisions,” says Steel.

Apart from what the president might do to determine the outcome of the M&A fight, the Justice Department or other regulatory authorities could have a plausible case for blocking Netflix’s takeover of WB’s TV and film studios and HBO Max, given that it would reinforce the streamer’s dominance.

Paramount Skydance has claimed that Netflix and HBO Max together would hold an estimated 43% share of the global subscription streaming market, but it hasn’t provided sources for that estimate. (Netflix says the combined market share claim isn’t true — and that there isn’t any market share information available that would produce that estimate.) In any case, politicians on both sides of the aisle are wary of the power Netflix would amass by swallowing Warner Bros. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called the proposed deal “an anti-monopoly nightmare.”

On Feb. 3, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery chief strategy officer Bruce Campbell are due to testify before a Senate antitrust hearing titled “Examining the Competitive Impact of the Proposed Netflix-Warner Brothers Transaction.” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, warned that there are “a lot of antitrust red flags here” and predicted in a tweet last month: “Buckle up for an intense antitrust hearing in the Senate.”

Makan Delrahim, Paramount’s chief legal officer, who headed the DOJ’s antitrust division during Trump’s first term, called Netflix “the new-age digital version” of Standard Oil given its movie-output deals with Sony and Universal (which would be augmented by WB’s sizable library). “How does that deal even make it out of the WBD or the Netflix Board room?” he asked rhetorically in a Jan. 18 LinkedIn post.


Amid the saber-rattling, Netflix and WBD say they’ve done the due diligence and are certain their pact will get the green light. In the end, David Ellison’s bet on Netflix-WB hitting a regulatory wall hinges on how broadly the combo’s competitive set is defined. And Netflix argues that it’s everything on TV — not just streaming.

Netflix’s share of TV viewing time remains less than 10% in all major markets. And it claims the addition of WB would still leave it trailing YouTube in the U.S. In a message seemingly aimed at the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission as much as its investors, the streamer said in its Q4 shareholder letter: “We relish competition and work to earn more of consumers’ attention.”

>>> US After Hours Summary: Many huge names report earnings -- IBM +7.4%, LRCX +

After Hours Summary: Many huge names report earnings -- IBM +7.4%, LRCX +7.2%, META +7.1%, TSLA +1.9% on upside; WHR -8.9%, MSFT -7%, NOW -4.4% on downside; rare earth stocks under pressure

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: DLX +10.9%, IBM +7.4%, HXL +7.3% (also increases dividend), CHRW +7.2%, LRCX +7.2%, META +7.1%, ETD +6.6%, LUV +5.8%, VIAV +5.5% (also restructuring plan, which includes a 5% workforce reduction), TTEK +5.1% (also increases dividend), ATGE +4.4%, LBRT +3.9%, FICO +3.6%, CNMD +2.6%, TSLA +1.9% (also to invest $2 bln to acquire preferred shares of xAI), NRIX +1.6%, SLG +1.4%, CP +1.3%, AXS +1.2%, BKD +0.7%, FIBK +0.6%,

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: MBIN +5.5% (authorizes new $100 mln share repurchase program), INMD +4.8% (SPLP makes bid to acquire 51% stake in INMD), TTMI +4% (supply agreement with RTX), QNCX +2.2% (presents safety data from long-term eDSP treatment), GOOGL +2% (moves to take control of dozens of web domains linked to Ipidea, according to WSJ), VZLA +1.9% (provides update on security incident), WYFI +1.7% (BTBT reaffirms its long-term investment in WYFI), AXL +1.6% (Millennium Mgmt increased passive stake to 6.2%), AMTX +1.6% (authorizes new $80 mln share repurchase program), CP +1.3% (names new Vice Chair), BTBT +0.9% (BTBT reaffirms its long-term investment in WYFI), HOOD +0.6% (wants a key role in SpaceX IPO, according to Bloomberg), AZN +0.2% (collaboration agreement with Univ of Virginia), SATS +0.2% (AMT provides update regarding its relationship with DISH Wireless), PBR +0.1% (increases proved reserves in 2025), IPAR +0.1% (signs license agreements with David Beckham and Nautica),

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: WHR -8.9%, LVS -8.1%, MSFT -7%, LC -6.7%, URI -5% (also new $5 bln share repurchase program; also increases dividend), CLS -4.8%, MTH -4.6%, MUR -4.6% (also increases dividend), NOW -4.4% (also expands relationship with Panasonic Avionics; also collaboration with Anthropic Claude), WM -2.9%, CALX -2.3% (also increases share repurchase authorization by $125 mln), CON -2.2%, SEIC -1%, PLXS -0.4%, HLI -0.3%, LEVI -0.1% (also to enter into $200 mln ASR),

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: INUV -25.4% (names new Chairman/CEO; provides guidance), LODE -11.9% (commences stock offering), JOBY -11.4% (proposed offerings of common stock and convertible notes; $1 bln in aggregate), USAR -11.4% (rare earth stocks weak on report Trump admin stepping back from plans to guarantee a minimum price, according to Reuters), UAMY -10.7% (rare earth stocks weak on report Trump admin stepping back from plans to guarantee a minimum price, according to Reuters), CRML -10.2% (rare earth stocks weak on report Trump admin stepping back from plans to guarantee a minimum price, according to Reuters), MP -9.9% (rare earth stocks weak on report Trump admin stepping back from plans to guarantee a minimum price, according to Reuters), TMC -7.7% (rare earth stocks weak on report Trump admin stepping back from plans to guarantee a minimum price, according to Reuters), TMQ -7% (rare earth stocks weak on report Trump admin stepping back from plans to guarantee a minimum price, according to Reuters), TONX -1.9% (leadership and governance actions), REMX -1.6% (rare earth stocks weak on report Trump admin stepping back from plans to guarantee a minimum price, according to Reuters), GOSS -1.2% (files mixed securities shelf offering), MSCI -0.9% (amends ETF agreement with BlackRock Fund Advisors), TEX -0.3% (TEX and REVG receive stockholder approval for merger), ARR -0.1% (amended sales agreement, increases shares that may be offered and sold by 15 mln),

The Information : Ex-OpenAI Researcher’s Startup Targets Up to $1 Billion in Fun

Ex-OpenAI Researcher’s Startup Targets Up to $1 Billion in Funding to Develop a New Type of AI

The Takeaway
  • Startup led by former top OpenAI researcher seeks up to $1 billion in funding
  • Core Automation plans new AI models with continual learning
  • Startup adds to number of neolabs seeking to overhaul core processes in AI development

The wave of so-called AI neolabs seeking breakthroughs they think incumbents like OpenAI will miss continues to rise.

Core Automation, an AI startup founded by former senior OpenAI researcher Jerry Tworek in recent weeks, aims to raise between $500 million and $1 billion in funding, according to a person who has spoken with the company.

He wants to develop AI models using methods that major firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic aren’t heavily focused on, according to materials shown to potential investors, and to create AI models that can learn on the fly from real-world experience, a capability known as continual learning, which today’s models cannot do, the person said.

The researcher’s plans for the new startup are early and his funding aims and product approach could change.

Tworek represents a small but growing group of AI researchers who believe the field needs an overhaul because today’s most popular model development techniques seem unlikely to be able to develop advanced AI that can achieve major breakthroughs in biology, medicine and other fields while also managing to avoid silly mistakes.

Tworek left OpenAI earlier this month to “try and explore types of research that are hard to do at OpenAI,” he wrote in a post on X. The materials shared with investors said Core Automation intends to use large neural networks, the brain-like math that underlies most frontier AI models. But the company will rethink most of how those models are developed, “up to and including gradient descent,” the standard method for training neural networks.

Tworek wants to develop models that require less data and fewer servers to train, the person said. It would do this by coming up with new model architectures beyond the transformer, which underlies today’s most popular models, according to the materials. Tworek also wants to merge the different steps of model training into a single process, this person said.

By pursuing continual learning, Core Automation seems to be taking a similar approach to Safe Superintelligence, another AI lab cofounded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever. Sutskever has similarly said that he wants to develop models that can learn from being deployed in the real world.

To be sure, major AI developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic are also interested in continual learning techniques. Some AI researchers believe they can tweak transformer-based AI models so they exhibit such learning attributes without a full-fledged overhaul of the model’s architecture.

Tworek’s ambitious fundraising goals highlight investors’ continued interest in backing neolabs, some of which have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in recent months, despite often lacking any revenue or a product.

These startups pursuing new approaches to AI include Humans&, which this month landed $480 million in seed funding at a $4.48 billion valuation from investors like SV Angel, Nvidia and Jeff Bezos, as well as Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab, which recently was in talks to raise between $4 billion and $5 billion at a $50 billion-plus valuation. Thinking Machines Lab, however, last year released a product for customizing models and is generating some revenue.

Tworek, who joined OpenAI in 2019, envisions the startup’s research scientists working on a single model named Ceres, the name of a dwarf planet and Roman goddess, with a single algorithm. That’s a change from how bigger AI developers handle training, which usually takes place in stages: pre-training the model on broad swathes of the internet before mid-training and post-training on more curated data in fields like coding, medicine and math.

After developing the model—which Tworek aims to need 100 times less data than state-of-the-art models, the company will develop an AI agent to automate development of the company’s products. He envisions the company’s future product will first work on industrial automation, eventually building “self-replicating factories” and potentially building biomachines to automatically create custom designs—or even terraform planets, the materials said.

At OpenAI, Tworek was a vice president of research who led the company’s work with reinforcement learning, a popular model training technique that rewards a model for accomplishing certain goals and penalizes it for other behaviors. He also was a key contributor to the company’s reasoning models, coding tools and agents.