AI Daily: Meta working to win AI race with money

Catch up on the top artificial intelligence news and commentary by Wall Street analysts on publicly traded companies in the space with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

AI RACE: Meta (META) has reportedly poached as many as 10 of OpenAI’s top researchers and model developers, with some of its pay packages totaling up to $300M over four years, Hayden Field of The Verge reports. However, money can’t buy everyone, and Anthropic and DeepMind have reported fewer defections to Meta than Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI due to employees’ belief in the companies. Additionally, in a sector where almost any company will offer job security and a good salary, experienced AI engineers and researchers want to work somewhere that aligns with their values, leading to some turning down Meta’s advances. But, especially at OpenAI, Meta has found the dollar value of company loyalty and has exceeded it. “For the people that were that mission-driven, there’s already been so much organizational turbulence…that people are less anchored to the institution itself, so it’s easier to poach,” one source familiar with the situation told The Verge.

RAPID GROWTH: Argus initiated coverage of CoreWeave (CRWV) with a Buy rating and $200 price target. The firm says the company has grown “more rapidly than expected and is on path to continue its rapid growth.” CoreWeave is building on its position as a leading provider of artificial intelligence infrastructure at a time of accelerating demand from hyperscalers and large enterprises, Argus tells investors in a research note. The firm believes the company’s growth is keeping pace with its share price expansion.

MASS PRODUCTION: Pony AI (PONY) announced that its seventh-generation Robotaxi recently entered mass production for multiple models and began road testing. This milestone brings Pony.ai significantly closer to its goal of expanding its fleet to 1,000 vehicles by the end of 2025, laying a strong foundation for future large-scale commercial deployment. After unveiling its Gen-7 autonomous driving system at the Shanghai Auto Show in April, Pony.ai commenced mass production of the Guangzhou Automobile Group and Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation Gen-7 Robotaxi models in June and July, respectively. Shortly after mass production, Pony.ai also began road testing in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Marking 2025 as its “year of mass production,” the company is on track to build a fleet of more than 1,000 vehicles by year-end.

ACCELERATION AHEAD: Morgan Stanley raised the firm’s price target on Amazon.com (AMZN) to $300 from $250 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The macro backdrop has significantly improved since mid-April when the firm last reduced its price target amid Anthropic, Azure’s Gen-AI and non Gen-AI strength, with CIO survey also offering more conviction in AWS acceleration ahead, the firm tells investors in a research note. Amazon’s AWS is tactically expected to gain further share over Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Oracle (ORCL), Morgan Stanley states.