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1.	Amazon Makes $50 Billion Bet to Land Government Cloud AI Deals By Kevin McLaughlin Source: The Information

Amazon said it plans to spend up to $50 billion to build new AI data centers for its U.S. government cloud customers that will include almost 1.3 gigawatts of new computing capacity.

The data center projects, which are slated to begin next year, show how Amazon Web Services is doubling down on its longstanding relationships with federal agencies. After more than a decade of helping government customers move their computing from private data centers to the cloud, AWS is now aiming to play that same role for them in AI.

The $50 billion figure is also the largest investment any major cloud provider has announced specifically for government cloud AI, raising the possibility that Microsoft and Google will make similar announcements of their own in the coming months.

The federal government was one of the first battlegrounds where AWS showed it could win in head-to-head competition with enterprise software incumbents. One of AWS’ biggest wins came in 2013 when it beat out IBM for a ten-year, $600 million deal to provide cloud services for the Central Intelligence Agency.

2.	OpenAI Launches New Shopping Research Feature By Ann Gehan Source: The Information

OpenAI launched a new “shopping research” feature Monday, as part of its broader strategy of  making ChatGPT into a destination for online shopping. The feature, which is available for free to users who’ve signed up for a free or paid account, is powered by a new GPT-5 mini model that the company says is its best-performing model thus far for accurate product information.

People can select shopping research mode before they submit their initial query. As Shopping Research is browsing for potential recommendations, it collects user feedback on its preliminary recommendations and asks for more specific details about what shoppers are looking for along the way to help steer the model’s answers. OpenAI says that for simpler shopping questions like checking price or confirming details, a regular ChatGPT response is quicker and most useful. But more in-depth comparisons or tradeoffs between different products are better suited for Shopping Research, which spends a few minutes browsing before presenting users with a “buyer’s guide” listing pros and cons of top recommendations.

The feature isn’t yet connected to ChatGPT’s other e-commerce features like in-chat checkout, and OpenAI isn’t collecting any revenue from the feature. Shopping Research draws recommendations from product reviews and other sites it thinks are trustworthy, and cites its sources in responses to help explain why it made a particular choice, though executives cautioned the feature can still make mistakes.

3.	Alibaba’s Cloud Revenue Grows 34% on AI Demand By Juro Osawa Source: The Information

Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group said Tuesday that revenue from its cloud computing business grew 34% in the quarter through September, thanks to increasing adoption of artificial intelligence in the country.

Alibaba’s latest results indicate how Alibaba Cloud, China’s largest cloud service provider, continues to benefit from the growing usage of AI models and applications. Alibaba Cloud provides customers with access to computing infrastructure as well as foundation models and other AI-related services.

Alibaba’s revenue from its Cloud Intelligence Group rose to 39.8 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) in the quarter, from 29.6 billion yuan a year earlier. The company’s e-commerce business in China, its largest source of revenue, grew 16%.

Alibaba’s overall revenue in the quarter rose 5% to 247.8 billion yuan. The smaller rate of growth in overall revenue is due to Alibaba’s sale of brick-and-mortar businesses Sun Art and Intime, which are no longer included in its revenue.

4.	Grindr Take-Private Bid Falls Apart By Cory Weinberg Source: The Information

Grindr, the gay dating and hookup app, said the bid by its two largest shareholders was off the table, due to “continued uncertainty as to the financing for the proposal.”

A special committee to its board of directors had been considering an $18 a share bid to take the company private by Raymond Zage and James Lu, who together own more than 60% of the company. “To date, the Special Committee has been unable to obtain satisfactory information about definitive financing,” the company said in a statement.

Grindr’s stock price fell by about 10% today to about $12.50 a share. The Information reported earlier this month that board members had clashed over financial and governance questions extending back to 2024.

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