NEWS YOU CAN’T MISS

AI: The Next Massive Pop Star? 🎶

An AI startup that lets you create songs with a text prompt is now worth as much as some record labels.

Suno (the AI music generator behind the viral trend of typing “make me a rock song about my dog” and generating a full track) is reportedly in talks to raise over $100M at a valuation above $2B, according to Bloomberg.

That’s four times higher than its last round. And the company is already generating serious money: more than $100 million a year in recurring revenue.

There were obstacles: Suno and rival Udio were sued last year by Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, who accused them of training on copyrighted songs without permission. Suno’s CEO, Mikey Shulman, defended the company’s tech as “transformative,” saying it creates new music rather than copying existing works.

The labels are now exploring potential settlements that might include licensing deals and even equity stakes in the startups, signaling a shift from confrontation to collaboration.

If a deal is reached, it could pave the way for AI-generated songs to appear on major platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, with proper credit and royalties.

The stakes are high: Streaming giants like Spotify are rushing to flag AI-made tracks before their libraries overflow, while record labels must balance protecting artists’ rights with embracing a technology that could reshape music creation itself.

Wait, the AI Minister’s Having Babies?

Albania is taking its AI experiment to a whole new level. The country’s AI-generated cabinet member, Diella, is about to “give birth” to 83 digital agents, announced Prime Minister Edi Rama. 

Diella is an AI avatar that the government created to help manage public services, a sector long plagued by corruption. Now, her “83 children” will each become AI assistants assigned to members of parliament.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: “So for the first time Diella is pregnant and with 83 children. Each will serve as an assistant for those who will participate in parliamentary sessions, keep a record of everything that happens, and make suggestions to members of parliament.”

📺 Watch this 49s video of Diella’s first address as an AI minister last month.

Meet Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver Corporation

Celebrating this week’s Woman in Tech 🥳: Meet Choi Soo-yeon, the President and CEO of Naver Corporation, South Korea’s largest internet company valued at more than $26 billion.

Born in South Korea, Choi Soo-yeon earned a degree in Civil Engineering from Seoul National University, followed by law degrees from Yonsei University and Harvard Law School.

When she took the helm at Naver at just 40 years old, Choi Soo-yeon became the company’s second and youngest-ever female CEO - bringing a mix of global perspective, business strategy, and purpose-driven leadership to a company often called “Korea’s Google.”

She has driven Naver’s expansion into AI, robotics, cloud computing, and e-commerce, and oversaw the launch of HyperCLOVA X SEED, an open-source large language model advancing the company’s vision of “sovereign AI” (AI designed to align with each nation’s unique culture and language).

Under her leadership, Naver surpassed $7.5 billion in annual revenue for the first time in 2024 - a record for any Korean internet business. Fortune magazine named her #16 on the Most Powerful Women in Asia in 2024.

In 2025, Choi Soo-yeon was appointed to the United Nations Global Compact Board, the UN’s advisory body on responsible business. Her appointment made her the first Korean member in 17 years, and she now plays a key role in shaping international dialogue on ethical AI and innovation. 😎

AI Fear Factor

In a global survey, most people across 25 countries say they’re more worried than excited about AI’s growing role in everyday life. No country saw more people excited than concerned. In the US, Italy, Australia and Brazil, concern ran especially high. Only about half of adults across these nations trust their governments to regulate AI properly.

In the US, more than 900 public figures (including Prince Harry, Steve Bannon, will.i.am, Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, and Steve Wozniak) have signed a statement calling for a global ban on superintelligent AI. The declaration urges a halt until there’s scientific consensus it can be built safely, citing risks from job losses to human extinction.