- 1. Judge denies Anthropic’s $1.5 billion AI copyright settlement
- 2. OpenAI to begin mass production of custom AI chips with Broadcom
- 3. Cognition sees valuation more than double
- 4. NVIDIA releases new GPU for more demanding use cases
- 5. AI and agentic work propels Ramp to $1B in annualized revenue
- 6. OpenAI helping make AI-generated animated film
- Recommended reading
The CFO AI Digest: September 10
This week, a judge denies Anthropic’s proposed landmark settlement, OpenAI expands into both film production and semiconductor design, and Ramp crosses $1B in annualized revenue.
Here’s the latest:
1. Judge denies Anthropic’s $1.5 billion AI copyright settlement
A federal judge has denied preliminary approval of Anthropic’s proposed $1.5 billion settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by the Authors Guild and several writers over its use of copyrighted books to train Claude. The deal would have compensated authors whose work was used without permission, via pirated sources, at roughly $3,000 per book. NPR reports that this is the first court settlement of its kind in the generative AI space.
CFO takeaway: It follows a ruling we covered in a previous Digest that training on copyrighted books is allowed under fair use, if the data is obtained legally. The settlement covers remaining claims tied to pirated content and could push AI companies toward licensed datasets and more transparent data sourcing terms in customer contracts. That’s something for finance heads to watch as they work with more AI vendors.
2. OpenAI to begin mass production of custom AI chips with Broadcom
OpenAI is partnering with Broadcom to co-design and begin shipping custom AI chips in 2026 for internal use, according to the Financial Times. The move is aimed at reducing reliance on NVIDIA and meeting ever-rising demand for compute, driven by usage of GPT-5.
CFO takeaway: OpenAI is securing the compute it needs to scale GPT-5 and beyond. Chip supply is becoming a critical strategic business decision as more companies lock in long-term access to infrastructure and try to establish themselves as the provider of choice. Think: Anthropic with AWS and Google, xAI with Oracle, and Cohere and Mistral with multi-year GPU deals with various cloud providers.
3. Cognition sees valuation more than double
Cognition has raised over $400 million at a $10.2B post-money valuation in a round led by Founders Fund. The company launched AI software engineer Devin in 2024, and acquired coding startup Windsurf in July. Before acquiring Windsurf, Cognition’s Devin ARR grew from $1M in September 2024 to $73M in June 2025. Combined enterprise ARR at Cognition is up over 30% in the seven weeks post buying Windsurf.
CFO takeaway: The acquisition of Windsurf was a key growth catalyst, more than doubling ARR within months and offering a coding suite that met enterprise demand for both automation and control. This shows that AI tools for engineers are delivering results, and that acquiring complementary tech can accelerate platform leadership and justify premium valuations.
4. NVIDIA releases new GPU for more demanding use cases
NVIDIA has unveiled Rubin CPX, a graphics processing unit (GPU) built to run AI models that handle long-context tasks that require more compute power like analyzing entire codebases or generating high-quality video. NVIDIA noted that Rubin CPX enables the highest performance and token revenue (revenue earned from generating or processing large volumes of AI tokens) for long-context processing. Cursor, Runway, and Magic are among the first companies planning to use Rubin CPX for applications in code generation, cinematic content production, and software engineering automation. The hardware is expected to ship in late 2026.
CFO takeaway: Rubin CPX continues NVIDIA’s push into high-performance AI chips. Its release also highlights a trend: models are moving into new use cases, ranging from high-quality voice automation to large-scale software project optimization, that may open up new applications for finance teams. While Microsoft’s VibeVoice showed us that some long-form AI can run on edge devices, Rubin CPX indicates that more complex workloads still depend on advanced data center infrastructure.
5. AI and agentic work propels Ramp to $1B in annualized revenue
Ramp announced that last month, it crossed $1 billion in annualized revenue. More than 45,000 businesses use the financial operations platform, with growing adoption across expense management, bill pay, procurement, and travel. In July, the company reached a $22.5 billion valuation shortly after releasing its first AI policy agents.
CFO takeaway: A growing pool of AI tools is helping finance teams be more efficient, and they’re catching on quickly with businesses of all sizes. As software takes on more back-office workflows, the shift toward automation platforms is finally starting to deliver on the promise of freeing up finance for more value-adding work.
6. OpenAI helping make AI-generated animated film
The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI is providing its tools and computing power to support Critterz, an animated feature film made largely with AI, expected to release in theaters in 2026. The film’s budget and timeline are well below industry norms, with cost expected to be less than $30 million and production completed in approximately nine months.
CFO takeaway: Unlike AI tools used behind the scenes, this project puts generative AI on full display and could drive public perception of this technology among a wider audience. The cost and speed advantages are clear, but they also raise important questions around creative roles, intellectual property, and audience expectations.
See you next week.
Recommended reading
- Using AI to perceive the universe in greater depth (Google DeepMind)
- Why Language Models Hallucinate (OpenAI)
