Mistral and Prometheus raise billions; Google sued over Gemini fraud
Two record AI funding rounds reshape European and US markets, while Google faces its first lawsuit over criminal abuse of its own AI tools.
By BINA Editorial
Google sues cybercrime network that turned Gemini into a fraud machine
Google has filed a civil lawsuit against "Outsider Enterprise," a China-based cybercrime ring accused of using the company's Gemini AI to generate more than 9,000 fake websites and over one million fraudulent URLs. The operation impersonated Google, YouTube, and the US Postal Service, defrauding hundreds of thousands of victims of millions of dollars. Google is coordinating with the FBI and major US carriers — AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon — to block the fraudulent messages. The case marks the first time Google has sued specifically over the abuse of its own AI systems, and it is being watched closely for what it establishes about platform liability for AI-enabled crime.
Mistral AI in talks to raise €3 billion at doubled valuation
French AI startup Mistral is negotiating a funding round of approximately €3 billion ($3.5 billion) at a valuation of around €20 billion — nearly double the €11.7 billion it carried just months ago. Founded in 2023 by former Google DeepMind and Meta researchers, Mistral has become Europe's leading open-weight model company and a flagship of EU digital sovereignty ambitions. Alongside the fundraise, the company is exploring proprietary chip development to lower operational costs and expanding its data-centre footprint inside Europe. Final terms have not been announced.
Jeff Bezos's Prometheus raises $12 billion to design physical products with AI
Prometheus, a stealth-mode AI startup co-led by Jeff Bezos and biologist Vik Bajaj, has closed a $12 billion Series B round at a $41 billion valuation. The company's goal is to build what it calls an "artificial general engineer" — an AI system capable of designing and manufacturing complex physical products such as jet engines and aerospace components, rather than generating text or images. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and BlackRock participated in the round. Prometheus employs around 150 people across offices in San Francisco, London, and Zurich.
OpenAI and Anthropic propose global mechanism to pause frontier AI
As both companies approach stock-market debuts, OpenAI and Anthropic have renewed their warnings about recursive self-improvement in AI — the prospect of AI systems designing successor models with minimal human involvement. Anthropic has proposed a multilateral coordination system that would allow signatories to temporarily suspend frontier AI development, provided no competitor gains a unilateral advantage. OpenAI has made a comparable proposal, echoing its 2023 call for an international AI authority. Some analysts have questioned whether the warnings reflect genuine safety concerns or serve as a strategic signal to prospective investors ahead of the companies' public listings.
SpaceX IPO sets the bar for the AI era's biggest market debuts
SpaceX began trading on Nasdaq on 12 June under the ticker SPCX, opening 11% above its $135 IPO price and closing the day up 25% at $168.70. The offering raised $75 billion and valued the company at $1.75 trillion — the largest IPO in recorded history. Anthropic and OpenAI, both in the IPO pipeline, are watching the debut closely: it tests whether public markets will assign stratospheric valuations to companies that are losing money in the near term but hold significant long-run strategic importance.