Hard Numbers: Seeking employees with AI skills, Cursor’s cash, Kremlin lies infiltrate chabots, Singapore’s aging population, VC’s spending spree, OpenAI ❤️s CoreWeave

A piece of cardboard with a keyboard appearing through it

25: Nearly 25% of all US technology jobs posted so far this year have sought employees with artificial intelligence-related skills. That number was higher for IT jobs, of which 36% in January requested comprehension of AI. It seems white-collar employees will need some proficiency with AI tools in the years ahead.

10 billion: Anysphere, the startup behind the AI coding assistant Cursor, is in talks to raise money at a $10 billion valuation, according to a report in Bloomberg on Friday. Talks of a new funding round come only three months after it last raised capital in December 2024 — $100 million based on a $2.5 billion valuation. AI assistants like Cursor, Devin, and Windsurf have become popular ways for software developers to code in recent months

3.6 million: The misinformation monitoring company NewsGuard found 3.6 million articles from 2024 featuring Russian propaganda in the training sets of 10 leading AI chatbots, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and xAI’s Grok, plus Perplexity’s AI search engine. A Kremlin network called Pravda, it says, has deliberately tried to flood search results and web crawlers with “pro-Kremlin falsehoods,” many of which are about Ukraine.

25: By 2030, 25% of Singaporeans will be 65 or older. That’s up from just 10% in 2010, a massive demographic shift for the small but bustling Asian country. Singapore’s government and companies are deploying AI solutions, including in-home fall-detection systems and patient-monitoring systems in hospitals. Without some technological assistance, the country will need to hire an additional 6,000 nurses and elder care workers annually to meet its aging population’s needs.

30 billion: Investment firms have poured $30 billion into US startups this quarter, according to new data from Pitchbook data reported by the Financial Times on Sunday. Another $50 billion is reportedly on the way with Anduril, OpenAI, and other companies raising money. This could be the biggest year for US venture capital since 2021 when it spent $358 billion.

12 billion: OpenAI has signed a five-year $12 billion contract with the cloud computing startup CoreWeave. The ChatGPT maker will take a $350 million equity stake in CoreWeave, which specializes in cloud-based processors for AI companies, ahead of its planned IPO, which is expected in the coming weeks.

More from GZERO Media

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office on April 7, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt
REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt

On Monday, President Donald Trump said that the US has been engaged in “direct” talks with Iran over its nuclear program and said that a meeting with “very high-level” officials is set for this Saturday. That would be a sharp break from previous US-Iran talks, which have occurred mostly through intermediaries.

An infographic of the changes to the US voting system under Trump's executive order
Paige Fusco

Officials from the Democratic Party in 19 states have filed a lawsuit challenging Donald Trump’s efforts to alter the national voting process via an executive order entitled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” which they argue infringes upon states’ constitutional rights to manage their elections.

People protest Ljubljana's Mayor Zoran Jankovic's support of Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic near the Serbian embassy in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on March 5, 2025.
REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic

After months of historic protests, Serbia’s embattled president, Aleksandar Vučić, is now up against something particularly formidable: the clock.

A general view outside Exchange Square in Hong Kong's financial district. Asian stock markets have plummeted amid growing fears of a global trade war, as Donald Trump described his tariffs as ''medicine'' and showed no indication of backing down.
ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect

In the latest twist of the United States’ trade war with China and the world, US President Donald Trump declared Monday that he would impose an additional 50% levy on Chinese imports on April 9 if Beijing refuses to drop its retaliatory tariff.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani attends a press briefing in Tehran, Iran, January 8, 2025.
Iraqi Prime Minister Media Office/Handout via REUTERS

In response to warnings from US officials of looming air attacks by US forces, the leaders of four of the largest Iran-backed militia groups operating in Iraq told Reuters on Monday that they were prepared to surrender their weapons to Iraqi government authorities.