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1.	OpenAI Hires Ad Sales Exec from Meta By Catherine Perloff Source: The Wall Street Journal

OpenAI is hiring former Meta Platforms ad executive Dave Dugan as vice president in charge of global ad solutions, Dugan announced Monday on LinkedIn.

Dugan had spent more than a decade as an ad sales executive at Meta. Dugan's hiring comes as OpenAI is trying to scale its ads business, which the company said would contribute to $17 billion in consumer revenue this year. OpenAI launched ads in ChatGPT at the beginning of February, and so far, advertisers have had a tough time proving those ads worked, partly because the ads weren't showing to enough ChatGPT users, The Information reported over the weekend. OpenAI plans to show ads to all US users on its lowest-paid tiers in the coming weeks.

On the technical side of advertising, OpenAI last year hired Vijaye Raji as CTO of applications and has been leading the ads effort. Raji reports directly to Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of applications. Dugan will report to OpenAI chief operating officer Brad Lightcap, The Wall Street Journal reported this morning. Lightcap reports to Simo.

2.	Meta Hires AI Startup Dreamer's Team By Jyoti Mann Source: The Information

Meta Platforms has hired the founders and team behind artificial intelligence agent startup Dreamer. Dreamer co-founders Hugo Barra, David Singleton, and Nicholas Jitkoff will join Meta's Superintelligence Labs group, Singleton announced in a post on X. As part of the move, Dreamer will license its technology to Meta, Singleton wrote.

The startup, which launched in beta just a month ago, enables users to build custom AI agents capable of automating tasks. Singleton said thousands of users have already adopted Dreamer to manage emails and calendars, as well as to learn new skills.

Two of Dreamer's co-founders previously worked at Meta. Barra previously served as vice president of virtual reality, while Jitkoff was a senior design director in the company's VR division before later joining Google. Singleton is the former chief technology officer of Stripe.

3.	Senators Propose Bill to Ban Sports Bets on Prediction Markets By Yueqi Yang Source: The Information

U.S. senators are introducing bipartisan legislation to ban prediction markets from offering sports-related contracts, the first bill seeking to regulate fast-growing platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket US.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California and Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah are co-sponsoring the bill, which also seeks to ban casino-style games on prediction markets. Shares of sports gambling sites DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of FanDuel, jumped 2.4% and 5%, respectively, on the news.

Sports-related contracts represent more than half of the volume on Kalshi, and Polymarket's new U.S. platform currently only offers sports contracts. "Banning sports on regulated prediction markets would just push this behavior offshore, where no regulation exists," Kalshi spokeswoman Elisabeth Diana said in a statement. "It's clear this bill is motivated by casino interests that are threatened by competition." Polymarket didn't immediately respond to inquiry on the bill.

The bill adds to the regulatory uncertainty faced by prediction markets. States, which regulate and tax sports betting, have fought the prediction markets' sports contracts. Last week, Arizona filed criminal charges against Kalshi for operating an illegal gambling business. Kalshi said the charges are meritless and will fight them in court. In Nevada, Kalshi has temporarily halted contracts related to sports, entertainment and elections due to a court order.

4.	OnlyFans Owner Dies of Cancer Amid Sale Talks By Anita Ramaswamy Source: The Information

Leonid Radvinsky, who bought a majority stake in OnlyFans in 2018, died of cancer Monday. The 43-year old billionaire owned Fenix International, the London-based parent company of OnlyFans, a subscription site best known for hosting sexually explicit creators and content.

Before his death, he was in talks to sell a 60% stake to investors that would value the business at around $5.5 billion, Bloomberg reported. Investment firm Architect Capital had expressed interest in leading an offer with equity and some $2 billion in debt, the report said. Radvinsky served as one of its two directors, according to the company's most recent filing with U.K. regulators last August.

OnlyFans made $666 billion in operating profits on $1.4 billion in revenue in 2024, primarily by assessing a 20% fee on transactions that took place on its platform, filings show. Radvinsky, who paid himself nearly $2 billion in dividends from OnlyFans since 2021, moved his ownership to a trust in 2024, according to Bloomberg.

5.	OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to Leave Board of Fusion Startup Helion Energy By Sri Muppidi Source: The Information

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Monday he would leave the board of fusion startup Helion Energy, a company he has backed since 2015. OpenAI is in talks to buy electricity from Helion Energy, according to Axios.

"As Helion and OpenAI start to explore working together at significant scale, it is difficult for me to be on both boards," Altman said in an X post. He noted he will continue to have a financial interest in the startup so will "still be recused from negotiations."

Helion aims to generate power based on nuclear fusion, or releasing energy by mashing atom nuclei together rather than splitting atoms apart, as traditional nuclear reactors do. OpenAI is in talks to obtain an initial 12.5% guaranteed share of Helion's production, with the aim of accessing roughly the same as five gigawatts by 2030, reported Axios.

Fusion energy could play a key role in providing AI startups like OpenAI with the necessary power to support its nearly one billion users. Microsoft has signed a power purchase agreement with Helion to receive electricity from a fusion plant starting in 2028.

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