Wer KI baut, finanziert und prägt.
Labs, Modelle, Software und Investoren hinter der heutigen KI, die Menschen an ihrer Spitze und die Essays, die das Feld erklären. Nach Kanälen geordnet, jeweils mit Link zur Quelle. Einträge auf Englisch.
Personen
16 BlöckeForschende, Gründer und Führungskräfte, deren Entscheidungen das Feld prägen: Labs, Chips, Daten und die Debatte über die Richtung.
- Sam AltmanCEO of OpenAI. Product cadence, distribution, and capital narrative for the lab that still sets consumer AI defaults.openai.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Elon MuskControls the SpaceXAI / X / Grok stack. Real-time distribution plus training cluster ambition in one operator.x.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Mira MuratiFormer OpenAI CTO; CEO of Thinking Machines Lab. Customization and steerable systems over pure scale theater.thinkingmachines.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Andrej KarpathyEx-Tesla AI / OpenAI. Eureka Labs and public teaching that still train how builders actually learn deep learning.karpathy.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Ilya SutskeverOpenAI co-founder; now SSI. Singular bet on safe superintelligence, research taste with maximal stakes.ssi.inc(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Dario AmodeiCEO of Anthropic. Safety-first lab framing, Claude product line, and a clear alternative power center to OpenAI.anthropic.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Demis HassabisCEO of Google DeepMind. Research spine behind Gemini and the long game on science-grade AI systems.deepmind.google(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Arthur MenschCo-founder and CEO of Mistral AI. European frontier ambition built around deployable open models and enterprise control.mistral.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Jensen HuangCEO of NVIDIA. Owns the scarce layer, accelerators, networking, and CUDA lock-in every frontier lab rents.nvidia.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Leopold AschenbrennerAuthor of Situational Awareness. Timeline, power, and capital framing that still structures serious AGI debate.situational-awareness.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Alexandr WangFounder of Scale AI. Data, eval, and labeling infrastructure that turned into strategic leverage across labs and defense.scale.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Aravind SrinivasCo-founder and CEO of Perplexity. Turned cited answers into a consumer search wedge and a direct distribution fight with Google.perplexity.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Liang WenfengFounder of DeepSeek. Quant-funded open weights that repriced assumptions about frontier cost curves.deepseek.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Zhilin YangFounder and CEO of Moonshot AI. Long-context research and the Kimi line turned a Chinese assistant into an open-frontier model stack.moonshot.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- David HolzFounder of Midjourney. Small team, strong aesthetic taste, image defaults set outside the big-lab PR cycle.midjourney.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Peter SteinbergerPSPDFKit founder turned agentic coding operator. Practical signal on what multi-agent dev workflows actually survive contact with shipping.steipete.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
Modelle
11 BlöckeDie wichtigsten Modellfamilien. Jede setzt anders auf Preis, Offenheit und Vertrieb.
- ChatGPTOpenAI’s consumer and work surface for the GPT line. Default interface habit for non-specialists, distribution as moat.chatgpt.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- ClaudeAnthropic’s model family. Strong long-context and coding posture; preferred stack for a lot of serious agent work.claude.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- GrokSpaceXAI’s model line, wired into X. Real-time retrieval bias and a different product culture than the SF lab consensus.x.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- GeminiGoogle DeepMind’s frontier family. Multimodal + Search/Workspace distribution, infrastructure few others can match.gemini.google.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- MistralMistral AI’s open and commercial model family behind le Chat. A European deployment option with strong enterprise and self-host posture.mistral.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- PerplexityAnswer engine with citations as the product. Search replacement wedge; model choice secondary to workflow lock-in.perplexity.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- LlamaMeta’s open-weight line. Sets the baseline for self-host, fine-tune, and “good enough offline” deployments.llama.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- DeepSeekOpen and API models that punch above spend. Reasoning and coding SKUs that force Western labs to justify price.deepseek.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- KimiMoonshot AI’s model family. K3 brings open weights, native multimodality, and 1M context to long-horizon coding and knowledge work.kimi.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- QwenAlibaba’s open-weight model family, spanning edge-sized releases to Qwen3.8 Max. Broad modality coverage and serious self-host economics.qwen.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- GLMZ.ai’s open-weight model line. GLM-5.3 pushes long-horizon coding and agent work, with cyber capability now part of the risk surface.z.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
Unternehmen
17 BlöckeLabs, Infrastruktur und die Plattformen, über die sie ausliefern. Wem welche Schicht gehört.
- OpenAIFrontier lab behind ChatGPT and the GPT API. Still the reference customer acquisition engine for generative AI.openai.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- AnthropicClaude lab. Enterprise and developer trust narrative; constitutional/safety brand as commercial differentiator.anthropic.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Safe Superintelligence Inc.Ilya Sutskever’s straight-shot lab with one goal: safe superintelligence. No product sprawl, research conviction at maximal stakes.ssi.inc(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- SpaceXAIFormerly xAI; now branded under the SpaceX orbit. Grok, large training clusters, and tight coupling to X distribution.x.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Google DeepMindGoogle’s consolidated research + product AI org. Gemini, infra, and the academic talent density of the old DeepMind core.deepmind.google(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Mistral AIParis frontier lab. Open-model credibility plus enterprise deployment control, Europe’s clearest independent counterweight.mistral.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- NVIDIAPicks and shovels with pricing power. GPUs, interconnect, software stack, the bottleneck every trainer queues on.nvidia.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- MetaOpen-weight counterweight via Llama. Social distribution plus a deliberate strategy to commoditize the model layer.ai.meta.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- MicrosoftOpenAI’s primary cloud and distribution partner. Copilot surface area across Office, Windows, and GitHub.microsoft.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Scale AIData engine and eval infrastructure for frontier training and government work. Bottleneck vendor, not a chat app.scale.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- DeepSeekHangzhou lab funded by quant profits. Open releases that compressed the perceived cost of competitive reasoning models.deepseek.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Moonshot AIBeijing lab behind Kimi. K3 puts open-weight, native multimodal, million-token agent work in the frontier conversation.moonshot.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Alibaba / QwenAlibaba’s model team and cloud distribution stack. Qwen spans small local releases to open Max-class weights at frontier scale.qwen.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Z.aiLab behind the GLM family. Open-weight coding and agent models that keep China’s frontier field broader than DeepSeek alone.z.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Thinking Machines LabMurati’s post-OpenAI lab. Heavy seed capital; thesis on controllable, customizable systems rather than one global chatbot.thinkingmachines.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- PerplexitySearch-native AI company. Monetizes answers and research workflow, not raw token dumps.perplexity.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Hugging FaceDefault hub for weights, datasets, and open ML plumbing. Where open models actually get distributed and debated.huggingface.co(öffnet in neuem Tab)
Software
7 BlöckeProdukte, die auf den Modellen aufbauen, darunter Tools, die wir selbst einsetzen.
- HiggsfieldAI-native creative suite for image and video. Creator-facing production loop, camera control and multi-model generation in one surface.higgsfield.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- CursorAI-first code editor. Became the default agentic IDE habit for a large slice of serious builders.cursor.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- NotebookLMGoogle’s source-grounded research notebook. Strong when the job is “reason only over these docs,” including audio overviews.notebooklm.google.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- MidjourneyImage generation with a distinct aesthetic lane. Proof a focused product can lead without hyperscaler theatrics.midjourney.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- ElevenLabsSpeech synthesis, cloning, and dubbing. Infrastructure for voice agents and media pipelines that need believable audio.elevenlabs.io(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- ApertusSwiss public LLM effort (ETH/EPFL orbit). Sovereignty and multilingual fit, relevant if you care about CH-local stack choices.swiss-ai.org(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- GrokipediaCommunity wiki for models, labs, and AI landscape notes. Fast orientation layer when the map keeps moving.grokipedia.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
Investoren
5 BlöckeInvestoren in der KI und die Thesen hinter ihren Finanzierungen.
- Y CombinatorBatch machine for early AI-native startups. Still the densest network effect at pre-seed/seed for technical founders.ycombinator.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- a16zLarge multi-stage firm with loud AI infra and apps thesis. Capital plus narrative, shapes what gets permission to exist.a16z.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Sequoia CapitalClassic multi-stage power. Deep history in defining platforms; still a reference check on serious AI rounds.sequoiacap.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Founders FundThiel-orbit firm. Concentrated bets, contrarian posture, comfortable with hard-tech and frontier ambition.foundersfund.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- Thrive CapitalGrowth investor with outsized OpenAI and internet-software exposure. Quiet compounder behind several defining rounds.thrivecap.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)
Insights
3 BlöckeEssays, die die Debatte bis heute prägen, als Hintergrund zu den News.
- Situational AwarenessAschenbrenner on AGI timelines, industrial policy, and power. Still the long memo serious people argue with.situational-awareness.ai(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- The Last QuestionAsimov, 1956. Entropy, computation, and the end state of asking machines for answers, useful myth for the current buildout.users.ece.cmu.edu(öffnet in neuem Tab)
- What 2026 Looks LikeKokotajlo’s scenario sketch of near-term AI. Reference point for how forecasting aged once the year arrived.lesswrong.com(öffnet in neuem Tab)