In 2024, the venture capital landscape was heavily influenced by artificial intelligence (AI), with generative AI startups raising a record $56 billion across 885 deals, marking a 192% increase from 2023. Funding for AI foundation models also surged, growing over 100% to reach $40.2 billion. Notably, a quarter of all venture capital was allocated to AI investments. Stuart J. Russell highlighted the potential implications of achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), describing it as possibly the biggest event in human history and raising concerns about the consequences of a more intelligent species. Despite the influx of funding, challenges remain, including limitations in training data and the uncertain results from scaling larger models. The global AI market size was estimated at $640 billion in 2024, indicating a growing but still comparatively small sector relative to its potential.