The biggest AI companies you need to know

AI continues to be the hottest trend in technology and doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), META (META) and Amazon (AMZN) continue to debut new AI-powered software features, with leaders from other AI companies splitting and forming their own startups.

However, the fierce pace of change makes it difficult to track different players in the AI ​​space. With that in mind, we're breaking down what you need to know about the biggest names of AI and what they do.

From Openai (Opai.pvt) to confusion (Peai.pvt), these are the AI ​​companies you should follow.

Microsoft-Backed Openai helped put the generated AI technology on the map. Released in late 2022, the company's ChatGpt Bot quickly became one of the most downloaded apps in the world. Since then, the company has launched a file uploader that allows its own search engine, 4O image generators, video generators, and bots to summarise the content of their documents, and allows them to request access to specialized first and third-party GPT bots.

Microsoft uses various large language models (LLMs) of OpenAI in co-pilots and other services. Apple (AAPL) also provides access to ChatGpt as part of Apple Intelligence and Visual Intelligence Services.

But there's the drama behind the scenes. Openai is working to restructure its business into public benefits companies that are overseen by nonprofits. This will allow you to raise more capital. To do this, you will need to sign off with Microsoft, but two aspects are in Loggerheads, which covers the details of the plan and what it means for each company.

In the meantime, both Openai and Microsoft are reportedly working on products that compete with each other's existing products. Microsoft offers its own AI model, and Openai is developing productivity services according to information.

Still, pairing is advantageous for both tech companies. During its latest quarterly revenue call, Microsoft said AI revenue exceeded expectations and contributed a 16% growth point for its Azure Cloud Business. Meanwhile, Openai was seen at $10 billion in balloons with annual revenue occupancy rates as of June, according to Reuters. This is up from $5.5 billion in December 2024.

Openai offers a limited free version of the ChatGPT bot, ChatGpt Plus, which costs $20 per month, and an enterprise version of the app.

Google's Gemini uses AI models from its Gemini 2.5 family to provide search capabilities. You can use Gemini Flash for quick searches or choose Gemini Pro. This is intended for deep research and coding.

Gemini doesn't just power Google's Gemini app. This spreads throughout the Rittany of Google's service. If you check your emails or prepare a document outline, you will find Gemini. Get AI Summary Results when using standard Google Search? That's Gemini too. Google Maps? Gemini also uses that. Chrome, YouTube, Google Flights, Google Hotels – I use Gemini by name.

But Google's Gemini, formerly known as Bard, has gotten off to a rough start. When Google debuted its Gemini-powered AI overview in May 2024, it began offering wild statements that encourage users to place glue on pizza to make cheese sticks.

However, at the I/O Developer Conference in May, Google unveiled many impressive new developments from Gemini, including the updated video generation software Veo 3 and Gemini running on prototype smart glasses.

A limited version of Gemini is available for free. The paid tier, which costs $19.99 per month, will allow access to advanced AI models and integration with Google's productivity suite. With a $249 subscription, you can use Google's most advanced Gemini models and 30TB of storage via Google Drive, Photos and Gmail.

Mark Zuckerberg's meta has experienced many transformations over the years, from desktop to mobile to short form video, wise detours and metaverse. Now, the company is leaning heavily towards AI with the goal of dominating space, so it doesn't have to resort to rival technologies like Apple and Google, like during the smartphone war.

Meta has a huge amount of $70 billion in cash and marketable securities, and it helps to train your model by deploying instant notifications and data from billions of users.

Unlike most competitors, Meta offers the Llama family of AI models as Open-Weights software. This means that companies and researchers have no access to the original training data, but can adjust the model appropriately. More and more people are developing apps and tools using Llama, meaning that the meta can effectively see how software evolves without any additional work.

However, according to the Wall Street Journal, the company's large LLM, Llama 4 Behemoth, is a few months behind. To advance a seemingly similar delay, Meta is scooping up the talent of AI on both sides. The company invested $14.3 billion in scale AI and hired CEO Alexandr Wang. Meta also grabbed Safe Director CEO Daniel Gross and former Github CEO Nat Friedman.

Like Google, Meta's AI runs smart glasses across a variety of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and more.

Founded in 2021 by brothers and former Openi researchers Dario and Daniela Amodei, humanity (anth.pvt), is an AI company focused on safety and trust. The duo split from Openai about differences in opinion related to AI safety and the general direction of the company.

Like Openai, humanity has accumulated several deep supporters, including Amazon and Google, and has already poured billions into the company.

The company's Claude model can be used in a variety of cloud services. Its human chat interface offers many functions, including web search, coding, document creation and drafting. Humanity can also build what users call Artifacts. This is documents, games, lists, and other bite-sized content that can be shared online.

In June, a federal judge sided with humanity when the company was accused of breaking copyright laws by training models on copyrighted books. However, it is said that humanity has downloaded pirated versions of several books and is now facing trials over the charges.

Elon Musk's Xai, another X Corp company that owns X (formerly Twitter), offers its own Grok Chatbot and Grok AI models. Users can access Grok via their website, apps and X. Like other AI services, users can search for information over the web, generate text and images, and write code. The company trains Glocks on Colossus supercomputers. Zai said it would eventually include 1 million GPUs.

Musk said Glock was meant to be edgy talent, but like other chatbots, he has been caught spreading misinformation.

Musk previously co-founded Openai with Sam Altman, but left the company after disagreement over its future and leadership position. In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit against Openai and Sam Altman over the AI ​​company's efforts to rebuild itself as a for-profit organization.

According to Musk, Openai is working to abandon its original mission statement and build AI to benefit humanity, and instead enrich itself and Microsoft.

Perplexity takes a real-time web search approach to AI chatbots and acts as a real threat such as Google and its own search engine.

Leading by CEO Aravind Srinivas, who previously worked as a research scientist at Openai, Perplexity offers users the opportunity to choose from a number of different AI models, including Openai's GPT-4.1, Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro, Xai's Grok 3, and company Sonoar.

Perplexity provides users with discovery pages for topics such as finance, sports, and other, with stories curated by both the Prperxity team and external contractors.

Like other AI companies, the confusion has been criticized by media organizations who are allegedly using content without permission. Dow Jones is suing the company over training.

Email Daniel Howley to dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @DanielHowley.

Click here for the latest technology news that will affect the stock market

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance