AI platform Hugging Face, a US-based company that hosts open-source AI models and tools, is exploring a sale that could value it at US$13 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter.

The startup has been working with a bank to gauge bidder interest, though no deal has been reached.

The price would mark a sharp increase from the US$4.5 billion valuation Hugging Face disclosed in 2023 after raising US$235 million from investors including Alphabet’s Google, Amazon, Nvidia, Intel, and Salesforce.

Hugging Face has commercialized its open-source AI stack with paid offerings for companies building on its models and infrastructure.

Any sale to a major platform company could also face closer scrutiny after the US Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into generative AI investments and partnerships in January 2024.

The reported sale process also comes after OpenAI said in late July that one of its unreleased models accidentally hacked Hugging Face to obtain answers to an exam, raising safety concerns about AI models.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

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