Akamai vs Cloudinary

a16z Leads Series A in Private Network Startup doxxnet

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced it is leading a Series A investment in doxxnet, a startup building a private, parallel internet infrastructure for individuals and AI agents. doxxnet offers a software-defined global network with non-Internet domains, encrypted peer-to-peer communication, and DNS-level threat protection, all without requiring personal information like email or phone. The company is founded by Barrett Lyon, known for Prolexic (acquired by Akamai), BitGravity, and Defense.net. The funding will support the development of its 'Agentic Defined Networking' concept, which allows users and their agents to configure and control the network. The announcement highlights growing privacy needs driven by AI agents that operate with access to user data.

• a16z is leading a Series A investment in doxxnet.
• doxxnet provides a private, parallel internet infrastructure for users and AI agents.
• doxxnet was founded by Barrett Lyon, who previously founded Prolexic, BitGravity, and Defense.net.

Akamai Announces $11.6 Billion Multi-year Agreement with Anthropic to Support Growing Demand

Akamai today announced a significantly expanded relationship with Anthropic for $11.6 billion of contractual commitment over seven years.

AI companies adopt risky 'take-or-pay' contracts for compute

The AI industry is increasingly relying on take-or-pay contracts to secure computing power, a model borrowed from the energy sector. These agreements require AI companies to pay for GPUs, server time, and other inputs regardless of usage, creating significant financial risks. The payments are backed by expected future revenue, but there are concerns about whether AI revenues will materialize in time to meet payment schedules. Off-balance-sheet commitments are growing, with estimates ranging from $1.65 trillion to $3 trillion. Major players like Anthropic and OpenAI have committed billions, while companies like CoreWeave and Alphabet rely heavily on such contracts. Financial analysts and regulators warn that the entire system could collapse if companies fail to secure enough capital. The Bank of International Settlements has highlighted potential systemic risks, particularly through special purpose vehicles. The article notes that major banks and investors are closely monitoring this trend, with experts predicting a 'wave of disputes' as the sector matures.

• Take-or-pay contracts obligate AI companies to pay for compute regardless of usage, similar to energy sector agreements.
• Anthropic committed $750 billion for compute through 2030; OpenAI could spend over $500 billion in the next 10 years.
• Off-balance-sheet commitments in tech sector estimated at $1.65 trillion to $3 trillion.

Cloudinary 2026 Retail Survey Results: Retailers' Top Priorities

Cloudinary's blog now features a new lead article titled 'We Asked Retailers Their Top Priority in 2026. They Gave Us 13.' This article discusses the results of a retail survey, highlighting that retailers have 13 top priorities for 2026, including video, authenticity, personalization, and seamless experiences. The article is dated September 2026.

Why AI-Powered Moderation Is a Must for Video Libraries

Cloudinary's blog features a new article on AI-powered moderation for video libraries, highlighting the need for automated review of hate speech, violence, and explicit content at scale.

Cloudinary Launches Agent Experience for Agent-Native Development

Cloudinary announced the launch of its Agent Experience layer, positioning the company as the first visual media platform built for agent-native development. The new layer enables AI agents to autonomously provision a scoped "Claimable Cloud" on Cloudinary’s production infrastructure and execute end-to-end visual media workflows without human configuration, account creation, or payment setup. Cloudinary says the platform provides structured media objects (metadata, governance, permissions), supports in-platform Image Generation and Image-to-Video capabilities, and offers MCP support, agent-native tooling, LLM-readable documentation, Skills packages, AI-optimized SDKs, and deterministic APIs available to customers. Tal Lev-Ami, Co‑founder and CTO of Cloudinary, is quoted describing the developer/agent workflow benefits.

• Cloudinary announced the launch of its Agent Experience layer, described as the first visual media platform purpose-built for agent-native development.
• The Agent Experience layer enables AI agents to self-provision a scoped "Claimable Cloud" on Cloudinary’s production infrastructure without requiring human configuration, account creation, or payment method.
• Cloudinary integrates Image Generation and Image-to-Video capabilities so AI-generated media can be created, classified, tagged, and stored directly within the platform.