Like peacocks strutting their stuff in hopes of finding a mate, the tech giants are all eager to show that their chatbot is the one with real momentum.

Why it matters: Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI have invested huge amounts of talent and money to build their models and add new features, and are eager to demonstrate that those investments are paying off.

Driving the news: A number of the leading players have shared fresh stats in the past 24 hours.

• OpenAI said yesterday that it now has 200 million weekly active users, twice the number it had last November.
• Meta said yesterday that usage of its open-source Llama model from the major cloud service providers has doubled between May and July. Mark Zuckerberg posted on Threads late Thursday that Meta AI has more than 400 million monthly active users and 185 million people who use it weekly, adding that the company has yet to launch its service in Brazil or Europe.
• Microsoft highlighted in its July earnings report that Copilot adoption has surged, with more than a 60% increase in business customers. On the consumer side, Microsoft said usage of Copilot is up more than 150% since the start of the calendar year. The company is expected to talk more about Copilot at an event on Sept. 16.

The big picture: Generative AI is still in its early days. The big task for the entire industry is to show that the products have real value, whether that's taking market share from the lucrative search industry or saving companies money through increased productivity.

• In the short term, though, everyone is eager to show they are in the lead.
• TV commercials for generative AI are now common, with Meta, Google and Microsoft all running spots (with varying success).

Between the lines: The war of words is also spilling over into the battle to sign up business customers.

• On its earnings call on Wednesday, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff took pains to distinguish Salesforce's new Agentforce AI sales assistant from Microsoft's Copilot offerings.
• "This is not Copilots," Benioff said. "So many customers are so disappointed in what they bought from Microsoft Copilots because they're not getting the accuracy and the response that they want. Microsoft has disappointed so many customers with AI."
• Microsoft quickly fired back in a comment to CNBC. "We are hearing something quite different from our Copilot for Microsoft 365 customers," corporate VP Jared Spataro said. "When I talk to CIOs directly and if you look at recent third-party data, organizations are betting on Microsoft for their AI transformation."

The bottom line: It's getting a bit feisty out there as all the big tech companies try to show they have the upper hand.

The world's three largest companies by market cap are all in talks to join the same OpenAI funding round that would value the ChatGPT maker at more than $100 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Catch up quick: The WSJ reported Wednesday that OpenAI was in talks to raise new funding, led by a $1 billion investment from existing backer Thrive Capital, with Microsoft also returning.

Why it matters: Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft — which heavily backs OpenAI already — all fear missing out on the potential upside of a business that CEO Sam Altman may one day take public.

Zoom in: Apple has ties to OpenAI — it is the first official partner for its coming Apple Intelligence system, which will bring AI features to its iPhone and other products, both Bloomberg and the WSJ noted.

California is inching closer to a landmark AI law that could dictate how other states move forward.

The big picture: SB 1047, a California bill regulating artificial intelligence, has passed both the state Assembly and Senate, and now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk to either be signed or vetoed.

• The state Senate on Thursday passed the legislation in a 29-9 vote.

Context: Debate over this bill has been raging, with many tech groups and companies opposed to its provisions. But there are some notable backers, including Elon Musk.

• As Axios previously reported, tech groups are pushing for federal legislation instead.
• Others argue the bill is a good move for AI safety, with workable provisions that will be helpful while Congress drags its feet.

What's next: Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the bill. He has not indicated if he supports it.

If you need smart, quick intel on federal tech policy for your job, get Axios Pro.

• A number of major publishers are blocking an Apple Web crawler from scraping their sites to train AI systems. (Wired)
• Google is adding its search and YouTube AI election misinformation policies to most of its suite of AI products. (Axios)
• Oprah is interviewing Sam Altman, Bill Gates, FBI chief Christopher Wray, tech reviewer Marques Brownlee and others for a special on the impact of AI that will air on Sept. 12 on ABC. (The Wrap)
• Chipmaker Intel asks the banks for help recovering from an historic slump. (Axios)
• Paid Gemini users on Android can now chat about their email with Google's AI assistant. (TechCrunch)
• AnandTech, the hardware enthusiast site that began in 1997, will stop publishing today. Editor-in-chief Ryan Smith says the 27-year-old site and all of its articles will stay online "indefinitely." (AndandTech)

Taekwondo fighter Zakia Khudadadi on Thursday became the first medalist for the Refugee Paralympic Team. She learned Taekwondo in secret at age 11 in Afghanistan, was blocked from competing and eventually fled the country, per The Guardian.