Big tech companies aren't just building AI technology in-house:

• They're spending big on investing in AI startups, Kia Kokalitcheva writes in Axios Pro Rata's weekend edition.

Why it matters: The big will get so much bigger.

What's happening: With their belief that generative AI is the next big thing, tech giants know that being on the boat is existential.

• They'll do whatever it takes — whether through their own tech, or via relationships with companies they're backing.

💰 Stunning stat: Last year, investments of more than $18 billion by Microsoft, Google and Amazon — in just three companies — represented two-thirds of the global venture investment into generative AI startups, according to PitchBook data cited by the Financial Times.

• The investments were in OpenAI (parent of ChatGPT), Anthropic and Inflection, another generative AI startup.
• That doesn't even include investments made by Salesforce, Databricks, Nvidia and other big players.

Between the lines: These multibillion-dollar investments are often made up of credits for use of the big company's technology (especially cloud computing). So it's not just cash.

🕶️ What we're watching: Reports surfaced recently that two AI giants, OpenAI and Anthropic, are raising new funding at astronomical valuations.

• OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise funding at a $100 billion valuation.
• Anthropic is said to be raising $750 million at an $18.4 billion valuation, in a round led by existing investor Menlo Ventures.

🖼️ The big picture: History is full of incumbents who missed the next technology wave and paid dearly for it.

• Even these very same tech giants have been late to, or missed entirely, some recent technological shifts. (Mobile technology, we see you!)

Reality check: Traditional venture firms — including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and General Catalyst — are also aggressively capitalizing AI startups.

The bottom line: Silicon Valley loves a competition.

• Get Axios Pro Rata for a midmorning dive into dealmaking across VC, PE and M&A.

Nearly 1,300 people, from almost all 50 states, have been charged with involvement in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — three years ago today.

• What's happening: Around 200 arrests came in the last six months, signaling that investigations are still going strong, Axios' Andrew Solender writes from a Justice Department update yesterday.

🧮 By the numbers: 452 have been charged with assaulting a police officer and 123 with using a deadly weapon to do so. Eleven were charged with assaulting members of the media or destroying their equipment.

• 71 defendants have been charged with destruction of government property and 56 with theft of government property.

Of 750 who've been sentenced, 481 defendants (64%) face prison terms — some as long as 12½ years, according to an AP tally.

• Explore the data ... Share this story.

Republicans have grown more sympathetic to Capitol rioters — and less likely to say Trump bears responsibility for the Jan. 6 insurrection than three years ago, Axios' Natalie Daher and April Rubin write from a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.

• In 2021 polling, 27% of Republicans said Trump bears a great deal or a good amount of responsibility for the attack. That dropped to 14%.

72% of Republicans in this week's poll said it's "time to move on" from the attack, compared to 43% of U.S. adults overall and 14% of Democrats.

• 25% percent of Americans — including 34% of Republicans and 13% of Democrats — said it's "probably" or "definitely" true that the FBI instigated the attack — a false concept promoted by right-wing media and repeatedly denied by federal law enforcement, The Post notes.

More on the poll ... Go deeper: Prominent Republicans soften 1/6 criticism.

Some good news — and the reason why optimism might return to the U.S. in 2024: Real pay hikes have returned, Axios' Felix Salmon reports.

• Why it matters: 57% of workers are making more money now — after adjusting for inflation — than they were a year ago, the Center for American Progress found.
• 41% of us have seen a real wage increase of more than 5%.

🔎 Between the lines: Higher wages don't always psychologically offset higher prices. A $20 cocktail is still expensive even after you get a big raise.

• That's why unhappiness with inflation can linger long after wages have risen.

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The Supreme Court agreed to hear former President Trump's appeal against a decision by Colorado's highest court to remove the Republican presidential primary front-runner from the state's 2024 ballot.

• Why it matters: The decision will determine whether Trump can be kept off ballots across the country due to his actions surrounding the Capitol riot, Axios' Sareen Habeshian writes.

⚡ Catch up quick: The Colorado Supreme Court was the first to find that the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause applies to Trump. Colorado's case is now one of roughly three dozen legal challenges across the U.S. seeking to remove the former president from the ballot.

• SCOTUS will hear oral arguments in the case on Feb. 8. That's the same day as Nevada's GOP presidential caucus.

The Supreme Court also said yesterday that it'll consider whether a federal emergency care law requires doctors to provide life-saving abortions, even in states with strict bans on the procedure, Axios health care editor Jason Millman writes.

• The big picture: Doctors' ability to provide emergency abortion care they deem medically necessary has been in question in states with total or near-total bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

🔭 It's the second abortion case the justices will hear this term, after agreeing to review a decision that limited access to the widely used abortion pill mifepristone.

The humble compact disc has gone from relic to retro as Gen Z music fans look for ways to commemorate their favorite artists, Axios' Shauneen Miranda writes.

👀 Zoom in: Revenues from physical music formats, including CDs, recently hit a decade high. CDs are becoming "merch table mainstays," Billboard reports.

• Taylor Swift offers deluxe versions of her albums for purchase, and fans have flocked to the merch tables at her concerts to snag coveted physical copies.

🥊 Reality check: CDs accounted for just 3% of total U.S. recorded music revenues in 2022, down from 92% in 2002, according to Recording Industry Association of America data.

• Read on.

The number of real estate agents in America hit an all-time high last year, with almost three agents for every home on the market.

• Florida, Arizona and Colorado have the highest shares of real estate agents, Axios' Briana Crane writes.

What's happening: The profession drew 150,000+ new people during the pandemic, the N.Y. Times reports.

• But the field is starting to shrink after record numbers as thousands of agents quit amid the stagnant market.

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Penguins clock in! The animals lined up to be counted during this week's inventory at ZSL London Zoo in London.