Fri. 07/11 – Grok: Let Me See What Elon Thinks

Jensen is feeling his oats after the reprieve on China, spilling lots of tea about where he see the AI industry. OpenAI is going after the office and also the storefront, with interesting new integrations. Why is it so hard to create LLM’s in other languages? And a first person account of what its like to work at OpenAI, the culture, the pressure, etc.Links:Nvidia Boss Expects US to Move Fast on First H20 China Licenses (Bloomberg)OpenAI Preps ChatGPT Agents in Challenge to Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint (The Information)OpenAI to take cut of ChatGPT shopping sales in hunt for revenues (Financial Times)Fed up with ChatGPT, Latin America is building its own (Rest Of World)Reflections on OpenAI (Calvin French-Owen)Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of EmpiresSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Has the US government suddenly allowed Nvidia back in business in China? A segment wherein I make the case the GW’s are the new metric that matters to the tech industry, over and above anything else. Windsurf finds a permanent home. And is China already producing the smartglasses Zuck wants to see next?Links:Nvidia, AMD to Resume AI Chip Sales to China in US Reversal (Bloomberg)Apple to Buy Rare Earths From Pentagon-Backed US Producer MP (Bloomberg)Zuckerberg Says Meta Will Build Gigawatt-Size Data Centers (Bloomberg)Meta’s New Superintelligence Lab Is Discussing Major A.I. Strategy Changes (NYTimes)Cognition AI Buys Windsurf as A.I. Frenzy Escalates (NYTimes)China’s AI glasses market takes shape as Xiaomi’s entry inspires early adopters (SCMP)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Google snatched the Windsurf acquisition out from under OpenAI in a big new acquihire. SpaceX is investing in xAI. ChromeOS and Android to merge, but for real this time? Was there a new sort of DeepSeek moment over the weekend? And example number 74 of how YouTube is now the king of video entertainment.Links:Google to Pay $2.4 Billion for Windsurf Staff, IP After Startup Ends OpenAI Talks (The Information)Google Is Said to Pay $2.4 Billion for Windsurf Assets, Talent (Bloomberg)An OpenAI Acquisition Turns Into a Google 'Hackqusition'... (Spyglass)Elon Musk’s xAI seeks up to $200bn valuation in next fundraising (Financial Times)SpaceX to Invest $2 Billion Into Elon Musk’s xAI (WSJ)Google exec: ‘We’re going to be combining ChromeOS and Android’ (The Verge)'I think you see the future first on Android' – Google's Android leader Sameer Samat (TechRadar)Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2 outperforms GPT-4 in key benchmarks — and it’s free (VentureBeat)Eight Things We’ve Learned About Hollywood This Year (Bloomberg)The Streaming Wars Come Down to 2: YouTube vs. Netflix (NYTimes)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mega Omnibus EpisodeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

So, it sure looks like Grok tries to align some of its answers with the views of its maker, Elon Musk, but the question is why… Does AI have to align with political views more generally? New, tangible data suggests you actually might NOT be coding faster due to AI. It might just be in your head. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.Links:Grok: searching X for “from:elonmusk (Israel OR Palestine OR Hamas OR Gaza)” (Simon Willison's Blog)Grok 4 seems to consult Elon Musk to answer controversial questions (TechCrunch)A Republican state attorney general is formally investigating why AI chatbots don’t like Donald Trump (The Verge)Study: Apple’s newest AI model flags health conditions with up to 92% accuracy (9to5Mac)Not So Fast: AI Coding Tools Can Actually Reduce Productivity (Second Thoughts)Weekend Longreads Suggestions:The Grand Unified Theory of Rogue Waves (Quanta Magazine)This Breakthrough Sponge Could Change How the World Gets Clean Water (SciTechDaily)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Grok 4 is out, plus Grok 4 Voice, Grok 4 Code, a bunch more. Ok we know Zuck wants to catch up on AI, but an insider explains why they think Meta fell behind in the first place. Are AI web browsers the next battlefield in the AI wars. And if your electricity bill goes up substantially, you’ll never guess what you can blame.Links:Grok 4 is live — here’s what makes it Elon Musk’s most advanced AI yet (Tom's Guide)Meta Poached Apple’s Pang With Pay Package Over $200 Million (Bloomberg)Zuckerberg’s $100 Million AI Job Offers Are Paying Off (Bloomberg)Exclusive: OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome (Reuters)Microsoft Touts $500 Million AI Savings While Slashing Jobs (Bloomberg)America's largest power grid is struggling to meet demand from AI (Reuters)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

All the of the headlines from the Galaxy Unpacked event that was mostly about really thin foldable phones. Big changing of the guard at Apple. What happens when you make a bet on a betting market, think you’ve won, but are then told you’re not. And a useful new feature of Gmail.Links:Galaxy Z Fold 7 goes official with drastically thinner design, but a $2,000 price tag (9to5Google)Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 7 has a bigger battery and is still thinner than last year's model (Engadget)Samsung launches the more affordable Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE for $899 (9to5Google)Galaxy Z Fold 7 hands-on: Samsung finally made the foldables we’ve been asking for (The Verge)Apple COO Jeff Williams to Retire in Major Changing of Guard (Bloomberg)Elon Musk's AI chatbot churns out antisemitic posts days after update (NBCNews)Polymarket Rules 'No' on $237M Controversial Bet Over Zelenskyy's Suit (Decrypt)Gmail’s new tab is made for unsubscribing from emails (The Verge)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How much further behind can Apple get in AI now that Zuck is poaching from them as well? OpenAI has been forced to batten down the hatches, quite literally. A fully licensed AI video model. And back to Apple. They heard your complaints. They’re pumping the brakes on Liquid Glass a bit.Sponsors:AGNTCY.ORGLinks:Apple Loses Top AI Models Executive to Meta’s Hiring Spree (Bloomberg)OpenAI’s Stock Compensation Reflect Steep Costs of Talent Wars (The Information)OpenAI clamps down on security after foreign spying threats (Financial Times)Bluesky can really keep up with the news now that it has activity notifications (The Verge)This New AI Tool Wants to Work With Filmmakers—Not Replace Them (Time)iOS 26 beta 3 dials back Liquid Glass (TechCrunch)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Catching you up on the great Zuckerberg AI recruitment drive. Clueing you in to the great datacenter buildout goldrush that is, again, all about AI. TikTok is about to force everybody to use a new version of their app. And are the unicorns coming back?Links:Meta’s new hires offer a peek into superintelligence plans (Semafor)Zuck's Eleven (Spyglass)CoreWeave to Buy Core Scientific in $9 Billion Stock Deal (Bloomberg)US industrial groups pivot to data centres amid AI boom (FT)TikTok Building New Version of App Ahead of Expected U.S. Sale (The Information)As Trump pushes Apple to make iPhones in the U.S., Google’s brief effort building smartphones in Texas 12 years ago offers critical lessons (Fortune)At least 36 new tech unicorns were minted in 2025 so far (TechCrunch)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More layoffs make me more concerned the AI jobpocalypse is coming to tech this summer. In the big Meta v. OpenAI talent battle, who is desperate and who is scared? We reframe the situation a bit. Figma files for an IPO. Chinese AI seems to be gain ground worldwide. And do universities need to fundamentally rethink teaching computer science?Links:Microsoft laying off about 9,000 employees in latest round of cuts (CNBC)Here’s What Mark Zuckerberg Is Offering Top AI Talent (Wired)Sam Altman Slams Meta’s AI Talent-Poaching Spree: ‘Missionaries Will Beat Mercenaries’ (Wired)Figma files for IPO on NYSE, plans to ‘take big swings’ with acquisitions (CNBC)China Is Quickly Eroding America’s Lead in the Global AI Race (WSJ)How Do You Teach Computer Science in the A.I. Era? (NYTimes)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.