Meta launched an AI app that uses your Facebook and Instagram history to personalize responses from day one. Built on their Llama 4 model, the app transforms years of social media data into an AI that claims to understand your preferences, habits, and interests.
Amazon plans to show customers exactly how much Trump's tariffs inflate their shopping bills. The move sparked immediate backlash from the White House, marking a dramatic shift in the previously warming relationship between Trump and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Alibaba released eight new AI language models Monday that match or beat the performance of top competitors like Google and OpenAI. The new Qwen3 family ranges from compact 0.6-billion-parameter models to a massive 235-billion-parameter version.
Anthropic's pivot matters more than you think. The AI darling shuns consumer chat for a bigger prize: fixing your workday. Their AI assistant Claude will soon tackle your calendar mess and actually make meetings useful. Yes, really. π€
The $60 billion bet shows - office AI sells better than consumer toys. Enterprise revenue doubles consumer growth. Former Instagram guru Mike Krieger leads the charge, knowing where the real gold lies. π°
Meanwhile, Trump trips over silicon.
He celebrates TSMC's $100 billion Arizona chip plant while attacking the law that made it happen. The Chips Act sparked America's semiconductor renaissance, boosting our global share from 10% back toward former glory. All five chip giants now build here. That's what winning looks like. ποΈ
Stay curious,
Marcus Schuler
Anthropic Doubles Down on Business AI, Leaving Consumer Race Behind
Anthropic wants to make your workday less painful. The AI startup is betting big on business features while competitors chase consumer markets.
The company's new tools target knowledge workers drowning in meetings and spreadsheets. Their AI assistant Claude will soon scan calendars and prep meeting reports automatically. It's like having a very efficient intern who never needs coffee breaks.
Anthropic's move comes fresh off a $3.5 billion funding round that valued the company at $60 billion. That's a lot of faith in making meetings more bearable.
Voice features are also in the works. Users will soon talk to Claude like it's a colleague who actually listens. The company is eyeing partnerships with Amazon and ElevenLabs to speed up the launch.
Chief Product Officer Mike Krieger isn't worried about missing the consumer AI gold rush. The former Instagram co-founder sees more value in helping businesses work smarter. The numbers back him up - Anthropic's enterprise API revenue is growing twice as fast as consumer subscriptions.
Why this matters:
While tech giants battle for your chatbot attention, Anthropic is quietly building the AI that could actually make your job easier
The company's focus on business tools suggests AI might transform your office before it takes over your home
Mike Schmidt, the former director of the Chips Program Office at the U.S. Department of Commerce, throws down the gauntlet. Taiwan's chip giant TSMC just pledged $100 billion for its Arizona plant. Now Trump wants to kill the law that made it happen.
The irony bites hard. Trump celebrates TSMC's investment while attacking the Chips Act that enabled it. That same act ignited $500 billion in semiconductor investments β more than America saw in three decades.
The numbers tell the story. America's share of global chip making crashed from 40% to 10% since 1990. The Chips Act fought back with $39 billion in grants and tax credits. Now all five global leaders in advanced chips build in America. No other country hosts more than two.
Trump's team kicked off these talks in 2020, landing a modest $12 billion pledge. The Chips Act transformed that trickle into a flood. TSMC now plans six massive fabs in Arizona, plus research facilities.
Why this matters:
Trump praising TSMC while attacking the Chips Act mirrors a quarterback celebrating points after trying to forfeit the game
America leads in semiconductor investment again β unless politics fumbles the silicon
Dutch tech pioneer Bert Hubert cuts through the fog of Europe's cloud ambitions.
The entrepreneur and software developer argues that Europe lacks viable alternatives to American cloud services β and market forces alone won't fix it.
Money isn't the issue. The EU's β¬800 billion defense budget dwarfs the β¬15 billion it spent to build Galileo, now the world's best satellite navigation system. But throwing cash at the cloud won't work without deep technical expertise.
Hubert, who built parts of the internet's infrastructure, points to a bitter irony: European talent powers much of America's cloud dominance. They just do it from Silicon Valley offices instead of Brussels or Berlin.
His solution? Smart procurement, targeted development of open-source alternatives, and governments that actually understand technology. Novel concept, that last one.
Why this matters:
Europe created Airbus and Galileo from scratch β but building a cloud needs engineers who code, not just committees who meet
The continent's digital independence hangs on convincing its tech talent to build European solutions instead of American ones
Google parent Alphabet hungers for cloud security domination. They're circling Wiz, a red-hot startup, with a $30 billion offer that would dwarf their previous shopping sprees. Wiz, founded by Israeli intelligence veterans and now guarding half of America's largest companies, plays hard to get β they've already dodged one Google courtship over antitrust jitters, but apparently money talks louder the second time around.
Tencent joins 3D AI arms race with five new tools
Tencent just crashed the 3D AI party with five new content generators. The Chinese tech giant's tools transform text and images into 3D visuals - a direct response to DeepSeek's recent AI breakthrough that left both Silicon Valley and Chinese tech giants scrambling to catch up like caffeinated squirrels.
Cognition AI: Coding Startup's Value Doubles to $4bn
Money keeps raining on AI startups. Cognition AI just scored hundreds of millions from investors betting on Devin, their "AI software engineer." The deal values the year-old company at $4 billion β double what it was worth last year. Apparently VCs think robot coders are the next big thing, though they might want to check if Devin knows how to update its own resume.
Cloud Whisperer Nerdio Hits Unicorn Status
Nerdio just turned IT headaches into gold. The remote work startup pulled in $500 million from investors, rocketing its value to $1.2 billion. CEO Vadim Vladimirskiy claims his software tames the cloud chaos for 5 million users β though presumably none of them work in Nerdio's own office, since the company itself stays remote.
European AI Upstart Punches Above Its Weight
French startup Mistral AI just flipped the AI world on its head with a model running on less juice than it takes to power a gaming laptop. The French company's pint-sized powerhouse matches Google and OpenAI's performance while making their massive models look like gas-guzzling SUVs in a Tesla showroom.
Elon's Internet Beams Into White House
Elon Musk's Starlink just plugged into the White House. The satellite internet service now runs through a remote data center, raising eyebrows among security experts who question why a presidential adviser's company scored such privileged access. But hey, at least someone's fixing the Wi-Fi β though perhaps next time they'll remember to tell Secret Service before climbing onto the roof.
German Court Slaps Apple with Stricter Controls
Germany just tightened its grip on Apple. The tech giant lost its appeal against being labeled a competition threat, joining Meta and Google in the regulatory penalty box. Apple claims it's just misunderstood, but German watchdogs aren't buying the "we're just protecting privacy" line β they're too busy tracking who's tracking whom.
Dead Artist Takes 70,000 Calls at Museum
The DalΓ Museum stunned visitors by letting them chat with Salvador DalΓ through his iconic lobster phone, using ElevenLabs' AI voice technology. Over 70,000 conversations later, the digital DalΓ keeps surprising guests with surreal responses that would make the mustached master proud.
Stars Tell AI Companies: Pay Up or Back Off
Hollywood's biggest names just picked a fight with Silicon Valley's AI giants. Over 400 creators β including Ben Stiller, Paul McCartney, and Cate Blanchett β slammed Google and OpenAI's attempts to dodge copyright laws when training their AI models on creative works. The tech titans claim they need free access to copyrighted material for "national security," but the artists have a simpler solution: pay for what you use, like everyone else.
Xi's AI Pet Project Takes Over Chinese Bureaucracy
Since shaking hands with China's top leader last month, AI startup DeepSeek has invaded government offices across the country, The New York Times reports.
The company now writes court decisions, plans medical treatments, and tracks missing persons through surveillance footage.
Chinese officials race to prove their loyalty by cramming DeepSeek into every government nook. Courthouses lean on it for legal judgments. Hospitals trust it with treatment plans. In Shenzhen, the AI has tracked down 300 missing people through surveillance footage. It even weighs in on divorce disputes, like a silicon-based Judge Judy.
This adoption frenzy flows straight from Xi's blessing. He welcomed DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng into a rare powwow with business leaders last month. The message rang clear: DeepSeek carries China's AI dreams.
The startup rattled U.S. tech stocks in January by claiming its AI matched American systems while sipping fewer chips. That punctured the myth that only tech giants could build cutting-edge AI. Chinese social media erupted in celebration.
But reality bites. The company runs on just 160 people, and its services keep buckling under demand. Experts fret about officials swallowing AI-generated content without chewing on the risks.
Foreign regulators squint suspiciously. Australia, South Korea and Taiwan have slammed their doors on DeepSeek's services. OpenAI even warned the White House that Beijing might weaponize the technology.
Why this matters:
China's bureaucrats bet their careers on AI faster than any government β while whistling past the risk graveyard
DeepSeek proves China can match U.S. AI muscle, but its government ties may kneecap its global ambitions
NotebookLM and Wondercraft just turned podcast creation into child's play. No more expensive gear. No more editing headaches. Just pure audio magic. ποΈ
Feed NotebookLM your content. It munches through PDFs, Google Docs, and URLs like a hungry algorithm. One click later, you've got a two-person discussion that actually makes sense. π
β’ Log Into NotebookLM: Hit the platform and connect with Google. Takes 30 seconds, tops. β’ Feed It Content: Throw your PDFs, Docs, or URLs at it. Watch the AI devour your material like a hungry algorithm. β’ Generate Audio Magic: Tap "Audio Overview." Boom - you've got a two-speaker chat that doesn't sound like robots at a dinner party.
β’ Import Your Audio Baby: Drag that NotebookLM creation into Wondercraft. No PhD in audio engineering required. β’ Make It Sparkle: Pick voices that won't put people to sleep. Add music that slaps. Cut the fluff. Your listeners will thank you. β’ Get Feedback: Share your workspace with colleagues. They'll nitpick faster than you can say "creative differences."
3. Launch It Into the World π
β’ Wrap It Up: Happy with your audio masterpiece? Export that bad boy. β’ Spread the Word: Push your show to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. Let the world hear what AI can do.