Week 9, 2025
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Key observations
1
AI is revolutionizing scientific research
Google's AI co-scientist recently accomplished in two days what took human researchers a decade - and its top five hypotheses were all scientifically valid. This marks AI's evolution from computational tool to creative scientific partner.
Meanwhile, Nvidia's Evo 2 is speeding up medical breakthroughs by analyzing plant, animal and human DNA data simultaneously.
We're witnessing a fundamental shift in how science gets done.
2
AI market growth remains explosive
OpenAI now has 400 million weekly users (5% of global population) and 2 million business customers, making AI essential infrastructure like cloud computing.
Alibaba is investing $53 billion in AI over three years following the Deepseek incident.
Meanwhile, OpenAI co-founder Sutskever's startup hit $30 billion valuation in under a year, and former CTO Murati is launching her own venture.
3
AI companies shifting from innovation to monetization
Deepseek, known for its open-source strategy, has added "Internet Information Services" to its business registration, hinting at potential paid services.
X has boldly doubled its Premium+ service price with the integration of Grok-3, positioning AI as core paid content rather than an additional service.
OpenAI is also rapidly expanding the release regions for Operator, which can connect with external services, strengthening its global revenue base.
4
Physical AI is rapidly evolving
Microsoft's Magma is the first integrated AI model that goes beyond simple software control, autonomously moving robots and demonstrating spatial intelligence. It's being praised for achieving true digital-physical integrated intelligence by seeing, understanding, and interacting with both on-screen information and physical objects through robots.
Meanwhile, Figure has unveiled Helix, a household humanoid robot, signaling the arrival of futuristic domestic robots previously seen only in science fiction movies.
5
SEC is going easy on crypto
SEC has abruptly withdrawn its lawsuit against Coinbase. Additionally, it has begun recognizing cryptocurrency as legitimate financial product by approving first yield-bearing stablecoin.
This marks a departure from former Chairman Gary Gensler's hardline approach as the SEC seeks a new equilibrium.
With Trump's election and a pro-cryptocurrency Congress, the regulatory environment is expected to remain favorable for the near future.
However, challenges remain, as evidenced by security vulnerabilities exposed in the worst-ever Bybit hacking incident.
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AI - Tech
xAI launches Grok-3
- But it's being accused of misleading benchmarks and filtering Musk/Trump mentions about misinformation
Google launches AI co-scientist
- It generated a hypothesis in just two days that had previously taken human researchers a decade of study and lab work to produce
- "It's not just that the top hypothesis they provided was the right one. It's that they provided another four, and all of them made sense."
Nvidia launches biology AI Evo 2
- Boasts 90% accuracy in cancer prediction
Microsoft launches 2 new models
Google launches Veo 2 at $0.50/second
Mistral launches regional AI Saba
- 24-billion parameter language model specifically optimized for Arabic and South Asian languages
OpenAI expands Operator access
- Now out in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and most places where ChatGPT is also available.
DeepSeek to open-source 5 code repos
Perplexity open-sources R1 1776, uncensored version of DeepSeek-R1
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AI - Business
OpenAI reaches 400M weekly users
- And 2M paying enterprise customers
- “AI is going to be like cloud services. It’s going to be something that you can’t run a business that ultimately is not really running on these very powerful models underneath the surface”
Murati starts Thinking Machines Lab
- New AI startup lists 29 employees from OpenAI, Character AI, and Google DeepMind, among other top firms.
Apple adding Google Gemini to iOS
OpenAI bans Chinese accounts misusing ChatGPT
DeepSeek signals potential monetization
- Updated its business registry to include “internet information services” in operational scope
Alibaba commits $53B to AI infrastructure
TogetherAI valued at $3.3B
Meta to host LlamaCon
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AI - Other
NIST AI Safety Institute faces cuts
Data center pollution costs $5.4B
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Chips / Infrastructure
Trump proposes 25% chip tariffs
Microsoft unveils breakthrough quantum chip, Majorana 1
- Some physicists are skeptical
- “Without seeing the extra data from the qubit operation, there is not much one can comment”
Apple embedding modem into future chips
Silver Lake eyes Intel’s Altera unit
AMD explores $4B server plant sale
EU approves €920M for Infineon chip plant
Nvidia admits RTX 5080 defect
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Robotics
Figure unveils Helix humanoid AI
- Enables natural language commands and novel object handling
- Requires only 500 hours of training data
- Runs on basic GPUs
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Ecommerce
Amazon surpasses Walmart in quarterly revenue for first time ever
Shein pressured to cut IPO valuation
MercadoLibre stock peaks on record earnings
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Social Media
X hikes Premium+ to $40 with Grok‑3
X rolls out Grok AI tools for advertisers
X Community Notes powered by professional fact-checkers
Instagram adds DM translation/scheduling
Amazon ends Inspire, its TikTok-clone
Xiaohongshu downloads drop 98% after TikTok's return
Bluesky adds followers-only reply
Signal adds phishing protections
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Content / Entertainment
Spotify integrates ElevenLabs AI voices
YouTube TV app adds live lyrics
Twitch limits stored highlights to 100 hours
Amazon gains James Bond creative control
Amazon ends Kindle ebook PC downloads
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AR / VR
Meta launches $50M Horizons creator fund
Vision Pro app submissions in decline
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Device / Hardware
HP buys Humane for $116M
- Will stop selling AI Pin
Apple launches iPhone 16e at $599
- First device with Apple Intelligence under $600
iPhone 17 Pro to focus on video capabilities
M4 MacBook Air launch expected in March
Samsung returns to Edge phone design
Samsung and Apple struggle with Qi2 charging
Huawei debuts tri‑fold Mate XT
Oppo releases world's thinnest foldable Find N5
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App / Platform
Apple pulls iCloud encryption in UK after government backdoor demand
iOS 18.4 adds AI priority notifications
Amazon to end Android app store
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EV / Autonomous
Trump closes 8000 federal EV chargers
Nikola files for bankruptcy
Rivian plans hands-off highway driving
BYD's self-driving tech raises concerns over naming and capabilities
Tesla tests Supercharger virtual queues
Tesla recalls 375K vehicles over steering
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Space
Nokia deploying first lunar cellular network.
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Crypto
Bybit suffers record $1.5B crypto heist
- Faces $4B bank run
- Reserves back to 100% now
SEC approves first yield-bearing stablecoin
SEC to drop Coinbase case
SEC drops OpenSea investigation
Binance sued by Nigeria for $81.5B
Block shares plunge 18% on earnings miss
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Policy / Regulation
Trump says Apple is moving manufacturing from Mexico to US
FTC targets Big Tech censorship
Google, Meta execs criticizes EU's strict AI regulations
Swedish PM warns Europe risks becoming AI museum
Musk demands federal employees explain work or resign
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Etc
Hang Seng Tech Index hits 2-yr high.
SW developer jobs hit 5-yr low.
Meta slashes employee stock awards amid AI spending push
Meta approves 200% executive bonus boost post-layoffs.
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