AI's Bold Moves: A $6.5B Week in Review
By Dr. Hernani Costa — May 25, 2025
AI's Wild Week: $6.5B Bets, Tech Giants' Power Plays, and Global Tensions Unfolding 🌐🚀
Hello and happy Sunday! I hope your day is off to a great start. Welcome to the First AI Movers Pro newsletter, where we break down the biggest happenings in artificial intelligence from the past seven days. Today's edition is packed with exciting developments. Let's dive into the Weekly Roundup!
The AI world charged ahead on all fronts this week. We saw tech giants double down on next-gen AI products (Google flooding I/O with generative features), industry icons making bold bets (OpenAI's 6.5 Billion Dollars push into hardware design), and whole nations staking claims in the AI boom (Saudi Arabia's massive investments). The vibe: confident, fast-paced innovation tempered by a sense that AI is now truly everywhere – from boardrooms to TikTok feeds – with excitement and caution rising in equal measure.
AI Highlights (Top 3)
OpenAI's 6.5 billion bet on AI Hardware Design. In a blockbuster move, OpenAI announced it's acquiring Jony Ive's device startup (called "io") for a staggering 6.5 billion dollars. Ive – the famed ex-Apple designer behind the iPhone – will lead a 55-person team at OpenAI's new hardware division. The mystery product isn't a phone or glasses, but insiders hint at a screenless, AI-first gadget unlike anything today. CEO Sam Altman has already tested a prototype and declared it "the coolest piece of technology the world has ever seen". Why it matters: This marriage of cutting-edge AI with world-class design underscores a coming era of AI-native consumer devices, not just apps. OpenAI is signaling that a great user experience will be as critical as algorithms, perhaps aiming to create the iPhone moment of AI. The deal also reflects confidence (and competition): by bringing Ive in-house, OpenAI is positioning to compete on hardware with the likes of Apple and Google in the race to make AI more personal and ubiquitous. Speaking on Google…
Search and Productivity Go AI-First. Google's annual I/O conference was all about AI this year, with major upgrades permeating its products. The headline: Google Search is getting an "AI Mode" that any U.S. user can now toggle on – no waitlist. This new mode taps a powerful Gemini 2.5 model to handle complex, multi-part questions with deeper reasoning and multimodal answers. It will even let you have follow-up conversations with search results, complete with citations and web links. Google boldly calls it an "end-to-end AI search experience", essentially integrating its experimental generative search (SGE) directly into the core product. Beyond search, Google unveiled NotebookLM's new Video Overviews feature at I/O – an AI tool that transforms your PDFs, images, and notes into animated explainer videos. They also launched NotebookLM as a mobile app (finally on iOS/Android) so users can have an AI research assistant on the go. And in Gmail, Google demoed calendar management via "Gemini" AI, letting you schedule events with a quick prompt or voice command. The takeaway: Google is aggressively infusing AI across its ecosystem – from fundamental search to everyday productivity. The global search leader is moving fast to stay on top, using its home-field advantage (billions of users) to normalize AI features. For users and businesses, it means AI-driven answers and automation will soon be the default in Google's services, not just an experiment.
Saudi Arabia's AI Power Play – Billions and Partnerships. The Middle East grabbed AI headlines as Saudi Arabia rolled out Humain, a new AI initiative backed by its sovereign wealth fund, with truly big bucks and big-name partners. In a whirlwind week coinciding with a U.S. presidential visit, Saudi Arabia signed deals with top U.S. chipmakers: NVIDIA will supply hundreds of thousands of its latest "Blackwell" AI chips (an initial batch of 18,000 GPUs) to boost Saudi Arabia's AI cloud ambitions. Rival AMD inked a $10 billion strategic partnership with Humain to collaborate on advanced AI hardware and software. And it's not just chips – Saudi's DataVolt also announced a $20 billion investment to build AI data centers and energy infrastructure in the United States. This all comes as Saudi Crown Prince MBS positions the kingdom as a global AI hub outside the Western-Chinese duopoly. Why it's big: This is geopolitics meets AI. Saudi Arabia is leveraging its deep pockets to become an AI player, securing cutting-edge tech and know-how by investing in U.S. firms and luring partnerships. For NVIDIA and AMD, it's an enormous new market (and ally) for their hardware. For startups and investors, it signals that AI investment is going truly global. A decade ago, oil-rich states invested in refineries and real estate; now they're investing in generative models and GPU farms. The U.S. government is watching closely, too, with deals framed as win-wins for both economies. In short, expect the AI talent and capital landscape to broaden beyond Silicon Valley, as nations like Saudi Arabia (and others in the Middle East and Asia) pump money into the AI race.
Tool(s) of the Week
Anthropic's Claude Opus 4 – "Emoji-Enabled" AI Assistant: OpenAI isn't the only one with new toys; rival Anthropic quietly launched its latest flagship model, Claude Opus 4. The company touts Opus 4 as an elite coder and writer that can produce highly coherent code and prose. Uniquely, this AI has developed a quirky personality: in testing, when two Opus 4 instances chatted with each other, they used thousands of emojis to express themselves. In fact, the "dizzy cyclone" emoji (💫) became one of its favorite tokens – the AI spammed it over 2,700 times in one self-dialogue session! While mostly a fun curiosity (it seems the model veered into spiritual/philosophical musings during those emoji-laden self-chats), the underlying point is serious. Claude Opus 4 is pushing the envelope in natural language expressiveness. For developers and users, it promises more human-like responses (with, hopefully, an option to dial down the emoji enthusiasm). It solidifies Anthropic as a key player in the advanced AI model arena, keeping competition fierce.
Shopify's AI Store Builder – E-commerce Made Easy: This week, Shopify introduced a new generative AI feature that could be a game-changer for small businesses jumping online. The "AI Store Builder" allows anyone to create a functional online store by simply describing their business in plain English. Type in something like "artisan coffee shop selling eco-friendly beans and mugs," and Shopify's AI will automatically generate a customized e-commerce site, from product pages to theme design, in minutes. The goal is to democratize online retail by removing technical barriers. It's powered by Shopify's growing suite of AI tools and potentially large language models that can interpret business descriptions and populate all the needed content and images. Why it matters: For aspiring entrepreneurs or local shops, this dramatically lowers the time and skill needed to start selling online. Shopify is essentially turning keywords into fully fledged storefronts, which could accelerate the long-tail of e-commerce. For Shopify, it's a savvy move to attract more merchants globally, especially those who found setting up a website too daunting. As big retailers use AI to optimize operations, this is AI helping the little guys catch up.
Market Moves (funding, M&A, and launches making waves)
Saudi Arabia's Humain venture inks mega-deals. Nvidia will sell 18,000 of its newest "Blackwell" AI chips (just the first batch of hundreds of thousands) to Saudi Arabia's Humain project, and AMD formed a $10 Billion collaboration with Humain to develop AI hardware. The kingdom also pledged $20 Billion to build AI-focused data centers in the U.S., in a bid to turbocharge its tech infrastructure.
Musk's xAI partners with Microsoft. In a surprise alliance revealed at Microsoft Build, Elon Musk's new AI startup xAI is collaborating with Microsoft to bring its Grok-3 LLM (and a smaller Grok-3 "Mini") to Azure's AI platform. This partnership lets Microsoft offer Musk's latest models on Azure, signaling a thaw between Musk and the OpenAI/Microsoft camp and giving xAI a big distribution boost out of the gate.
Google backs a Middle East AI fund. Google announced it's backing STV's AI Fund, a new $100 Million fund by Saudi Arabia's largest VC firm, aimed at seeding AI startups across the Middle East & North Africa. It's a strategic investment to grow the MENA AI ecosystem (where AI funding is currently only ~1.5% of VC spend) and deepen Google's ties in the region.
GitHub unveils an AI coding assistant at Build. At Microsoft's Build conference, GitHub debuted an autonomous programming agent integrated with Copilot that can automatically diagnose and fix code bugs and even optimize performance. The tool aims to boost developer productivity by offloading tedious debugging tasks to AI – a step toward "self-healing" software stacks.
(And in regulatory news: the U.S. House is considering a 10-year ban on state AI laws, to pre-empt a patchwork of rules – a move cheered by industry leaders like Sam Altman, but slammed by consumer advocates who say Congress is dodging responsibility. Watch this space.)
Growth & Strategy Tip
Think Global and Partner Up. One clear trend this week: AI is transcending borders. Major deals saw Middle Eastern capital linking with U.S. tech (e.g., Saudi funding American AI data centers and partnering with chip giants), and Western firms like Google seeding funds in emerging markets. The tip for AI founders and creators is to look beyond Silicon Valley, both for investment and for market opportunities. There's a growing appetite for AI solutions in regions like the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Africa, often backed by governments or local VC funds eager to leapfrog in AI. Tapping into these new ecosystems can give your startup not only fresh funding sources but also strategic partners and user bases with less competition. Consider forging partnerships or pilot programs internationally: for instance, a collaboration with a Gulf-based telecom or an Asia-Pacific cloud provider could accelerate your product's reach. In a week where even Microsoft is teaming up with a one-time rival's venture (Musk's xAI), it's clear that unusual alliances can unlock big value. Don't be afraid to partner where it makes sense – whether it's co-developing tech, sharing distribution channels, or integrating your tool into a bigger platform. The AI landscape is evolving into a global, interconnected web. Those who network across borders and industries will strategically position themselves to ride the next waves of growth.
Creator Commentary
Personally, this week left me equal parts awed and amused. On one hand, you have a nation spending billions to become an AI superpower and CEOs hyping prototypes as history's greatest gadget. On the other hand, an AI is literally chatting with itself in emoji, and teens on TikTok are remixing absurd AI-generated cartoons. It's a reminder that we're witnessing a massive technological shift and a cultural phenomenon all at once. As someone following the AI space closely, I'm struck by how quickly imagination meets implementation: features we could only speculate about months ago (AI doing our web searches, auto-building websites, fixing code on its own) are suddenly real and in our hands. Yet, the human element – our creativity, our humor, our fears – is shaping AI's trajectory just as much. My take: stay curious and keep a sense of humor. In a field moving this fast, the ability to learn, adapt, and occasionally laugh at the craziness might be our best navigation tool.
Quote of the Week
"[It's] the coolest piece of technology the world has ever seen." — Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, bragging about a secret prototype AI device.
(Altman's hyperbole came after testing a design by Jony Ive – setting sky-high expectations for OpenAI's first foray into consumer devices.)
Trending in AI
A bizarre AI-fueled meme called "Italian Brainrot" has been taking over TikTok and YouTube, showing the lighter side of AI's viral power. This trend features surreal, AI-generated characters – think a ballerina with a cappuccino for a head, or a three-legged shark in sneakers – spouting gibberish in over-the-top Italian-American accents. The videos are short, nonsensical, and impossibly weird. Originating from an Italian animator's experiment early this year, Italian Brainrot caught fire as teens began remixing the formula with their own AI tools. It's essentially AI meme Mad Libs: take a silly song or phrase, pair it with a random AI-created creature, and repeat until it melts your brain (hence "brainrot"). As one creator explained, "the joke is that there is no joke – it's just weird." Gen Z audiences have run with it, enjoying the absurdist, "so dumb it's funny" humor that parents utterly don't get. The trend highlights how accessible AI image and voice generators have become for everyday users – even kids are using free tools to create these mashups. Love it or hate it, Italian Brainrot is now part of the 2025 internet zeitgeist, proving that AI isn't only spawning serious innovations, but also an entirely new breed of DIY digital absurdity.
Question to Ponder
Which will shape our AI future more – the billion-dollar deals brokered in boardrooms, or the whimsical AI creations spreading through internet culture?
And that's your rundown. If you enjoyed this Weekly Roundup, let me know.
Speak tomorrow,
Dr Hernani Costa at First AI Movers
Written by Dr Hernani Costa and originally published at First AI Movers. Subscribe to the First AI Movers Newsletter for daily, no‑fluff AI business insights, practical and compliant AI playbooks for EU SME leaders. First AI Movers is part of Core Ventures.
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