Good morning, AI enthusiasts. A one-time AI power couple is heading back to the negotiation table, with OpenAI and Microsoft hoping to hash out new terms for a partnership that seems to be getting frostier by the week.

With billions in revenue at stake and IPO dreams hanging in the balance, is the relationship that fueled the AI boom about to change fundamentally?

In today’s AI rundown:

• OpenAI, Microsoft rework ‘high-stakes’ partnership

• Pope Leo XIV targets AI as 'critical challenge'

• Create personalized AI avatars for dynamic content

• AI teaches itself with 'Absolute Zero'

• 4 new AI tools & 4 job opportunities

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

OPENAI & MICROSOFT

🤝 OpenAI, Microsoft rework ‘high-stakes’ partnership

Image source: o3 / The Rundown

The Rundown: OpenAI and Microsoft are reportedly engaged in negotiations to rewrite their partnership’s terms, with OpenAI seeking to cut Microsoft's revenue as part of its restructuring and Microsoft eyeing access to OpenAI’s tech beyond 2030.

The details:

• Microsoft has invested over $13B in OpenAI and remains a key holdout in plans to convert OpenAI’s business arm into a public benefit corporation (PBC).

• OpenAI is aiming to reduce Microsoft's revenue share from 20% to a share of 10% by 2030, a year when the company forecasts $174B in revenue.

• The relationship has reportedly cooled as OAI pursues agreements with competitors for Stargate, while also targeting overlapping enterprise customers.

• There is also tension over IP, with Microsoft seeking guaranteed access to OpenAI’s tech beyond the current contract expiration in 2030.

Why it matters: There has been smoke around this partnership for a long time, but the stakes are even more with Microsoft being a primary holdout for OpenAI’s IPO desires and PBC restructuring. With both sides seemingly motivated to get a deal done, it’s possible that contract restructuring helps warm the multi-billion-dollar relationship.

TOGETHER WITH SANA

💡 The easiest way to bring AI to your company

The Rundown: Sana Agents provides a no-code platform for deploying AI across your entire organization, enabling teams to automate complex workflows and integrate AI directly into existing tools in minutes, not months.

With Sana Agents, you can:

• Seamlessly connect AI to 100+ platforms, including Slack, Teams, and your CRM

• Build specialized agents for different departments in one intuitive interface

• Ensure enterprise-grade security with zero data leakage

• Slash operational overhead by 10-20X

Drive enterprise-wide innovation today with Sana Agents.

AI & THE VATICAN

⛪ Pope Leo XIV targets AI as 'critical challenge'

Image source: Vatican News

The Rundown: Newly appointed Pope Leo XIV identified artificial intelligence as one of humanity’s most pressing challenges in his first major address, continuing his predecessor's focus on the ethical implications of the technology.

The details:

• The first American Pope highlighted AI as posing "new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour."

• He also drew parallels between the AI and Industrial Revolutions, saying the Church must lead in confronting AI's threats to workers and human dignity.

• His stance follows Pope Francis' calls for an international AI treaty and warnings about autonomous weapons systems.

Why it matters: The Vatican’s continued concerns over AI show that the tech’s advancement is moving from niche tech discussions to the forefront of global (and political, as we’ve seen over the past week) concern. With over 1B Catholics worldwide, the Pope’s voice could play a role in helping shape both discourse and policy on AI.

AI TRAINING

🤖 Create personalized AI avatars for dynamic content

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you'll learn how to automate content creation by combining ElevenLabs' voice cloning with HeyGen's avatar creation tools to create AI videos featuring your own personalized digital twin.

Step-by-step:

1. Visit ElevenLabs, select “Professional Voice Clone,” and record 30 minutes of clear audio to create your AI voice.

2. Head to HeyGen, click “Create New Avatar,” select “Hyper-Realistic,” and upload a 2-minute high-quality video of yourself.

3. Start a new video project in HeyGen, select your avatar, and click “Integrate 3rd party voice” to connect your ElevenLabs voice using your API key.

4. Write your script, preview your avatar in action, and generate your final AI video.

Pro tip: You can write scripts in a conversational style with natural pauses and expressions to make your AI avatar presentations more engaging and authentic.

PRESENTED BY VANTA

🔍 The AI security blind spots you can't afford to miss

The Rundown: Vanta's free AI Security Assessment gives companies at any stage of AI adoption a structured framework to identify, evaluate, and mitigate potential security vulnerabilities before they become costly problems.

This comprehensive resource helps you:

• Establish governance protocols across your entire AI program

• Address critical considerations from data privacy to incident management

• Demonstrate your AI compliance to potential customers and partners

Get your free assessment and join over 10,000 organizations using Vanta to build trust through transparent security practices.

AI RESEARCH

💡 AI teaches itself with 'Absolute Zero'

Image source: Tsinghua University & BIGAI

The Rundown: Researchers from Tsinghua University and BIGAI introduced “Absolute Zero,” a new AI training method where models learn and master complex reasoning tasks on their own through self-play — without needing any human-provided data.

The details:

• The Absolute Zero Reasoner (AZR) autonomously generates its own tasks, solves them, and improves through self-play with no external datasets required.

• The system achieved SOTA results on coding and math benchmarks, surpassing models trained on tens of thousands of expert-labeled examples.

• AZR uses three reasoning modes (deduction, abduction, and induction) to create increasingly harder self-generated challenges to learn.

• Researchers noted an "uh-oh moment" when Llama-3.1 produced chains of thought about "outsmarting intelligent machines," raising safety concerns.

Why it matters: A technique that allows AI to self-train could eliminate the development barrier of massive, costly human datasets — and given how we are already running out of quality data and systems are already moving beyond human intelligence, this may be a necessity to continue scaling learning.

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• ⚙️ Remote Agent - Delegate coding tasks to cloud-based AI assistants

• 🤖 Open Computer Agent - Hugging Face’s computer-using agent

• 🪄 Shopify Magic - New reasoning capabilities and image generation tools

• ✨ Enhance My Listing - Amazon’s new tool for optimizing product listings

💼 AI Job Opportunities

• 🤝 The Rundown - Partnerships Manager

• 📣 Mistral AI - Lead, Communications US

• 💼 Synthesia - Head of Sales

• 📊 Databricks - Marketing Specialist

📰 Everything else in AI today

OpenAI released a new GitHub connector for its Deep Research feature, allowing the tool to leverage and answer questions about codebases.

Tencent launched HunyuanCustom, a new open-source AI system that generates customized video from text, images, audio, and video inputs with consistent subjects.

Google introduced “implicit caching,” allowing its Gemini 2.5 models to automatically detect and reuse cached content from API requests for up to 75% cost savings.

Microsoft president Brad Smith revealed that the company’s employees are banned from using DeepSeek models, citing propaganda and data security concerns.

Chinese tech giant Baidu filed a patent for a system that uses AI to translate data from animal sounds, behavior, and emotional states into human language.

400+ British artists signed a letter urging PM Keir Starmer to support legislation requiring transparency around using copyrighted materials in AI training.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop on Wednesday, May 14th, at 3 PM EST with Rahul Sonwalkar, founder of Julius AI. In this hands-on live session, you’ll learn how to analyze any dataset using just natural language, no code or spreadsheets required. Discover how Julius AI is helping marketing, finance, and product teams turn raw data into clear, actionable insights at lightning speed.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

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See you soon,

Rowan, Joey, Zach, Alvaro, and Jason—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Netflix is soon rolling out its first major overhaul in more than a decade with a home page redesign, an AI search experience, and a TikTok-like vertical feed on mobile.

The new UI is designed to keep you forever bingeing on its content, never hitting the “cancel subscription” button—but now that Netflix is dipping into short-form video feeds, does it aim to compete with TikTok and Instagram too?

In today’s tech rundown:

• Netflix’s major redesign, AI search tool

• Meta’s facial recognition smart glasses

• Musk’s X digital wallet hits NY roadblock

• Whoop’s big upgrade, medical-grade tracking

• Quick hits on other major news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

NETFLIX

 🍿 Netflix’s major redesign, AI search tool

Image source: Netflix

The Rundown: Netflix just unveiled its biggest update in over a decade, rolling out its first major homepage redesign since 2013 — alongside beta tests of a generative AI-powered search tool and a TikTok-style vertical video feed on its mobile app.

The details:

• Netflix’s home page redesign moves the main menu from the left to the center and makes shortcuts like Search and My List more prominent.

• A ChatGPT-powered mobile search tool lets users find content using natural, conversational language such as “I want something funny and upbeat.”

• The search feature is launching as a limited, opt-in beta for iOS users, with early access already available in Australia and New Zealand for now.

• Netflix is also testing a TikTok-style vertical video feed on its mobile app, where users can swipe through short clips curated from its shows and movies.

Why it matters: As the streaming wars intensify, Netflix’s revamp, especially the AI tool and vertical feed, aims to avoid subscriber churn and draw in younger audiences. The company has set the standard for design in the industry, so any changes it makes will also probably have a ripple effect among other major streamers.

META

👓 Meta’s facial recognition smart glasses

Image source: Meta

The Rundown: Meta is working on a “super sensing” live AI upgrade for its next-gen Ray-Ban smart glasses, aiming to enable real-time facial recognition, letting users identify people by name simply by looking at them.

The details:

• The Information reports that Meta has two smart glasses in the works and has reworked its processes for assessing risks and releasing products faster.

• While users would need to opt in to use the tool, those being scanned wouldn’t have the ability to opt out — although Meta is exploring an on-device indicator.

• The company is already testing live AI in its current models and is working toward reducing battery load while adding this capability into the mix.

• It shelved facial recognition tech in 2021 following a wave of privacy and ethical concerns, but is now betting that the landscape has shifted.

Why it matters: Meta’s “super sensing” mode could extend beyond smart glasses to other wearables — like camera-equipped earphones — enabling its AI to track your daily activity and deliver personalized notifications, if opted in. Despite ethical concerns, this push from Meta comes as U.S. regulatory scrutiny seems to be easing.

X/TWITTER

🤑 Musk’s X digital wallet hits NY roadblock

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: Elon Musk’s social media platform X is gearing up to launch a digital wallet — called X Money — but the plan has reportedly hit a roadblock as two Manhattan lawmakers demanded regulators deny it a license to operate in the state.

The details:

• New York state lawmakers have urged the New York Department of Financial Services to deny X Corp. a money transmitter license to operate in the state.

• X Corp. has already secured licenses in 42 states and the District of Columbia, but has not yet obtained approval from New York.

• Their opposition is based on concerns regarding Musk’s “pattern of reckless conduct” in both business and government roles.

• Backed by a partnership with Visa, X Money is being touted as Musk’s attempt to rival payment processing services like Venmo, Zelle, and Apple Pay.

Why it matters: New York’s licensing standards are among the most stringent in the nation, and without its approval, X Money would be unable to serve one of the largest and most influential financial markets in the U.S. This would certainly delay or limit the rollout of Musk’s vision to transform X into the “everything app.”

WHOOP

🩺 Whoop’s big upgrade, medical-grade tracking

Image source: Whoop

The Rundown: Whoop just unveiled the Whoop 5.0 and Whoop MG, featuring a sleeker design, faster processing, enhanced sensors, and three times the battery life, with the MG also offering an FDA-cleared ECG feature for advanced heart monitoring.

The details:

• Designed for 24/7 use, the new Whoop’s battery runs up to 14 days on a single charge with an optional wireless PowerPack extending usage to 30 days.

• Whoop says the new sensors capture health and fitness data 26 times per second and deliver 10 times greater energy efficiency.

• Whoop MG’s medical-grade, FDA-cleared ECG feature enables users to screen for irregular heart rhythms by placing their fingers on the device.

• Both devices also offer new health insights in the app, including BP, health span stats, VO₂ Max, heart rate zones, and advanced sleep tracking.

Why it matters: While Apple and Garmin dominate the wearables game, Whoop has specifically drawn athletes with a focus on data-driven recovery, sleep, and performance. Now, with the new wellness features and an low-priced subscription, the company is eying everyday users and looking to edge out its closest competitor, Oura.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Samsung officially announced the launch date of the Galaxy S25 Edge, its slimmest Galaxy S series smartphone to date, set to launch on May 13.

Google agreed to fund the development of three nuclear sites to meet the vast energy needs of data centers, with each site generating up to 600 megawatts.

India's space agency plans to launch an uncrewed mission later this year while pushing back its first human spaceflight to early 2027.

Fintech giant Stripe unveiled a sweeping set of new products and upgrades, including an AI model for payments, trained on tens of billions of transactions.

Amazon Web Services is investing $4B to establish its first cloud infrastructure region in Chile, marking it as AWS's third region in Latin America.

Apple is reportedly developing new chips for its first smart glasses to compete with Meta’s Ray-Bans and to power more powerful Mac and AI servers.

U.S. fintech company Robinhood is preparing to launch a new blockchain-based platform designed to let retail investors in Europe trade U.S. securities.

Tesla’s patent bid for the term “robotaxi” was deemed too generic by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, so the company has applied for the term “Joyrobotaxi.”

SpaceX’s Starlink is one step closer to officially launching its satellite internet service in India, with the Indian government signing a letter of intent.

Researchers completed a first-in-human clinical trial using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing to empower the immune system against advanced colon and stomach cancers.

Apple SVP Eddy Cue testified during a Google antitrust case, saying that the iPhone may be obsolete in 10 years as AI creates “new opportunities for new entrants.”

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop today at 4 PM EST with Dr. Alvaro Cintas, The Rundown’s AI professor. By the end of the workshop, you’ll you’ll be equipped to prompt with precision and creativity across any AI tool and improve AI responses.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

See you soon,

Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. Some of the AI industry's most powerful players just delivered a unified message to Congress: Reduce regulations now or risk losing the global AI race to China.

With top execs from OpenAI to CoreWeave pushing the government for infrastructure investments and lighter controls, tech giants are now wielding national security concerns as their most powerful political weapon yet.

Reminder: Our next workshop is today at 4 PM EST — join to learn advanced prompting techniques for better AI responses. RSVP here.

In today’s AI rundown:

• AI leaders push for looser regulations

• OpenAI expands leadership with Instacart CEO

• Create engaging social carousels with Gamma

• Alibaba's Zerosearch teaches AI to search solo

• 4 new AI tools & 4 job opportunities

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

AI REGULATIONS

🏛️ AI leaders push for looser regulations

Image source: PBS Livestream

The Rundown: Tech execs from OpenAI, Microsoft, AMD, and CoreWeave testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, calling for reduced regulations, improved infrastructure, and expanded market access to help the U.S. keep its AI lead over China.

The details:

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman characterized AI as potentially "bigger than the internet," urging lawmakers to support critical infrastructure investments.

• Microsoft's Brad Smith warned that U.S. AI chip export restrictions could push customers toward Chinese alternatives, hurting global adoption of U.S. tech.

• AMD CEO Lisa Su also warned that strict export controls could backfire, saying other technologies will "come to play" if American options aren't available.

• The executives united on calls to boost federal AI R&D, improve AI workforce skills, modernize the electric grid, and streamline permitting.

Why it matters: The AI race is being positioned as a broader battle for supremacy between the U.S. and China, and tech giants see overregulation as a barrier to moving fast enough to maintain the lead. The balance between pro-innovation policies, safety risks, and global power dynamics is a complex needle to thread.

TOGETHER WITH INNOVATING WITH AI

🚀 Launch a six‑figure AI consultancy in six months

The Rundown: Innovating With AI’s “The AI Consultancy Project” gives you the frameworks, playbooks, and client‑ready templates needed to turn “interesting AI ideas” into a revenue‑generating business — helping you ride the wave of an AI consulting boom expected to grow by 8x this decade.

In this program, you will:

• Gain the tools and frameworks to find clients and deliver top-notch services

• Follow a 6-month plan to build a 6-figure AI consulting business

• Join a 700‑strong cohort where some members landed their first AI client in 72 hours

Click here to request access to The AI Consultancy Project.

OPENAI

🛒 OpenAI expands leadership with Instacart CEO

Image source: Loic Le Meur / Creative Commons

The Rundown: OpenAI just announced the hiring of Instacart CEO Fidji Simo as its CEO of Applications, creating a new leadership position that will oversee the company's product offerings and business operations.

The details:

• Simo will lead a new Applications division that combines OpenAI's existing business and operational teams responsible for bringing research to market.

• She will report directly to CEO Sam Altman, who said the hire will free him up to increase his focus on research, compute infrastructure, and safety systems.

• Simo has served on OpenAI's nonprofit board for the past year and has also spent a decade at Facebook, focused on its app and advertising business.

• The move comes following the startup’s decision to stop its for-profit shift and amidst a major global expansion of its Stargate project.

Why it matters: This high-profile hire is right in line with OpenAI's transition from a research lab to a multi-faceted global organization. While Altman remains at the helm, bringing in an experienced executive like Simo suggests the company is scaling leadership for its next major evolution to a worldwide powerhouse.

AI TRAINING

🎯 Create engaging social media carousels with Gamma

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you will learn how to use Gamma's new AI-powered Social feature to transform simple ideas into professional and engaging social media carousels — with just a few clicks.

Step-by-step:

1. Visit Gamma, select “Social” from the creation options, and adjust the number of cards.

2. Enter a specific, detailed prompt about your carousel topic and click "Generate outline."

3. Adjust the number of cards and customize your design by selecting from available themes and AI image generators.

4. Review each card, make any necessary edits, and click “Generate” to finalize.

Pro tip: Check out our exclusive workshop on creating stunning, on-brand content fast with Gamma here. Additionally, full Rundown University members enjoy a free monthly Gamma Pro plan.

PRESENTED BY FREEPIK

💡 Creative minds meet AI innovation in San Francisco

The Rundown: Upscale Conf is bringing together the brightest minds in AI-powered creativity for two immersive days of inspiration, experimentation, and networking at SF JAZZ on May 20-21.

The two-day experience features:

• Talks and workshops by industry experts like John Maeda, Gmunk, Comfy, and more

• On-stage live AI music generation with immersive experience

• Opportunities to connect with fellow global innovators from design, art, and tech

Get your tickets now with 50% off, exclusive to The Rundown AI readers.

ALIBABA

🔎 Alibaba's Zerosearch teaches AI to search solo

Image source: Reve / The Rundown

The Rundown: Alibaba researchers introduced ZeroSearch, a technique that teaches AI systems to search for info without using real search engines — cutting training costs by 88% while matching or outperforming the models trained with actual search APIs.

The details:

• ZeroSearch removes the need for expensive search engine API calls during training by using an LLM to simulate search results.

• A "curriculum-based rollout strategy" gradually lowers the quality of these simulated documents, progressively challenging the AI to refine its reasoning.

• The approach avoids the high API costs and unpredictable document quality associated with training AI on live commercial search engines.

• In testing, ZeroSearch was able to match or outperform models trained with real search engines, while reducing costs by nearly 90%.

Why it matters: As we’ve seen in robotics, using simulations for training data is proving to be both an effective and cheaper option. Techniques like ZeroSearch could eliminate a major financial barrier for smaller labs competing with tech giants, while also giving better control over how models learn to find and process information.

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• 🔌 Anthropic Web Search API - Connect Claude applications to the web

• 🤖 Medium 3 - Mistral’s new low-cost, high-performance model

• 📊 Le Chat Enterprise - Mistral’s AI assistant for business environments

• 🎨 Figma Make - Turn designs into interactive prototypes with prompts

💼 AI Job Opportunities

• 🤝 Abridge - Strategic Partnerships Director

• 🎬 OpenAI - Integrated Producer

• 🏗️ xAI - Construction Supervisor

• 🛠️ Figure AI - Staff NPI Engineer

📰 Everything else in AI today

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reportedly in talks with OpenAI to integrate AI into the drug development and review process.

Meta is appointing former staffer Robert Fergus as the new head of its Facebook AI Research Lab, as he returned to Meta this year after a five-year stint at DeepMind.

Amazon is reportedly developing its own AI coding app, code-named ‘Kiro’, which will leverage agents for developer tasks and feature multimodal capabilities.

Shopify released a new upgrade to its Sidekick AI assistant, integrating new reasoning capabilities and free image generation tools for merchants on the platform.

Augment Code unveiled Remote Agent, allowing developers to delegate coding tasks to cloud-based AI assistants that continue working even when laptops are closed.

Amazon launched Enhance My Listing, a new AI-powered tool that helps sellers maintain and optimize product listings on the platform.

Hugging Face released Open Computer Agent, a free (but slow) computer-using agent to tackle simple multi-step tasks.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop this Friday, May 9th, at 4 PM EST with Dr. Alvaro Cintas, The Rundown’s AI professor. By the end of the workshop, you’ll you’ll be equipped to prompt with precision and creativity across any AI tool and improve AI responses.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

🤝 Share The Rundown, get rewards

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See you soon,

Rowan, Joey, Zach, Alvaro, and Jason—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, robotics enthusiasts. Amazon just unveiled Vulcan — its most advanced warehouse robot, equipped with a sense of touch that allows it to handle a vast array of items with human-like finesse.

Amazon is revolutionizing warehouse automation—but what does that mean for the company’s 1.5M human warehouse workers? The future of work is changing fast.

In today’s robotics rundown:

• Amazon’s Vulcan with a ‘sense of touch’

• This drone attracts and controls lightning

• Meet Goby: A tiny, hackable $100 bot

• Stanford teaches robots to move like us

• Quick hits on other robotics news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

AMAZON

📦 Amazon’s Vulcan with a ‘sense of touch’

Image source: Amazon

The Rundown: Amazon just unveiled Vulcan, a cutting-edge robot that it says has a true “sense of touch,” allowing it to pick and sort three-quarters of the items in the company’s vast warehouse stock, a job handled predominantly by humans.

The details:

• Vulcan’s grippers come with force feedback sensors that can determine how much pressure to apply when handling packages, including fragile ones.

• The robot’s arm has a “spatula-like” end effector that can extract items from densely packed compartments that were previously only accessible to humans.

• Its tactile sensors and AI-powered interpretation allow for precise, adaptive motion strategies and real-time learning from physical interactions.

• Vulcan can handle about 75% of the 1M different items in a typical Amazon warehouse, besting older robots that relied on vision and suction alone.

Why it matters: Vulcan can run up to 20 hours a day and is already deployed in U.S. and German warehouses, where it has processed hundreds of thousands of orders. Amazon maintains the robot won’t replace workers, but its ability to learn and improve over time suggests a future where roles could shift significantly.

DRONE INNOVATIONS

⚡️ This drone attracts and controls lightning

Image source: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.

The Rundown: A Tokyo-based tech giant says that it has developed and successfully tested the world’s first drone-based system capable of actively triggering and guiding lightning strikes — channeling their immense power safely to the ground.

The details:

• Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. tested a drone encased in a metal Faraday cage, trailing conductive wire connected to a ground-based switch.

• During a storm, the team launched the drone at an altitude of 300 meters, then flipped a high-voltage switch to induce a lightning strike.

• During tests, the drone survived direct lightning strikes with only partial melting of the cage and was able to remain airborne and operational.

• The technology could potentially help mitigate the up to $1.4B in annual lightning-related damages in Japan.

Why it matters: This technology offers a significant advancement over fixed lightning rods and can be rapidly deployed to protect vulnerable sites such as wind turbines or outdoor venues. Beyond protection, the company is also exploring the possibility of harnessing and storing lightning’s power as a renewable energy source.

CHARMED LABS

🐭 Meet Goby: A tiny, hackable $100 bot

Image source: Charmed Labs

The Rundown: If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing the world through the eyes of a mouse, you can now do that, with the Goby — a telepresence robot created by Austin’s Charmed Labs. It’s tiny, hackable, and priced at only $100.

The details:

• Currently crowdfunding for its initial release, Goby is entirely reprogrammable with nothing more than a USB cable and the Arduino IDE.

• The robot comes equipped with two independently motorized wheels and a unique articulated tail supported by a small ball. 

• It features an ESP32-S3 and an OmniVision OV2640 camera sensor for live video feed, a 3-axis accelerometer, and wheel odometry sensors.

• Its BitBang software enables encrypted, low-latency WebRTC peer-to-peer connections, allowing anyone with the URL to control Goby from anywhere.

Why it matters: Home robot rivals include Loona and Enabot, but Goby stands out for being open source, hackable, and very affordable — offering a unique platform for both fun and practical applications like inspecting tight or hazardous spaces. Plus, setup via a QR code takes minutes, and you can share remote control access too.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

🕺🏻Stanford teaches robots to move like us

Image source: Stanford University

The Rundown: This week, Stanford University roboticists released a new paper and demo videos showing how their TWIST real-time teleoperation framework enables humanoids to precisely mimic how humans move.

The details:

• TWIST enables real-time teleoperation of humanoid robots by directly imitating human whole-body motions using motion capture (MoCap) data.

• Under the hood, it uses a unified neural network controller, trained via reinforcement learning, allowing the robot to perform coordinated skills.

• A two-stage framework trains a teacher policy with future motion data for smooth actions, then distills it into a student policy using only current data.

• TWIST shows versatility on robots like the Unitree G1, enabling tasks such as picking up objects, kicking, and crouching, all controlled by a human operator.

Why it matters: Compared to systems like H20, which uses an RGB camera, TWIST leverages high-fidelity MoCap for sophisticated teacher-student training. Limitations include the lack of visual or tactile feedback for operators and robots overheating during prolonged use. Still, it paves the way for more functional humanoids.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in robotics today

Igus, a motion plastics manufacturer in Germany, unveiled its Iggy Rob industrial humanoid, standing 1.7 meters tall and priced at around $54K.

Hugging Face released Open Computer Agent, an open-source, Operator-like AI agent tool that can perform tasks on the web.

Chinese firm Unitree and San Francisco-based Reborn announced a partnership to co-develop advanced AI specifically for Unitree’s humanoids.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is urging an investigation into Unitree's operations within U.S. prisons and police forces, citing potential security risks.

Zoox, Amazon’s autonomous vehicle unit, paused operations of its driverless testing program and recalled its software following a crash in Las Vegas on April 8.

Chinese company Kepler began testing its fifth-generation humanoid K2, nicknamed 'Bumblebee,' on the SAIC-GM automotive assembly line.

University of Rochester researchers developed a new text-to-video model that learns real-world physics knowledge from time-lapse videos.

Korean researchers developed an autonomous robot specifically designed for wiping and UV-C disinfection in hospitals to reduce human exposure to pathogens.

MIT engineers designed a ping-pong robotic arm that can return shots with high-speed precision.

MIT also developed a system that enables robots to use only internal sensors to learn about an object’s weight or contents by picking it up and gently shaking it.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop this Friday, May 9th, at 4 PM EST with Dr. Alvaro Cintas, The Rundown’s AI professor. By the end of the workshop, you’ll you’ll be equipped to prompt with precision and creativity across any AI tool and improve AI responses.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

See you soon,

Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. OpenAI is quickly evolving from tech company to geopolitical force, with a new initiative set to bring its massive Stargate project to nations worldwide.

With a goal of fostering AI on ‘democratic rails’ and building out infrastructure across U.S. allies, the tech is starting to shape the new global power structure — and OpenAI is looking to be at the head of the table.

In today’s AI rundown:

• OpenAI takes its Stargate project global

• Figma adds AI across its design suite

• Speed through your emails with Superhuman

• Mistral’s cost-efficient AI and enterprise platform

• 4 new AI tools & 4 job opportunities

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

OPENAI

🌍 OpenAI takes its Stargate project global

Image source: o3 / The Rundown

The Rundown: OpenAI just launched "OpenAI for Countries," a new global initiative to help nations build out their AI infrastructure and customize AI tools for local needs — while also extending its $500B Stargate project's ambitions worldwide.

The details:

• The initiative will partner with governments to build in-country data centers and tailor OpenAI’s products for specific languages and cultural contexts.

• OpenAI plans to create custom versions of ChatGPT for citizens in partner countries to improve areas like healthcare, education, and public services.

• Funding will be collaborative between OpenAI and participating countries, with an initial goal of 10 international projects in democratically aligned nations.

• OpenAI said the partnerships will further the “continued US-led AI leadership” and act as a “global, growing network effect" for democratic AI.

Why it matters: OpenAI is going global with its massive Stargate initiative, positioning itself as an ambassador for the U.S. and a shepherd of building AI on ‘democratic rails’. The move goes far beyond business, with the startup now potentially shaping both international relations and power structures with the most important tech in history.

TOGETHER WITH QWIET

🛡️ Security that moves at development speed

The Rundown: As development cycles accelerate, security often struggles to keep up. Qwiet AI developed the first Agentic AI solution that works alongside developers to detect, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities — enabling security to keep pace with rapid code creation.

With Qwiet AI, you can:

• Identify vulnerabilities the moment they appear with faster, more accurate analysis

• Focus on what matters with smart prioritization based on reachability and exploitability

• Let AI handle remediation by automatically generating secure code fixes

Get a demo today and see why Qwiet AI just won the SC Award for Best Application Security Solution.

FIGMA

🎨 Figma adds AI across its design suite

Image source: Figma

The Rundown: Figma announced a flurry of AI-infused products across its design suite at its Config 2025 event, broadening its platform with AI-powered coding, website publishing, advanced vector drawing, and marketing asset creation.

The details:

• Figma Make introduces prompt-to-code capabilities, allowing users to transform designs into interactive prototypes using natural language and AI.

• Figma Sites lets designers publish working websites directly from designs with a single click, with upcoming AI-powered code generation for animations.

• Figma Draw integrates AI-assisted capabilities within its vector editing environment, making complex illustration tasks more accessible.

• Figma Buzz offers a dedicated space for teams to create on-brand marketing assets, featuring AI tools for image editing, generation, and copywriting.

Why it matters: The design giant has entered the “vibe coding” space, now competing with the wave of AI coding platforms — while also taking on Canva, Adobe, WebFlow, and Framer in the process. With AI upgrades that bring an entire web of design needs under one already widely used ecosystem, Figma just made a BIG move for the AI era.

AI TRAINING

📧 Speed through your emails with Superhuman

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you will learn how to transform email management with Superhuman, which offers a clean interface, keyboard shortcuts, and AI features that help you process emails faster and reach inbox zero.

Step-by-step:

1. Sign up on Superhuman's website and connect your Gmail or Outlook account.

2. The setup wizard will help you synchronize labels and clean up your initial inbox view.

3. Process emails quickly by pressing “E” to archive them or set reminders (Command K → "Remind me") to deal with them later.

4. Use AI to write responses faster - press Command J and enter a few bullet points to generate complete, personalized email drafts.

Pro tip: Check out our exclusive hands-on experience workshop on using Superhuman’s AI to draft, label, and follow up emails here. Additionally, full Rundown University members enjoy a free month of Superhuman Pro.

PRESENTED BY TELNYX

🗣️ AI that talks like a human

The Rundown: Telnyx gives you a single platform for building natural, context-aware AI assistants across voice and messaging channels without stitching together multiple tools or vendors.

With Telnyx, you can build AI assistants that:

• Respond in real time with ultra-low latency

• Personalize and continue conversations with built-in memory

• Deploy across voice and messaging channels from one platform

Start building your assistant today.

MISTRAL

🚀 Mistral’s cost-efficient AI and enterprise platform

Image source: Mistral

The Rundown: French AI startup Mistral released Medium 3, a new AI model that delivers high-end performance at drastically lower costs — alongside a new Le Chat Enterprise platform designed specifically for business environments.

The details:

• Medium 3 matches or surpasses models like Claude 3.7 Sonnet, GPT-4o, and Llama 4 Maverick across a variety of benchmarks despite 8x lower costs.

• Enterprise integrates with corporate tools like Google Drive and SharePoint, with features like custom agent building, document libraries, and more.

• The platform also supports flexible deployment options, including both public and private virtual clouds and on-premises hosting, with strict privacy controls.

• Mistral also hinted at a potential open-source release of its Large model in the coming weeks, despite Medium being closed (for now).

Why it matters: Mistral’s cost-effective Medium shows strong benchmarks, though still a step down from the top models — making the upcoming Large release one to watch. The enterprise platform could appeal particularly to those with strict security requirements, especially those concerned about data governance under EU regulations.

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• 🤖 Gemini 2.5 Pro - New update with SOTA coding capabilities

• 🗣️ Avatar IV - Generate lifelike characters from just one image and voice script

• 🎥 LTXV - Lighttrick’s video model with fast generations

• 📢 Google AI Max - Optimize and expand the reach of search ad campaigns

💼 AI Job Opportunities

• 🎨 The Rundown - Designer (Brand & Platform)

• 🌍 Hebbia - Regional Sales Leader

• 🦙 Meta - Director, Llama Marketing

• 📊 Databricks - Strategic Account Executive

📰 Everything else in AI today

Apple is exploring a pivot to AI search to power Safari, with senior VP Eddy Cue saying options like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic will replace traditional search.

Anthropic unveiled a web search API, enabling developers to build applications where Claude can search the web for up-to-date info and provide answers with citations.

Google pushed an update to its Gemini 2.0 Flash image generation model, increasing output quality with better text rendering and reduced content restrictions.

Netflix introduced a UI update that includes a new OpenAI-powered natural language search feature for easier content discovery on the platform.

LinkedIn announced a new AI-powered job search tool allowing users to find career opportunities that match their dream roles using natural language commands.

Ace Studio released ACE-Step v1-3.5B, an ultra-fast, open-source music model capable of creating four-minute clips in just 20 seconds with structure control.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop this Friday, May 9th, at 4 PM EST with Dr. Alvaro Cintas, The Rundown’s AI professor. By the end of the workshop, you’ll you’ll be equipped to prompt with precision and creativity across any AI tool and improve AI responses.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

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Rowan, Joey, Zach, Alvaro, and Jason—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. The AI leaderboard just got another shakeup, with Google dropping a new Gemini 2.5 Pro version right ahead of its I/O event and taking coding and web development to the next level.

Google may have just taken the next step up the AI ladder — but with GPT-5, DeepSeek R2, and other powerhouse models waiting in the wings, the next generation of rivals may not be far behind.

In today’s AI rundown:

• Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro climbs leaderboards

• HeyGen brings new emotion to animations

• Create a personal financial assistant with Zapier Agents

• Lighttricks’ new open-source video model

• 4 new AI tools & 4 job opportunities

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

GOOGLE

🏆 Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro climbs leaderboards

Image source: Google

The Rundown: Google just released an early preview of Gemini 2.5 Pro I/O Edition, an update that dramatically improves coding and web development capabilities — pushing the model to the top spot across the AI leaderboard rankings.

The details:

• The update achieved the top score on the WebDev Arena leaderboard, surpassing the previous frontrunner, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, by a significant margin.

• The model brings enhanced performance for frontend and UI development, code transformation, editing, and creating sophisticated agentic workflows.

• 2.5 Pro also features new video understanding capabilities, enabling workflows like converting video content into interactive learning applications.

• In addition to coding, the model takes the No. 1 spot across all categories on the LM Arena leaderboard, beating OpenAI’s o3.

Why it matters: Google’s anticipated I/O event is still weeks away, but the tech giant couldn’t wait to flex its new powerhouse to the world. Much like December’s quiet barrage of SOTA upgrades, Google continues to ship top models without the hype. If the demos and early tests are any indication, vibe coding just leveled up in a big way.

TOGETHER WITH GAMMA

⚡The new standard for standout content

The Rundown: Gamma makes creating AI-driven presentations, social posts, and websites feel like magic — turning your prompts into professional content in seconds with no design skills (or headaches) needed.

Using Gamma's intuitive platform, you can:

• Transform simple prompts into complete, visually stunning presentations in minutes

• Turn boring docs into attention-grabbing content that actually gets read

• Build social media carousels, microsites, and more with no design or coding skills

• Collaborate live and maintain brand consistency with team-focused AI tools

Visit gamma.app today and join 50M other users quickly creating standout content.

HEYGEN

🗣️ HeyGen brings new emotion to animations

Image source: HeyGen

The Rundown: HeyGen just rolled out Avatar IV, a new AI model capable of creating lifelike and expressive animations from a single photo while capturing vocal nuances, natural gestures, and facial movements.

The details:

• A new diffusion-inspired ‘audio-to-expression’ engine analyzes voices to create photorealistic facial motion, micro-expressions, and hand gestures.

• The model requires just a single reference image and a voice script, and works with shots like side angles and various subjects like pets and anime characters.

• Avatar IV also supports portrait, half-body, and full-body formats, allowing for more dynamic and non-traditional video generations.

• HeyGen said the new model excels for videos, including influencer-style UGC, singing avatars, animated game characters, and expressive visual podcasts.

Why it matters: HeyGen continues to build on creating AI avatars that are virtually indistinguishable from reality, but new support for different camera shots and formats opens up completely new workflows that break free from the typical “talking head” avatars we’ve grown used to in AI generations.

AI TRAINING

💼 Create a personal financial assistant with Zapier Agents

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you will learn how to create an AI-powered system that automatically extracts information from invoices in Google Drive, categorizes expenses, and organizes everything in a Google Sheet for easy financial tracking.

Step-by-step:

1. Visit Zapier Agents, click the plus button, and create a New Agent

2. Click “Configure,” name your agent, and select “Add Behavior”

3. Set up Google Drive as the trigger for when a new invoice is uploaded and add three tools: Google Drive to retrieve the file, ChatGPT to extract invoice data, and Google Sheets to add the information to your spreadsheet

4. Test your agent and toggle it “On” to activate

Pro tip: Create a dedicated folder named “Invoices” in Google Drive to have the agent only look for new files there. Please make sure to double-check its responses as AI can hallucinate.

PRESENTED BY VANTA

🏥 Streamlining healthcare compliance in the AI era

The Rundown: AI is rewriting the rules for healthcare companies— and also raising the stakes for data security. Join Vanta, Modern Health, and US Med-Quip for an interactive panel on how leading teams are streamlining and scaling compliance with limited resources.

This discussion will explore:

• Real-world approaches to protecting sensitive patient data while adopting AI

• How to build scalable compliance frameworks with limited resources

• Practical ways to turn regulatory requirements into trust-building opportunities

• Future-proofing your compliance strategy as regulations evolve

Register here to save your spot.

LIGHTTRICKS

🎥 Lighttricks’ new open-source video model

Image source: Lighttricks

The Rundown: Lightricks unveiled LTXV-13B, an open-source AI video generation model that creates high-quality content 30x faster than existing models while being efficient enough to run on standard consumer hardware.

The details:

• The model uses “multiscale rendering,” a new approach that creates videos in layers of detail, allowing for smoother and more consistent renderings.

• It’s also able to run on everyday consumer GPUs while maintaining speed and quality, removing the need for expensive, enterprise-level computing power.

• New features include precise camera motion control, keyframe editing, and multi-shot sequencing tools for professional-quality results.

• LTXV is open source with free licensing for companies < $10M in revenue, and backed by partnerships with Getty Images and Shutterstock for training data.

Why it matters: There is no shortage of mind-blowing AI video models on the market, each making the options from just a year ago look like a completely different era of tech. With motion, consistency, speed, and efficiency continuing to scale and a flurry of high-quality open-source options, video creation is quickly changing forever.

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• 🦜 Parakeet - NVIDIA’s open-source ASR model for high-quality transcriptions

• 🎬 Higgsfield Effects - Cinematic VFX effects for video generations

• 🎥 Recraft Advanced Style Control - Mix ready-to-use styles with images

• ⚙️ Windsurf Wave 8 - New updates to the OpenAI-acquired coding platform

💼 AI Job Opportunities

• ⚖️ Cresta - Commercial Counsel

• 🔧 Figure AI - Maintenance Technician

• 🖥️ Meta - Production Engineering

• 🗂️ Glean - Office Manager

📰 Everything else in AI today

OpenAI is reportedly set to acquire coding platform Windsurf (previously named Codeium) for $3B, which would be the AI giant’s largest acquisition to date.

Google launched AI Max, a suite of features embedded into Search for advertisers to optimize and expand the reach of their campaigns.

Elon Musk’s attorney responded to OpenAI’s PBC restructuring, saying the move “changes nothing” and is a “transparent dodge that fails to address the core issues.”

Microsoft is reportedly a major holdout in OpenAI’s announced restructuring, wanting assurances that its $13.75B investment in the AI leader is protected in the new plans.

Smart ring maker OURA announced two new AI features that allow users to log their food, nutrition and monitor their glucose while receiving personalized guidance.

FutureHouse released Finch in closed beta, a new AI agent designed to handle data-driven biology analysis and discovery.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop this Friday, May 9th, at 4 PM EST with Dr. Alvaro Cintas, The Rundown’s AI professor. By the end of the workshop, you’ll you’ll be equipped to prompt with precision and creativity across any AI tool and improve AI responses.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

🤝 Share The Rundown, get rewards

We’ll always keep this newsletter 100% free. To support our work, consider sharing The Rundown with your friends, and we’ll send you more free goodies.

See you soon,

Rowan, Joey, Zach, Alvaro, and Jason—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Apple is planning a major shakeup of its iPhone business — with new models, including a long-rumored foldable iPhone, and a new release timeline designed to keep consumers wanting more.

With sales slowing, AI struggles, and looming Trump tariffs, will a whole new batch of iPhone form factors be enough to drive upgrades?

In today’s tech rundown:

• Apple’s iPhone shakeup, new foldables

• Google’s new TV and film production house

• DoorDash sweeps up Deliveroo and SevenRooms

• Function Health buys MRI scan startup Ezra

• Quick hits on other major news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

APPLE

🍏 Apple’s iPhone shakeup, new foldables

Image source: Apple

The Rundown: Apple is reportedly preparing a major overhaul of its flagship iPhone lineup to boost sales with a long-rumored foldable iPhone and a revamped release schedule — also on deck, a foldable iPad.

The details:

• Starting in 2026, Apple will swap how it launches new iPhones, moving away from its long-standing tradition of unveiling all models at once in the fall.

• Only the premium models will debut in the fall of 2026, including the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, a new ultrathin iPhone 18 Air, and the foldable iPhone.

• The standard iPhone 18 and the more affordable iPhone 18e will be released in the spring of the following year, likely around March 2027.

• An ultrathin iPhone is also expected later this year, with analysts predicting a foldable iPad by late 2026 and Bloomberg saying it could be as late as 2028.

Why it matters: It’s no secret that Apple’s iPhone business — which accounts for half of its revenue — has hit hard times. Whether the new shapes and schedules will boost consumer interest remains to be seen, but with pressures from China and Trump tariffs potentially raising iPhone prices, Apple is hoping for a win.  

GOOGLE

🍿 Google’s new film and TV production house

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: Apple has Apple Originals, and now Google wants to make its own mark. The tech giant just launched a film and TV production house dubbed 100 Zeros, with the quiet aim of promoting tech (especially its own) to young audiences.

The details:

• 100 Zeros reportedly plans to produce original content that subtly raises Google’s cool quotient and puts a positive spin on tech in general.

• The project is the result of a multi-year partnership with Range Media Partners, the production company behind films A Complete Unknown and Longlegs.

• Range’s mission is to find and develop projects that Google can help fund or co-produce, while weaving in next-gen tech into storylines.

• But rather than stream on YouTube or Google TV, Google reportedly plans to sell the productions to major streaming platforms and Hollywood studios. 

Why it matters: Instead of relying on product placement alone (as it did with White Lotus), Google aims to promote an overall positive view of tech to young viewers, as a kind of antidote to Black Mirror. In fact, the initiative quietly started last year with Neon’s horror film Cuckoo, which Google helped fund but had no hand in its content.

DOORDASH

🥡 DoorDash sweeps up Deliveroo and SevenRooms

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: DoorDash has been on a shopping spree, announcing today two major takeovers: a $3.9B purchase of UK-based food delivery service Deliveroo and a $1.2B acquisition of SevenRooms, a New York-based hospitality tech platform.

The details:

• DoorDash’s $3.9B takeover offer for Deliveroo is set to strengthen its presence in Europe and the Middle East; the deal is expected to close in late 2025.

• The SevenRooms deal will see DoorDash integrate advanced CRM, operations, and guest experience tools into its Commerce Platform.

• In turn, SevenRooms, which serves more than 13K venues globally, will benefit from DoorDash’s scale and resources to accelerate innovation.

• Despite the deals, DoorDash’s Q1 revenue of $3.03B missed Wall Street expectations, leading to a 4% share price drop following the announcements.

Why it matters: DoorDash is leading the pack in the U.S. food delivery market, with 67% of the market share over Uber Eats and Grubhub. These latest deals mark a bold pivot from its food delivery roots to becoming an omnichannel commerce powerhouse, while also expanding into coveted European markets.

FUNCTION HEALTH

🩺 Function Health buys MRI scan startup Ezra

Image source: Function Health

The Rundown: Blood testing startup Function Health just nabbed Ezra, a startup specializing in full-body MRI scanning, for an undisclosed amount and launched a new, 22-minute scan that costs $499.

The details:

• Function Health, backed by prominent American physician Dr. Mark Hyman, will integrate Ezra’s FDA-cleared, AI MRI tech into its preventive health platform.

• Their new full-body scan, priced at $499, marks a significant reduction from Ezra’s previous $1,495 price for a 30-minute scan.

• The scan is designed to screen for cancer and a host of other conditions and will be available through Ezra’s 70-plus locations in the U.S.

• Function Health’s core offering is a $499 annual membership that gives its users access to more than 160 blood tests, with results tracked over time.

Why it matters: The demand for tech-enabled health testing is on the rise, with Function raising $53M as of June 2024 and eying another $200M round at a $2B valuation. Rival Prenuvo also just raised $120M. Still, medical experts are cautious about the risks of overdiagnosis and the psychological impact of elective MRIs.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving unit, announced it is building more than 2K I-Pace robotaxis at a new factory in Arizona.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX now has a new city, as Texas residents living near the SpaceX launch and manufacturing complex voted to incorporate their community as Starbase.

Microsoft officially shut down its once-popular video calling service Skype, replacing it with a free-to-use version of Microsoft Teams for consumers.

Meta slashed 2K content moderation jobs in Barcelona, which handled French, Spanish, and Portuguese fact-checking across its social media platforms.

EV maker Rivian is receiving $16M in state incentives to build a new 1.2 million-square-foot supplier park in Normal, Illinois, with Rivian investing $120M.

OpenAI has reportedly agreed to buy AI-assisted coding tool Windsurf (formerly known as Codeium) for about $3B.

TeleMessage, makers of a modified version of Signal that archives messages for the U.S. government, has reportedly been hacked.

Tapple, a popular Japanese dating application, launched a new feature that enables users to verify their unmarried status via government-issued ID cards. 

Google is launching its AI chatbot, Gemini, for children under 13 who have parent-managed Google accounts through Google’s Family Link.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop today at 3 PM EST with Chris Cunningham and Joe Zapiain from ClickUp. In this live session, you’ll learn how to embed AI and automation directly into your ClickUp workspace to save time, reduce complexity, and scale your team's execution - without adding headcount.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

See you soon,

Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. Silicon Valley’s most controversial pivot is officially taking a U-turn, with OpenAI announcing a surprising restructuring that keeps its nonprofit firmly in control.

After months of legal battles with Elon Musk and protests from former employees and civic leaders, the AI leader’s for-profit push is history — but something tells us the drama is far from over.

P.S.: Our next workshop is today at 3 PM EST with ClickUp — join and learn how to embed AI and automation directly into your ClickUp workspace to save time, reduce complexity, and scale your team's execution. RSVP here.

In today’s AI rundown:

• OpenAI retains nonprofit control in surprise move

• Tech giants push for mandatory AI education

• Create professional spreadsheets with Canva Sheets

• Nvidia open-sources top-tier transcription AI

• 4 new AI tools & 4 job opportunities

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

OPENAI

🔄 OpenAI retains nonprofit control in surprise move

Image source: Getty Images

The Rundown: OpenAI just announced it will maintain nonprofit control as it transitions its business arm into a public benefit corporation (PBC), marking a major reversal of its polarizing previous plans to become a fully for-profit entity.

The details:

• The existing for-profit LLC will now transition into a PBC, a structure used by other mission-driven companies like Anthropic and Patagonia.

• Unlike previous considerations, the founding nonprofit organization will become a major shareholder and retain governance control over the new PBC.

• The move comes amid pressure from civic groups and former employees and a lengthy legal battle with Elon Musk over the original non-profit mission.

• Sam Altman detailed the decision to employees, saying the move will allow OAI to secure “trillions” to deliver beneficial AGI to the world.

Why it matters: After months of lawsuits and protests, OpenAI is backtracking on its for-profit ambitions. The PBC looks to thread a needle between the startup’s original nonprofit mission and the massive capital needed to create AGI — though it remains to be seen what this means for capital that was reportedly contingent on a for-profit turn.

TOGETHER WITH UNSTRUCTURED

🚀 Transform raw documents into structured data in minutes

The Rundown: With Unstructured, you can simply drag any document and get a structured JSON with no setup, no connectors, and no fuss.

Unstructured delivers:

• Instant results: See structured output side-by-side

• Easy customization: Add nodes for chunking, enrichment, and embedding

• Seamless scaling: Test a single file or process thousands with ease

• Transform PDFs, images, Word documents, emails, and more!

Try Unstructured for free today.

AI & EDUCATION

📣 Tech giants push for mandatory AI education

Image source: o3 / The Rundown

The Rundown: Over 250 tech leaders and CEOs from major companies just signed an open letter urging U.S. states to offer AI and computer science courses and make the subjects mandatory graduation requirements in high school.

The details:

• The letter emphasizes keeping the U.S. competitive with nations like China that already mandate AI education, and preparing students as AI "creators."

• It also highlights research that a single high school CS course can increase early wages by 8% across all career paths, regardless of college attendance.

• Key signatories include CEOs from Microsoft, LinkedIn, Adobe, AMD, Indeed, Khan Academy, Airbnb, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Zoom, Uber, and more.

• The push coincides with President Donald Trump's recent executive order establishing a White House task force to expand K-12 AI instruction.

Why it matters: Just as computer and internet learning became common throughout classrooms, AI is quickly becoming a vital skill— and one that will be applicable across every aspect of life. The next generation of students will need to be AI-native, and this move looks to make sure it’s a part of the educational curriculum.

AI TRAINING

📊 Create professional spreadsheets with Canva Sheets

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you will learn how to use Canva Visual Suite 2.0’s new spreadsheet tool with AI-powered features to automatically fill cells and extract instant data insights.

Step-by-step:

1. In Canva, click “Create” and select “Sheets” from the dropdown menu.

2. Choose a template or start from scratch to build your spreadsheet.

3. To automatically complete data patterns, select cells with partial data, right-click, and choose “Magic Fill.”

4. Generate insights by selecting your data, clicking “Magic Insights,” and asking questions like “What's my total budget?” or “Show performance by platform.”

Pro tip: You can save time by using templates for content calendars, budgets, or project trackers and then customizing them with your branding colors and fonts.

PRESENTED BY INNOVATING WITH AI

🚀 Launch a six‑figure AI consultancy in six months

The Rundown: Innovating With AI’s “The AI Consultancy Project” gives you the frameworks, playbooks, and client‑ready templates needed to turn “interesting AI ideas” into a revenue‑generating business – helping you ride the wave of an AI consulting boom expected to grow by 8x this decade.

In this program, you will:

• Gain the tools and frameworks to find clients and deliver top-notch services

• Follow a 6-month plan to build a 6-figure AI consulting business

• Join a 700‑strong cohort where some members landed their first AI client in 72 hours

Click here to request access to The AI Consultancy Project.

NVIDIA

🗣️ Nvidia open-sources top-tier transcription AI

Image source: Reve / The Rundown

The Rundown: Nvidia just released Parakeet V2, a powerful new open-source automatic speech recognition (ASR) model that can transcribe an hour of audio in a single second while achieving commercial-grade levels of accuracy.

The details:

• Parakeet took the top spot on the Open ASR leaderboard with a 6.05% Word Error Rate, beating top models like ElevenLabs’ Scribe and OpenAI’s Whisper.

• Released under a commercially permissive CC-BY-4.0 license, the 600M parameter model is fully open-source for developers and researchers.

• The model also includes advanced features like precise timestamping, capitalization, punctuation handling, and song-to-lyric transcription capabilities.

Why it matters: Nvidia continues to not only dominate the chip game but also release powerful and largely open-source models. The days of tedious transcriptions are long gone, and this open yet top-tier ASR model significantly lowers the barrier for building advanced speech applications.

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• 🧪 FutureHouse - AI research agents for accelerating scientific discovery

• 🤖 Olmo 2 1B - Ai2’s small but powerful open language model

• 🎹 Suno 4.5 - Next-gen AI music generation model

• 🔌 Zapier MCP - Connect your AI to thousands of apps

💼 AI Job Opportunities

• 📞 The Rundown - Account Manager

• 🎭 Meta - Creative Director

• 💰 OpenAI - Director of Treasury

• ✍️ Scale AI - Technical Writer

📰 Everything else in AI today

OpenAI CPO Kevin Weil said that their open model will be based on ‘Democratic values’ and a generation behind the frontier to avoid accelerating Chinese AI.

Coding platform Cursor’s parent company, AnySphere, raised $900M in new funding, bringing its valuation to nearly $9B.

OpenAI provided a detailed breakdown of recent GPT-4o sycophancy issues, announcing improved testing, an opt-in alpha phase, and stricter evaluation standards.

Anthropic launched its “AI for Science” program, offering free API credits to researchers in “high-impact” fields like drug discovery, genomics, and agriculture.

The United Arab Emirates announced mandatory AI education for all K-12 students starting this year, as part of the country’s strategy to establish regional AI leadership.

Pinterest unveiled new AI-powered visual search features, allowing users to find and describe their search queries using images instead of text.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop today at 3 PM EST with Chris Cunningham and Joe Zapiain from ClickUp. In this live session, you’ll learn how to embed AI and automation directly into your ClickUp workspace to save time, reduce complexity, and scale your team's execution - without adding headcount.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

🤝 Share The Rundown, get rewards

We’ll always keep this newsletter 100% free. To support our work, consider sharing The Rundown with your friends, and we’ll send you more free goodies.

See you soon,

Rowan, Joey, Zach, Alvaro, and Jason—The Rundown’s editorial team