Sam Altman, OpenAI will reportedly back a startup that takes on Musk’s Neuralink ↗
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is co-founding Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup valued at $850 million and backed by OpenAI’s ventures arm. Partnering with Alex Blania’s Tools for Humanity, Merge Labs will go head-to-head with Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which just raised $600 million at a $9 billion valuation and is testing implants for paralyzed patients.
The best Fitbits for your fitness and health ↗
Fitbit remains a go-to for everyday activity and health tracking in 2025, even as it undergoes Google-driven changes—account migrations, app redesigns, and leadership shakeups. The Pixel Watch 3 is the standout smartwatch, while the Inspire 3, Charge 6, and Ace LTE hit budget, fitness-tracker, and kids’ niches. All come with a free Fitbit Premium trial and frequent discounts. Google’s Pixel Watch 4 is rumored in August, but with ongoing server hiccups and a murky roadmap, buyers might wait or explore Garmin and Amazfit before diving in.
Elon Musk threatens Apple with lawsuit over OpenAI, sparking online feud with Sam Altman ↗
Elon Musk has accused Apple of antitrust violations, claiming its App Store favors OpenAI’s ChatGPT and blocks his AI startup xAI’s Grok from topping charts. Musk warned of immediate legal action after Grok ranked fifth while ChatGPT held the No.1 spot. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman fired back on X, accusing Musk of manipulating algorithms to benefit his own companies. The spat revives tensions between the former OpenAI co-founders amid wider regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s App Store practices.
Anthropic just made its latest move in the AI coding wars ↗
Anthropic just supercharged its AI in the coding contest. Its Claude Sonnet 4 can now juggle up to 1 million tokens—five times more than before—giving it far greater “working memory” to tackle complex code tasks. This boost helps it keep pace with rivals like OpenAI and Google.
AI companion apps on track to pull in $120M in 2025 ↗
A new Appfigures report finds 337 revenue-generating AI companion apps worldwide, with 128 launched in 2025. These apps earned $82 million in H1 and are projected to hit $120 million by year’s end. Downloads reached 220 million total (60 million in H1, up 88% YoY), driving $221 million in consumer spend (64% YoY gain). The top 10% of apps account for 89% of revenue, while revenue per download jumped from $0.52 to $1.18. Popular use cases include AI girlfriends, boyfriends and fantasy characters.
Google vet raises $8M for Continua to bring AI agents to group chats ↗
David Petrou, the ex-Google engineer behind Goggles and Glass, has raised an $8 million seed round for Continua, his startup that embeds AI agents directly into group chats on SMS, iMessage and Discord. The agents can jump in to set reminders, launch polls, add calendar invites or build shared docs—then “hang back” when not needed. Continua fine-tunes LLMs for multiuser dynamics, letting participants summon or silence the AI. Backed by GV and Bessemer, the startup plans future monetization through event planning and trip-booking features.
Perplexity offers to buy Chrome for billions more than it’s raised ↗
AI search startup Perplexity made a bold unsolicited $34.5B cash offer to buy Chrome from Google, pledging to keep its Chromium engine open-source, invest $3B in it, and leave default settings (including Google search) unchanged. The bid follows DOJ antitrust pressure that could force Chrome’s divestiture, despite Google’s vows to fight. The offer exceeds Perplexity’s $1.5B raised and its $18B valuation.
Quick fixes: bring back Google Photos classic search instead of ‘Ask Photos’ Gemini AI ↗
Fed up with Google Photos’ new AI-powered “Ask Photos” search? You can switch back to classic search in seconds: open the app, tap your Google account icon (top right), go to Photos settings > Preferences > Gemini features in Photos, then toggle off “Search with Ask Photos” or “Use Gemini in Photos.” Enjoy the speedy, familiar search experience you love.
Perplexity offers to buy Google Chrome for $34.5 billion ↗
AI startup Perplexity offered $34.5B to buy Google Chrome—nearly double its own $18B valuation. The unsolicited bid follows a promise to snap up Chrome if regulators force a sale and comes months after its TikTok offer. Google hasn’t shown interest, and no court order mandates a sale. Perplexity has lined up financing and plans to invest $3B in Chrome and Chromium over two years.
AI companies are chasing government users with steep discounts ↗
AI firms are wooing government clients with rock-bottom deals: OpenAI and Anthropic now offer ChatGPT and Claude to federal agencies for just $1 a year. xAI’s mid-July launch of Grok for Government intensifies the competition. Anthropic even outbid OpenAI by extending its offer across all three government branches. This race shows how quickly AI providers are moving to embed their chatbots in public-sector workflows.