TL;DR

xAI sues Apple/OpenAI for antitrust; OpenAI hits $1B/month but faces GPU crunch; Google launches Gemini 2.5 Flash.

Highlights

• xAI and X (Elon Musk) filed a $1B antitrust lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, alleging collusion in AI chatbot and smartphone integration that blocks rivals 1.
• OpenAI reported its first $1B revenue month but warns of a critical GPU shortage; launches $500B Stargate data center project with Oracle and SoftBank 2.
• Google launched Gemini 2.5 Flash/Nano Banana, an advanced AI image generation and editing model, now top-rated and free on Vertex AI, with watermarking for provenance 34.
• Nvidia began shipping Jetson AGX Thor, a high-performance robotics AI module, with early adoption by Amazon , Meta , Boston Dynamics, and others 5.
• IBM and AMD announced a partnership to build quantum-centric supercomputers combining IBM quantum processors and AMD hardware 6.
• 44 U.S. state attorneys general warned major AI companies—including OpenAI , Google , xAI, and Meta —over child-safety failures in chatbots, threatening legal action 7.
• Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun sued Perplexity AI in Tokyo for ¥4.4B (C:JPYUSD ) ($30M), alleging copyright infringement via unauthorized article use 8.
• China’s State Council set a 2027 goal for 70% AI adoption in key sectors and 70% AI chip self-sufficiency, with local mandates and Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip 915.
• Saudi AI startup Humain began building two Nvidia -powered data centers, seeks U.S. export clearance for 18,000 Nvidia accelerators 10.
• Perplexity launched Comet Plus, a $5/month subscription that pays publishers 80% of revenue, amid ongoing copyright litigation 11.
• Stanford study found generative AI adoption led to a 13% decline in entry-level employment in exposed U.S. occupations 13.
• Fitch Ratings warned that generative AI could compress software vendor margins, as most pilots fail to deliver ROI 14.
• YouTube secretly used AI to edit select Shorts videos (e.g., face smoothing) without creator consent, sparking creator backlash 12.

Commentary

Legal and regulatory scrutiny is intensifying across the AI sector. The xAI lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI alleges exclusionary practices in AI chatbot integration, adding to existing antitrust and App Store concerns 1. Simultaneously, 44 state attorneys general are signaling readiness to enforce child-safety standards on AI platforms, citing specific incidents involving Meta , Google , and Character.ai 7. Copyright litigation is also accelerating, with Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun joining a global wave of lawsuits against AI firms like Perplexity, even as Perplexity attempts to address publisher concerns with new revenue-sharing models 811.

On the technology and infrastructure front, OpenAI’s record revenue comes with warnings of a persistent GPU shortage, prompting massive investments in compute infrastructure such as the Stargate project 2. Google ’s Gemini 2.5 Flash/Nano Banana launch highlights rapid progress in AI image generation, with strong benchmarks and enterprise rollout, challenging both startups and incumbents 34. Nvidia ’s Jetson AGX Thor expands the AI hardware race to robotics and edge devices, with early adoption from major industrial and tech players 5.

Geopolitical competition in AI hardware and adoption is escalating. China’s new blueprint mandates 70% AI adoption and chip self-sufficiency by 2027, with local governments requiring domestic chips and Huawei’s Ascend 910B gaining traction 915. Saudi Arabia is similarly investing in domestic AI compute capacity, leveraging Nvidia chips and U.S. partnerships, and seeking export clearances amid ongoing U.S. controls 10.

Market and labor implications are coming into sharper focus. Fitch warns that generative AI is disrupting software vendor economics, with most pilots failing to deliver production ROI and pressure mounting on firms to monetize differentiated features 14. Stanford’s study quantifies early labor displacement, with entry-level roles in exposed fields seeing a 13% employment drop 13. Meanwhile, YouTube’s undisclosed AI-driven content edits raise questions about transparency and creator rights in digital media 12.