Apple and Perplexity partnership rumor

👋 Good morning/evening (wherever you are). It’s Tuesday.

The rumor is that Apple is exploring a collaboration with Perplexity as it considers bringing their technology to iPhones. The move could offer an alternative to Google search and give Apple more options for Siri, without using ChatGPT.

Switching gears:

Ever heard of the “Prompt Theory”?

It’s going viral.

It’s the idea that when AI characters openly admit they’re artificial, they stop trying to be real…and become unsettlingly honest instead.

You’ve probably seen a few of these already, but this is the best Prompt Theory video I’ve seen. Just posted it on my LinkedIn.

This might be a good time to rewatch Westworld (streaming on Amazon and Tubi).

If you’ve never heard of this show…watch the infamous restaurant scene with Anthony Hopkins and the bar scene with Ed Harris and James Marsden.

OK let’s keep going ↓

Here’s what you should know:

• FDA approves first AI tool to predict breast cancer risk

  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted De Novo authorization to Clairity Breast, the first-ever AI-powered platform that predicts a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer over the next five years—using only a standard mammogram. De Novo authorization is especially meaningful as it marks the very first platform of its kind.

• The OpenAI board drama is turning into a movie called ‘Artificial’

  Andrew Garfield, 'A Complete Unknown' scene-stealer Monica Barbaro, and 'Anora' actor Yura Borisov are circling lead roles in the story of Sam Altman's firing and rehiring.

• Yoshua Bengio launches LawZero

  Yoshua Bengio, the most-cited AI researcher in the world and A.M. Turing Award winner announced the launch of LawZero, a new nonprofit organization committed to advancing research and developing technical solutions for safe-by-design AI systems.

• Constellation, Meta sign 20-year deal

  Beginning in 2027, the tech giant will purchase about 1.1 gigawatts of power from Constellation’s Clinton Clean Energy Center in Illinois. Without Meta’s backing, the plant was in danger of premature closure.

• Manus launches video generation

  The team rolled out image generation a couple weeks ago. What they’re building could be a perfect fit for small businesses and ecomm teams.

• U.S. Special Ops leader highlights AI’s usefulness beyond battlefield

  While speaking at the AI+ Expo in Washington today, Socom's vice commander, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Frank L. Donovan, said AI tools are helping the command build its budget and run more efficiently at the administrative level.

• OpenAI is rolling out light version of memory improvements for Free users

  Free users have a lightweight version of memory improvements that provides short term continuity across conversations. Memory for Plus and Pro users provides a longer term understanding of the user.

• Lockheed Martin launches an AI fight club

  What’s the first rule of Fight Club? Well, I think they broke the rule…because there’s a 36-second YouTube video announcement.

• Intuit supercharges GenOS for delivery of Agentic AI

  For example, agentic AI built with GenOS is automatically processing accounts receivable and accounts payable with QuickBooks Online. AI agents have also been deployed to automate conversion of U.S. and state tax code updates into TurboTax for tax year 2025.

• Texas A&M launches AI and Business minor

  The minor, featuring five specialized courses taught by leading AI faculty at Mays, combines hands-on experience with practical applications of artificial intelligence in business settings. The curriculum includes generative AI, business storytelling, machine learning, multimodal AI agents, and deep learning applications.

The numbers:

• Kuwait’s $1T wealth fund joins Microsoft, BlackRock, xAI, and Nvidia in a $30B AI infrastructure push.

• Neuralink raises $650M Series E to expand patient access and push the boundaries of brain–computer interfaces.

• Prepared, an AI platform for emergency response, raises a $80M Series C to scale operations.

• Speedata, a chip startup competing with Nvidia, raises $44M Series B to expand its analytics processing units.

• Treefera, an AI-enabled data fabric for supply chains, raises $30M Series B to boost global transparency.

• Wordsmith AI, which helps in-house legal teams build AI agents for sales, procurement, and HR, raises a $25M Series A.

• Trustifi, an AI email security platform, raises $25M Series A to expand threat protection and compliance tools.

• Ciroos, creator of an AI SRE Teammate for DevOps teams, raises $21M to drive autonomous operations.

• dataplor, a global location intelligence startup, raises a $20.5M Series B to scale POI coverage in emerging markets.

Thought starters:

• The Catastrophic Risks of AI — and a Safer Path | Yoshua Bengio | TED

• Google I/O Afterparty: The Future of Human-AI Collaboration, From Veo to Mariner

• Teaching AI models what they don’t know

Meme of the day:

Thanks for reading,

Eddie

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