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OpenAI pulls “io” branding after ruling

Trademark suit halts OpenAI hardware push

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

A federal judge has ordered OpenAI and Jony Ive to stop marketing their new $6.5B AI hardware venture after a trademark complaint from Google-backed startup IYO.

The court said IYO’s case was strong enough to move forward, citing name confusion between “io” and “iyO,” both developing AI-native hardware.

OpenAI has since pulled its May 21 announcement and removed all branding tied to the project.

The case is now set for a hearing in October.

Switching gears:

AI videos are blowing up like never before.

Why?

Because AI is flooding your feed with 100 times more of the content you already love like ASMR, POV & vlog-style clips, gaming demos, and fan parodies.

Admit it, you’ve seen at least one and couldn’t stop watching.

Seriously, I never thought I’d binge an AI-animated show. But here we are…and I’m glad I’m not the only one, haha.

I’ve talked about Mean Orange Cat before (twice) because I’m genuinely a big fan.

Now Episode 3 is out and the quality boost from Veo 3 is clear. Posted on LinkedIn.

I love this because we’re literally watching a multimillion-dollar brand being built with AI.

OK let’s keep going ↓

Here’s what you should know:

The numbers:

  • Harvey AI raised $300M at a $5B valuation just four months after hitting $3B, signaling rapid adoption of legal AI tools.

  • PhysicsX secured $135M Series B led by Atomico (with backing from Siemens, Temasek, Applied Materials, etc.), now totaling nearly $170M in funding.

  • Zuckerberg is leading a major AI hiring push with offers reaching $100M+ total comp to lure top talent.

  • Andy Konwinski, co-founder of Databricks and Perplexity, launched the Laude Institute with a $100M pledge to fund independent AI research.

  • Conquest Planning raised $80M Series B to expand its AI-powered financial advice platform, led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives.

  • Wiley nearly doubled its AI licensing revenue to $40M in fiscal 2025, driven by an $18M deal with a major tech company.

  • Botpress raised $25M in Series B to expand its platform for building and deploying AI agents.

  • Snowcap Compute raised $23M to build superconducting AI chips, with ex-Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger joining the board.

  • Sanmai Technologies raised $12M led by Reid Hoffman to build an AI-powered ultrasound headset for brain health and mental wellness.

Thought starters:

Meme of the day:

Thanks for reading,

Eddie

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