In today’s newsletter ⬇️

• 🧰 4 AI tools to upgrade your workflow—fast.

• 💸 Musk’s xAI chases a historic $20 billion funding round.

• 🧠 Anthropic vows to crack the AI black box by 2027.

• 🚀 Manus lands a $500M bet from Benchmark.

• 🤖 Physical AI is no longer sci-fi—it’s moving into reality.

• 📚 Expert picks + quick links to stay sharp this week.

🚀 Top Tools of the Week!

• Listen Labs: Instant AI interviews.

• OpenAI Image API: For Instant Image Creation.

• Genspark: AI that calls, edits, slides and so much more!

• CopyAI: Tool for creating marketing content. 

News from The WEST 👈:

• 💸 Musk’s xAI Eyes Record-Breaking Fundraise

  Elon Musk’s xAI Holdings is reportedly close to raising the second-largest private funding round in history — eyeing $6B+ at an $18B–$24B valuation.

  💡 Why it matters: If successful, xAI could secure enough firepower to challenge OpenAI and Anthropic head-on — escalating the AI arms race.

  👉 Read more

• 🧠 Anthropic Wants to "Open" the AI Black Box

  Anthropic’s CEO announced a mission to crack open the inner workings of AI models — aiming for real explainability by 2027.

  💡 Why it matters: Today’s AI systems are powerful but opaque. Making them interpretable could unlock safer, more controllable AI — and shake up regulation worldwide.

  👉 Read more

• 🏛️ DeepMind Faces Union Push Over Political Ties

  DeepMind’s UK employees are reportedly moving to unionize, raising concerns about the company’s collaborations with Israeli-linked projects.

  💡 Why it matters: As AI becomes central to global conflicts, internal employee movements could reshape how tech giants handle political, ethical, and national security pressures.

  👉 Read more

News from The EAST 👉:

• 🌏 Xi Calls for Total AI Self-Sufficiency

  China’s President Xi Jinping doubled down on AI independence, urging domestic companies to eliminate reliance on U.S. technologies.

  💡 Why it matters: A fully self-sufficient China in AI could accelerate a split in the global tech landscape — creating two competing AI superpowers.

  👉 Read more

• 💸 Manus Secures $500M Valuation from Benchmark

  Chinese AI startup Manus reportedly raised funding from Benchmark Capital, reaching a $500M valuation.

  💡 Why it matters: Venture capital is quietly betting big on China’s next AI generation — even as U.S.-China tensions mount.

  👉 Read more

• ⚡ Huawei Strikes Back With a New AI Chip

  Huawei unveiled a new AI chip designed to rival Nvidia, despite facing major supply chain constraints under U.S. sanctions.

  💡 Why it matters: Nvidia’s dominance in AI hardware isn’t guaranteed. If Huawei's chips prove competitive, expect major shifts in the global AI compute race.

  👉 Read more

🧠 Physical AI Is Here—and It’s Moving Fast

Key Intel:

• Traditional AI could think.

• Generative AI could create.

• Physical AI can now think, move, and act — in the real world.

• Imagine robots that don't just follow commands, but adapt, learn, and problem-solve on the fly.

Why It Matters:
The next wave of AI won't live inside your laptop. It’ll walk, drive, build, and heal alongside you.
Generative Physical AI is already rewriting industries—from warehouse bots that reroute themselves, to surgical robots that adjust mid-operation.
And this is just the beginning.

• Elements of AI – A free, beginner-friendly course by the University of Helsinki.

• Harvard's Free AI Training Dataset – A high-quality dataset of public-domain books for AI training.​

• Peter Yang: Favorite AI Tools & Workflows – A personal guide to AI tools and workflows.

Whether it’s improving your SEO, launching on platforms like Product Hunt, managing newsletters, or building a strong LinkedIn presence, we’re here to help. Curious to see how we can work together?

In today’s newsletter ⬇️

• 🧰 4 AI tools that’ll 10x your workflow this week.

• 🐑 Meta’s Llama 4 is here—and it’s not playing

• 🎮 Microsoft drops an AI-made Quake II demo (but it’s… rough)

• 📉 Samsung’s profits take a 21% AI chip hit

• 🧠 DeepSeek’s new method makes AI way smarter

• 📚 Quick links + must-read resources to level up 👀

🚀 Top Tools of the Week!

• Dream Studio Beta - Mind-blowing visuals with Stable Diffusion 3.5.

• Fiverr Logo Maker - Create a stunning logo in seconds.

• Lexica - Snap your imagination into epic AI art.

• AI Dungeon - Be the hero of your own adventure.

News from The WEST 👈:

• 🚨 Meta Drops Llama 4 — And It’s a Beast
  Meta just launched Llama 4, its newest open-weight AI model lineup—and it’s gunning straight for GPT-4’s throne. The models are already available to researchers, with Llama 4b (smaller, faster) landing first, and the full-scale Llama 4 model coming soon.

  💡 Why it matters: Meta’s Llama family is no longer playing catch-up—this release could seriously shake up the open-source AI scene.

  🔗 Read More

• 🚨 Microsoft’s AI-Generated Quake II Demo Drops—With a Catch
  Microsoft just dropped a Quake II level entirely generated by AI, showing off its latest Copilot Runtime tools. The twist? They admit it’s clunky and needs major refinement. It's cool, but not quite ready for primetime.

  💡 Why it matters: AI in game dev is real—but still rough around the edges. This demo shows what’s possible (and what’s not... yet).

  🔗 Watch the demo here

• 🚨 OpenAI & Microsoft Hit with Merged Copyright Lawsuits
  A U.S. court just combined several lawsuits from authors and news publishers accusing OpenAI and Microsoft of copyright infringement. The consolidated case will play out in New York and could set major legal precedent.

  💡 Why it matters: This could reshape how AI companies use training data—and who gets paid when AI learns from your content.

  🔗 Catch the full story

News from The EAST 👉:

• 🚨 Samsung Forecasts 21% Profit Drop—AI Chips to Blame
  Samsung expects Q1 profits to slump 21%, citing weak AI chip demand and ongoing losses in its foundry business. Not exactly the AI gold rush they hoped for.

  💡 Why it matters: Even the giants are feeling the pressure—AI chip wars aren’t always a win, especially when demand cools.

  🔗 More on this here

• 🚨 Japan’s Rapidus in Talks to Mass-Produce Chips with U.S. Tech Giants
  Japan's homegrown chipmaker Rapidus is deep in talks with American tech companies to start mass production of next-gen semiconductors. Their goal? Be the global alternative to TSMC by 2027.

  💡 Why it matters: The U.S.-Japan chip alliance could be key to countering China's dominance—and reshaping the global AI supply chain.

  🔗 Explore the partnership

• 🚨 DeepSeek Reveals New AI Reasoning Method
  China’s DeepSeek just dropped a new technique aimed at improving LLM reasoning performance. Early tests show it boosts accuracy significantly without bloating compute costs.

  💡 Why it matters: DeepSeek’s momentum isn’t slowing. This breakthrough could make it a serious rival to GPT and Claude in reasoning-heavy tasks.

  🔗 See how it works

The Best AI Apps of 2025—and What’s Fueling Their Success 🚀👀

AI-powered subscription apps aren’t just trending—they’re outperforming nearly every other category in the store.

From ChatGPT and Jasper to Perplexity and Remini, the best AI apps of 2025 are:

• Launching faster

• Monetizing smarter

• Earning 400x more than the average app.

And here’s the kicker—most don’t even offer free trials anymore. They’re that confident.

📈 Key Intel:

• AI apps now make $0.63 per install (2x the industry average).

• General AI assistants pulled in $726M+ revenue in 2024 alone.

• Only 14% offer trials—yet trial start rates are 96%.

• The best apps use smarter pricing, better onboarding & vertical focus.

💡 Why It Matters:
If you're building or investing in apps and not thinking about AI—you're already behind. The winners in 2025 are the ones blending fast dev cycles with smart monetization, personalization, and real value.

• AI Tools Every Developer Must Master in 2025

• 8 Effective Ways to Boost User Engagement!

• 30 GPT Hacks to become a PRO!

Whether it’s improving your SEO, launching on platforms like Product Hunt, managing newsletters, or building a strong LinkedIn presence, we’re here to help. Curious to see how we can work together?