An AI power play 💰️

Plus: LinkedIn is accused of snooping on your DMs

January 24, 2025

Welcome back! Elon Musk isn’t so sure about the $500 billion Stargate initiative (ICYMI, I went deep on the project in a video this week, so keep on reading ⬇️). Just hours after the White House announced the massive AI infrastructure investment, Musk posted on X: “They don’t actually have the money.”

Sam Altman’s response? “Wrong, as you surely know.” 🍿 

Perplexity’s Sonar API takes aim at Google

Perplexity Co-Founder & CEO Aravind Srinivas, via TechCrunch

Will Perplexity take the search throne from Google and OpenAI? Perplexity just launched Sonar, a real-time AI search API, which offers developers access to citation-backed, up-to-the-minute web results. On top of that, it’s a fraction of the cost of tech giants’ models, with pricing as low as $5 per 1,000 queries.

The power play:

  • Real-time search makes Sonar a solid move for enterprise tools in need of fresh, reliable data, like financial analysis or breaking news coverage.

  • By underpricing industry giants, Perplexity is democratizing AI for smaller businesses and independent developers.

The big picture: Companies everywhere are racing to integrate AI—Perplexity’s dual-tier pricing lets it serve both startups and enterprise clients. With real-time search as the backbone, it’s a play for widespread adoption in a crowded market. Well played.

Google pours another $1B into Anthropic’s AI vision

Anthropic isn’t just chasing OpenAI—it’s building a safer alternative. Anthropic reportedly secured another $1 billion from Google, bringing its total investment to $3 billion, to fuel projects like Anthropic’s Virtual Collaborator. This AI assistant promises to automate workflows, verify complex code, and integrate seamlessly with tools like Slack. 

Also: Anthropic plans to refine safety mechanisms to prevent harmful or biased outputs.

Why it matters: Google’s massive bet shows its commitment to AI safety, possibly as a response to OpenAI’s dominance. Plus, Anthropic’s focus on AI reliability and ethical safeguards could attract industries wary of deploying unchecked generative models.

LinkedIn accused of sneaking into DMs

Is LinkedIn snooping through your DMs? A lawsuit says yes. LinkedIn is being accused of using premium users’ private messages to train its AI models without consent. The lawsuit claims LinkedIn quietly updated its privacy policy to retroactively justify the practice.

Big picture: As companies race to feed AI systems with user data, this case raises urgent questions about privacy, ethics, and trust. It’s a wake-up call for both users and businesses: How much of your data is being repurposed, and at what cost?

Video Seal keeps your content untouchable

Via Video Seal

Video Seal embeds invisible watermarks into videos, ensuring your work stays traceable and tamper-proof—even after editing.

How you can use it:

  • Safeguard intellectual property

  • Authenticate videos for clients or media publications with hidden watermarks

  • Stress-test watermarks against editing distortions like blurring or flipping

Pricing: Free

FactSnap combats fake news fast

Via FactSnap

Something you read sound fishy? FactSnap uses AI for fact-checking in a world drowning in misinformation. Highlight text, click the FactSnap icon, and instantly see verified results with credible sources.

How you can use it:

  • Expose fake news on social media before it spreads

  • Build presentations or articles with trusted, verifiable data

Pricing: Free

Jobs, announcements, and big ideas

OpenAI is reaching for the Star(gate)s. With $500 billion on the line, we have a lot to explore in this week’s Stargate announcement. Follow along for more!

Thanks for reading! See you next week for another AI round-up. ‘Til next time 🫡 

—Matt (FutureTools.io)

P.S. This newsletter is 100% written by a human. Okay, maybe 96%.