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Could Apple buy Perplexity? 🤝

Could Apple buy Perplexity? 🤝

Plus: Altman and Ive pull back

June 25, 2025

Welcome back! Hinge CEO Justin McLeod has a word of caution for anyone falling in love with their chatbot: Don’t date AI.

McLeod isn’t anti-AI. He uses Claude, has tested AI dating coaches, and wants to integrate more AI features into Hinge. But he’s worried about people replacing real connection with perfectly responsive machines. Love, unlike AI, isn’t optimized for efficiency.

OpenAI pulls ‘friendship’ promo after court order

Via TechCrunch

OpenAI quietly removed a flashy promo video spotlighting Sam Altman and famed Apple designer Jony Ive’s bromance (along with OpenAI’s $6.5 billion deal to acquire Ive and Altman’s device startup, io) from its website and YouTube. The reason? A court order triggered by a trademark lawsuit from iyO, a startup spun out of Alphabet X, which argues OpenAI’s use of the name “io” is causing confusion.

But the deal’s still on: Despite the marketing rollback, OpenAI confirmed the acquisition is “on track,” and Altman said the lawsuit is “silly.” The io device, which Altman once called his most important bet, remains in development.

Why it matters: Altman and Ive’s hardware moonshot is part of OpenAI’s long game—branching into hardware to build a physical interface for the AI-first era. Trademark drama might be a small preview of the turf wars ahead as every tech giant rushes to stake its claim in AI-native design.

Apple might buy Perplexity

Apple is reportedly exploring an acquisition of Perplexity AI, the AI-powered search startup valued at more than $1 billion. Apple is angling for its own AI push by baking in Perplexity’s conversational engine into Safari or Siri.

Apple wants to catch up: At WWDC, Apple finally went public with its AI ambitions. While competitors have launched agents, copilots, and foundation models, Apple has been playing it safe. An acquisition like this could change that, giving it a leg up in the search wars against Google and ChatGPT.

The bigger trend: Search is still the gateway to the internet. If Apple controls its next generation, integrated seamlessly into every iPhone, it changes the game for AI discovery and mobile behavior. And it could be a bigger blow to Google than ChatGPT ever was.

The ad you saw was AI-made

Kalshi’s latest commercial might be the most chaotic 30 seconds of the NBA Finals. The ad features a farmer in a pool of eggs, a bride evading cops on a golf cart, and a “Fresh Manatee” sign in the background. It was made entirely using AI in just two days.

How it worked: AI filmmaker P.J. Accetturo used Google’s Veo 3 for video generation, Gemini and ChatGPT for scripting, and conventional editing software to stitch together 15 usable clips from 300+ AI generations.
The total cost? Less than $2,000—a fraction of the budget required for traditional production.

Why it matters: AI can lower the cost of making high-concept content and let brands run dozens of personalized ads at once. But it also raises a question: How much of the internet will be real a year from now?

Your expensive consultant just got replaced

Xavier AI

Xavier AI turns data into strategy decks, business insights, and go-to-market plans without the billable hours. Just drop in your files or prompts and get custom slides backed by real analysis.

How you can use it:

Draft a full GTM plan in minutes
Generate investor-ready pitch decks tailored to your use case
Analyze competitors with AI-generated insights

Pricing: Free plan available; paid plan starts at $19 per month per user

Build a website in a flash

New.website

New.website is a no-code AI site builder for non-techies. Great for side hustles, landing pages, and launch-ready sites that don’t look like your cousin made them in 2012.

How you can use it:

Spin up a landing page for a new project
Quickly test messaging for a startup
Launch an MVP without hiring devs
Customize design with built-in AI suggestions

Pricing: Free plan available; paid plan starts at $17 per month

Jobs, announcements, and big ideas

Delphi lands $16 million from Sequoia to build AI-powered “digital minds.”
ChatGPT now connects to Drive, Dropbox, SharePoint, and Box for Pro users.
PepsiCo rolls out Salesforce’s Agentforce to power up its AI strategy.
Verizon taps Google’s Gemini to handle customer service issues.
DeepMind unveils Gemini Robotics On-Device for smarter, local AI control.
HPE and NVIDIA launch AI Factory Stack to speed up industrial AI deployments.

Midjourney does video now. Follow along as I break down this week’s biggest launches and breakthroughs in AI.

That’s a wrap! See you Friday.

—Matt (FutureTools.io)

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