Apple's AI bet, Google invests $9B & more (August 14, 2025)

Good morning,

Today is all about big AI bets: Apple’s robots, Google’s Oklahoma cloud build, and Foxconn cashing in on AI demand.

Let’s dig in.

🤖 Big Tech’s AI Push

🍏 Apple’s AI Home Robot Ambitions

Apple is planning a full smart home offensive, working on four AI-powered devices, including a desktop robot with a motorized arm, an overhauled “Bubbles” Siri, smart displays, and AI-driven security cameras. Launches are targeted for 2026–2027, with engineers rebuilding Siri from scratch under codename “Linwood” and even testing Anthropic’s Claude as a backup. The challenge? Delivering a killer home AI product before rivals like Google, Amazon, and OpenAI lock down the market.

💰 Google Drops $9B on Oklahoma AI & Cloud Infrastructure

Google is investing an additional $9 billion into expanding its AI and cloud infrastructure in Oklahoma, marking one of its largest single-state investments to date. The expansion will include massive data centers and advanced AI processing facilities, solidifying Oklahoma as a critical node in Google’s global AI backbone.

📈 Foxconn Profits Surge on AI Demand

Foxconn reported stronger-than-expected Q2 profits, fueled by surging demand for AI servers and data center components. The company expects momentum to continue into 2026 as global hyperscalers race to scale AI capacity.

⚔️ AI Industry Moves

🔄 OpenAI Brings Back GPT-4o After GPT-5 Backlash

Following user frustration over the GPT-5 rollout, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the return of GPT-4o for all paid users, a tripling of GPT-5 advanced reasoning limits, and new “Auto,” “Fast,” and “Thinking” modes to give users more control.

🛠 Microsoft Hunts Meta’s AI Talent

Microsoft is aggressively recruiting AI researchers from Meta’s Reality Labs, GenAI Infra, and AI Research divisions, offering multi-million dollar packages and approvals within 24 hours. Mustafa Suleyman is reportedly leading the poaching push.

🛠 Tools of the Day

• Snowglobe – Simulate real users to test your AI before launch
• Macron AI – Turn chats into mini AI apps
• CoSupport – AI support agents that don’t hallucinate
• Cobot – AI teammate for your existing tools

💡 Prompt of the Day

“Generate a 10-slide deck on the top AI-driven revenue opportunities in [industry], with 2025–2027 forecasts and visual charts.”

⚡ Quick Hits

• Anthropic acquires Humanloop co-founders and team members
• U.S. secretly tracks Nvidia and AMD AI chip shipments to catch diversions to China
• Tencent launches Hunyuan-Vision-Large, ranking 6th in Vision Arena leaderboard

📌 TLDR

Apple is betting on home robots, Google’s going all-in on Oklahoma’s AI infrastructure, and Foxconn is riding the AI hardware boom. Meanwhile, OpenAI and Microsoft are deep in AI talent wars.

See you tomorrow,
David